I’d like to get one thing straight off the bat–most of the meats on this list aren’t that weird, nor are they that uncommon, but as rich and spoiled Americans, we are used to living “high on the hog.” This term, which, incidentally, refers to the upper sub-primal portions of the pig where the more desirable cut (like the loin and shoulder) are located. Our grandparents gobbled down head cheese, livers, and kidneys with abandon, and physically fought their siblings over fried brains. (True story). As a farm kid, I chowed down on the unmentionables of our beloved farm animals, and loved every liver-infused moment, so I’m stoked to see weird meat getting so much love on menus in Chicago. For those of you who are tentative or scared about putting strange foods in your mouth, let’s start out easy with animals you’ve at least heard of and that you’ve probably consumed.
The Purple Pig is the Mecca, the Jerusalem, or the Vatican when it comes to amazingly-prepared odd bits of animal in Chicago, and worth the 3-4 hour wait for a table (Or is it 5 now? Still worth it). Try their pork bone rillettes; rillette is meat cooked and cooled in its own fat. It’s like meat mayo. If that sounds delicious to you, try their roasted bone marrow–that’s like meat-flavored butter. Don’t leave without trying the pig’s tails, an adorably tasty plate that you will be begging to lick clean.
If I would have known how great goat tastes when I was 10, I wouldn’t have cried so much when I came home after school to find my pet goat Audra as roadkill next to our driveway. I would have scraped her up and taken her to the grill for an impromptu barbecue. Goats are like sheep, only smarter, with the swagger of a rock star and the jaws of a great white shark. And the taste is similar to lamb, only richer, and, oh, I don’t know “goatier.” Try it, you’ll see what I mean. The Girl And The Goat lives up to its name, not only featuring anywhere from 5-7 goat dishes at a time on the menu, but killing it on every single one of them. Also, there is a menu item called “Pig’s Face.” Do I need to say more?
If you like your weird meat with a cocktail on the side, check out the pig’s ears at Billy Sunday in Logan Square, and wash them down with cocktails that include ingredients the likes of which I have never heard. And while you’re in the neighborhood, pop over to Scofflaw for their chicken liver pate and some craft gin concoctions.
For a real adventure in weird meat eating, head up Milwaukee to the Kurowski Sausage Shoppe, where they offer sausages of many different cures, flavors, and ingredients. What’s so weird about sausage, you ask? Well, no one in the Kurowski Sausage Shoppe (2976 N. Milwaukee) speaks English, so it’s pretty much a game of pointing at the sausage you think looks tasty, and holding up your fingers to indicate how many you want. I have yet to have a bad sausage there (well, unless you count the blood sausage, and I feel like blood sausage is not REAL sausage, amirite, Chicagoans?), and I have yet to find an English-speaking employee, although I have found many very friendly non-English speaking ones.
It’s easy to be scared of meat that isn’t a breast, loin or steak of some kind, but Chicago boasts such an impressive resume of chefs that it should also be easy to try something new and something strange, because it is most likely something extraordinary. Your grandma likes it. You will, too.
Link to featured image: http://www.yelp.com/biz/kurowskis-sausage-shop-chicago
