Mentioned in another thread; I’d never heard of it before: Casu martzu - Wikipedia
:: shudder ::
Anyone had it? Tell us about it - taste, texture, what you do about the maggots…
We’ve had entire threads devoted to this in the past.
(Here’s one: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482947&highlight=marzu )
Long story short, you’re suppose to cover your face while you eat it to prevent the maggors from leaping onto your face.
And, just for fun, the maggots can survive mastication, ingestion, and stomache acids, and have been known to get into your body. This is one treat I’m not in a hurry to enjoy.
In theory, I should be revolted and terrified by it; however, my love of stinky cheese somehow manages to overcome these perfectly logical feelings. Someday, I shall hunt down and try this stinkiest of stinky cheeses.
I hate bleu cheese. Hate it.
Surprisingly, I’m not instantly revolted by the concept of this cheese. I find it intruiging. But I’d never eat it just because I get the sense that this would taste like the Santorum-like leftovers of Gorgonzola anal raping Stilton.
You can easily kill the maggots first by storing the cheese in an airtight bag. I’ve heard there’s no flavor difference.
Yes, everyone’s heard of it.
No, no one’s ever tried it. I’m safely confident no one on this board.
You have to be old before your time to have the grizzle needed to eat that cheese. Like hundreds of years old ahead of your time.
Need a thread wherein someone procures a “hunk,” and with pics, devours it.
If I was able to clear the maggots out, I’d certainly give it a try.
This stuff appeals to me about as much as the Kopi luwak coffee (which is the one that’s excreted by a civet and then roasted and brewed), which is to say, not at all.
I thought you weren’t supposed to eat the maggots.
Clever. But, seriously, I’d freeze it first for at least a month. I could eat that cheese, I guess. Or at least serve it to unsuspecting (people I hate).
I understand wanting the maggots dead before you eat it, but I wouldn’t want to be there for their death!
:eek:
What a coincidence–we were just talking about casu marzu on the train last night. I think I’ve also read somewhere that you shouldn’t eat the cheese if the maggots have already died (of natural causes), because it means that levels of a certain toxin they produce are too high.
I remain convinced that casu marzu is what Vimes would refer to as a sheep’s eyeball. The locals claim it’s a great delicacy just to see if the idiot foreigner will actually try it.
The origin, I’m sure, was in some famine or another, when the people were so starved they’d eat anything.
That doesn’t mean you have to keep on eating it after the famine is over, though.