Foods headed for Extinction

Originally Posted by RJman

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Terrapin. Read descriptions of banquets from the 1890s through the 1920s.

By the same token, things like possum, squirrel and other varmints that used to be eaten without eyebrows raised are also just about extinct as foodstuffs in the US.

I'm pretty sure I've told this story on here, but two Thanksgivings ago, I was driving on the south (black) side of town when I saw three young black men around a pickup truck. There was a white bedsheet hung up as a sign. Spray-painted on it was "COONS" in gigantic letters. Startled, I circled back around to see if it were some sort of social protest/joke.

No. It was guys selling frozen raccoons for $8-$15, depending on their size. I was tempted to go by Publix by some saltines and set up a competing "CRACKERS" booth across the street, but common sense got the better of me.

Anyway, when I told my mom about she calmly asked what the big deal was. We had eaten raccoon at Thanksgiving until I was about four or five.

As for chicken salad - I just don't see any young people craving chicken salad. At all.

I think many casseroles are on their way out too. People don't cook nearly as much as they used to, and these are not the types of foods that restaurants generally serve.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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I have a long theory about that. Think I went over it before. The Reader's Digest version is, it takes two things to make peasant food taste good:

1) Skill
2) Time

Modern society affords most people small chance to have the right combination of those two things, hence, it has become mainly the purview of true food lovers and better eateries. Just a theory.

I'd say it's more Americans than anyone else that have an abudance of food, lack of taste, and most importantly an aversion to anything that might remind them their food is a dead animal.

I ate bear meat once. that was awesome.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Why is this guy familiar already?

Why, nothing pretentious about peasant food. In fact, quite the opposite.

I used to post as Milhouse until I lost my password, and realized that the email account attached to that password was one I gave up when I moved and cancelled internet service about a year or so ago.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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I ate bear meat once. that was awesome.

Is it any good? Supposedly it's really gamey (as in bear stink in the fat gamey), but I have no clue.

I think it is a few things. First, French haute cuisine did not include a lot of the now preferred innards. Sure, there were some sweetbreads and kidneys, but head and feet were not what you would find in a three star pre Nouvelle Cuisine. People still ate the stuff at home, and went to restaurants to find it, but I don't think you found it at the temples of gastronomy in that period. In NC you did a little bit, but in the 80s and on, with a return to "honest food" or "cuisine grand mere" you saw it much more in starred restaurants. Since American restaurants are generally a decade or two behind, we are just seeing it now.

As far as what why is saying, he is right. The people who did not eat offal were the people who looked down on it as peasant food. People in the US still ate it, but it was home cooking, generally ethnic and regional. Most city dwellers, especially of the yuppie generation, would have seen at as disgusting and below them, though their descendants pay through the nose for the stuff.

Anyway, that is my theory. We are always just a little behind, and people who have "made it" in America aren't as likely to return to the food their parents and grandparents ate unless they can pay up big for it. Really though, I am happy to see more on restaurants, because I remember my wife shrieking the first time she came home and found two big trotters sticking out of a pot on the stove.

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

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As for chicken salad - I just don't see any young people craving chicken salad. At all.

I think many casseroles are on their way out too. People don't cook nearly as much as they used to, and these are not the types of foods that restaurants generally serve.

Chicken salad still seems popular amongst the gym going crowd at least. . . big dose of protein and fat, easy way to add calories. Same with tuna salad.

As far as casseroles. . . I can't remember the last time I had one.

Originally Posted by why

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I'd say it's more Americans than anyone else that have an abudance of food, lack of taste, and most importantly an aversion to anything that might remind them their food is a dead animal.

These statements have truth individually, but you don't usually find them all in the same person. By this, I mean some people lack taste, but they're not against possum stew where they shot the possum. Some would be aghast at the concept of shooting and eating a cute l'il possum, but are fine eating some piece of tough, fat beef that someone told them is "kobe."

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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I ate bear meat once. that was awesome.

I've had good bear and not so good bear. Best bear I've ever had was short ribs and a roast. A couple of my sibs live hundreds of miles north of the Minnesota border and meats from hunting are a major protein source up there. Moose is even more dodgy than bear.

I, alone, can keep Jello profitable.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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I think it is a few things. First, French haute cuisine did not include a lot of the now preferred innards. Sure, there were some sweetbreads and kidneys, but head and feet were not what you would find in a three star pre Nouvelle Cuisine. People still ate the stuff at home, and went to restaurants to find it, but I don't think you found it at the temples of gastronomy in that period. In NC you did a little bit, but in the 80s and on, with a return to "honest food" or "cuisine grand mere" you saw it much more in starred restaurants. Since American restaurants are generally a decade or two behind, we are just seeing it now.

As far as what why is saying, he is right. The people who did not eat offal were the people who looked down on it as peasant food. People in the US still ate it, but it was home cooking, generally ethnic and regional. Most city dwellers, especially of the yuppie generation, would have seen at as disgusting and below them, though their descendants pay through the nose for the stuff.

Anyway, that is my theory. We are always just a little behind, and people who have "made it" in America aren't as likely to return to the food their parents and grandparents ate unless they can pay up big for it. Really though, I am happy to see more on restaurants, because I remember my wife shrieking the first time she came home and found two big trotters sticking out of a pot on the stove.

I agree with much of what you say and it melds with my theory if you think about it.

Originally Posted by why

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Is it any good? Supposedly it's really gamey (as in bear stink in the fat gamey), but I have no clue.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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I've had good bear and not so good bear. Best bear I've ever had was short ribs and a roast. A couple of my sibs live hundreds of miles north of the Minnesota border and meats from hunting are a major protein source up there. Moose is even more dodgy than bear.
Basically what Pio said. We had it in several different forms. One was a "steak" kind of thing where it was a high-heat, quick cooking. That was too gamey for my tastes. And really not that great. But when braised and cooked for a long time, it becomes really incredible. Still gamey, but in a good sense that isn't overwhelming. It was slightly sweet, and had a taste that can really only be described as "bear."

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

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As for chicken salad - I just don't see any young people craving chicken salad. At all.

I used to eat chicken salad fairly regularly, I think I will have to start again. There is nothing like a cold chicken sandwich with tomato on a hot summer day.

Also


Surprised you didnt go with THRILLHO

Originally Posted by ratboycom

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I used to eat chicken salad fairly regularly, I think I will have to start again. There is nothing like a cold chicken sandwich with tomato on a hot summer day.

Also

Surprised you didnt go with THRILLHO

I was very tempted to use THRILLHO.

The loss of butchers and the rise of supermarkets played a huge role. Nobody wants a shrink-wrapped pig's head just as they want their flash-frozen fish filleted and all semblance of slaughter removed from the food. They're not exposed to fish looking back at them from behind the counter or tripe that isn't hidden away in a corner of the store if it's even there at all. I still think it's silly that I can find every part of a pig's torso cut three different ways in a supermarket but not its viscera.

Originally Posted by why

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The loss of butchers and the rise of supermarkets played a huge role. Nobody wants a shrink-wrapped pig's head just as they want their flash-frozen fish filleted and all semblance of slaughter removed from the food. They're not exposed to fish looking back at them from behind the counter or tripe that isn't hidden away in a corner of the store if it's even there at all. I still think it's silly that I can find every part of a pig's torso cut three different ways in a supermarket but not its viscera.
It pays to have a good Chinatown where you live. There is a place in SF I've gone for years called the Lucky Pork Store, which despite the name is a Mexican butcher shop.. They have everything from head to toe and blood in two different ways. It was a little creepy the first time I went there.