blowing brains

blowing brains
 n.— «On Nov. 28, Dr. DeVries’s boss, Dr. Ruth Lynfield, the state epidemiologist, toured the plant. She and the owner, Kelly Wadding, paid special attention to the head table. Dr. Lynfield became transfixed by one procedure in particular, called “blowing brains.” As each head reached the end of the table, a worker would insert a metal hose into the foramen magnum, the opening that the spinal cord passes through. High-pressure blasts of compressed air then turned the brain into a slurry that squirted out through the same hole in the skull, often spraying brain tissue around and splattering the hose operator in the process. The brains were pooled, poured into 10-pound containers and shipped to be sold as food—mostly in China and Korea, where cooks stir-fry them, but also in some parts of the American South, where people like them scrambled up with eggs.» —“A Medical Mystery Unfolds in Minnesota” by Denise Grady in Austin, Minnesota New York Times Feb. 5, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)