Fried cow brain

[Daniele96]

In Italy nothing is wasted of a cow. Neither the brain that is fried as other parts not very common to find like lungs, liver and bull testicles. Here you can see my lunch of today: risotto with seasonal vegetables and herbs and veal tail, tripe salami and fried brain. These dishes are a good way to reduce the food waste using all the part of the animals.

 

[estricklin]

Beautiful! I've never had cow brains, but I have had squirrel and pig. A common breakfast food here in the southern US.

 

[FatDragon]

I've had pig brains in hotpot and goat brains roasted right in the head, but never cow and never fried. What are they like? I'd imagine something like a fried soft tofu, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside?

 

[S-Met]

It's been a while, but brain, liver and heart were always set aside on slaughter days. Fried brains and eggs was breakfast with mushrooms onions and peppers. Liver and onions (and more peppers - usually hot peppers) for lunch. Diner was heart that we would let marinate all day. Fried or grilled with chimichurri!

Cow is good, but lamb and deer are my favorite.

 

[Dland]

Traditionally, some of the organ meats that get cooked first are the ones that are harder to preserve. Some of them can be delectable if prepared well, but some not as good as others.

I knew some old folks who loved them all, not to excited about some of the organs meats myself, but even fried hot in grease kidneys and liver can taste OK if one is hungry.

 

[S-Met]

I've backed off on brains for two reasons:
1 - it needs to e fresh and 2 - I'm not raising my own (sort of number 1 again).

Liver needs to be fresh. Deer is great, pig and cow is ok if its younger its good. I never cared for kidney though, or chicken gizard. Bird liver is delicious. Chicken, duck, goose, pheasant, its all good. Being that liver is a filter, its probably diet related.

 

[Daniele96]

I've backed off on brains for two reasons:
1 - it needs to e fresh and 2 - I'm not raising my own (sort of number 1 again).

Liver needs to be fresh. Deer is great, pig and cow is ok if its younger its good. I never cared for kidney though, or chicken gizard. Bird liver is delicious. Chicken, duck, goose, pheasant, its all good. Being that liver is a filter, its probably diet related.

In Italy we use chickens and rabbit's organs to prepare ragù (at least in my area) but all the organs of cow and pig are used or fried or cooked in a pan with a simple rub of flower and herbs and a glass of grappa. In Piedmont we make a particular frying called fritto misto with cow, pig and sometimes also hen organs and secondary parts of meat served with fried apples, sweet semolina and some biscuits like baci di dama

 

[Daniele96]

I know it is very difficult to find good meat but we have a lot of little livestock farms which feed their animals with good quality forages so we can trust their meat is good

 

[Evilgrin]

We had a place up the road that was famous for cow brain sandwiches. Lung sold for human consumption is illegal in the USA. Most organ meat though is completely legal. Often available at good Asian markets. Hell, my market even sells bull penis.

 

[Dland]

Never was a big fan of kidney, especially after I had to cook them up for dog tucker on a sheep farm. I had to boil them for the dogs, and they do smell like urine, falls into the "might taste good when starving" category for me.

 

[JimRausch]

With the recognition of more and more prion-transferred diseases, most of which involve consumption of brain or nervous system tissue, I say "No thank You".

 

[Dland]

Yeah, that prion stuff is weird, and makes a good medical case against cannibalism too, even if we do taste just like pork....never tried it myself, mind you...

But yeah, brains are not on my menu, suppose that could change if I become undead...haha

anyway, ....back to prion disease, some neurological diseases afflicting some canabilistic tribes ended when the colonial power forbade the practice, (of cannibalism). This is fairly well documented in some studies of tribal practices in New Guinea.

 

[S-Met]

We had a place up the road that was famous for cow brain sandwiches. Lung sold for human consumption is illegal in the USA. Most organ meat though is completely legal. Often available at good Asian markets. Hell, my market even sells bull penis.

I almost always have beef tendon, book & honeycomb tripe, chicken feet and couple whole chickens (toes to beak) in my freezer.

prion disease, some neurological diseases afflicting some canabilistic tribes ended when the colonial power forbade the practice, (of cannibalism). This is fairly well documented in some studies of tribal practices in New Guinea.

I think its called Kuru (not sure on spelling) but its from brain and possibly spinal cord. I'm not saying we should eat people; but if we do, don't eat the brains. Makes me rethink zombies, they just have kuru:
What are the symptoms of kuru?

• difficulty walking.
• poor coordination.
• difficulty swallowing.
• slurred speech.
• moodiness and behavioral changes.
• dementia.
• muscle twitching and tremors.
• inability to grasp objects.

I've read reports that suggested Mad Cow was from whole cattle unfit for human consumption being milled into feed for other cows resulting in BSE (mad cow).

 

[Dland]

Yeah, feeding flesh of vegetarian animals to vegetarian animals of same species does seem like a good idea to me.

 

[FatDragon]

Kidneys are not bad if made right. Step one is cutting them in a way that gives a ton of surface area and boiling the piss out of them (literally). In China, they're then stir fried with a ton of sesame oil and various other seasonings. That's pork kidneys. I don't know about beef kidneys.

Prion diseases are terrifying. Definitely a good reason not to eat brains if you're not certain of the source.

I almost always have beef tendon, book & honeycomb tripe, chicken feet and couple whole chickens (toes to beak) in my freezer.

That's a freezer I can get behind. The various types of beef tripe are particular favorites of mine.

I've read reports that suggested Mad Cow was from whole cattle unfit for human consumption being milled into feed for other cows resulting in BSE (mad cow).

That's insane. Why the hell would you grind up a cow and feed it to other cows (I.e. herbivorous ruminants)? Chuck it in some dog or cat food, sure, but forcing an herbivore to cannibalize its sister just seems like a bad idea on a whole bunch of levels...

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Scrambled eggs & brains used to be a fairly common breakfast in rural areas of the US, but with the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), it's become fairly uncommon these days. Maybe some of the higher end restaurants have brains on the menu, but it's been a long time since I've seen them anywhere other than the farm.
Regards, GF.

 

[catdaddy66]

Scrambled eggs & brains used to be a fairly common breakfast in rural areas of the US, but with the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), it's become fairly uncommon these days. Maybe some of the higher end restaurants have brains on the menu, but it's been a long time since I've seen them anywhere other than the farm.
Regards, GF.

You're so right about the 'brains and eggs' breakfast! My father talked about enjoying (!) that as a young person... Eww.

You can still find pork brains in the canned meat aisle of the supermarket.

 

[passedpawn]

Nope. You can have mine.