Re: FOOD cow eyeballs

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/9/04 3:27:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,

Idol@... writes:

> >Can anyone share any experiences or info about eating eyeballs?

>

> Sure, I've eaten some raw (but previously frozen) sheep eyeballs. They

> were small enough that I didn't cut them up, and I confess I didn't exactly

> chew them much, but compared to raw kidney or liver, they're easy (for

> me). I don't know whether there's anything really special about them,

> nutritionally speaking, though.

I've never eaten eyeballs, but here's my take from dissecting one:

The chewable volume of an eyeball is very small, relative to the total volume

of the eyeball. Most of it is the vitreous humor, which fills the inside,

and is jelly-like, seemingly gelatinous. It is significantly less viscous than

Jello, but viscous enough that it stays in one piece when you drop it. It

feels great against the skin and would probably be great added to a smoothie or

used as some sort of thickener or something. It seemed like it would be

tasteless, but obviously I don't know if I didn't eat it. On the other hand, I

don't know if there's anything worth eating contained in it.

The connective tissue around the eyeball is thick and dense and I'd chuck it.

Eyeballs are high in vitamin A and melanin.

Chris

[Guest guest]

@@@@@@@@@ Mike:

> Can anyone share any experiences or info about eating eyeballs?

@@@@@@@@@@

I forgot to mention that they do go into the stocks my local butcher

makes with the rest of head, so technically I have eaten cooked cow

eyeballs, but of course it doesn't say much about the matter at hand

of eating them fresh from the socket...

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

Mike-

>Can anyone share any experiences or info about eating eyeballs?

Sure, I've eaten some raw (but previously frozen) sheep eyeballs. They

were small enough that I didn't cut them up, and I confess I didn't exactly

chew them much, but compared to raw kidney or liver, they're easy (for

me). I don't know whether there's anything really special about them,

nutritionally speaking, though.

>and didn't feel like I was advanced enough to

>do make that step. Being quite conservative about trying new things,

You're kidding, right?

-

[Guest guest]

I studied Eskimos in a class on American Indians at Northwestern. The

Eskimos considered seal eyeballs quite the delicacy. There wasn't much

detail in what I read on what they are like to eat. They ate them deep fried

in whale oil or seal oil, if I recall correctly.

My former roommate says she had a cow eyeball taco in Idaho at a friend's

house (eyeball, homemade goat cheese, lime and cilantro on a homemade corn

tortilla). She said they did not look like eyeballs, but were long and

stringy-- " looked a little like stringy chicken " she says--and " it was like

chewing on a salty rubberband " .

Jill

Re: FOOD cow eyeballs

In a message dated 2/9/04 3:27:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,

Idol@... writes:

> >Can anyone share any experiences or info about eating eyeballs?

>

> Sure, I've eaten some raw (but previously frozen) sheep eyeballs. They

> were small enough that I didn't cut them up, and I confess I didn't

exactly

> chew them much, but compared to raw kidney or liver, they're easy (for

> me). I don't know whether there's anything really special about them,

> nutritionally speaking, though.

I've never eaten eyeballs, but here's my take from dissecting one:

The chewable volume of an eyeball is very small, relative to the total

volume

of the eyeball. Most of it is the vitreous humor, which fills the inside,

and is jelly-like, seemingly gelatinous. It is significantly less viscous

than

Jello, but viscous enough that it stays in one piece when you drop it. It

feels great against the skin and would probably be great added to a smoothie

or

used as some sort of thickener or something. It seemed like it would be

tasteless, but obviously I don't know if I didn't eat it. On the other

hand, I

don't know if there's anything worth eating contained in it.

The connective tissue around the eyeball is thick and dense and I'd chuck

it.

Eyeballs are high in vitamin A and melanin.

Chris

[Guest guest]

At 07:53 PM 2/9/04 -0000, Mike wrote:

>Can anyone share any experiences or info about eating eyeballs? I've

>been giving it some serious thought for a while, but when I was

>extracting a deer brain the other month I held one of the eyeballs in

>my hands and allowed a moment for inspection and gauging of my

>feelings on the matter, and didn't feel like I was advanced enough to

>do make that step. Being quite conservative about trying new things,

>I like to get a feel for the cultural precedents and nutritional

>composition of an item, but so far I've suffered from a paucity of

>discussion in the literature I've consulted. Any pointers would be

>appreciated, as I am feeling ready for " the next thing " .

>

All I can tell you is that when we were discussing which organ meats to be

sure to get when buying various bits of carcasses, I told my Sissy that I

refused to spend several months opening my freezer and finding eyeballs

staring at me ... just so she could feed them to her critters.

MFJ

It's finally happened. I'm slightly mad. Oh dear. ~Queen

[Guest guest]

Thanks to , Jill, and for deepening my view of eyeballs.

I took a moment to cite below the skimpy passages that can be

extracted from my woefully understocked bookshelves, but none

approach a satisfactory treatment of the topic.

@@@@@ :

> Sure, I've eaten some raw (but previously frozen) sheep eyeballs.

They

> were small enough that I didn't cut them up, and I confess I didn't

exactly

> chew them much, but compared to raw kidney or liver, they're easy

(for

> me).

@@@@@

, that's cheating not to chew thoroughly! Was there a sensation

of anything oozing out when you bit into them? Such as the not-so-

viscous material describes? I'm embarassed to admit that this

thought troubles me slightly. Even though I quickly warmed up to the

tasty squirt of corn earworm guts following that first bite, the

contents of an eyeball seem much more involved and mysterious to my

imagination. Would you compare it to any combination of raw chicken

egg whites or yolks, the latter of which I relish often and deeply,

and the former of which is not sought after but entirely acceptable?

