Vinlandian States wrote:I was given a raccoon to cook, once, and had to call my roommate's great-granny to find out how to cook it. (Luckily, it was already ready to cook, I did not have to prep it!)
I was told to "put him in a pot, cover him with water, and boil him 'til the scum comes up, dump it, rinse it, and do it again 'til the scum stops coming up, and he's ready to use", which cooked the meat off the bones, so I de-boned it, and had a pile of freshly cooked raccoon meat. We then put barbecue sauce on the meat, and ate sandwiches. It was actually delicious. (tasted much like pork barbecue)
My mother-in-law thought she would set me up, my first Christmas, and cooked "chitlins" (chitterlings, basically pig intestines). I enjoyed them so much I asked for seconds, when her own kids would not eat them because of what they were! Hers tasted much like noodles in beef broth.
I also remember eating the thick white glue in elementary school. (I do NOT remember what it tasted like, though)
One of the strangest tastes I have ever had in my mouth was a tray of fruit I picked up at a Mexican grocery, that I thought had paprika sprinkled on it for looks. It turned out to be HOT chili pepper, instead, and was so hot it was almost inedible. (and I LIKE hot spices!)
That's about it, I will try just about anything (at least once, maybe twice if I am told I did not have a good sample the first time), but I don't generally come across anything all that unusual.
I have disassembled hogs to render out the fat (to produce cracklins. Pork rinds) and hogs head cheese. I will never be hungry enough to eat what has been boiled off the head of a hog then made into a loaf.
EVER.
