Talk:Rocky Mountain oysters

Cows testicles?

Cows are female surely?

I removed "Or Cows" as the cattle page clearly states that "Cow" is an exchangeable term when there is ambiguity, e.g. look at that cow! Well, we are talking about Bovine testicles which specifically means Bulls. 68.102.171.147 (talk) 06:15, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I agree, kind of. That said, it is quite common to refer to cattle as cows. But when talking about only male cattle, then the word "cow" should not be used. That said, the term "bull" refers to mature male cattle. I know of nobody who usually waits until a calf matures before castrating it. Since a primary reason for castrating is to make the meat less tough, why would one wait to castrate the animal until it gets tough? 65.68.190.213 (talk) 03:56, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

In Mexico

In Mexico, in culinary jargon, they are called "Criadillas", and not "Huevos de toro" which would be the slang version (in Mexican slang, testicles, even human, are referred to as "huevos")

Hangover cure?

Is it just me or did anyone else think this was a hangover cure involving raw egg yolk and lee and perrins?? ARTooD2 22:03, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

I've heard that too. Wasn't that in an episode of Cowboy Bebop? I wonder if it has been referenced elsewhere...

Prairie Oysters

No, it is not just you:

I raised my eyebrows at 'Prairie Oysters' being listed as these testicle dishes. Indeed, in the play 'Cabaret', very well-known, two glasses of 'Prairie Oysters' are whisked up on stage and consumed, and are described by one of the actors as "Just a raw egg whooshed around in some Worcester sauce".

I think 'Prairie Oysters' should be removed from this list unless justification is obtained.

What is this comment all about? I was surprised to find that the page wasn't titled 'Prarie Oysters'. That is the only name I have ever heard them called. Who ever speaks of a "Rocky Mountain" oyster? I always assumed prarie oyster was the most dominant name of any variants. Maybe they call them something different outside of Canada though...

☭ Zippanova 06:01, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I have never heard them called 'Prairie Oysters' either. Here in Oklahoma we either call them calf fries, hog fries or lamb fries (depends on what kind of testicle we're talking about here). We also call them Mountain Oysters or Rocky Mountain Oysters. T. White 09:10, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

A simple google search can confirm that it's a common enough name. 216.135.89.138 16:10, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

I've never once heard the term "Prairie Oyster" used as a form of bull testicles. Every time I've heard the phrase, it's been an anti-hangover concoction. I've heard Rocky Mountain Oysters as testicles, but never Prairie Oysters. Just my two cents on the issue. -24.27.62.134 04:31, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

I lived in Wyoming and Colorado, both places calling them "Rocky Mountain Oysters." For whatever reason, I did not see this food discussed when i lived in California. However I HAVE heard of "Prairie Oysters," one time, in some early Simpsons/Bart related book that was filled with all sorts of sillyness. 74.128.56.194 (talk) 23:26, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

I've never heard of Rocky Mountain Oysters, Prairie Oysters is the term here in Canada, heck there's even a band named after them. I was also surprised by the title of the page. To me cattle are associated with the prairies (ie flat land) so it's odd to me to hear Rocky Mountain - at least on this side of the 49th most animals there are wild. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.87.98.31 (talk) 21:46, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Illustration

They're not too common here in the UK. In fact I've never seen one (except in its uncooked, attached state). Is it possible for anyone to put an illustrative photograph on this article? --JamesTheNumberless 14:10, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

- Well if you want to vomit, a finger would be a better choice than seeing a photo of baked boar's balls. 83.20.100.114 19:05, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

The provided picture is very irrelevant as the article stated at the beginning "They are usually peeled, coated in flour, pepper and salt, sometimes pounded flat, then deep-fried." The picture is "Testicles prepared for satay in Jakarta" It is testicles of goats and served barbecued. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.158.40.82 (talk) 05:50, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

Worldwide

This article is SO wrong for countries outside the US.

It's totally not true to say that in all other countries testicles have different names, or that it's a matter of confusion to call Sheep's testicles "mountain oysters" - both lamb and goat testicles have been going by that name in New Zealand for decades (since before the second world war as far as I'm aware, so it's not that likely to have migrated from the US). The term pops up in a number of travel guides, both online and in print, and was recently used in the film Black Sheep.

Sweetmeats in Commonwealth countries is an old term for sweets (like, desserts/candy), sometimes confused with sweetbreads which refers to the pancreas. Sweetmeats has never referred to cooked testicles except by mistake AFAIK.

