A Real Cerebral Experience

If you have read the other posts on this blog you have probably gathered that there is a lot of "variety meat" dishes discussed. This will not always be the way, but for the time being that is what has taken my interest of writing about. 

One dish, or rather meat variety, that has intrigued me is the use of brains. You see this part of the animal used in all kinds of dishes all around the world. Yet despite this there still remains within me a slight hair raising reaction at the notion of eating brains. Perhaps it is the ghost of Kuru or the more recent fear of BSE-CJD. But despite these concerns--well mostly just BSE-CJD in my case...but perhaps not yours, it depends I suppose--brains are widely used and are overall safe to eat (though still use caution!). Brains are high in many beneficial vitamins and minerals and are the cause of great fanfare among many culinary enthusiasts. Another part of what sparks my interest is that this delicate part is not readily available at home and thus the opportunity to buy brains with ready ease as well as eat in them restaurants of course sparked my interest in trying this dish. It was thus the other night that I finally, as I have thought about this for a while, took it upon myself to try and cook veal brain at home. This endeavour was filliped by my recent good fortune of stumbling across a nice Egyptian cookbook (Nagwa Elfayoumi, 2012. “Feasts for a Pharaoh: Traditional Egyptian  Cuisine with a Modern, Healthy Touch,” www.feastsforapharaoh.com), which provided a recipe, so I jumped both feet in. The recipe I followed from this book is reiterated below for those who might also like to try their hand at cooking brains. 

Poached and Pan-Fried Brains (Mokh Maslouq)-Serves 2-3

1 Lbs. calf brains

1 tablespoon vinegar or salt

1 small onion, chopped

4-5 cardamom pods, split

salt and pepper

2 medium eggs

¾ cup breadcrumbs

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, marjoram or thyme

1/3 cup sunflower oil

1 tablespoon butter (optional)

juice of 1 medium lemon or lime

1.) Cover the brains by 1 inch with cold water. Add vinegar or salt and let stand for 1 hour

2.) Remove the brains from the water and rinse gently, but thoroughly, trim the white part off the ends and remove any large veins and blood clots etc...

3.)  Put the brains in a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Maintain at a lively simmer for 7-8 mins. And remove any scum that accumulates on the surface.

4.) Add the onion, cardamom pods, and salt. Let bubble over a medium high flame for 15-20 minutes

5.) Drain the brains and let them cool in the pan. Lift them gently to plate and chill for 30 mins. to 1 hour

6.)  Beat the 2 eggs with 2 teaspoons of water in a deep dish or a bowl. Place breadcrumbs on a flate plate and mix with the nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper.

7.) When the brains have chilled, remove the dark veins and slice them. Dip the slices in the egg and dredge in bread crumbs. Fry in hot oil, and a little butter if you like, for about 3 mins. on each side or until golden brown.

8.) Top with squeezed lemon 

This same preparation also works very well with sweetbreads. You simple need to substitute in a step of placing the poached sweetbreads under weight in the fridge for a few hours to firm them up before cutting to fry. This step of placing a weight on the sweetbreads to "firm up" SHOULD NOT be followed for brains as you will just get a big mashed pile of brain in your container!!!--they are even more delicate than they look! 

On one other preparation note, you can soak the brains in vinegar/salted water in the fridge for several hours or even over night changing the water and salt a few times. This simply helps to remove more of the blood from the brains and make them a little less potent. I have also read of the possibility of peeling the outer membrane and surface blood vessels from the brain after the poaching step. I did not really try to do this, but in the stage where I removed sliced the brains it was quite evident that you would have to be very nimble and careful to really successfully peel a brain. Though if you are not opposed to more chunks than slices in your fry-up this would surly be fine.

In the end I have come to the conclusion that I am not a huge fan of brain as a meal. There is something about it that just lacks what I would like in this kind of preparation. I read once of cooked brains described as "savoury marshmallows" and I think this pretty much hits the nail on the head and is the reason I am not a big fan. Brain is very delicate and liquid and hence lacks the "chew ability" of other meats breaded and fried. I could see brain very well adapted to some sort of spread as it has a great characteristic for this but for bread crumb covered pan fry dishes, it is just OK in my books. The flavour is rich and definitely unique. 

So that said, despite my lack of overall enthusiasm for of this foodstuff, I would likely try it again in another preparation form, just to see if my appreciation of brain is changed by different preparation method. I hope that others give brains a taste as well, if even just once.

Huck