Rocky Mountain Oysters: the “oysters” that doesn’t come from the ocean.

Here we are:

If they are speaking about Rocky Mountain oysters, Cowboy caviar, or Prairie oysters, they not speak about a dish that come from the ocean. In fact, these “oysters” come from the underside of a bull. In American West and Western Canada, castrate the bulls for eating their testicles for legendary snacking is usual. Most gourmands enjoy their testicles battered, fried, and served with ketchup, cocktail sauce, hot sauce, or mayonnaise.

The oysters come from a necessary process in the cattle industry, in fact castrating bulls is important for controlling the bovine population and limiting aggressive behavior. Moreover, some cattle owners wait to see if they would like to breed their animals, so there are a variety of sizes of bull testicles. Cooks normally tend to slice bigger balls before frying, while the smaller ones can be battered and fried whole. People who love Rocky Mountain oysters describe them like a texture akin to calamari, with a light flavor halfway between chicken and venison.

No one know if the recipe was born from a will to don’t waste any food, or a funny cowboy joke, but americans are proud of their “oysters”. Exists in fact one Montana cookbook that offers 74 recipes for cooking the balls. There is also a Testicle festivals, or “Testy Fests,” where Rocky Mountain oysters also abound, and with cheeky themes like “Legends of the Ball,” “The Original Sack Lunch,” and “Nuttin’ Better,” guests can enjoy all-you-can eat “oysters” or watch live testicle-eating competitions.
There are lot of different ways to find the testicles: for example at Coors Field, in Denver, Colorado, where Rockies’ games consistently offer the snack. Or, nearby at Wynkoop Brewery, where there is the Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout, a beer brewed with two BPB (i.e. two bull balls per barrel).
A curiosity…in these zones, at the bar, the singular of prairie oysters, a “prairie oyster” is a cocktail made with raw egg yolk and popular as a hangover cure! Be careful, if you want order the balls….! 😀