I believe that because of the demand for Rocky Mountain Oysers at tourist joint in the states, a number of other cattle producing countries ship them over, including New Zealand, Australia and Costa Rica. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.111.249.157 (talk) 01:08, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Wait wait...

Before we go any further, let me clarify that we do not eat testicles here in California. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vayne (talk • contribs) 06:43, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I am from California and can confirm this fact. They do not eat testicles in California.

No! That's not true. I'm in Burbank, California and the closest supermarket to me does in fact carry testicles, also known as criadillas. Obviously somebody is eating them and the above comments are false.

Obviously you first two are lying. All they do in San Francisco is eat testicles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.38.118.110 (talk) 18:56, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

F***ing LOL! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.168.131.203 (talk) 02:18, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

used as barter

In my father's generation (first half of 20th century) the term 'mountain oysters' was used in northern Missouri even though there are no mountains there. If a man was hired for a half day or day to help at a family farm that was castrating a lot of swine that day, he might be offered the testicles as pay, instead of cash. Publius3 (talk) 11:26, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

it wasn't really 'nonsense' that Macrakis removed

Macrakis removed the following text, saying it was 'nonsense': "When you eat a Rocky Montain Oyster, you are eating part of an animal that is still alive. This is not true for any other popular North American food."

Although poorly worded -- and perhaps not accurate -- this is not nonsense. It can be understood to mean that when you eat one of these things, the animal from which it was cut is still itself alive.

Someone may wish to re-word this and restore it. To be strictly accurate, a reworded version would need to say that the animal from which testicles had been cut _might_ still be living at the time the testicles were cooked and eaten. (In fact, typically -- but not always -- the animal would still be living.) Perhaps more to the point editorially, no citation has been provided to establish factuality that this situation is unique. Apparently the writer could not think of any other example, but that alone does not establish uniqueness. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Publius3 (talk • contribs) 14:45, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

The text in question seemed to say that the part of the animal was still alive (as with oysters, say). That of course would be nonsense. I think what the writer intended was that "the part is removed without killing the animal" (not great wording either, but at least unambiguous). Which is true. I suppose someone could reword this passage to get rid of the "you" and make it unambiguous. --Macrakis (talk) 18:14, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

thoughts of a Westerner

That part about the animal's being alive is kinda interesting . . . hadn't thought of that. And is this dish really 'offal'? Given the definition, which includes entrails, which it ain't, and internal organs, which it ain't (quite, quite external!), maybe not . . . . Don't mind me . . . i'm from Colorado! And . . . i'm thinkin' the folks from New York might want to add another article about "Prairie Oysters" as referenced in "Cabaret," the hangover cure, egg in Worcestershire sauce. (Oh yum!) Betswiki(talk) 17:28, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Futurama reference

In the episode of Futurama entitled, The Problem With Poplars, Leela claims that the name Tasticles sounds too much like "those frozen Rocky Mountain oysters on a stick, testsicles." I don't really know if it's article-worthy (maybe a pop-culture reference) so I just thought I'd mention it here. JediRogue (talk) 08:27, 4 May 2008 (UTC)'

But what are they actually like to eat?

Taste, texture, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.191.115.238 (talk) 05:58, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Ever had a chicken nugget? --209.161.52.114 (talk) 13:20, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Nothing like a chicken nugget. I would say texture and taste is a bit like a cross between fried chicken gizzards, beef tongue, and beef liver. Best served with ketchup and grilled onions if available. Bull fries, rocky mountain oysters, prairie fries, bull nuts, bull cojones, are all good terms.Flight Risk (talk) 23:40, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Prairie Oyster??

Why isn't this term more prominent, I've never heard them called RockyMountain oysters. Heck there's a band named after Prairie Oysters. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.90.93.21 (talk) 22:14, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

This is the only term I've ever heard used here in Canada. There's even a band named after them. Never heard of the drink. I was wondering why prairie oysters wasn't listed as an alternative name in th lead.

Never have I heard a calf fry referred to as a prairie oyster. A prairie oyster is an egg, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, sometimes in a beer, that you drink for a hangover. It has nothing to do with nuts.

