The French are now banned from purchasing anything with cow brain or spinal cord. I’m not sure that the French were ever great on cow brains anyway. I have had brains in French restaurants but they were sheep brains.
French food frequently uses variety meats- kidneys, heart, liver, sweetbreads (thymus glands), stomach (tripe a la mode de Caen), intestines (rillettes de Normande). None taste particularly foul- its the thought of what it is that puts people off. I’ve eaten them all.
English cookery historically uses kidneys, tripe, heart and tripe. I had steak and kidney pudding for lunch in a good pub/restaurant on Monday- delicious.
Where do you think brains and other offal from American cows, sheep, etc. go, just to dog and cat food. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that they found their way into the human food chain at some point; but they wouldn’t want to let you know that.
Non-americans find some food styles of the USA strange. Green Jello with salads sits a little oddly. Some people have trouble with grits, although I love them.
Looking at the food history of the USA shows that the disavowal of variety meats etc. is relatively recent- local historic food, especially ethnic and of the poorer people including Afro-Americans gives just as wide a use of foods as anywhere else.
Ah…but what if someone tries to serve you slimy algae stew or, worse The Dreaded Lima Beans? Then you’re in the same Cow-Brain-esqe boat as the rest of us!
(Frankly if it was a choice between the dreaded Lima Beans and Fricasseed Cow Brains, I’d have to think reeeeaaaall hard about which one to choose.)__<–note lack of smilie. I’m serious about this sentence!
Try stewing them in chicken broth (or water with a chunk of smoked bacon if you don’t mind the cholesterol) with chopped onions, seasoned with salt and a LOT of black pepper and crushed red pepper! Simmer 'em until the onion has melted into Bean Gravy, and serve with cornbread.
(Okay, I admit this is even better if you use BUTTER beans…)
It’s mostly pig bits that are left over after sausages are made, oatmeal, and some stuff you probably don’t want to think about. It’s popular in some parts of PA, DE, and some other nearby states.
Reply to Lumpy. I had sheeps brains last in 1989 before the real rise of the BSE scare.
Scrapie has been endemic in sheep for at least 60 years and this does not seem to cause any problems. This is one of the arguments against a pure new-variant CJD prion cause for the recent problems.
