Old-School Fried Foods People Don't Eat Anymore

Fried foods get their delicious flavor and crisp texture from the Maillard reaction, during which high temperatures elicit chemical reactions involving sugars, amino acids, and proteins. The result is a tempting, savory flavor and exterior crunchiness that's wholly evident in popular foods like French fries, tempura, fried chicken, falafel, cheese sticks, onion rings, churros, and many other tasty treats. Frying items in hot oil is bound to enhance the flavor profile of just about any food, but that doesn't mean all fried goodies are met with the same level of enthusiasm.

These days, offering a friend or loved one fried liver, brains, or pork scraps is likely to invite questions about whether you're playing an elaborate prank. However, fried versions of these foods once featured heavily in the diets of many Americans, often out of necessity. During tumultuous economic times, people had to seek out more affordable cuts of meat, and frying these cuts with flavorful ingredients like onions or coating them in flour and breadcrumbs converted them into bona fide comfort foods. Though certain fried preparations are looked at as more culinary curiosities today, it's worth remembering that these forgotten, old-school meals once sustained past generations. 

Chicken livers and other organs fall into the category of offal, which has experienced a resurgence thanks to nose to tail cooking philosophies that reduce waste by using as much of an animal as possible. In the past, people consumed nutritious organ meats because they were cheaper and more accessible than other cuts. A versatile ingredient, chicken livers can be made into pâté spreads, added to sauces, and used as stuffing. Fried recipes are considered a staple of Southern cooking traditions, however, and these preparations entail dredging chicken livers in egg and flour before pan-frying them in oil. As for seasonings, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper can be added to flour to enhance the flavor of the breading.

Organ meat is often associated with a potent gaminess that some people find off-putting, but chicken livers have a subtler flavor that features pleasing hints of sweetness. Chicken livers also have a hearty, toothsome texture that benefits from the crispy outer coating you get thanks to the fried batter. It's likely that fried chicken livers have fallen out of favor due to the public's dislike of organ meats in general. And while chicken livers contain considerable amounts of important nutrients like iron and vitamin B12, they're also high in cholesterol. The high cholesterol content makes them nutritionally problematic for people with certain health conditions, especially when fried. 

You'd be hard-pressed to find canned pork brains in American pantries these days, but the ingredient used to be a breakfast staple when paired with eggs. Then there are fried brains, which make the most of the organ's creamy texture by contrasting it with the crispiness of the exterior breading. Fried pork brains go through a similar egg-flour dredging process as fried chicken livers, though some recipes call for panko breadcrumbs to boost the crunchiness of the breading further. For added flavor, you can pair these fried morsels with an herbaceous dipping sauce featuring potent ingredients like garlic and anchovies. 

Along with pork, calf and lamb brains can also be used in fried recipes. Overall, all types of animal brains feature a similar flavor, which can be described as intensely rich and fatty. Animal brains have been considered a delicacy throughout history and remain popular in some parts of the world today. It's also theorized that the consumption of animal brains helped prehistoric humans evolve due to the food's substantial nutritional content, which facilitated human brain growth. While Americans regularly consumed brains up to the mid 1900s, these days the ingredient has become less desirable, especially with all the less challenging, more accessible cuts of meat out there. 

Featured on our list of the bizarre foods you must try before you die, scrapple consists of pork scraps plus cornmeal and seasonings. The term "scraps" is broad, but virtually every part of the pig is fair game when making this dish, from rib tips to liver and other types of offal. As a result, the often-reviled product is quite controversial among modern foodies. Scrapple gained fame in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. thanks to settlers hailing from the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, and other parts of Europe. In fact, a type of German pork pudding called pannhaas (made with meat scraps, buckwheat, and spices) may have influenced the dish.

Because scrapple recipes can vary, it's tough to pin down a uniform flavor. It's said that the food is comparable to sausage, albeit with a more rustic gamey taste, depending on the ratio of offal included in the pork scraps. The texture recalls a fancier food, namely pâté, as scrapple is known for having a bit of grittiness to it. Scrapple is pre-cooked before being packaged, but it's typically pan-fried prior to eating. The pork product retains its old-fashioned reputation, which could explain why this once-common breakfast food is not as prevalent today. The dish is still enjoyed regularly in some locales, particularly in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. 

A once popular food that you won't see many people eating today, fried liver and onion recipes usually feature flour-coated beef liver and some variety of sweet onion plus seasonings. The dish has a rich and varied history, as it's appeared in numerous cuisines from all over the world since ancient times. In the U.S., liver and onions became a dietary staple during the Great Depression and continued to play a significant role in American dining habits through World War II, as it was inexpensive, accessible, and nutritious. These days, the dish is mostly relegated to a nostalgic comfort food among those who enjoyed during childhood. 

Along with beef liver, this dish can also be made with chicken liver, which yields a milder flavor. However, beef liver has a stronger, gamier flavor, with a texture that recalls a cut of steak that's been cooked rare. Because beef liver has such a potent taste, the onions in the dish are meant to add some contrast. That's why most recipes require sweet or yellow onions that temper the gaminess of the meat. As with our other forgotten fried foods, it's likely that liver and onions was a victim of the declining taste for organ meats.