I agree. While someone, somewhere, might mistakenly call these prairie oysters, it is definitely undue weight to mention it in the lead sentence as a well-known alternative. The vast majority of reliable sources for the term "prairie oyster" refer to the drink; in fact, I actually can't find a single one that refers to bovine testicles. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 22:19, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

The Oxford Companion to Food gives 'prairie oyster' as one of many euphemisms for testicles as food. The Oxford English Dictionary gives both the drink and the testicles as definitions of 'prairie oyster'. --Macrakis (talk) 22:57, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

In Canada this is exclusively the term used. Let's not let ourselves be completed overwhelmed by US English, other places use different terms and this is a global encyclopedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.87.98.31 (talk) 21:51, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Merge

A proposal has been on this page since May 2008 to merge Animelles here. After 18 months with not the slightest bit of discussion, I have removed the tag without merging. They seem to be different (if similar) dishes and there's no harm in having separate articles (just as we do with jiaozi, mandu (dumpling), and buuz). The other article remains an unreferenced stub; if anyone wishes to improve upon it or reopen the merge proposal here, please feel free. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 22:29, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Since there was no discussion, I take it the proposal is unopposed. I have completed the merger of Rocky Mountain oysters, animelles, and lamb fries, and added reliable sources. I believe the appropriate name for this article is Testicles (food), as all the other names are really just euphemistic nicknames. --Macrakis (talk) 22:53, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Actually, there is discussion - I just posted my point of view, above, after more than a year of nobody saying anything. As I said, if you disagree, feel free to re-tag the articles and start a new proposal. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 18:48, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Your 'discussion' above appeared to be neutral on the question of merging -- just removing the tag because there had been no discussion. I'm not sure I understand your objections to a unified treatment of testicles as food. If it turns out that individual dishes are distinctive enough to merit articles, fine, they can be split off at the appropriate time. But "Rocky Mountain oysters" and "animelles" are not dishes, just nicknames for an ingredient. As WP is not a dictionary, we don't organize things by name, but by subject.

For that matter, should we also have separate articles on beef liver, calves liver, lamb liver, pork liver, chicken liver, etc.? (Fattened duck and goose liver are of course a special case...)

--Macrakis (talk) 21:04, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

We do organize things by name. If they're different dishes, yes, we can have separate articles. Have a look at the literally dozens of articles on sausage. Or different cuts of meat. Or kinds of cookies. Or on various steamed/fried dumplings, as I noted in my reason for not merging. Each has its own name, and its own article. "Testicles" is not a food term in the same way "chicken" or "liver" are. "Rocky Mountain Oysters" is a term, and it isn't the same thing as animelles. Animelles may include Rocky Mountain Oysters, but Rocky Mountain Oysters do not include animelles. If anything, this should be merged there because it's the more inclusive term. But this dish has plenty of sources to stand on its own.

WP:DICDEF doesn't really apply here. Those articles are stubs, not dictionary definitions. They are written to discuss the subject, not the word. See the "major differences" section of that guideline to see what I mean. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 02:27, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

(undent)

Not sure why you refer to WP:NAME -- it doesn't talk at all about organization, only about how to name an article once the organization is decided. There are of course dozens of kinds of sausage, but there is also a main article on sausage and not a separate one on saucisse (well, there is one about a dog named Saucisse), wurst, salsiccia, or bangers (which is just a British name for various varieties of sausage; but there is an article on bangers and mash, which is a dish). "Rocky Mountain oysters" are not a dish prepared with testicles, but a nickname for testicles. Similarly, "animelles" and "rognons blancs" are just French names for testicles, not the name of a specific dish. True, Rocky Mountain oysters are often breaded and deep-fried, but there are other ways to cook them. --Macrakis (talk) 17:17, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I refer to WP:NAME because articles are titled based on commonly used terms, not terms made up by Wikipedians (like "Testicles (food)"). Nobody says, "I'll have a plate of testicles, please." So that's not an acceptable title for the article. It doesn't matter that there's more than one recipe; "Rocky Mountain oysters" is a dish, not a nickname for testicles in general. Rocky Mountain oysters are not lamb fries, and lamb fries are not Rocky Mountain Oysters. There are many different ways to prepare a pork tenderloin, but the article is about the cut of meat. A pork tenderloin is not the same as a beef tenderloin. Regardless of the recipes that might be used, they are from different animals and are not the same thing. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 18:06, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I am not quite sure which ones of the following things you are saying:

1. "Rocky Mountain oyster" is the common name for bull testicles used as food, regardless of whether they are fried, fricasseed, or whatever.
2. "Rocky Mountain oyster" is the name of particular dish made of bull testicles (apparently breaded and deep-fried), excluding other dishes like fricassees.
3. Bull testicles deserve their own article, separate from a possible animal testicles as food article, because they have a common nickname, and animal testicles don't.
4. There is no reason to have a common article about animal testicles as food, the way we have Liver (food).
5. "Lamb fries" refers to ram testicles in general, not a particular dish of fried lamb testicles.
6. "Animelles" refers to lamb testicles in general (in English).

