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3:24 PM
@Rumtscho - See this comment on the brain question- "I Googled that quote and found a wiki article about Monkey Brains. If you're wanting specifically to discuss the brains of monkeys as a cuisine, I think you should include that in the question. Strange as it may seem, the inclusion of monkeys in your question may actually make the question more on topic as a food safety question, and more objectively answerable as a technique question."
@Jefromi
I didn't mention the bizarro factor...
 
3:43 PM
OMG
Monkey brains??
Why not go for the real deal, human brains!
 
Well, that's the thing, isn't it.
The practice of eating monkey brains is found in several countries. It has led to over-hunting in Indonesia, especially due to the belief that eating the monkeys' brain can cure erectile dysfunction. In Western popular culture, the consumption of monkey brains is repeatedly portrayed and debated, often in the context of portraying exotic cultures as exceptionally cruel, callous, and strange. == Consumption == In Africa, the Anyang tribe of Cameroon practices a tradition in which a new tribal chief would consume the brain of a hunted gorilla while another senior member of the tribe would eat the...
 
3:59 PM
@Jolenealaska Yes?
 
Hi, I just wanted to run my comment by a mod.
 
@Jolenealaska I suspect the question is about arbitrary types of brains, not just monkey brains, and that's just the example he found and chose to quote.
Oh, I don't think you need mod permission to state your opinion about what information should be included in a question?
I do agree, if it really is specifically about monkey brains, that's potentially relevant. But the question is fine at this point with or without it.
(in my opinion)
 
It's interesting, because from a food safety standpoint, I think monkey brains would be much more dangerous to humans than say beef brains.
I think it's OK either way too. Thanks for indulging my wonderings.
 
Then again, you can get Creutzfeldt–Jakob's from bovine brains...
 
Yeah, I certainly wouldn't be surprised if there's more risk from some kinds of brains, but... I wouldn't be too confident which ones.
 
4:12 PM
Do you like brains?
Or brain, I should say...
 
Haven't tried!
 
Nor I.
Except perhaps unwittingly.
 
Sweetbreads are OK (although not a favorite), they're supposed to be kind of like brains (which I've never had). They've done goat brains on Chopped, so they can't be all that dangerous.
Check out my most recent experiment :)
0
A: How to make XXL Watermelon Jell-O Shots without falling apart?

JolenealaskaI'm very surprised to say this, but I think you can get reasonable results using just Jello, without the addition of unflavored gelatine. The key is A LOT of Jello. After reading your question I researched the question of "How much gelatin is in a box of Jello?" The only answer I was able ...

 
Presumably using unflavored gelatin lets you get it stable without making it oversweet?
I'm not sure if inedible is "reasonable results", though I guess it would be a little less inedible if it tasted like sugar instead of aspartame...
 
Oh yes, I still stand by the recommendation of tracking down the Knox, but I think it's actually going to be OK with just jello.
I'll know more in a few hours :)
What fruit can you think of that could approximate the watermelon of the original recipe, but be the right size for a 1 box experiment?
 
4:33 PM
Orange slices with orange jello?
Sort of a cheating answer; SOME size of orange must be the right size.
But I don't think you really want to scale it down and still use a whole fruit, you just want to make a small number of watermelon slices, yeah?
You need to make sure it holds up at watermelon slice size.
 
So how could I do that? Hmm...
 
Honestly I'd just try it in a flat-bottomed container.
 
I know!
 
Make it deep enough to be the thickness of a slice then just pull it out and see if you can hold it by one side and it stands up okay.
You could always throw a piece of watermelon rind in there, if you happen to have a watermelon...
 
I don't mind buying a watermelon if I can find one that isn't huge.
I've got a round plastic container that should be just the right size to stick an inch thick slice of rind in there to let it gel. It won't be perfect, but it should be pretty close.
 
4:43 PM
Ah, I wasn't even worried about that, figured you'd just scrape some off the outside no matter what.
Also just saw the correction at the top of the post. 8x the gelatin, wow, that'd really make sure it set strong enough to hold its shape...
 
The thing is that the diameter of the container needs to be pretty small because I only have 160mls of liquid.
It's very rubbery, but strangely the mouth feel is OK.
 
At the correct amount, yeah - I don't think you're using 8x.
 
it's 6X
 
I don't mean 8x normal. The correction was fixing them saying 8x the amount of extra unflavored gelatin.
16oz instead of 2oz.
 
Oh yes...that was a big boo boo.
And an expensive one if anyone actually did it that way.
 
4:57 PM
Can you even dissolve a pound of gelatin in 4 cups of water?
 
Probably not!
How much sugar can you dissolve in a quantity of boiling water? Do you know?
Is there any chance I won't be able to dissolve a box of regular Jello into 80ml water and 80 ml vodka?
 
I looked up amount of water for blooming, this page says 1/4 cup water for 2 tsp powdered, which would mean you need 4.5L for a pound...
 
OOPS :)
8cups (so including the vodka) would be 1.9L.
 
So not even enough to bloom, it'd be like... kinda expanded and clumpy.
And some of it still dry.
 
5:15 PM
Can you imagine how mad you'd be after wasting more than a bottle of vodka, 2 boxes of jello and a pound of gelatin? That stuff isn't cheap.
 
5:27 PM
Yeah, that's pretty bad. Probably at least $30, depending on the brand of vodka and whether you got a good deal on the gelatin.
Likely more like $40-50...
I guess it's not exactly a waste, you can just go back and buy 7 more watermelons and invite a looooot more people.
 
heeheee...I don't know exactly why, but that really struck my funny bone. :)
 
 
2 hours later…
7:07 PM
I started to put this as a comment to @rumtscho 's answer on the brain question, and I still might. Comments anyone?
"I'm intrigued by the monkey brain angle as it relates to CJD and other prion diseases. Brains of animals that are frequently eaten in our respective cultures (yours and mine) are considered food. The risk of contracting prion disease from eating lamb brain is very low. We know that Mad Cow Disease in cattle is strongly linked to the cattle being fed cattle. It begs an interesting question."
Is it significantly riskier to eat the brains of an animal so closely related to ourselves?
If the Wiki article is to be believed, a lot of monkey brains are in fact eaten by people.
 
 
1 hour later…
8:23 PM
There's a big difference between eating the same species and a species separated by 29 million years of evolution
 
8:36 PM
Also, I'm not loving your salt idea jojo
why ruin lovely smooth ice cream with tooth-breakingly crunchy shards of caramel?
Personally I'd make a salted caramel to ripple through it
then you don't have to worry about using Maldon, as well
 
 
3 hours later…
11:14 PM
@ElendilTheTall I don't want tooth breaking, I just want crunch. That's a quality in my favorite salted caramel that I just love.
 

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