But hoo-doggy: You hit some weird piece of cartilage or something with your teeth, and you get a big ol' shiver up your spine. And for the briefest of seconds, vegetarianism starts looking like a wonderful, wonderful option.
You forgot to include "If you grow up a pug", which would be head down, little curly tail up, don't look up until the bowl has been licked clean and you've briefly considered the idea of eating the bowl as well.
Well, what a way to learn I grew up poor! :-P
But - the skin? The skin is to be avoided? The best part?!?! No way! :)
I'm just weird. From when I was very small, I hated having anything gooey on my hands just because it felt gross. I avoided it or I complained if I had to do it anyway. So I quickly became a chicken slicer, or at least used utensils to remove the skin (and seasoning) and anything else that looked suspicious. Oh and finger-painting? Forget about it. Weirdest child ever. Not rich either, though my parents were kind of picky about food. And I still hate almost any condiment or sauce you can name; exceptions are tomato, apple, cranberry, and plain honey.
That's the problem - when you finally get too conscious of what you are eating. When I visited Argentina I swore that once I had the sumptuous experience of tasting what is arguably the best beef in the world, I wouldn't mind not having beef again in my lifetime. Specially since most of us are thankfully oblivious of what it really takes to get those chicken drumsticks or beefsteak into our hands.
At least when you run into a 'weird bit' when you're eating chicken, you're reasonably certain it came from that vicinity on a chicken. Now, when the same thing happens and you're eating, say, a hot dog??? Could be some hoof, could be some other part you really don't wanta know about!
I'm guessing it's a mostly American thing that won't work if you're British or something, because I grew up lower-middle class and I still dissect the chicken at length with a fork and a steak knife. It's more of an avian autopsy than a meal.
I've never found anything unsavory in my chicken bits - other than me not caring much for "plain" chicken. I find it very boring.
Also, I expect to be starting "dissections" on my chicken soon, having started veterinary medicine and cutting into my first dead piglet tomorrow.
I have heard of vets "dissecting" their food if it still has bones in it, really. :(
Actually, it depends upon how the chicken is cooked. If it's baked or roasted chicken, then I'll usually use utensils, but if it's fried, I'll almost always use my fingers, unless it's just too darned hot or messy.
How did that piglet dissection go, Nemu? :P Do you wish to become a vet (a most noble profession, indeed)?
ahhh, memories...
This all reminds me of my ol' Anatomy & Physiology days. Nothing QUITE like dissecting cats for 3 hours right before dinner. It was bad enough just knowing the names of the muscles on one's plate (Bill, Janette, Mauricio, for example).
It went well! No one in the class of 60 first years fainted, at all. Everyone was actually laughing and poking around in the organs and such, it was great.
I did feel a little light-headed twice, but I know for a fact that that was the smell of the preservation liquids they used because I didn't have it at the ickiest part.
In fact, all those piglets were stillborns - but ours was obviously stillborn for a reason.
Ever seen a kidney twice the size of the stomach? ;) The bladder was paper thin and HUGE, too.
I take it you're a full-fledged vet then, Crabcakes? Either way, we were actually pretty hungry when we came out of the lab. :) We're a year full of tough chicks, I guess.
Oh yes, nothing quite as fun or amusing as rummaging through some pigs innards. Ghouls, the lot of ye!
Actually, you probably could have saved yourself some time and the need to acquire whole stillborn piglets if you'd simply dissected some traditionally made English sausages... yum yum.
Glad to "hear" that all went well & a good time was had by all, Nemu! :)*) ching!
When my bio class dissected fetal pigs in high school, much mayhem insued involving small intestines...and screaming young ladies...wow...those were interesting times! :P
& I know what you mean with the preservation liquids ~~~ in a&p, we had routine rock-paper-scissors duels to determine who would have to go into "The Morgue" to retrieve our "specimens" :P
WOE to he (or she ~ no mercy!) whose duty it became!
& actually, nay ~ I'm not a vet, though I have great respect & admiration & appreciation for those who are. The bio degree at the college I went to was heavy on the pre-med type-o'-stuff ~ I was planning on eventually going into marine biology (wanted to be one of those nutcases bobbing around on a little boat in the middle of the ocean doing something vitally important like studying the mating habits of seaslugs), but God had other plans (& better ones) ~ I do animal assisted therapy now (& have for the past 6 or so years), & owe a lot to those who've kept my faithful pooch healthy & happy.
