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10 Strange Gourmet Foods
i live in mexico city so huitlacoche is no problem. it's actually a delicacy here that's quite accessible to most as it's found at most quesadilla stands. not quite sure what it tastes like though as usually it's surrounded by lots of cheese and blue corn tortilla.
durian is a delicious, creamy fruit from Asia that has a uniquely pungent smell on the outside.
it has pods inside that break off and, once you open one, expose a buttery kind of texture with a taste that's hmmm hard to describe.
Why New York Pizza Is So Expensive These Days
it's, "due" to gentrification not "do". education
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Dinner Tonight: Lentil and Bacon Soup
nothing new, it's been made that way for ever in mexico. Bacon, cilantro, onion....
for some reason lentil soup here is never a light affair.
it's heavy and thick and often suffices as a meal.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
i live in mexico city so huitlacoche is no problem. it's actually a delicacy here that's quite accessible to most as it's found at most quesadilla stands. not quite sure what it tastes like though as usually it's surrounded by lots of cheese and blue corn tortilla.
durian is a delicious, creamy fruit from Asia that has a uniquely pungent smell on the outside.
it has pods inside that break off and, once you open one, expose a buttery kind of texture with a taste that's hmmm hard to describe.
Why New York Pizza Is So Expensive These Days
it's, "due" to gentrification not "do". education
Paul Newman, as Cool Hand Luke, Eats 50 Eggs
i ate fifty eggs once and then i climbed into a giant elephant made of wax that made a sound like cotton candy exploding in the night.
Dinner Tonight: Lentil and Bacon Soup
OK, great recipe. Just a few changes from my stove:
1) Use Sadaf lentils, they are larger and more effective in soups than the typical grocery kind. IMO they are cheap, approx $1 per pound. BTW, I am not connected to this company.
2) Skip the carrots. Use a red pepper instead.
3) Add garlic.
4) No salt, add cumin.
Dinner Tonight: Lentil and Bacon Soup
Okay, just made it, with my own changes due to what I actually had around (as usual):
5 slices bacon, half turkey stock half water, no carrots, threw some of the scallions into the soup, and oh, red lentils :)
no matter what you do, it's still pretty good!
Made Gourmet's Salt and Pepper Crackers to go with (again, had to change the recipe cause I acidentally threw in too much water and added in cornmeal instead of flour since I didn't want to drag down the flour again - does anyone see a pattern here? lol
Anyway, the two pair really well together. At least in this incarnation...
Dinner Tonight: Lentil and Bacon Soup
mmm .. looks pretty nice
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
also, I can imagine some list of gross foods w/ common western foods.
blue cheese (listed as moldy curdled milk, of course.) or cheese in general (aged, curdled milk?). eggs are a weird concept. fermented foods (aged & soured?) could be seen as pretty gross.
it's all so relative.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
I've been meaning to try huitlacoche - sure, fungus sounds a little weird, until you remember that mushrooms are fungus (and grow in worse stuff than corn!). and i ADORE mushrooms, so I bet i'd love huitlacoche.
i want to try durian. i think i'd try most any thing vegetarian, actually. but,
i don't think i'll ever eat a live animal, and I'd be hesitant w/ some animal products.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
Durian's all right, but I don't like goopy, custardy textures, so I'll have a spoonful now and then, but its not something I go out of my way to have.
Bird's nest soup - not very exciting.
Never had the others, unfortunately, but none of them sound that bad.
@smile:
Rotten food? Without the process of rot we wouldn't have lovely things like cheese, wine, kimchi, etc!
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
A coworker of mine brought some durian in to work for us to try. I only ate a little bit, but another coworker helped himself to a big bite. He later said, "That's not a flavor that I would see out."
I got an equal mix of onion and melon, and hoo boy, did it ever linger.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
I was surprised to see I had eaten 5 of the ten.
Durian--I was underwhelmed. Didn't taste bad...On the other hand, not all that good either.
Live Octopus--both tasty and fun to eat. I like a food that challanges me on the way to my mouth!
Kopi whatever coffee--Again, I was underwhelmed. I'm not a big coffee drinker though, maybe someone more into it would be more excited.
Huitlacoche-I mean, it makes a mean quesadilla--how different is this than a terrific mushroom? Not that much.
