Grim, but with just a hint of a smile in the set of his mouth, I think this young fellow could be bracing himself to participate in an ENGASTRATION. Ugh and Odd! An engastration is, as the word suggests, a recipe method where one animal is stuffed into the gastric cavity of another. A culinary horror, the Turducken is the most widely known of these monstrosities in the U.S. Summing it up - "it's a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken". These plucked birds are large enough for serious stuffing with something.
While working in the egg industry, I was frequently asked about adding a couple of eggs to the inside of the final chicken in one of these concoctions. Talk about gilding the lily! The piece de resistance, the yolks would be like gold at the heart of the matter. It was always male cooks posing the question; I've never heard of a woman attempting one of these. In my experience, over-the-top cooking of this ilk , is a male thing.
In the U.K. something like the Turducken is called a ballotine or a "three bird roast". Fancy French chefs from days of yore produced engastrations which included even smaller birds: turkey, duck, chicken, guinea fowl, partridge, quail, lark - the smallest bird being just large enough to hold an olive. Cute!
The people at Pepto Bismol apparently cruise culinary trends figuring out which ones are going to positively affect their business. What a job! I have a suggestion for the position title: Indigestion Opportunist? Gut Guru? The word Engastration alone probably got their attention and signaled a national stomach ache on it's way. With WalMart they ran this ad in 2011 anticipating the final result of Turducken excess.
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| www.toonpool |
While working in the egg industry, I was frequently asked about adding a couple of eggs to the inside of the final chicken in one of these concoctions. Talk about gilding the lily! The piece de resistance, the yolks would be like gold at the heart of the matter. It was always male cooks posing the question; I've never heard of a woman attempting one of these. In my experience, over-the-top cooking of this ilk , is a male thing.
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| thefoodinmybeard.com |
The people at Pepto Bismol apparently cruise culinary trends figuring out which ones are going to positively affect their business. What a job! I have a suggestion for the position title: Indigestion Opportunist? Gut Guru? The word Engastration alone probably got their attention and signaled a national stomach ache on it's way. With WalMart they ran this ad in 2011 anticipating the final result of Turducken excess.
That was to be the end of my Odd and Ugh submission for the prompt but I opened the paper this morning and saw this "Still Life" by the Australian sculptor Ron Mueck. The hyper-realistic piece is so like the birds in the prompt! You never know...perhaps the young boy in the photo wasn't thinking about stuffing at all, but inspiration of a more lasting kind.
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| news.yahoo.com |
Both fair and fowl - there are more odd stories over at Sepia Saturday
Why do people have to complicate food in this way? Good champagne is delicious. Fresh orange juice a joy. But Bucks Fizz......forget it for me !!
ReplyDeleteWho would ever want to eat all this? I think I need to lie down...
ReplyDeleteI think the flavours might complement each other. Noones suggesting that one needs to eat more than a few slices of this interesting concoction.
ReplyDeleteNow I know why I've become a vegetarian!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I'm remembering this story right or not, but our friend Kay was somewhere in the middle east and was served an Engastration which started with a camel. I forget what it was stuffed with - but several other animals.
Yuk, yuk, yuk.
Nancy
Love the Pepto Bismal ad!
ReplyDeleteTurducken?
ReplyDeleteOMG
I've never been drawn to the idea of a turducken. But I got a big laugh from Howard on "Big Bang Theory" when he said his mother made "Turbriskafil" = turkey stuffed with a brisket stuffed with gefilte fish. Bleh~
ReplyDeleteyou can't beat a ballotine at Christmas, but you can't ever eat very much.
ReplyDeleteInterest, stuffed inside amusement, stuffed inside some suitable images - that's Blogastration.
ReplyDeleteMy kids used to have a book that started with an elephant and unzipped to a smaller animal on down to a mouse, I think. Maybe it's around here somewhere. I've never had a bird stuffed with another bird but I don't find it revolting in the abstract.
ReplyDeleteI had the same thought, OMG, Turducken! Pepto Bismol had it right. I have never eaten Turducken and don't believe I ever will. Very interesting twist on the theme!
ReplyDeleteI suppose sausage is the same thing but homogenized. Yesterday I was buying dogfood and trying to make head and tails out of similar crazy mixtures of ingredients. The marketing on the bags offered flavors for humans but nothing a dog would choose.
ReplyDeleteI started reading this post with a feeling of disgust but then by the end I changed my mind totally as it sounds like it would be nice!
ReplyDelete