SC - Tainted Meat - Nonserious

[Philip & Susan Troy]

chuck_diters at mail.fws.gov wrote:

>      I am minded of a story told by a friend's father back in 19++
>      (TRANSMISSION ERROR: AUTHOR COULDN'T BE THAT OLD) concerning his
>      experiences in Europe during WWII.  He was serving in a MP unit behind
>      the lines in France after Normandy, and encountered a dead cow (land
>      mine?), one haunch of which they removed and hung on the back of their
>      jeep, where it remained for nearly a week until they found the
>      opportunity to properly deal with it.  After scraping off a layer of
>      road grime/exhaust/dead flies, they sliced it and grilled it and
>      proclaimed it the best beef they had ever eaten.  (Hunger does make a
>      great sauce . . .)

Ah, well, y'see, this is a great example of culinary chemistry at work!
I'm sure all of you who have read Harold McGee's food science bible, "On
Food and Cooking", know, road exhaust is a fine source of tar, just as
if the coating had been achieved in a smokehouse. That coating is great
for repelling insects, as well as killing some of them (hence the dead
flies).

It may have been the best  beef they had ever eaten because it was
French! Everyone knows that French food, even in an advanced state of
decomposition, is better than what is available anywhere else ;  )  !

Adamantius