It sounds like you've got the stomach for veterinary work, Nemu! All the best to you & your fellow toughy chickies! ;p
Ah, Haggis - now you're talking :) Edinburgh University Teviot Union Chilli Haggis & chips - just don't ask whats in it. On the other hand, I buy decent real haggi now - none of this wrapped in plastic muck, sheeps stomach stuffed and tied at each end - I find it's usually best baked or fried :)
& the pugs love it too :)
I've never really had the opportunity to try haggis, though I am curious what it's actually like, since most accounts seem to vary wildly on matters of texture and whether it has a flavour that is disgusting or even non-existent. It's a little like a deep-fried Mars bar in that it's a Scottish culinary legend that so far exists only in my imagination for me.
Scotland is the only part of the UK I have to go to at some point, and it's an omission I intend to correct sooner rather than later. It's especially embarrassing because I'm pretty well-travelled compared to most and I haven't been to one of the constituent nations of my own homeland.
All this talk about high-fat emulsified offal tubes is making me hungry too. Alas! If I eat the sausages in my fridge now, I shall be without my Sunday breakfast, and Sunday in front of the Formula 1 without sausages and bacon is no Sunday at all.
Yes - all the talk of food was making me hungry too - which is why I'm having haggis for my Sunday morning breakfast :)
Mars Bars aren't the only thing the Scots like to deep fry - they also have a lovely habit of deep frying pies :) You can also get deep fried Cream Eggs in Sunderland (North East England).
I grew up a vegetarian, but now I do eat chicken, and those weird bits are exactly why I still don't like eating large or whole pieces of it. Tiny hard pieces in my ground chicken too, bllleeehhhh!
Growing up, when we had fried chicken, we ate everything but the bone, to include the gristle on the ends of the drumsticks, etc. As a result, I have never had a twinge of arthritis in my life.
Now, I could not bring myself to eat gizzards or hearts or livers, as I saw what chickens ate, but any part of the meat was just fine.
Haggis is poison. Had it when serving with British troops (a Scots battalion). Fried pies are good. Boiled bacon sucks.
Having served overseas - a lot, I've tried pretty much anything edible. Goat's eyes baked in honey are surprisingly good if you close your eyes when you bring them to your mouth. Monkey brains are also edible, but a bit too gassy for me.
Cobra venom served up in a shot glass is also interesting. It can sober you up in about 30 seconds. But be sure you don't have ulcers or mouth sores when you partake - or else.
Yes, Ghost chilies from India are as hot as claimed, also called Bhut Jolokia chilies or King Cobra chilies, and they are the hottest thing I have ever eaten. I was in agony for 45 minutes after partaking of a dried Ghost chili on a bet. But I won the bet.
Ramsden: Why yes, bunch of ghouls we are. Though we were getting pretty hungry through the "surgery" so I think a few of us could have switched that pig for a sausage and "dissect" that... Yum!
Crabcakes: Oh! I imagine I'll have a lot to do with the likes of thee as well then. ;) Sounds very interesting! But yes, the preservative smell is HORRID. Just horrid. I'm glad to learn that I have the stomach for it, though during those two times I felt a little light-headed I was afraid it was because of the organs. But seeing more didn't make it any worse, so I'm still blaming the freaking smell. UGH. Besides - seeing organs didn't do anything to me, mentally, so why would it affect me physically? ;)
As for eating weird things: one of the student circles that's into "exotic" animals are celebrating their 20th birthday this year, so what do we get? A camel, two donkeys, a llama (cutest thing ever!) and a bunch of birds outside on the lawn in front of the faculty...
But also... We get to try fried mealworms and chocolate-dipped grasshoppers for lunch! Woohoo!
It's that I'm on a diet, so I didn't try them. Yes. That's totally it.
ho!ho!ho!
This is certainly a wonderfully diverse & interesting crowd here!
haggis...goat's eyes...monkey brains...cobra venom...Ghost chilis...fried mealworms & chocolate-dipped grassohoppers?!?
:P I suppose one shouldn't "knock it until you've tried it," BUT...!!!
Going back to chicken (good ol' normal & boring chicken), has anybody tried the Venetian Apricot Chicken at Olive Garden? mm-MM, good. Another component of this discussion is the setting in which said chicken is consumed ~ regardless of one's upbringing, one would be expected to use utensils in, say, a half-way decent restaurant...of course, I was very tempted to stick my fingers in the sauce and then in the ears of those JERKS at the table next to us...a kind of sticky citrusy wet willie, if you will.
o_O will you?
