The 10 Most Disgusting Delicacies to Try Before You Die
Page 1 Page 2
6. Vacationing in Alaska: “Don’t Eat the Stink Heads”
Salmon is a staple of the native Alaskan diet and natives have traditionally used all parts of the fish. One of the traditional delicacies is fermented salmon heads. Colloquially the dish has earned the name “stink heads.”
Essentially the heads of King salmon are buried in the ground in fermentation pits, put into plastic or wooden barrels, even plastic food storage bags, and left to let nature do its thing for a few weeks or more. The heads are then harvested and consumed as a putty-ish mash.
“Stink heads” as a distinct ethnic cuisine have been covered in various mainstream media the latest of which is The Food Network’s “Bizarre Foods” show. In and of themselves salmon heads are not repulsive, whole fish dishes are a legitimate part of rustic AND haute cuisine everywhere and King salmon is a real world delicacy. What has struck the “gross-out” nerve is the overriding fact that much of the stink head prep process is less about fermentation and more about rot and decomposition.
The dish, by modern culinary standards, is nothing but rotten salmon heads, albeit treasured tribal fare. Imagine, a bucket load of large King Salmon heads left outside during the warm summer months for a few weeks….Outside the native Alaskan culture the stink head topic is nothing but a novelty, but health-wise the tradition of stink head consumption poses a real and continued challenge to regional Alaskan healthcare professionals faced with frequent and, sometimes serious, totally avoidable botulism cases.
7. Deadly Fish: License to Coo
One of Japan’s most elite delicacies is also one of the most dangerous dishes you’d ever put in your mouth. The fugu fish is a cute little puffer fish, hardly “most disgusting,” but grossly lethal, certainly. Coursing throughout its vital fish organs is deadly venom—tetrodotoxin– a natural defense system that renders its attackers paralyzed. Ingest enough of this fish’s poison and you’ll go belly-up, too dying a slow death from conscious paralysis and asphyxia.
Currently, no type of anti-venom exists to undo what’s done from fugu poisoning. Regardless of the risk, in Japan’s most luxurious restaurants trained and licensed fugu chefs deftly prepare fugu for high society types, fugu aficionados, and culinary thrill seekers. Chefs adhere to strict preparation, sanitation, storage, and disposal guidelines to minimize risk.
Has fugu killed anyone? You bet it has, though annual deaths resulting from fugu consumption nowadays are few and generally accidental. For true gastronomic satisfaction the best chefs are able to prepare fugu laced with a remaining trace of venom, which reportedly tingles on the tongue, providing the eater with a sensory brush with death. The potential risk makes fugu even more a thrill to consume and one forbidden to hit the Japanese Emporer’s dinner plate.
8. Jellied Moose Nose
The ‘jelly’ part makes it sound sweet, like a clear jelly you spread on a nice thick slice of toasted sourdough. But jellied is how the moose nose is prepared, not jelly as in bread spread. This is, after all the cooking is done, a traditional and time-honored Alaskan dish of real sliced moose snout. White meat or dark?
The list could go on AND even more interestingly be drawn from the perspective of someone well outside the American diet. A non-American list of most disgusting “delicacies” would probably begin with the All-American hotdog and a bag of pork rinds: “A ghastly, but clever disguising of cast off animal parts that do nothing for your health or virility.”
9. Bat Paste – Make sure you try this last because it could kill you.
First, net a bunch of flying mouse, fruit, or fox bats in a remote village.
Drop live into a pot of boiling water or milk.
Roast to desired doneness.
Chop and make into paste with Thai herbs and spices.
Or when you have an abundance of fruit bats, try this optional Fruit Bat Soup recipe.
Bats are part of the native cuisine in Thailand, parts of China, Guam and more, but they are considered notorious disease carriers. You might want to consider dropping them to the bottom of your culinary To-Try list.
10. Your Turn!
Page 1 Page 2
Related Posts:
-
Cobra Gold is the largest multi-nation military exercise in the world, where soldiers from six
-
Before I begin, I should warn you that I know dick about fashion. It's
-
Mickey Mouse Last Supper
One of several works by pop artist and culture jammer Ron English.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Well I used to eat a lot of soft-boiled fetal ducks in Vietnam and they were good.
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:06 am
Another one of my favorite nastiest delicacies is from Alaska also, and goes right along the same lines as stink heads. It is called sun baked walrus, and the smell alone is more than enough to deter most. It basically is walrus that the local indians have hunted(they are allowed but white people are not) cut into pieces and set in a tent to rot over the summer (i was in kotzebue, way north, where the sun doesnt go down for 3months) when the wind blows off the ocean(the town is maybe fifty feet from the coast) the entire place is ensconsed in a malicious odor that resembles twice digested skunk ass, and the worst part is that there is no alcohol available for purchase here, so you cant even drink to forget the horrible stench.