Eating Brains

[MichaelG]

In various forums when the subject of dietary fat comes up, the eating of brains and bone marrow is mentioned because our ancestors were the only creatures with tools to crack open skulls etc.

In the USA or Britain, or anywhere else for that matter, are brains on the diet? Here in Australia sheep's brains are still eaten, mostly by older people. When I arrived in Aus in the 1970's crumbed (i.e. breaded) fried brains were common on the lunch menus at pubs.

Not being native born Australian I have always shuddered at the prospect and have never tried them. However they are still available at most butchers and larger supermarkets where they are a source of fascination to small kids.

Maybe I should fast for a day, become ravenous, try to hold some fried brains down and report back to the forum on the experience?
:thup:
Michael
Bribie Island, Queensland

[tofi]

I had them once in Italy. By accident. I was staying at a hostel in a convent and there was no choice about dinner. I asked what it was - looked like deep fried patties of some sort. The server said "cervello' - a word I'd never heard, so I just took it and tried them. It was VERY soft and rather without texture - almost gooey. I have NO idea what kind of brains it was. But I have NEVER had them since.

Never seen them on any menu since either in Canda, US or Europe.

Now tripe on the other hand, can be quite good. But not often. :lol:

[luddybell]

EWWWWWWWWWWWWW! when i was nursing i had a patient that ate brain with scrambled eggs every morning ( i gagged everytime i went into her room LOL) GROSS i cant even imagine ...EWWWWW

[MichaelG]

Australia has thousands of R.S.L clubs, local social clubs set up by the Returned Services League (veterans) and they are usually quite big and plush since the introduction of legal gambling, slots etc.

Our local club on Bribie Island has bars, restaurants bistro, happy hours etc. They have just introduced the Thursday Traditional Aussie Lunch for $4.50, about $3.00 American. With vegies and gravy there is a choice this week of Thick sausages, Lambs liver and gravy, rissoles and:

YESS Crumbed Brains in garlic sauce!

mmmmmm :doah: brainnnnnssss!

In the interest of paleo research I'm going there with my GF tomorrow and will report on this gastronomic experience, if anyone is interested. GF will not be having the brains and will look away as I chomp, slurp etc.

Michael
Bribie Island
Queensland

[MichaelG]

The new old-style Thursday lunch was very popular today, about 150 in the bistro, 20 people ahead of us in the queue. they serve the lunches from a long heated buffet, and 4 people ahead of us ordered the brains. It's pension day today so the oldies were out in force.

I was served 2 "sets" of sheeps brains, deep fried in breadcrumbs and served with steamed veg and a garlic white sauce.

Sheep must be really unintelligent because each brain cooked to the size of a large walnut, but quite solid.

As I sliced into the first crispy parcel of goodness I thought I saw the breadcrumbs slip off a bit to reveal a horrifying hint of the brain folds. I blurred my vision, took a mouthful and chewed. Very bland, a bit like a non fishy version of cod roe, (big favourite in England when I was a kid). Not exactly slimy, just sort of nothing. I was glad for the garlic sauce.

I swallowed and it stayed down. GF's face was a picture.

There was no aftertaste, thankfully no gristly bits, and I suppose if you got used to the stuff it would be a nice comfort food.

What the heck, I ate them both but would have preferred the lambs liver and bacon.

Cheers

Michael Gardner

[PaleoDeano]

About 15 years ago, I was eating lunch with a friend at a Greek diner run by some guys from Iraq. My friend had eaten there before and knew the owners. He asked one of them to "cook me something special". He said I "must try this... that it was very good". So, the guy cooked it up and brought out a plate with something that looked like a gyro. The meat inside the pita did not really look at all like gyro meat. Instead, the meat looked... well, it was hard to describe. I tried this "gyro" and low and behold, I was very pleased with the taste. In fact, I exclaimed that it was one of the best things I had ever eaten. I truly liked the taste. Then I asked what it was. My friend laughed and said it was brains... sheep brains! They must have been prepared very well, with just the right oil/spices/whatever... because, I'm telling you, they tasted wonderful! I was told by the owners that back in Iraq they ate these all the time. Well, I never had the chance to eat there again, and soon after they closed the restaurant.

