this post was submitted on 14 May 2024
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Mildly Interesting
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The sad thing is that carp doesn't even taste good.
It's protein that can be feed to other things than humans - any fowl, if you want the end result to be food for you - or pets. Some enterprising soul could start a company that buys carp from recreational fishers and funnels them to a cat food company. For instance.
They do look deceptively tasty, though, don't they? It's interesting how most invasive species seem to be not good eating for humans.
»perceived« as not good eating for humans – Asian carp was brought in as a food source but Americans assume it tastes the same as common carp – all parts of kudzu are not only edible, but tasty and nutritious as well, but it’s looked down on as a weed that only poor people would touch – snails in California are descendants of gourmet European snails but we’re scared of anything that doesn’t come out of a fast food bag
invasivores have been rediscovering old recipes and creating new recipes for a lot of invasive species – their biggest battle is perception, not taste
Good to know. I guess I can understand why people wouldn't like escargo, but it seems not liking a fish surely it more based on actual flavor preferences. I mean, there are some fishes I do not like (I'll eat them, but I wouldn't buy them). I don't think I've ever had carp of any sort, nor have any preconceptions about it. I try not to think everyone thinks like I do, but the things I am reluctant to eat are all based on either personal experience, or just cultural weirded-out (head cheese, rocky mountain oysters; but not escargo, oddly?). I figure most people are like that - won't eat something because of some cultural bias (sounds disgusting), but not because they heard it tastes gross.
US has gotten really bad on what we perceive as edible – European cuisine still has a LOT of dishes based on organ meats that we’ve almost completely lost (liver paté, steak and kidney pie, blood sausage, tripe, lengua, guanciale, oxtail, pickled trotters) – everything’s been reduced down to what’s available in the supermarket, shrink-wrapped into a styrofoam tray – we can handle portioned steaks but not a butcher taking a bandsaw to a carcass, we can handle chicken breasts but not a whole chicken – things like “thigh”, “leg”, “rib” refer to the shape, not to the location on the animal it came from
EDIT: for the curious, The Whole Beast by Fergus Henderson
Good riddance to that, for how it's produced alone. Yes, I know you can get other than Goose pâté, but it's considered lower quality and inferior. The best pâté is fatty pâté, and there's only one way to make it and it's beyond cruel. Factory farming looks positively humane in comparison.
I think your point largely stands, with some regional exceptions. I mean, I live in the Midwest and most of the local grocery stores carry pig's feet, so people around here are doing something with then. But then, this area was settled largely by Germans, so you're going to find more of that than French pâtés or British steak & kidney pies.
Nah. Carp even the "good ones" are mediocre at best. They don't even throw them back here cuz they're invasive so we toss em to the birds
Fully agreed! However, invasive lionfish buck this trend in tasty, tasty fashion. I daresay it's the best tasting fish, bar none. I liken it to albacore sashimi with Kerrygold butter put together, but even better.
common carp doesn’t taste great – in this case, it was bighead carp which is considered quite nice – the main family of invasives in the US is Asian carp (includes bighead carp) which is also considered fairly tasty
It's the same with wild boars.
California wild boar prosciutto is fantastic – they live off acorns very similarly to Spain’s black boars raised for jamón ibérico de bellota
I haven't been by in a few years, but you used to be able to get wild boar bacon in santa cruz too. Fuckin delicious.
In my experience it's all about how you cook it. There are other methods than just grilling or frying.
It's delicious when blended with some milk and ice cream.