Balut--Honestly, if you can get over the visual of seeing the body parts of the fetus, it tastes like a very good egg, maybe even a little creamier
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
@CharmCity- LOL "cat poop coffee"
Perhaps I could convince my furry one to taste some columbian decaf and then follow her around with a baggie. Times are tough.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
i've had kopi luwak! tasted like...really good coffee that i could have gotten at my local roaster for 1/8 the price. should have saved my money for a good steak.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
None of this stuff sounds remotely appealing to me.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
@mh330 - I too was surprised that no gonads made the list. That's usually high on people's "that's not food" list.
I don't see understand why the duck press is so expensive or why they are so hard to get. I've never pressed a duck but I can't imagine its too different from olives, apples, or the number of other things that are routinely pressed. Add duck, apply pressure, no?
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
Some of these sound disturbing (the consumption of live animals is the one thing that I think would be harder to overcome than any other food-culture barrier), but I have to agree with the others who don't find these particularly weird. Although I've never had canard à la rouennaise, I have had hare cooked in similar ways, several times, and it's very good (I'm assuming that it is the blood component that is being identified as weird); I doubt one would know about the presence of blood, without being told.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
I've had bird's nest soup. Yes, it's tasteless so you can't have it plain! It's usually cooked with rock sugar.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
I never understood how poop coffee, tortured animals and rotten food becomes "gourmet".
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
I'm constantly intrigued by the food s of other cultures. We are really so boring and relatively stunted when it comes to diversity in food. So many people (myself included) balk at the thought of eating tongue or head cheese or other parts of an animal that aren't "standard" and pretty. My grandparents were poor; my grandfather from Mexico, and they wouldn't dream of wasting any part of anything. They raised a goat every year for cabrito (then, of course it was a pet, so my uncle sold it and bought another one to be butchered). They cooked ALL of it. My grandma made head cheese and, though I never saw her to know what she did with them, ate the eyes too.
I've since had head cheese that my brother made from wild boar, and told me it was pate'. Yes, we are a loving, lying family. It was delicious.
The maggot cheese scares me.
Live baby octopus gives me pause. It's ALIVE.
Coffee from excrement? Really? Someone must explain.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
In addition to some of the other things on the list, I can speak for the maggot cheese. Technically, casu marzu is from Sardinia, and I've never had it there, but the tradition exists elsewhere. I've eaten it in Molise, Italy, when I worked as a shepherd. Basically, you leave the cheese, preferably with cracks in it, so that a special type of fly can lay its eggs. The maggots hatch, and eat their way through the cheese, digesting it. The way I had it, the original cheese was a firm sheep's milk (pecorino)...once the worms bore through it, it becomes more liquid and intense in flavor. You eat it, maggots and all. And if you love stinky cheese, it's great. Those who grow up with it swear it's the best.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
I'm with the corn fungus crew.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
Alas and alack, I've had none of these and don't even know what they are except for the ones described.
10 Strange Gourmet Foods
WTF maggot cheese? poop coffee? DO NOT WANT.
Why New York Pizza Is So Expensive These Days
It's called "high rent" guys.
Why New York Pizza Is So Expensive These Days
Funny in some areas the prices are the same but the slices are smaller...
Why New York Pizza Is So Expensive These Days
...and if it's *still* cheaper than a Big Mac, you should probably just stop whining.
Why New York Pizza Is So Expensive These Days
Unfortunately, that's the price of popularity.
I live in DC... probably not so different than most other places in America - we all have a local affinity for good pie, but all recognize NY for what it is... the absolute Mecca of Pizza (New Haven-ers will take exception, but for the sheer volume of quality places, NYC's rep is un-toppable).
Why New York Pizza Is So Expensive These Days
Feh. Since there has been a New York, and probably New Amsterdam before it, people have bemoaning how the latest newcomers are ruining their quality of life. The price of everything goes up, it's called inflation, get used to it. Next you'll be saying the subway should cost a nickel or some such old timey nonsuch.
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nothing new, it's been made that way for ever in mexico. Bacon, cilantro, onion....
for some reason lentil soup here is never a light affair.
it's heavy and thick and often suffices as a meal.