Could you please clarify so that we can argue about the right thing :-) ? Thanks, --Macrakis (talk) 19:37, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Sure. All of the above. Whichever you like. I'd kind of combine #1 and #2 into "Rocky Mountain oysters is the common name for bull testicles eaten as food, typically fried but with possible variant recipes" (which is basically what the article already says, and has said since the beginning) but it doesn't really matter. I'm not interested in this subject, but if even one of those statements you listed is true, it's enough not to merge the articles. Or at least to open a new discussion with some editors who do want to discuss it, rather than just merging them all unilaterally. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 20:21, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

OK, well, I will work on a Testicle (food) article without merging. I suspect that we'll find that 90% of what is said in that article applies equally to bull and ram testicles, and maybe even rooster testicles (cf. the Oxford Companion to Food article on testicles), and we can reopen the relationship among the articles at that time. --Macrakis (talk) 15:43, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Take a look at testicle (food), which is a pretty well-sourced summary (with Animelles merged in). By the way, it would be nice to get some better sources in this article, which is sourced mostly from non-reliable sources such as random blogs. --Macrakis (talk) 21:53, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

The Joy of Cooking gives 'mountain oyster' as one of the names for lamb testicles, so perhaps your claim above (that RMO=bull and not lamb) is a bit shaky. Joy is surely a rather mainstream American cooking reference (though a bit dated of course). Interestingly, this edition at least (unclear which one it is) doesn't mention bull testicles or the name ' Rocky mountain oysters' at all. --Macrakis (talk) 16:07, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

As you say, it doesn't mention Rocky Mountain oysters at all. So I don't see the relevance to this discussion. Are you suggesting that Lamb fries should be moved to "mountain oysters"? That seems unlikely to succeed if you're just basing it on a single source, but if that's what you have in mind you should suggest it there, not here. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 02:05, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

No, I'm not suggesting that lamb fries be moved to 'mountain oysters' based on the above. I'm suggesting that the terminology is much less settled than one might think. (And "fry" refers to lots of kinds of offal.) Interesting, too, that "Rocky Mountain oyster" was much less common than "mountain oyster" until the 1970's. Even today, "mountain oysters" is more common than "Rocky Mountain oysters" (note that Google ngrams takes case into account, and that I've searched for case variants to exclude 'mountain oysters' being found as part of the longer expression 'Rocky Mountain oysters'). On the other hand, I haven't read those passages to see if there's more evidence about what exactly they're referring to. --Macrakis (talk) 05:40, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Rocky Mountain Oysters

Where i am from in Idaho, Utah, Colorado and the Wyoming area i was raised calling calf testicles "Rocky Mountain Oysters". When i was young we would castrate our bull calves and throw the testicles in five gallon buckets and then later peel and deep fry the testicles for a late lunch after castrating. They are a very fine meat that when breaded and deep fried are very tasty. As for the meat that makes up a testical, being still alive, that is a myth that i have never heard of. Meat that is detached from it's blood supply is surely going to die.166.230.216.103 (talk) 04:56, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Here in the Texas Panhandle, the term "Calf Fries" is used far more often than "Rocky Mountain Oysters". I know some people who really like calf fries with cream gravy and biscuits for breakfast. Also, before now I never heard anyone refer to lamb fries as Rocky Mountain Oysters in either Texas, Oklahoma, or New Mexico. The term has always been used to refer to testicles from bull calves. By the way, on the main page it refers to calf fries as being only from young calves. In reality, it would be rare to castrate adult bulls -- I'm sure it happens on rare occasion but I've never seen it done. We usually castrated ours at about 300 to 400 pounds and the testicles were calf fries. 2001:1890:1263:AFD:F81B:80A8:EDBD:853E (talk) 19:15, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Suggested Page Addition.

I think it would serve us all quite well to add in a section stating, very simply, that over time and region these terms have meant very different things, and its an ongoing slang, not a fixed definition. There are a number of human-oriented wordsthat do this, but I cant figure out exactly how i should source for this.

74.128.56.194 (talk) 23:32, 27 June 2011 (UTC)