SC - don't cringe too bad....

[Elaine Koogler]

I understand about the haggis.  Whenever I mention it to anyone, the usual reaction is
"yuck".  However, it's really good, when prepared properly.  I try to explain it as
related to scrapple...it uses mutton instead of pork, oatmeal instead of cornmeal, is
stuffed into a sack/stomach instead of being made into a loaf, and is steamed instead
of being fried.  And the stuffing part can be explained away by pointing out that
sausage is stuffed into pig's entrails!

So I guess we could add sausage to your list:  ground-up left-over pig parts stuffed
into pig's entrails.  And sometimes that gets "fermented" as well...it is often smoked
and/or cured just like ham and bacon!

I suspect that there are a lot of things we probably wouldn't eat if we had to think
very hard about what they contain and/or how they are made!

Thanks for reminding us of this!

Kiri

Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

> Elaine Koogler wrote:
> >
> > I dunno.  But I do know that nam pla/garum/liquamen do serve as excellent
> > ingredients in many dishes in the cultures where it is used!  And while I would
> > never consider trying the stuff out of the bottle (YUCK!!!) and the thought of
> > fermented fish really turns me off, I do know that the dishes whose ingredients'
> > list includes it just don't taste right without it!
> >
> > Kiri
>
> This is kind of what I was getting at. Does fermented pork turn you off?
> Why? I'm not saying it should or shouldn't, I'm just curious about
> people's views as to why, or if, fermented pork is good and fermented
> fish is bad. Some of the S.E. Asian fish sauces, BTW, are made with
> sufficient salt that the fish is broken down by enzymatic action, and no
> actual bacterial fermentation takes place. It's my belief that the word
> fermented is almost always used in connection with garum because there
> is some basic human need to express the perceived alien-ness of it.
>
> Another example: when I was a kid I was told, not the truth, which is
> that haggis is a sausage related to white puddings, but that it was a
> disgusting mess of boiled, gound-up guts, mixed with oatmeal and stuffed
> into a STOMACH! EEEEEEEE-EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWL!!!
>
> Hmmm. I see an interesting game we could play here, where we describe
> our favorite foods in the most uncomplimentary way possible, and still
> tell the truth.
>
> Let's see now...
>
> Cheese is rotten milk, semi-dehydrated
> Ham and Salami are fermented pork
> Pastrami is a fatty cut of fermented beef coated with creosote and other
> tar-like
>         chemicals, in addition to burnt sugar and various crushed seeds
> Meat stock is a delicious solution of dissolved gristle
>
> And so on. What I find funny is that we generally don't choose to do
> this with the above foods, and with garum, nuoc mam, nam pla, patis,
> etc., we do.
>
> Adamantius
> --
> Phil & Susan Troy
>
> troy at asan.com
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