You gotta have guts

Americans have this thing: when they order something exotic at a restaurant they love to regale their friends with it afterwards. I, my friends, am no exception to this rule.

Readers of La Coquette may wonder if I have eaten cow's tongue? Why yes, I have! Readers of La Coquette may wonder if I have eaten Boudin Noir? Damn straight, sirs! Readers of La Coquette may wonder if I have eaten tripe? Whoah….easy there, lil' Readers of La Coquette. That shit's offal. (Ba-da-bump.)

I think Americans like to talk about eating unusual body parts--(and by unusual, I mean of course, "unusual")--because it makes them feel gutsy and noble at the same time, appealing equally to their sense of adventure and the part of them that feels guilty about wasting things. Maybe I'm projecting. Maybe some Americans think it's really fascinating to eat the foot of a pig, but if you think about it? It's no different from any other part of him. I put my feet up and file my nails at the thought of eating pig foot, really.

This is what I thought at least, until my uncle Roger and aunt Marie-Line came to town recently and took Jeanne and I to La Coupole. My uncle ordered Pied de Cochon. This is the conversation that transpired:

Jeanne : That there is a pig foot all right.
Me : Quite a…. hoof he's got.
Marie-Line : And such a delicate little ankle.
Roger : It's a good looking foot!

Poor piggy, all he ever wanted was to splash his little leg in the mud and now, here it was, on a porcelain plate.

My uncle did not offer me a bite, not because he is impolite, but because offering bites, this is not something that is done so much in France. But if he had, I would have said "Of course!" And it would have been delicious. Like the tender and juicy shredded pork we used to buy in plastic tubs at the grocery store back home. Mmmhmmm, now that's what I'm talking about.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Agree with tripes. Yuck!

I shall never eat that again. I still have nightmares.

[Lesley]

The ones I really want to (watch someone else) try are "groin de porc" and "vulve de truie" which I heard a Parisian restaurateur drool over just last week.

[Alice]

Yeah, I draw the line at tripes too. Just can't do it.

Interestingly enough, David Lebovitz has got a whole post over at his blog devoted to the strangest thing you've ever eaten -- "Weird Food"-- and you have GOT to check out these comments, seriously! You wouldn't believe some of these things... (bottom of the page)

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/index.html

[pasc]

My mom makes tripe every Easter. I used to eat it as a kid, but now that I know what it is, I gag. Same goes for stuffed intestines. Mmm-mmm good!

[Gloria]

rognons = kidneys. Something I'm never going to forget.

Actually, I don't mind tripe. Probably because I had it at such a young age I never asked what it was (why, I don't know), and didn't find it gross.

[camille]

oh my gosh, i thought i was being adventurous with the "liver cheese" in germany...

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

It'd be hard to "offer a bite" of a pied de cochon. There really isn't anything to bite -- you kind-of suck the gristle off the bones. Brasserie Balzar, around the corner from your old apart in the 5eme, always has them. Pané.

[Jessica]

i was just thinking about that, how do you consume a hoof? not for when your extremely hungry i presume?

[Jen]

accidental guts are nice. i recall a recent experience:

"are you sure you want to order this dish? you know what it is, right?"

"yes of course, fool. bring in on...

...oh, so THIS is steak tartare..."

it's no tripe, but it's a start.

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

Haha, Jen, I had the steak tartare experience on a "first date". She goes "OMG I can't eat that!!!!! I didn't realise it was RAAAWWWWWWW FGS!!!!"

Like the gentleman I am, I switched plates and she ate my raie au beurre noir....

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

...the relationship didn't survive, but it was illicit & clandestine and probably didn't deserve to.

[Anne]

I ordered rognons by accident in Colmar... I thought I was getting something like flank steak. It still makes me gag to think of it.

[Hilda]

Elizabeth: I defy les conventions, je hais les tripes et autres organes vitaux, ainsi que les parties de l'animal qui n'ont aucune viande, comme les pieds...

Jen & Stu: I'm French and not a big meat eater (there are some of us) and I love steak tartare (occasionally). Americans usually think it's gross because it's raw (although sushi is raw and that doesn't seem to be a problem) and wonder how we can possibly eat raw meat, I mean, who knows what might be in it? The funny part to me is that the point is that we CAN eat raw meat here...I would never eat raw meat in the US, I mean, who knows what might be in it?

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

Hilda: Tu parles. The only time I got sick from the tartare stuff was in Los Angeles, as it happens. The "date" incident was in England, and the meal was just fine.

[Coquette]

Alice, those comments on David's site are OhMy good.

[Jen]

the tartare incident actually wasn't my own, I brought it up to humor coquette who was also at the table.

mais moi? i love me some tartare!

[Yann]

You've got an oncle named Roger and an aunt named Marie-Line ? Are we cousins or something ? Those are my parents' (so sexy) names. Maman se fait souvent appelée Marie ou Line. Elle se flatte même parfois en écrivant Maryline, genre de bâtard franglais lui procurant un petit supplément d'âme cosmopolite, sans doute.

[Anton]

"took Jeanne and I". Holy shit. Et tu, coquette?

[Glomgold]

Cow's tongue, delicious! Just so long as I don't see the thing in its entirety prior to eating.

I had to comment purely because of your "offal" joke. Sweet sweetness.

[dani]

doesn't it suck how the french are not into sharing or tasting bites of food at restaurants?? when it does happen, i immediately feel some sort of fondnes for the person cause they are 'breaking the mold' and not being so uptight and 'coince". i often feel like french people have constructed a wall of impersonal coldness between others. it's good to have americans around to deconstruct that wall sometimes!

so how is that new quartier working out for ya?

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