“Everybody is going to tell you they taste like chicken. That’s a lie.” So says a local at the Bucket of Blood Saloon in Virginia City, NV, while waiting for the Rocky Mountain Oyster Fry (formerly known as the International Comstock Mountain Oyster Fry) to begin. Traditionalists like ‘em deep-fried but they might also be served with bordelaise sauce or as, gulp, sushi. We don’t recall Hoss or Little Joe riding into Virginia City for a mess of testicle sushi, but times have changed…

The 24th annual Oyster Fry takes place in downtown Virginia City from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Each entrant will receive 40 pounds of beef testicles, and the instructions to the cooks include this line: “We encourage you to get really creative!” Forewarned is forearmed. There’s a good story about the festival in The New York Times. You can also learn more at the festival website.