The Raw Brains Taste Test

Watch a BuzzFeed editor eat goat, lamb, pig, chicken, and baby cow brains to determine which is tastiest.

Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CGjm9KVGkS4.

2. BuzzFeed Food foraged for animal brains by contacting various NYC meat purveyors.

The chicken and goat brains came from Mandani Halal. The pig and lamb brains came from Fleischer’s Grassfed and Organic Meats. The calf brains came from Pat LaFrieda.

3. Then BuzzFeed editor Gavon Laessig ate them. First he started with the chicken brains.

This is a pile of 5 chicken brains.

TASTING NOTES
“Spongey, not very sticky. It just tastes like fat, like chicken fat. It definitely has a chicken flavor to it but it tastes like chicken skin. Really not bad at all.”

(BuzzFeed Food editors wouldn’t let Gavon consume the chicken brains raw because salmonella is a real thing. So these brains were the only that were cooked.)

4. Note also that chicken brains are small. Smaller, in fact, than the chicken’s eyes.

5. Next up, lamb brains.

TASTING NOTES
“Very gelatinous. There’s no resistance at all. It’s not chewy or rubbery. The flavor is reminiscent of sashimi. You definitely get a protein-y flavor. The mouthfeel is very unique — it’s unlike anything I’ve had before.”

6. Then goat brains.

TASTING NOTES
“There’s a flavor but it’s very faint, and it’s not recognizable or comparable to anything I’ve ever had before. It’s very odd.”

7. Pig brains.

TASTING NOTES
“The mouthfeel is almost identical to the goat and the lamb. Unlike the other brains, I’m getting an aftertaste. It actually tastes like pork. Who would’ve thought?”

8. Finally, THE WINNER: Calf brains

TASTING NOTES
“I don’t know if it’s because it’s cow or because it was just better packaged than the rest, but it’s much firmer. It does have some snap-back to it when you bite into it. Very clean finish. If I had to eat any of these again, I think I’d eat the calf.”

9. Conclusion: This was far more disgusting in concept than in execution.

10. Well, except for this part.

Gavon almost choked on some skull bits. Watch the video, you’ll see.