Many times later, I was "advised" by several people to never eat brains, after I told them this story. They said that you can easily get a sickness similar to "mad cow disease". They said that people who live in the hills (like hillbillies?) who eat lots of squirrel brains often get this type of "madness". I don't have any idea how true this is, and since the opportunity never arose for me to eat brains again, I never really thought about it one way or another. But, I do remember just how great those brains tasted! :-)

Does anyone know the validity of this "mad cow/squirrel disease" sickness that so many have told me about. I have always had my doubts whether that was true or not... but, like I said, the opportunity to eat brains never really came up, as it is like non-existent where I live to find them.

- Dean

[MichaelG]

Dean, do you have rabies in your wild animal population in the USA? Rabies affects the nervous system and brain so maybe rabid squirrels are around (not to mention rabid hillbillies!).

Cheers

Michael Gardner

[PaleoDeano]

huh?

Perhaps that is it!

Good thing I don't find squirrels an attractive food source! :)

And, I must watch out for those hillbillies as well! :lol:

- Dean

[fluffybear]

[QUOTE=MichaelG]In various forums when the subject of dietary fat comes up, the eating of brains and bone marrow is mentioned because our ancestors were the only creatures with tools to crack open skulls etc.

In the USA or Britain, or anywhere else for that matter, are brains on the diet? Here in Australia sheep's brains are still eaten, mostly by older people. When I arrived in Aus in the 1970's crumbed (i.e. breaded) fried brains were common on the lunch menus at pubs.

Not being native born Australian I have always shuddered at the prospect and have never tried them. However they are still available at most butchers and larger supermarkets where they are a source of fascination to small kids.

Maybe I should fast for a day, become ravenous, try to hold some fried brains down and report back to the forum on the experience?
:thup:

I was raised by my grandmother and she used to cook "brains & eggs" for breakfast. She just scrambled them together. They tasted pretty good, but I have heard health advisories against eating brains now because of mad cow disease.

ps: We also ate boiled cow tongue, pickled pigs's feet, kidney pie and ox tail soup.

[mcsblues]

Hey Michael,

We used to eat sheeps brains when we were kids, but I can't remember the last time I saw them in a supermarket or a butcher for that matter. They are fairly bland tasting but probably a good paleo/low carb food. Since I started low carbing I have sought out more offal such as kidneys and liver (both chicken and lamb) Lamb's liver is much nicer than calf liver IMHO but it is relatively high in carbs.

I must see if I can find some sheeps brains.

Did you ever find any low carb black pudding?

Cheers,

Malcolm

[ex_vegan]

You are right about the squirrels being able to make one mad I saw something about it on TV once saying that "mountain people" (nice way of saying hillbilly I suppose) could contract this disease from eating the fried squirrel brains. It wasn't rabies but I cannot remember the name. Also, Unless the meat was 100% grass fed, organic, raised in a cow palace whatever etc I do not think I would eat any of the mass produced slaughterhouse animal's brains or spinal cords. 1. Who knows what the heck is in them and 2. It is a great way to open yourself up to diseases that would otherwise never have a chance to cross the species barrier.

[black57]

Squirrels taste just like chicken. I had brains with scrambled eggs form time to time as a kid. They do harbor diseases ( namely mad cow ) so I wouldn't attempt to eat that anymore. I also eat chitlins when I can find someone to cook them for me. Ox tail soup is yummy. Dad was a big pigs feet eater.

[JHTuresson]

Dear all,

I am a hillbilly from Sardinia, Italy, and can find cheep brain in any butchery or food store (not cheap). I never tasted brain so far and my grandma on mom’s and dad’s sides is tired of brain and refuse to cook it for me. She is a mean old lady. Can anyone give me a simple recipe that I could use to cook them myself? They are usually sold as half cheep heads so I have to start with half a brain. I guess I would like fried or barbecued ones best.

Thanks in advance - JH

[hifive]

The disease acquired from eating sheep's brains is called kuru. It is similar to Creutzfeld-Jakob (aka Mad Cow Disease, aka bovine spongiform encephalopathy). Kuru was first described in "primitive" tribes who regularly ate sheep. The old people and children of the tribe would get the disease; it turned out that that was because they were the toothless ones who ate the softer bits of the sheep--eg, the brains.

