# What was the very worst thing you've ever seen cooked? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760 "2020-01-21T17:35:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/61 "2020-01-22T21:11:01Z")
I think the worst thing I’ve ever been served was the boiled limpets my Grandpa cooked while we were camping once. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to cook them, but these things had the texture of elderly used chewing gum, and tasted, more or less, of salt. I’m not sure if I managed to swallow any. That was all we had for dinner, as he had a somewhat casual attitude to childcare and just assumed we’d be able to forage something at the beach and it would be fun. I think I was about 6. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/62 "2020-01-22T21:39:37Z")
Driving through some mountain villages in Cambodia, we stopped at a village where the speciality was … tarantulas. The locals raise them and eat them. It was market day, and we walked between stalls heaped high with cooked whole tarantulas. I did NOT try them. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/63 "2020-01-23T00:32:03Z")
My wife used to eat tarantulas in Thailand. I asked her how she could eat something like that and she replied “I only eat the dute”. Dute is the Thai word for butt. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/64 "2020-01-23T00:42:27Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Old, old chicken (I mean the lifespan, not the freshness – it was almost certainly killed that day) in a Honduran village, then roasted. > > Old chickens are tough as hell and should be stewed, long and low, to get tender enough to eat. This one was like trying to chew my shoe. Totally inedible. The ethnic groceries in my town have stewing hens in the freezer. They look like rubber chickens, but I have always heard that they make the best soup. Someone on another board told a story about “mud chicken.” S/he had worked at a nursing home or senior center at one time, and an elderly woman told her one early spring that it was “mud chicken” time. What was that, you may ask? When she was growing up, her family tapped maple trees, and when they boiled down the syrup in an outdoor vat, her father and uncles would round up and kill all the no-longer-laying hens, and the kids would roll them around in mud puddles and toss them in the fire under the vat. After about an hour, the men would retrieve the chickens, let them cool for a while, and then crack off the mud, which took all the feathers with it, and everyone who helped with the maple sugar processing, and their kids, would have a delicious chicken feast. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/65 "2020-01-23T00:48:19Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > _Pajaritos fritos_, which translates as fried little birds. I’ve seen images online of some that are fried golden brown, and they actually look like good eating, but the ones I had looked more like those dead baby birds you sometimes see on the sidewalk, with their purplish hue, bald little heads, beaks, feet and even a feather or two. Served in a thin oily sauce, the idea was to eat them bones and all, crushing everything between your molars (yeah, the heads, beaks, feet and everything). Hunting and eating fried little birds has been illegal for some time now, so it was kind of a big deal for the people who had invited me. And that was a good thing, too, because it didn’t take them long to polish them off. _Revolting!_ One of my favorite movies is “Babette’s Feast”, and there’s a scene where this kind of thing happens. She’s a French refugee living in a remote Danish village in 1885, and to celebrate the 100th birthday of the father of the two sisters she works for, she decides to prepare a French feast after winning a 10,000-franc lottery. One of the dishes is quail in pastry, or “Cailles en Sarcophage”, and one of the guests is the relative of a villager who actually knows what this is and how to eat it. This was served with the skinned head, which he crunched into and sucked the brains out. She also prepares real turtle soup. BTW, the movie is rated G. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/66 "2020-01-23T01:00:21Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I think the worst thing I’ve ever been served was the boiled limpets my Grandpa cooked while we were camping once. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to cook them, but these things had the texture of elderly used chewing gum, and tasted, more or less, of salt. I’m not sure if I managed to swallow any. On the island I worked on in New Zealand, we once had a visit from a Maori elder, a representative of the original owners of the island. He strolled along the boulder beach and scrounged rock snails which he gathered in a bowl. He then offered them to us for a snack. You were supposed to winkle the snail out of the shell with a straight pin and eat it raw. I felt I had to try some for politeness sake. Now I’ve had scungilli and conch but these were pretty nasty. I think he was amused by watching the pakehas (white folks) try to choke them down. