If you have read some of my previous posts, you will know that I am enjoying being able to try all these new Spanish foods! There have been some that I have enjoyed, some that have been alright and some I plan on never ever eating again.
To give a recap: the one main food I plan on never ever eating again is pig ears. They are chewy, gooey, sticky and taste of old pig. Not my favorite and they do not bring back positive memories.
Recently, I was out to lunch and was enjoying the company of others. I was listening to everyone talk in Spanish and trying to translate in my head. I was paying no attention to the menu just like everyone else.
Eventually, the waitress came to take our orders. Everyone else was able to glance at the menu and know what they wanted. Me on the other hand, I had to translate all these different things on the menu into English.
Finally, when it was my turn to order, I had no idea what to get and felt rushed. I saw ravioli on the menu and thought that that was a safe bet. Right? Pasta stuffed with cheese is pretty simple and how can you mess that up??
So I ordered ravioli and in the meantime we enjoyed some appetizers / tapas while we were waiting for our main food. We had papas bravas, croquetas, fried prawns and bread. Lunch was off to a great start! ( See my “Feed Me” post to read about these foods).
Our main courses finally came out and I was excited to dig into my ravioli. Thinking about how close we are to Italy, I was curious about how good this pasta dish would be!
Well.
I was in for quite a shock.
This ravioli had no cheese in it. At all. Want to know what it was stuffed with? Are you sure? Ok, you asked for it….
It was stuffed with the tendons from pigs feet.
Yep, that’s right.
Pigs feet.
That first bite was so shocking and not at all what I expected. And let me tell you pig feet tendons taste almost exactly like pig ears – slimeness and all.
So picture my newly discovered least favorite food in the entire world being put in between two pieces of thin noodle. HARD. PASS.
I am not able to tell you which was worse, pig ear or pig feet tendons, because they are very similar. They did have some differences though. The pig feet tendons had been cut into very small cubes which made it less chewy than the ears. HOWEVER it seemed to have increased the slime. That was one of the slimiest things I have ever eaten. And not to be too graphic but it felt like I was eating pig snot.
Sounds delicious doesn’t it??
And I need to clarify because I was told ( in Spanish ) that it was the tendon part of the pigs feet. But there were really hard chunks in there too which I was then told was cartilage. How is there cartilage in tendons – I’m not sure. So I feel like I’m missing some vital information. I tried to look it up online but was unsuccessful. I guess pig feet tendons and/or cartilage is not something a lot of people put on the internet …. weird.
Anyways back to my description.
So like I said, imagine eating something with the consistency and taste of fresh pig snot and then throw in some pieces of cartilage which felt like you were eating bones.
I’m honestly surprised I didn’t break or chip a tooth from that.
This is probably a tie with my least favorite foods EVER. Pig ears vs pig feet tendons might be a debate for the ages. Who knows. Chewy gooey old pig ears vs slimy crunchy ( teeth breaking ) pig snot. Seems like a loose loose situation to me.
I’m starting to gag just thinking about it…. are you??
I ate probably half of this pig snot / bone like ravioli trying my hardest not be rude. But I must not have had the poker face I was trying so hard to maintain. Everyone at the table knew I didn’t like it and bless their souls they told me not to eat it.
Forever grateful for this moment. They saw my suffering and so kindly put an end to it.
And again, I’m not trying to be rude or disrespectful. I understand this is a fan favorite in Spain. It is just not for me.
Also, I need to say that that is NOT ravioli and it should not have been advertised as ravioli on the menu. FALSE. ADVERTISING.
In my books, just because you put something between 2 pieces of pasta does not make it a ravioli. They literally put a thin piece of noodle on the bottom of the bowl, added the pig feet tendons on there, threw a thin noodle on top and gave it to me. This is not ravioli.
Ok, I think this rant is coming to an end. I’m nauseous and can taste the pig snot in my mouth right now and I am not well.
If you made it through this whole post, you are a real trouper.
Until next time.
Sincerely,
‘Not a fan of random pig parts’ Hanna
“Ravioli” stuffed with pig feet tendons: 
( 0/5 stars is a generous rating.)