World's Most Bizzare Foods: Fried Brain Sandwich
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| Photo: Youtube.com |
The fried brain sandwich was immensely popular in its heyday — the mid-1900s to the ’70s — back when the stockyards were up and running, and brains and other off-cuts were readily available.
Nowadays, it has become nearly extinct. Why did something once so common become so elusive?
What is a Fried Brain Sandwich?
Fried brain sandwich typically consists of sliced bread or buns filled with slices of calves' brains. One of the earliest versions of this sandwich was prepared in the 1880s in St. Louis, but the demand has dwindled since those times. In Indiana, fried brain sandwiches are typically served with onion rings and fried potatoes, and they are so popular in the area that the dish is featured annually at the city's West Side Nut Club Fall Festival, Tasteatlas shared.
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| Photo: Foodestablished.com |
History of Fried Brain Sandwich
Our story begins with East St. Louis and the Armour Meatpacking Plant that was an extension of the one in Chicago. In business during the late 1800s and early 1900s, this company helped create an industry that fueled Illinois' economy and put it on the map.
Though this old meatpacking plant was once a really cool place to explore, it was demolished in 2016 and is only remembered through pictures.
Many think this historic sandwich looks like a tenderloin, but a major difference is the thickness. Tenderloins are typically thin, but brains are just brains, and they are thick and meaty.
While the original brain sandwich was made with cow brains, due to mad cow disease, restaurants that serve them now use pig brains instead. That's more appetizing, right?, Onlyinyourstate asked.
How to make a Fried Brain Sandwich?
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| Photo: Eat,littlebird.com |
The way the brain sandwich came about is quite simple. Every animal that is slaughtered has organs and other innards that aren't used as meat. These leftover pieces are called offal when they are sold as food, and cooks in diners around the St. Louis area caught on that the brains were good for something.
A brain sandwich is cheap but apparently not the easiest thing to make. Cooks have to remove the membrane before battering and frying it. Most add mustard, onions, and pickles to mask any grotesque flavors.
How does it taste like?
Flavorwise, it’s a much milder version of liver but with an added metallic aftertaste that lingers a bit. Or perhaps, the metallic aftertaste was the physical indication that I was about to experience some form of cardiac arrest.
My fiancée Davida said, after a few small bites: “It tastes good, but it’s past my limit for acceptable meat creaminess.” Meat creaminess: In so many words, this is what brains taste like, Dennis Lee shared in Thetakeout.
Eating Fried Brain Sandwich's benefits?
| Bethany Doerfler, a registered dietitian at the Digestive Health Center at Northwestern Medicine, said brains are especially good for children. They’re high in protein, high in fats and high in B vitamins that are beneficial to young children whose own brains are still developing. “If you’re raising a young foodie, there is a role for brains in their diet because the fat and the protein in there is excellent for developing brains,” Doerfler said. “For adults who have other sources of saturated fat in their diet, consider this on par with red meat. You would eat them occasionally and consider them as a treat", Chicagotribune wrote down in its article. |
Fried Brain Sandwich Today
Although the local slaughterhouses have disappeared and offal is now an uncommon delicacy, a few restaurants in St. Louis and Evansville, Indiana, still serve brains. However, the first diagnosis of Mad Cow Disease in 1986 motivated the switch from bovine to porcine gray matter. According to food journalist Alton Brown, the modern pork version resembles a fritter on a bun. Some suggest the dish’s lasting popularity has to do with the local German population, but the novelty of eating brains attracts curious diners (and clandestine zombies) from all over, according to Atlasobscura.
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