Perhaps I am encumbered by anthromorphic perceptions in this case.

@@@@@ Chris:

On the other hand, I

> don't know if there's anything worth eating contained in it.

>

> The connective tissue around the eyeball is thick and dense and I'd

chuck it.

> Eyeballs are high in vitamin A and melanin.

@@@@@

could you elaborate on this quantitatively? Or offer

references to any other source of data or at least suggestive hints

regarding their content?

From Jerry Hopkins' " Strange Foods " :

" Eyes may be plucked from virtually anything cooked--from chicken to

cow to fish--and chewed or chased with a shot of liquor. In many

cultures, they are considered a delicacy, although making a meal of

them is logistically challenging. In the Middle East, sheep's

eyeballs are considered a great delicacy, removed with the point of a

dagger and eaten straight from the skull or with a sauce or extra

seasoning. "

By the way, any self-respecting food hobbyist's book collection

should pivot around this brilliant and generously pictorialized work.

Only a few pages after the above passage we learn the intriguing

details of tiger penis soup.

From Calvin W. Schwabe's " Unmentionable Cuisine " :

" Before leaving the culinary possibilities for beef heads, I offer,

hesitantly, two variations on a more exotic French dish which I

confess not to have tried. It would probably make excellent

Halloween party fare and immediately establish the culinary

reputation for any truly venturesome cook.

STUFFED CALF'S EYES (Des yeux de veau farcis) / FRANCE

Soak some calf's eyes in cold water for several hours and then blanch

them. Remove the corneas, lenses, and irises with a sharp knife or

small curved scissors. Fill the cavities with pieces of truffle or

small mushrooms. Dip the stuffed eyes in beaten eggs and fine bread

crumbs and deep-fry them in oil. Serve with small braised onions and

mushroom caps.

Stuffed eyes may also be put in gratin dishes, covered with a mixture

of sieved hard-cooked eggs, fine herbs, and melted butter, or with

grated Gruyere or Parmesan cheese, butter, and fine herbs and baked

in a hot oven until the top is nicely browned.

Shall we quickly move on. "

From the chapter on dog and cat meat from the same book this

inconsequential passage:

" The eyes of cats were described as being offered in Cantonese food

shops in the last century, but I have not discovered how they were

prepared. "

Lund Simmonds 1859 treatise " The Curiosities of Food: Dainties

and Delicacies of Different Nations Obtained from the ANIMAL KINGDOM "

tragically lacks an index given the sheer density of remarkable

information it contains, so I cannot make a definite claim for the

absence of eye cuisine as a regrettable oversight, but I can't recall

encountering the topic in my ineffably pleasurable samplings of the

book, and only 9 of the book's 372 pages are allotted to ruminant

foods and no reference to eyes appear there, so my suspicion is that

such delicacies were simply too passe for inclusion in his work. I

have to vigorously recommend this book to everyone not only for its

unsurpassed wealth of anecdotal gems, but the literary flair that

leaves no single page unworthy of relish. On dozens of occasions I

have had the urge to share passages from this book in posts to the

group, but alas I have acknowledged the fecklessness of such gestures

when every single page contains passages worth quoting. Hence my

vigorous recommendation.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

Mike-

>, that's cheating not to chew thoroughly!

Uhh, why? I don't chew my liver thoroughly, but I seem to reap plenty of

health benefits from it, and that's the main point. At some point in the

future I'll no doubt give eyeballs a further try, maybe including thorough

chewing, but I was just making some initial exploratory experiments, so I

think bolting was perfectly reasonable.

> Was there a sensation

>of anything oozing out when you bit into them? Such as the not-so-

>viscous material describes?

Well, yes, of course, some vitreous humor shot out.

>I'm embarassed to admit that this

>thought troubles me slightly. Even though I quickly warmed up to the

>tasty squirt of corn earworm guts following that first bite, the

>contents of an eyeball seem much more involved and mysterious to my

>imagination.

No, I think they're much less involved, actually. In my (very limited)

experience, there's really just some homogenous gel. That's what I

remember from dissections, and that's what I remember from gustation.

>Would you compare it to any combination of raw chicken

>egg whites or yolks, the latter of which I relish often and deeply,

>and the former of which is not sought after but entirely acceptable?

>Perhaps I am encumbered by anthromorphic perceptions in this case.

Hmm, no real resemblance to yolks, and I'd say the texture was somewhere

between egg whites, jello and gelled stock. Kind of the gelatinous texture

of stock and jello mixed with a bit of the sliminess of egg whites.

There really wasn't anything horrible about it at all, but I suppose I

should note that I'm apparently quite unusual in not having any difficulty

watching eyeball violence, either real or simulated, in movies and on TV.

-

[Guest guest]

<<All I can tell you is that when we were discussing which organ meats to be

sure to get when buying various bits of carcasses, I told my Sissy that I

refused to spend several months opening my freezer and finding eyeballs

staring at me ... just so she could feed them to her critters. >>

When i was in the Navy we had a high percentage of people from the

Philippines and IIRC eyeballs were some sort of delicacy. Not something

that i would eat but i am squeamish. However my dogs love eyeballs,

especially when they come with the rest of the head. : )

Kathy A.