Posted on 11/24/2021 3:27:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
Surströmming
Some can't bring themselves to take a single bite. Due to the putrid stench, manufacturers advise that cans of Surströmming should only be opened underwater. The stinking Swedish fish ferments for weeks — a process that continues in the can, which bulges noticeably on the supermarket shelve. Allegedly, some airlines even prohibit the rotten fish on planes due to the risk of explosion.
Hákarl
The Greenland shark can grow up to 400 years old. Unless it ends up as hákarl on a plate. While the shark's meat is actually poisonous when fresh, it becomes edible if you bury it or let it rot in a box for weeks. Dubbed by some the worst tasting food in the world, hákarl has a rubbery consistency and an ammonia-like flavor. It's a traditional specialty in Iceland.
Bull testicles
Once they were a delicacy in Central Europe, but today bull testicles are only savored by experimental gourmands and very rarely appear on menus — or as in this photo, hidden in a salad. Which might be a pity, as connoisseurs describe the dish's very delicate consistency and a subtle nutty taste. In addition, bull testicles (known as Rocky Mountain oysters in the US) are rumored to boost libido.
Labskaus
The ingredients of this mariner's dish from Northern Germany are harmless: potatoes, beetroot, meat and fish. But after they are put through a meat grinder, it comes out looking like someone has just been sick. Labskaus is therefore often hidden under a fried egg. The specialty was born out of necessity — as sailors once lost their teeth due to vitamin deficiencies, their food had to be pureed.
Maggots cheese
A specialty on the Italian island of Sardinia, where it's known as Casu Marzu or "rotten cheese," flies lay eggs in the immature sheep's cheese before it becomes infested with live larvae, or maggots — which gives the cheese its incomparable taste. Though the delicacy is officially banned in the EU, many Sardinians do not want to give up this uniquely putrid pecorino cheese.
> It’s not maggots in the food! Just fly eggs.
Oh. Okay then.
I’ve had hakarl and “calf fries”, and liked them both. The hakarl is chased with Aquavit, which made me gag because it’s so strong.
I thought that pork souse sounded bad.
1st image: Those are maggots.
2nd image: Not sure what that is but I’m not hungry anymore.
At any rate a fly egg will be a maggot in a week or two?
Just not going there. Lots of good eating in the fridge. ;-)
“ bull testicles”
“ and a subtle nutty taste.”
Now that is funny.
Duff the cake guy on a contestant on a Chopped episode, nearly puked when he opened a can of hagas.
I do like Rocky Mountains oysters made Rockefeller style.
Once read a comment about Surströmming.
"Somebody really wanted to eat that shark!"
Those were the scenes from BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN(1925) which led to the mutiny..
Didn’t mention my beloved haggis
They left out lutefisk
There was a point in history when someone drunk on scotch tasted the first haggis, and instead of passing out or throwing up or dropping the disgusting stuff into the outdoors trash, said "Thish ish purdy good."
My uncle (who was born and raised in Maine) likes to spread the tomalley on saltine crackers whenever he eats lobster.
It’s academic. Most edibles were learned by watching animals.
Most likely the shark meat killed someone, the leftover meat rotted, then later animals were observed eating it. As another FReeper noted, starvation makes for strange dishes.
I’m sure the practice of burying it was to quash the stench until it was sufficiently ‘aged’...
I used to Andrew Zimmern’s “Bizarre Foods” and I think I watched him sample just about every one of these. I am 17% Sardinian, and that cheese is REPULSIVE. BLECH!
My other vivid memory of that show was when he was in a Muslim country and tried the bull’s balls- fresh off the bull and cooked in a skillet. The worst part wasn’t watching him eat them, it was the sickening >SNAP< sound when they relieved the bull of his balls with a bolt cutter.😮
I love anchovies on pizza!
Bolt cutter? Are you serious? That’s inhumane.
It was a Muslim country, I doubt they cared too much about treating their animals humanely.
“In this country, we have mountain oysters, a boneless meat dish. “
Beef fries.
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