Hormone debut

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A couple of days ago, my boss asked me if I was willing to go grab a few drinks after work. He took me to an eatery near our workplace where they sold “Hormone Yaki*” I was quite surprised to find a restaurant that had grilled-hormone in the neighborhood, but then my eyes caught sight of the brandnew tables and chairs in the restaurant. The owner said that they opened just three months ago.

(*Hormone Yaki: broiled pieces of pig innards.)

I heard on TV a few days ago that “hormone” is all the rage these days. I looked around while thanking my boss for taking me to such a hot place. What struck me the most was the presence of so many ladies. Up until a while ago, “hormone” had a “only middleaged guys ate it at barbecue restaurants” image. Now, I hear that it is so popular with the ladies that a new word had to be created – “hormonienne” just like Parisienne!

By the way, in case you are wondering what “hormone” is, it actually signifies the small and large intestines of animals, but has now expanded to imply other visceral organs such as liver and heart. Since the visceral organs have a peculiar smell, they have to be really fresh otherwise it is difficult to eat them.

On that day, at my hormonienne debut, I ordered what the owner recommended – char grilled hormone set and “Motsu-Nabe” – a hotpot containing mostly visceral organs. Hormone set had different parts on a stick and they were grilled to perfection with salt, and the flavor obtained by grilling them on charcoal went perfectly with the salt. Motsu-Nabe also had a very easy-to-eat consistency and was absolutely amazing. I was initially not too gung-ho about eating the visceral organs and especially the liver, but I wiped my plate clean!

Hormone has a nice, meaty flavor, but is comparatively lower in calories than other forms of red meat and has plenty of collagen. So why don’t you, dear reader, eat hormon too: your skin will become beautiful!!