Honesty in Food

[Drillbit Taylor]

Ok So I got some Chorizo a few weeks ago and as I was cooking It I read the ingredients and the First thing was Beef Lymph Nodes and Salivary Glands.

Then this week I got some Tamales from the same company and the first Ingredient was Pork tongue and Cheek.

So would you rather know exactly what you are eating? Or would you like to not know and run the risk of freaky parts?

[Boku AKA Da Green Guy]

Well, at least with sushi, it's a don't ask don't tell thing with me.

At least until afterward so that I can remember what I liked.

[The Booty Disciple]

I'm not at all alarmed by those kind of ingredients. You'll find that most really tremendous food is born out of not having the best cuts and the best ingredients on hand. People who have families to feed on budgets throughout history have been relegated to using the parts that weren't used by those with more privaledge. Because of this, most times, the use of those parts leads to ingenuity and creativity that rivals the finest chefs of the time and area.

Using innards and what not is nothing new. I'm certainly not opposed to them being used in things I enjoy (chorizo being a great example), and I'm not opposed to trying them in a traditional setting. Hell, I eat Rocky Mountain Oysters (which are a delicacy in these parts), so I really enjoy the idea of trying things like that in such settings.

EDIT: First person to correctly identify what Rocky Mountain Oysters are gets a homemade plate of them from me. NO GOOGLING!

[The Freakin' Deacon]

Aren't they goat testicles?

[The Line]

I've always heard cow, not goat.


and when I was a kid, if I knew Sour Creme, Miracle Whip, or Mayo was in anything I was eating, I would stop right there, regardless of how good I found it before.

[The Booty Disciple]

kieth said:

Aren't they goat testicles?

Depends on the region, but yes, they're usually testicles from varying types of livestock. I'm partial to beef testicles, personally. Fillet them, bread them lightly, deep fry them, and then serve them with a bit of mustard and hot sauce.

And for the record, they're NOT "cow nuts." Cows don't have nuts, bulls have nuts. And the steak you eat at dinner or the burger you had at lunch was likely taken from a former "bull" who was castrated. These are then called "steers."

Any questions? Okay. Have a good weekend, and don't forget the quiz on Monday.

[The Line]

sorry. I come from a former-farming-then-mill town that is now between having a specific industry.

[The Freakin' Deacon]

austin4wyo said:

kieth said:

Aren't they goat testicles?

Depends on the region, but yes, they're usually testicles from varying types of livestock. I'm partial to beef testicles, personally. Fillet them, bread them lightly, deep fry them, and then serve them with a bit of mustard and hot sauce.

And for the record, they're NOT "cow nuts." Cows don't have nuts, bulls have nuts. And the steak you eat at dinner or the burger you had at lunch was likely taken from a former "bull" who was castrated. These are then called "steers."

Any questions? Okay. Have a good weekend, and don't forget the quiz on Monday.

Well, you've hyped them up, they sound delicious.. When can I expect to get my homeade plate of food?

[The Booty Disciple]

You're in Texas...I'm sure you can hook some up. Or come up to Wyoming during branding season, and I can make sure they're ready.

[The Freakin' Deacon]

austin4wyo said:

You're in Texas...I'm sure you can hook some up. Or come up to Wyoming during branding season, and I can make sure they're ready.

In all honesty, I really want to try some now.

And as the op was asking, knowing the ingredients doesn't bother me at all. I would actually prefer to know.

However, I will never like hotdogs. Not because of what they're made of, but because they taste like poop. No matter how you make them. You can grill them, boil them, microwave them, or throw them in a fire.... all I'm tasting is feces.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

Rocky Mountain Oysters were as big of a staple of cowhand(cowboy) diets as chili and beans were.

That, and I know of this restaurant in the part of Oklahoma City's "stockyard district"(basically, it is an entirely Old West themed part of the city where we actually have our stockyards at) called Cattleman's that has the best damn Oysters in all of Oklahoma.

[The Booty Disciple]

If they're near stockyards, then I'm sure they're tasty, and probably reasonably fresh. However, I can say with certainty that you'll never have them cut, cleaned, breaded, and fried within 20 minutes at a restaurant like you would at a branding.

[Drillbit Taylor]

austin4wyo said:

I'm not at all alarmed by those kind of ingredients. You'll find that most really tremendous food is born out of not having the best cuts and the best ingredients on hand. People who have families to feed on budgets throughout history have been relegated to using the parts that weren't used by those with more privaledge. Because of this, most times, the use of those parts leads to ingenuity and creativity that rivals the finest chefs of the time and area.

Using innards and what not is nothing new. I'm certainly not opposed to them being used in things I enjoy (chorizo being a great example), and I'm not opposed to trying them in a traditional setting. Hell, I eat Rocky Mountain Oysters (which are a delicacy in these parts), so I really enjoy the idea of trying things like that in such settings.

