Eye Eat You

Everything in EYE's sight you eat!!! 
I guess this includes the eyes of the blue fin tuna O.o 


This week's bizarre food is a blue fin tuna eyeballs....doesn't that sound just oh so....well different to say the least but yes people in China and Japan both eat the eyeballs of this fish.

I'm sure most people the only thing we hear about tuna is well a tuna fish sandwich...  yay for going back to our childhood memories...well not really my own seeing how i hated the smell of a tuna fish sandwich blaaaaaa it just smelled like yuck with the mixture of tuna and mayonnaise. Even to this day when my mom makes my dad a tuna fish sandwich for his lunch and i come home and i say "ewwwww did you make dad tuna fish?!" 


The only other time I'm sure some people think of tuna is when they go out for Japanese or Hawaiian food and they grilled, poached or have  poke ahi...ahi = yellow fin tuna...it almost looks like steak doesn't it? I'm planning on tricking my friend who isn't a really big fish fan and have her eat grilled ahi and just say its steak, I'm curious to see her reaction when she eats it.




So I'm sure after seeing these 2 lovely photos of delicious food you have forgotten what the topic of this post was all about but remember its about the EYEBALL!

Look at it...its just staring at you with its eye. A lot of friends have told oh i don't like to eat fish or see fresh fish because they look at me well getting them to eat this....well I'm almost certain i can say would be impossible.  

Its a little uncertain on how to eat this or even how to cook it but apparently after boiling it, the eye is kind of on the fatty side but the dark muscle is supposed to taste "okay" my judgement of "okay" my fair from someone else's, i feel like the eyeball maybe used as good source of flavor since it fatty so making a soup with it would probably be the best way to go if your going to try this.


Heres a little video of tuna eyeball with Andrew Zimmern, though in this case it actually sounds really delicious but then again how can something thats been braised in miso and red wine taste bad mmmm...can't wait to go Japan and try tuna eyeballs prepared like that :D

Eggs as old as 1000 years old

An egg as old time 

an egg as old as rhyme...

wait eggs can last longer then few weeks and be editable O.o

Thats right, this week's bizarre food is 1000 year old eggs. A Chinese cuisine that is made by preserving a duck, chicken or quail egg in a special clay mix for months at a time. The process makes the egg yolk turn black, and its supposed to enhance the flavor of the surrounding egg white, which becomes clear and gooey. The process goes a little like this...

Bury the eggs in a large crock that's been layered and lined with garden soil, and then store in a cool dry place for 3-4 months. Ingredients include a blend of equal parts of ash from charcoal, pine wood, and fireplace, along with salt and strong black tea.

SO... you start with EGGS

Add TIME with a few ingredients

                               

And your end results are called 1000 year old EGGs

                  and heres a little video about the 1000 year old egg

I have seen these eggs before but thats about it I've never smelled one or ate one, but the way people describe the way it smells and taste I don't know if I'm going to jump at the opportunity to eat one of these 1000 year old eggs. This is mostly due to food psychology. Foods that have strong unpleasant odors and are colors that are darker like Black, Blue or Purple we as people usually stay away from because these darker colors are related to raw or uneatable foods. 

So i guess you can add another style of eggs to your list theres;

Pouched

Scrambled

Sunny side up

Hard Boiled 

Hard Boiled with ingredients and then stored for pretty much ever.

and if you wondering how many other ways to prepare an egg visit this site:

http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2009/04/16/100-ways-to-crack-an-egg/

An Aspic

This week's bizarre food is one that i saw from one of my favorite movies: "Julie & Julia" directed by Nora Ephron and staring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Based on two true stories.

Watching this movie always brings me so much "joy" with its scenes of laughter and jokes its a movie one can easily just enjoy. 


ANYWAYS back to the bizarre food... an ASPIC 


Not an aspect nor and asset, but an aspic is a "jelly made with meat or fish stock, usually set in a mold and used as a garnish" well thats what the dictionary at least says in my personal opinion from what i seen from the movie and other lovely pictures to me it looks like a beef jello mold. It gives me shivers of the idea of jello plus beef equal actual food for people to eat. 

The red food like "thing" on the plate is an aspic...well an aspic that has fallen apart.

This is an aspic that hasn't fallen apart! and is made with spam chunks yahhhh not going anywhere near a spam aspic haha.

If you don't find beef and jello put together bizarre, well all i can say is...what is bizarre to you? and please share I'm curious :D

Dancing Squid

Its dead... and it dances O.o 

This dish is called:Ika odiri don common in Hakodate.
BUT. 
I find this dish to be completely bizarre, I'm no where near used to my entree being able to start dancing or to run off my plate. Though i understand how this works its still something different to say the least. Its all due to the soy sauce and its high sodium content. The sodium ions create a cell voltage differences. Because the squid is served fresh, the cells inside the squid are still active and when the soy sauce is poured on to it, the signals cross and the nerves are temporarily reactivated causing the squid to move or in this case dance.