Oh, you ain't heard nothing yet, Martin. In fact, you practically invited it. I was trying to remember what I've learned about weird St. Louis food. And then I found it. To wit:
Excerpted from:
http://thevitalvoice.com/node/319St Louis’s famous offal sandwich is now all but extinct, but I assure you it did exist in plentiful abundance at one time, long ago in the city of yesteryear. The mighty “Brain Sandwich” is not just an urban myth, but was an actual staple of daily sustenance, not just for St Louisans, but also for those throughout the Ohio River Valley, and other places with large German immigrant populations. From reading the old time recipes for making this antique treat, all I can say is that they must have been delicious for all the work required to produce them.
First the skull must be cracked—no easy feat—even for the slaughterhouse. Then the brain must be cleaned of fibrous membranes and connective tissues. Next, the brain is cut into slices, battered and fried. Serve between bread slices with pickle and onion. Sounds delicious, no? I’ve never eaten one, but a friend’s mother (a lady now in her 80’s) described them to me as “crunchy and sweet.”
“Mad Cow Disease did them in finally”, says Bill Schnitker, sales rep for Kern Meats (one of our city’s top meat wholesalers). “We sold them before Mad Cow Disease hit, but after that the demand dropped off, and they became really expensive, so we just stopped carrying them,” Schnitker added. “The brain is the first thing affected by the disease, so it just kind of makes sense not to eat it.”
Schottzie’s Bar and Grill at 11428 Concord Village still is serving brain sandwiches. Andy Lowe, one of Schottzie’s cooks confirmed the tedious procedure for cleaning the brains. Lowe says “I pick through them, taking out all the little bone pieces and fibers. Then I put them in an egg wash and flour them and make a little patty to fry.” Lowe pronounces them to be “really good, but sometimes a little bit gritty. Some people stopped eating them after the Mad Cow scare, but we still sell a lot of them.”
