An oyster by any other name

This guy looks like he’s having way too much fun at the Oyster Feed in Ada County, Idaho. Prairie oysters, Montana tendergroins, or cowboy caviar…call them what you want, but you can have them. Just this morning as I walked into work, my friends at the Action Shopper were talking about this Western delicacy. The conversation brought to mind a morning spent with our veterinarian years ago.

After dehorning calves (one of my least favorite jobs) the vet asked if I could give him a hand in the pen with the bull calves. Thinking he wanted me to hold onto them while he worked on the business end castrating them, I was surprised when he handed me a long plastic glove.

“Here, can you hold this while I collect a few of these morsels,” he asked. Knowing he was trying to draw some kind of reaction from me, I assured him it was no problem. Two by two, he dropped the steaming testicles into the plastic glove, all the while telling me about the 101 ways you could prepare these gems.

If you can imagine Forrest Gump listening to Pvt. Bubba Blue’s litany of ways to prepare shrimp, Dr. Bob’s recitation went something like this…”you can peel them, wash them and then roll them in flour and pepper and put them in a pan, or you can deep fry them whole or slice them up”.

In case you were wondering, eating animal genitalia dates back to ancient Roman times when it was believed that eating a healthy animal’s organ might correct some ailment in the corresponding human organ of the male person eating it. Hmmmmm…now what would that suggest about the group of guys waiting for these things down at the Four Mile House?