EDIT: First person to correctly identify what Rocky Mountain Oysters are gets a homemade plate of them from me. NO GOOGLING!

Oh man I know some great food comes from "crap" parts. Im saying is it better for them to say Lymph Nodes or is it better to just say. "BEEF"

[The Booty Disciple]

hotrod05 said:

austin4wyo said:

I'm not at all alarmed by those kind of ingredients. You'll find that most really tremendous food is born out of not having the best cuts and the best ingredients on hand. People who have families to feed on budgets throughout history have been relegated to using the parts that weren't used by those with more privaledge. Because of this, most times, the use of those parts leads to ingenuity and creativity that rivals the finest chefs of the time and area.

Using innards and what not is nothing new. I'm certainly not opposed to them being used in things I enjoy (chorizo being a great example), and I'm not opposed to trying them in a traditional setting. Hell, I eat Rocky Mountain Oysters (which are a delicacy in these parts), so I really enjoy the idea of trying things like that in such settings.

EDIT: First person to correctly identify what Rocky Mountain Oysters are gets a homemade plate of them from me. NO GOOGLING!

Oh man I know some great food comes from "crap" parts. Im saying is it better for them to say Lymph Nodes or is it better to just say. "BEEF"

Hard to say. I would speculate that there is likely a need for full disclosure in case some sort of allergy specific to certain parts were present in an individual, but at the same time, I don't think the FDA would permit them to be on shelves if there was such a high allergy risk.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

austin4wyo said:

kieth said:

Aren't they goat testicles?

Depends on the region, but yes, they're usually testicles from varying types of livestock. I'm partial to beef testicles, personally. Fillet them, bread them lightly, deep fry them, and then serve them with a bit of mustard and hot sauce.

And for the record, they're NOT "cow nuts." Cows don't have nuts, bulls have nuts. And the steak you eat at dinner or the burger you had at lunch was likely taken from a former "bull" who was castrated. These are then called "steers."

Any questions? Okay. Have a good weekend, and don't forget the quiz on Monday.

That's not how you eat a Prairie Oyster. You take it directly from the sack and into your mouth. No cooking, no sauces.....Out of the nut sack and down the hatch.

[The Booty Disciple]

cdr said:

austin4wyo said:

Depends on the region, but yes, they're usually testicles from varying types of livestock. I'm partial to beef testicles, personally. Fillet them, bread them lightly, deep fry them, and then serve them with a bit of mustard and hot sauce.

And for the record, they're NOT "cow nuts." Cows don't have nuts, bulls have nuts. And the steak you eat at dinner or the burger you had at lunch was likely taken from a former "bull" who was castrated. These are then called "steers."

Any questions? Okay. Have a good weekend, and don't forget the quiz on Monday.

That's not how you eat a Prairie Oyster. You take it directly from the sack and into your mouth. No cooking, no sauces.....Out of the nut sack and down the hatch.

Um...okay. If you're set in archaic modes of thinking. Personally, I prefer them breaded and fried. Because it's, ya know, food, and not some macho thing about how tough you are cuz you eat raw nuts from a bull.

Nothing against you, man, but thinking like that is absolutely silly in most respects. Try getting it served like that in a respectable restaurant...it'll never happen (though I'd be great to see if it did...lol).

The other, more practical, reasoning is that the long and short is that when you're branding 400 head in a day, you don't have time to be goofing off and stopping to eat fresh testicles. 400 head won't brand themselves, so you toss th nuts in a bucket with some salt water, and then cook them later. Now, you're probably very safe eating them immediately cut, but I don't care to be eating them raw after they've been sitting in tepid, bloody water for most of the day (even though the brandings I've been to have always kep them covered and on ice). Cooking, at this point, becomes not only prudent, but a healthful necessity.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

austin4wyo said:

cdr said:

Nothing against you, man, but thinking like that is absolutely silly in most respects. Try getting it served like that in a respectable restaurant...it'll never happen (though I'd be great to see if it did...lol).

Where would you assume they kept the bull, who's now a steer, if you could?

[The Booty Disciple]

cdr said:

austin4wyo said:

cdr said:

Nothing against you, man, but thinking like that is absolutely silly in most respects. Try getting it served like that in a respectable restaurant...it'll never happen (though I'd be great to see if it did...lol).

Where would you assume they kept the bull, who's now a steer, if you could?

Hmmm...dry storage, perhaps? Or maybe under the host desk...


WAIT! I'VE GOT IT! THE WALK IN FREEZER! Then they can call it Babe, the Big Blue...Steer!


EDIT: Sorry, everyone. I've been drinking and posting again.