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/67 "2020-01-23T01:16:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Now I’ve had scungilli and conch but these were pretty nasty. Do you like conch? We love it, prepared correctly. Just back from St Martin, where we always have at least one dinner at Yvette’s (best conch on the island). The conch ceviche and the conch and dumplings, with Johnny cakes, rice&peas, and plantains on the side. A cheap dry white and a sparkling water and you’re set.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/68 "2020-01-23T13:07:42Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I once saw a cookbook at my local Indian/Pakistani market called “Good Food From Waste Products”. Oh, now that sounds nice. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/69 "2020-01-23T17:12:28Z")
The mom of an ex learned that I happened to like creamed chipped beef on toast. I know it is effectively a very simple recipe, and toast is pretty much automatic [bread, toaster, electricity, time] and normally the recipe for creamed chipped beef is simplicity itself. She burnt the toast and scraped off the charcoal. I don’t insist upon a [veloute sauce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velout%C3%A9_sauce) as the base, just a good basic [white sauce](https://goodcheapeats.com/how-to-make-a-white-sauce/) without the added salt is good, and traditional [but try it with a proper bechamel or veloute, wow] Hers was lumpy with unblended flour lumps, enough pepper to scorch out your nose hairs, she added not just a couple drops of tabasco sauce [which is a valid addition] but easily a tablespoon of the stuff. IT was on its own merits inedible. Then, she did not rinse out the excess salt from the chipped beef and to get fancy she dumped in a can of [drained] peas. I am not certain canned peas is actually a food. Yikes. I have no idea where or if she used a recipe … even the US military authorised [recipe book](https://maritime.org/doc/cookbook1945/pg148.htm) produces an edible SOS … \ **Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/70 "2020-01-23T17:21:23Z") > [@kayaker](#): > > Do you like conch?We love it, prepared correctly. J I love it, but the operative words are “prepared correctly.” I’ve had great fried conch in the Bahamas. On the other hand, I’ve had a conch stew in Panama that left much to be desired. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/71 "2020-01-23T22:55:57Z")
Amberlyn Reid’s salmon. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/72 "2020-01-23T23:02:49Z")
I read today that the probable origin of the latest corona virus in China is the outdoor exotic animal food market in Wuhan. Snakes and/or bats are the suspected vector. That reminded me of a recent video from a youtube cooking channel that I watch. The channel is Travel Thirsty, which shows videos of cooks in Asia preparing exotic dishes. I watched (and wished I hadn’t) [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oggAadi_AFM) of the cutting up and cooking of fruit bats in Thailand. Gah. I have a pretty strong stomach for watching exotic cookery, but this one is beyond the pale. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/73 "2020-01-23T23:28:24Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I read today that the probable origin of the latest corona virus in China is the outdoor exotic animal food market in Wuhan. Snakes and/or bats are the suspected vector. > > That reminded me of a recent video from a youtube cooking channel that I watch. The channel is Travel Thirsty, which shows videos of cooks in Asia preparing exotic dishes. I watched (and wished I hadn’t) [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oggAadi_AFM) of the cutting up and cooking of fruit bats in Thailand. > > Gah. I have a pretty strong stomach for watching exotic cookery, but this one is beyond the pale. Eh, minus the disease problem, I’d try it. It doesn’t look particularly appetizing, but it doesn’t look any worse than a lot of foods we eat.Though, I do have to admit, that whole “screaming” pose they’re in is a bit demonic looking. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/74 "2020-01-23T23:30:28Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Stuffed intestines. ☹ Stuffed kishka. What do you think sausages are? My worst was lutefisk. Preserve fish in lye for a year, then run it under water for a couple days to get rid of the lye (as well as all possible tasted) and then broil it with loads of butter (to give _some_ flavor. I just wanted to say that if you cook a stew, or a soup for a couple hours in a covered pot it will be sterile. If you take the lid off and take some out, it won’t be sterile but it won’t have many bacteria in it. If you then boil it up before serving again, it will be sterile again. Rinse and repeat. What do you think people did in the days before refrigeration? