King Francis
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Please share!Originally Posted by kwilkinson
Also, I haven't the slightest clue of where to get some decent brain (feels weird just saying that!). Any ideas?
Sadly, brains are difficult to find. In the United States, the brains of cows over thirty months old at the time of slaughter are not allowed to be prepared as food. (Last I heard, cow brains are entirely illegal for sale as human food in the UK; same with lamb brains. But this is a recent development, thanks to BSE, and may reverse.) Pig brains taste about the same but they're significantly smaller, so the value-for-effort ratio of extracting and cleaning them is less than that of cow brains.
Most butchers won't sell the brains separately, because although people all over the world consume brains (and they're even traditional in the U.K.), they aren't too popular in modern America. So one option would be to buy an entire pig's head and extract them yourself. But to say that this is a pain ********** would be a gross understatement; unless you have a powered saw and an abattoir you probably can't do it. Your best bet may be to develop a good relationship with a local butcher, be a loyal patron, chat him up, etc. Then ask him to get you some brains and he might do you the solid.
Your chances of a positive response will probably increase if you let him know that you'll make it a semi-regular request. He might be glad to get some money for a part of the animal that he's accustomed to discarding.
Another thing to consider is butchers who serve certain ethnic communities: Islamic halal butchers, for instance, tend to specialize in sheep. Think Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Portuguese, maybe South American. Even classical French cooking uses beef brains.
Or you could try to source some meat and offal from local producers. If you can get the inside line on when a supplier is taking animals to slaughter, you can put in a request for some brains. Let him know you love offal. With a little luck, you'll find yourself with the freshest brains this side of Hawking. Even if this tactic fails to supply you with brains, it's still a great idea for getting muscle meat and offal.
If you want to test-drive the car before cooking it yourself, drive across the border into Indiana and have yourself a fried-brain sandwich.
Remind me tomorrow and I'll give you the recipe. This is enough typing for now.
