Insider Tip: In Canada, Rocky Mountain oysters are known as prairie oysters, just in case you ever get a hankering for a few while traversing the land of the Canucks.
|
|
Local traditions for the race include the second to last table supplying runners with "Prairie Oysters" should they be hungry, and a polar bear club after the race, in the Bell River for those who are brave enough.
|
|
Rocky Mountain Cuisine is a cuisine of Alberta and British Columbia in Canada; Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana in the United States. Some distinguishing dishes include bison and Rocky Mountain oysters, or Prairie Oysters as they are known in Canada.
|
|
Known as 'prairie oysters' in Canada, they are normally served deep-fried and breaded, with a demi-glace. The dish is especially popular in parts of Canada, where cattle ranching is prevalent and castration of young male animals is common.
|
|
In English, testicles are known by a wide variety of euphemisms, including "stones", "Rocky Mountain oysters", "prairie oysters" and sweetbread.Oxford English Dictionary s.v. 'stone' 11a, 'mountain' and 'prairie oyster' 2 Lamb testicles are often called 'lamb fries' or simply fries (though that may also refer to other organ meats).Oxford English Dictionary, s.v.
|
|
Fried-brain sandwiches are a specialty in the Ohio River Valley. Rocky Mountain oysters, "prairie oysters", or "turkey fries" (beef testicles) are a delicacy eaten in some cattle-raising parts of the western US and Canada. Offal dishes from many other cultures exist but the appeal is usually limited to the immigrant communities that introduced the dish. For example, chopped liver, lungen stew, and beef tongue (especially as used by Kosher delis) in American Jewish culture, or menudo in Mexican-American culture.
|
|
Other parts that are eaten include other muscles and offal, such as the oxtail, liver, tongue, tripe from the reticulum or rumen, glands (particularly the pancreas and thymus, referred to as sweetbread), the heart, the brain (although forbidden where there is a danger of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, commonly referred to as mad cow disease), the kidneys, and the tender testicles of the bull (known in the United States as calf fries, prairie oysters, or Rocky Mountain oysters). Some intestines are cooked and eaten as is, but are more often cleaned and used as natural sausage casings. The bones are used for making beef stock. Meat from younger cows (calves) is called veal.
|
|