a note on meat products
By Todd Stadler · Thursday, May 1, 2003 4:18am
While trolling the Web for articles about potted meat food products, I discovered what many consider to be the durian of processed foods, canned pork brains.
Specifically, canned pork brains in milk gravy. That such a product was popular enough to warrant mass production is, of itself, mind-boggling.
But my mind goes well beyond boggled (into a state perhaps best labelled "melty") when it hears that a "single serving of pork brains (i.e., one can) provides 1,170 percent of our recommended daily cholesterol intake."
I'm speechless. I had no idea.
Gadzooks.
9 comments so far
1 May 07 '03 11:32am:
tODD replied:
"Okay, I have a question, and I'll ask it in my own comments, most likely to be pondered by no one but me:
Why are they called "pork brains"?
They're not, as far as I understand it, actually pork, which only refers to the flesh of the animal.
I mean, if we call everything that belongs to a pig "pork ___", well, that gets weird. Pork eyes? Pork hair? Pork bones? I mean, unless you're referring to a McRib (chomp!), that doesn't make sense.
Maybe it just makes it less horrifying (as if people eating pork brains really needed to be consoled). "I'm not eating pig brains, I'm just eating pork brains. Because, you know, "pork" isn't an animal that might have thought at some point.
One thing's for sure: it's making me hungry!"
2 May 07 '03 4:55pm:
Julia replied:
"Not to split hairs, but when you say that "pork" refers to the flesh of the animal, I pause and think "is not my brain part of my flesh?" And I have to respond to myself "why, yes, I think I would categorize it as such."
But if by "flesh" you mean muscle tissue, then I would have to argue that we eat all sorts of things that aren't muscle tissue: skin, fat, sinews. One could argue that a pig's brain is more like in form to its muscles than the fat is to the muscles. And yet we are happy to eat the fat and call it "flesh" when it comes in the form of bacon.
Of course, not having argued with you about anything major in a while, Todd, I feel oddly compelled to turn this into an issue.
Thank you."
3 May 07 '03 6:20pm:
tODD replied:
"Consider the hairs (note: not the flesh) split!
Is your brain part of your flesh? Yes, if you subscribe to the false dichotomy that we are but flesh and bones. But if you reasoned thus, even I would be forced to conclude that your brain was naught but muscle.
I tend to think of flesh not as simply "those parts we eat", but rather the mostly muscular matter that is not a bone, organ, etc. You may throw sinews in there if you want (and the Hot Dog Association thanks you for your liberal definition), but I wouldn't be happy to chow down on a meal of tendons.
Bacon, on the other hand, is all right with me.
Note that if you hold tenaciously to your position, I will make darn sure to cackle at you and dance a jig every time I see a hog's hair brush, singing loudly, "Pork hair brush! Pork hair brush!" You have been warned."
4 May 07 '03 9:41pm:
Julia replied:
"I do hold tenaciously to my position. As airtight proof, let us refer to Shylock, the the Shakespearean fellow in The Merchant of Venice who wanted to extract a pound of flesh from poor Antonio.
Would Shylock have accepted brains or skin or sinews or entrails or bone?
Yes, I believe so.
QED."
5 May 08 '03 10:15pm:
tODD replied:
"Okay, first of all his name is Slylock, not Shylock, and he's not a Shakespearean fellow, he's an animated fox. Finally, I sincerely doubt that he would want to extract a pound of flesh, as you allege, since he's clearly too busy helping foil the same evil characters over and over.
Ipso facto they shouldn't be called pork brains."
6 May 09 '03 11:25am:
Julia replied:
"I concede."
7 May 09 '03 11:26am:
Julia replied:
"But I still know you are wrong."
8 Jun 23 '03 9:29am:
Steve replied:
"(shudder) :P
As if the brain part isn't isn't bad enough... let's soak 'em in milk gravy too! The resulting colour alone would haunt my dreams... let alone the flavour."
9 Jun 10 '06 2:30am:
Chuck replied:
"nice talk about pork brains. Where can I buy some pork brains? Really, I want to buy some, not to eat but I tan leather and we use the brain in the process. If you can help please email me at
thanks"