They really do look like dinosaur toes, don’t they? They are actually goose barnacles, called percebes in Spanish, and I have been dying to try them ever since I first heard about them. Why? Well, why the hell not? Recently I heard that one of my favourite seafood tapas bars – La Moneda – has been serving percebes and I asked them if they could let me know the next time they got some in. Turned out that was today! Not the best timing as Peter and I had just stopped off for a couple of tapitas with my familia at Bodeguita Romero – celebrating my shiny new laptop purchase (more on that later!) – and after our second tapa I got a Twitter message from Isidro that the percebes had landed.
So we high-tailed it out of the Bodeguita and headed over to La Moneda, with new laptop slung over shoulder – luckily it was only about a five-minute walk away – and upon arrival a plate of steaming percebes were placed in front of us. My first reaction was “eep! now what?” but Isidro quickly instructed us on how to eat them. You grab them at each end and then give them a sharp twist and a yank, after which the “claw” of the toe pulls away with a delectible morsel of deliciousness dangling off the end of it. What Isidro failed to mention was how squirty they are! At the first twist water shot out everywhere (usually all over me!) and I never did manage to get as clean a severing between claw and toe as Isidro did. But man! These guys are very tasty – not to mention prohibitively expensive! – but Isidro gave me a deal since it was my first time.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
casa azahar 
My son is going through a dinosaur obsessive phase, so we enjoyed this photo. And they sound like fun to eat, too! Great to hear about another weird and wonderful marisco. I must come on one of your new market tours to learn about more of them.
LikeLike
The Market & Tapas Tours will be starting in September and I’ll probably be doing one more “trial run” if you’d like to come along.
LikeLike
A young man toward whom I felt no romantic interest whatever used to snip a rose from his mother’s climbers and bring it to me every morning in tenth grade. I didn’t have the finesse at that age to tell him gracefully that he should stop, but I didn’t want to carry tnem around all day so I used to eat them meditatively, like lollipops. The red ones are the tangiest, orange ones have a heartier flavor like cheddar, and the big white peace roses are faint and sweet, like iceberg lettuce.
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
The oddest thing I ever ate was Sea Cucumber – an experience I hope never to repeat.
LikeLike
Did it taste bad?
LikeLike
Absolutely revolting – and the texture was even worse. And we had to eat it because we didn’t want to lose face.
LikeLike
Eeew. Bet you’d like dinosaur toes though…
LikeLike
The weirdest thing? Err…. probably duck tongues.
I *could* have tried sea cucumber, but I… er… say, wasn’t ready for it. But sea food and me is a long and winding history.
LikeLike
What were duck tongues like? At the market they sell packets of lamb tongues – not sure if I’m up for those either.
LikeLike
I think lamb (or beef, or pork) tongue is quite different (and also very tasty). For one thing, they look like tongues 😉
What duck tongues are like? Hmm… They looked like a curious contraption with meat at one end. Ah, here’s a picture which looks like the ones I’ve had:
The intrinsic taste I cannot really describe, because of their preparation (a nice Chinese spiced marinade). The texture was delicate. Overall, I enjoyed the dish, once I stopped thinking “these are duck tongues these are duck tongues omg quack quack duck tongues I’m eating duck tongues”.
LikeLike
Elephant and Springbok jerky, back in the days before we know elephant was … Well. You know. shouldn’t be eaten.
“Four Kinds Snake Soup”, a canned product which is pretty self-explanatory.
100-year-old eggs.
Abalone
Jellyfish
Sea Cucumber
Water Buffalo
Cat-tail root
A gigantic fuzzy moth, accidentally. Not as appetizing as it sounds.
Probably more. I just can’t think of what.
LikeLike