Need your male to be more manageable? Castrate them.
Hey, it’s not my idea. Nope. Castrating of cattle, pigs and sheep is a common agricultural practice. Supposedly it makes the males more manageable and their meat tender. Yeah it sounds cruel. That’s because it is.
And if that doesn’t make you squirm this surely will. What is it you ask? Oh, a grotesque culinary tradition known as the mountain oyster. Not the kind found in the sea or bay mind you. No, this stuff is testicles from gelded lambs and calves.
And doesn’t that sound delish? Cooking these testicles is considered tradition on ranches in Nevada and through Texas. They have this thing, the 18th annual International Comstock Mountain Oyster Fry. They even have a cute nickname for the festival – the “testicle festival”.
Liz Chabot grew up on a ranch and talks about this stuff.
“They couldn’t get them done fast enough,” Ms. Chabot said by telephone. “Generally, after a mountain oyster feed, there were no leftovers. It was a celebration with family and friends. Of course, it wasn’t a social event for the calves.”
You don’t say. You mean slaughtering calves and ripping off their testicles wasn’t fun for them? I can’t imagine why. Everyone enjoys a good social castrating right?
So back to this festival/fry thing. Chefs prepare their testicle dishes and then they go before the judges. The winner seems to be a “testicle taco” made by a Mrs. Wilson. What do you get for creating a yummy testicle taco you ask? A huge tiered trophy with angels and a golden sheep. The irony of the angel and sheep is not lost on me but seems to be on the organizers of this festival/fry.
I find the whole thing incredibly cruel and nasty. I’m not alone. Even the award-winner Ms. Wilson won’t touch her testicle tacos. She says:
“I don’t eat them,” Ms. Wilson admitted. “It’s very sad”
Sad indeed. Very sad indeed.
Article via: NY Times