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/75 "2020-01-23T23:59:50Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > If you then boil it up before serving again, it will be sterile again. While the bacteria may be dead, there are toxins some bacteria produce that are heat-stable and still can get you sick, like staph, for instance. ETA: Oh, sorry, I should have [a cite](https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/HYG-5564-11). > [@](#): > > The toxin produced by staph bacteria is very heat-stable—it is not easily destroyed by heat at normal cooking temperatures. The bacteria themselves may be killed, but the toxin remains. Re-heating foods, even at high temperatures, that have been contaminated with toxins will NOT make them safe to eat! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/76 "2020-01-24T03:41:49Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I read today that the probable origin of the latest corona virus in China is the outdoor exotic animal food market in Wuhan. Snakes and/or bats are the suspected vector. > > That reminded me of a recent video from a youtube cooking channel that I watch. The channel is Travel Thirsty, which shows videos of cooks in Asia preparing exotic dishes. I watched (and wished I hadn’t) [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oggAadi_AFM) of the cutting up and cooking of fruit bats in Thailand. > > Gah. I have a pretty strong stomach for watching exotic cookery, but this one is beyond the pale. Bats in rigor mortis. It’s what’s for dinner. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![songsearch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@songsearch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/songsearch)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/77 "2020-01-24T18:20:35Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I tried kidney once - it was like trying to chew a superball soaked in cat urine We picked up some kidney at a local ranch market, and my wife made kidney soup, which was quite good. Have had steak and kidney pie when my neighbor was a british guy, not so good. The oddest thing I’ve eaten (and I would eat again if I could find it) was what a French restaurant billed as ‘sweetmeats’, which I understand now to be cow thyroid. It was excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/78 "2020-01-24T18:22:17Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > A very good, very old friend fancies himself a good cook. My wife and I visited him the night before a party he was throwing the next day and he showed off some stew he was preparing. Great huge pot of it. Smelled good. We arrived the next day to find the very same pot in exactly the same spot on the stove. He said it sat there all night (too big to put in the fridge) and he was just warming it up. We passed on having any and we watched in horror as all the guests were filling their bowls. Images of imminent event of violent projectile vomit and worse came to us as we stuck to the fresh vegetables and cheese plate. You cannot put warm things in the fridge, and a big pot takes forever to cool down. In summer you have a big problem. At other times of year, you can either leave it on the stove if the room is not too hot, or park it outside, after covering it to deter hungry animals. It depends what is in it. Anything with fish or eggs (no, they are not usual ingredients of a stew): fridge it or bin it. Meat: usually OK overnight, pork is a bit more dodgy. and it is best to heat it to boiling point in the late evening. Anything purely vegetarian lasts longer. So does curry or chllli. However, don’t tempt fate, boil it briefly as soon as possible the next day. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/79 "2020-01-24T18:26:00Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > My in-laws (who live with us) do this. They’ll keep pots of soup on the stove for a couple of days at a time like that, just reheating it whenever they want to serve it. I hate it and beg them to put it in the refrigerator, but they say they’ve done it that way their entire lives and it’s never gotten anyone sick so they’re not going to change now. It will keep. Apparently in Africa they have stew pots that have been going for years. So I am told. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760/80 "2020-01-24T18:34:35Z")
The senior Mrs. Ded, now of blessed memory, was a memorable cook. My sisiter gags when she recalls the butter beans we were served. Butter beans are dried broad beans, and seriously dull unless juiced up a bit. They weren’t. What I hated with a passion was rissoles. I don’t know what the official recipe is or was, but to me it seemed to be: clear out the kitchen and the fridge of whatever had been left over. the past week Mold it into patties. Fry it is some sort of axle grease, albeit of animal origin. Serve. The one meal that sticks in my memory, and my throat, was at an Indian restaurant in Tokyo. Normally you start a curry by frying the onions and then frying the spices. I got a curry with both onions and spices almost raw. Fer chrissake, at least one of the cooks was Indian. I ate it, and then wished I hadn’t. For several hours. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-very-worst-thing-youve-ever-seen-cooked/846760.md?page=5)