Okay, gross. Sorry, but it wouldn't take the risk of kuru/mad cow to keep me from eating sheep's (or any animal's) brains. I know it's an acquired taste, but...not a taste I would want to acquire.


...I have to start with half a brain.
LOL this was funny to me :lol:

JH, I think you should simply do an internet search for "sheep brain recipes." You obviously have access to the Internet...google away!

:)Lucy

ps. FYI, squirrels don't carry rabies...one fewer thing to worry about in this danger-fraught world! :)

[tom sawyer]

The dish of squirrel brains and scrambled eggs is known as scrapple.

[ezandreth]

I grew up in Australia with Italian parents and used to be fed sheep brain, fried, I think, as a child. Italians think it's good for kids, being soft and mostly protein. I recall liking it and have grown up reasonably sane. Well, I can hold down a job and have a few friends, anyway.
But now I live in England where it is illegal to sell brain or other nervous system bits due to the mad cow scare. I did ask at my local farm shop and was told this.

Zan

[PlaneCrazy]

The dish of squirrel brains and scrambled eggs is known as scrapple.

Actually, I had always heard of scrapple as a concoction of corn meal and pig parts. (whatever's left over except the squeal) Here's one answer. (http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/sleuth/0998/scrapple.html) or this recipe (http://www.velvitoil.com/Scrapple.htm) It's also quite likely that as people moved from these areas west the word may come to mean something related but slightly different.

Plane Crazy

[MichaelG]

Dead right, PlaneCrazy. In her online paper "the oiling of america" dr. Mary Enig quotes Scrapple and another disgusting sounding substance called "head cheese" as favourites amongst Americans at the beginning of the last century. They provided a rich source of saturated fats which protected the population from heart disease.

As you say, scrapple is left over cooked pig parts minced up, combined with cornmeal and set into a block which is then sliced and fried in lard. Not unlike a substance called "brawn" which is eaten in England but is a shadow of its former self.

Scrapple sounds very Neolithic and a bit "overworked" for my liking but many local folky restaurants in USA apparently still serve up versions of it, with pride!

Michael
Australia

[Hellistile]

One of the staples of our diet was home made head cheese made with pigs feet and hocks. Mother would clean the feet and hocks, place them in a gigantic pot (the largest pot that was manufactured at the time), cover with water, bring to boil, drain water, do this again several times until she felt it was ok (some sort of Mom's radar), then fill pot to brim with water, add salt, pepper and liberal doses of garlic and simmer all day until feet and hocks fell apart. Then she would remove all grizzle, skin and bone and place meat and broth into containers to be placed into fridge where they would turn to jelly. This was a delicacy in our house and everyone just loved it. Some people included the skin but that was a matter of personal choice. I don't know why people say "EEEWWWWW" when they hear of this. It is one of the most delicious foods around if properly made.

What amazes me is that when I was married, my Chinese mother-in-law told me there was a concoction they would cook from pigs feet to serve a woman who had just given birth to detoxify and strengthen her system. Never had a chance to find out exactly what it was. Perhaps somone knows and can share with us.

[Quinadal]

We used to eat scrapple when we went to Amish country in PA. yup, corn meal and leftover pig bits.

[tom sawyer]

Oops, mis-info. Sounds better than squirrel brains and eggs anyway.

[MichaelG]

Hey, Hellistile.. guess what we had over the weekend.. bacon hocks! they make the best soup when cooked all day with heaps of onions etc, although I scraped all the fat away from the (cooked) skin, returned fat to pot and discarded the skin (actually fed it to the butcher birds* which hang around). Next time I'll be brave and nibble the skin! Bacon hocks are still enormously popular in Australia.

*butcher birds, a form of small carnivorous magpie with a hooked bill. We also have huge carnivorous kingfishers and a range of birds related to magpies and crows. In most parts of the world when you "feed the birds" you go out with a dainty collection of bread crusts and seeds. In Australia you go out into your garden with slabs of raw meat!!