Extreme Cuisine & Strange Ingredients

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:35 am

I've had this prepared in an Indian restaurant and it was... *ahem* edible... but that's all I'm willing to praise it with

It wasn't fantastic, and I wouldn't order it again. Definitely an acquired taste (and one I'm not planning on acquiring any time soon).

ChoChiyo · Post by **ChoChiyo** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:21 am

Shades of PBGotHI!!!!

I made instant oatmeal for lunch today at school....threw in a handful of dried cherries for flavor and texture....

When I had eaten all but the last couple of bites, I saw something odd on the side of the bowl. Closer inspection revealed a very small, segmented, worm like creature that had died a grizzly radiation death.

I have no idea how many (if any) of his kin I consumed.

I was disgusted but did not puke.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:25 am

You should have eaten it, you need your protein you know.

ChoChiyo · Post by **ChoChiyo** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:30 am

ewwww

Post by **Darb** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 8:15 am

Blahahahah !

Don't worry Cho ... meal worms are not only harmless, they're actually very nutritious.

I did the same thing many times back in college, when I didn't keep as sharp an eye on the integrity of my dried stores. I store everything (except straight pasta) in vaccum-sealed glass now ... no more vermin.

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 8:24 am

Isnâ€™t it funny how life mirrors fiction â€“ Oatmeal de Wraith.

heheheheheh

-

ChoChiyo · Post by **ChoChiyo** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 8:39 am

/me gives Ghost a quick dip upside down in the water barrel....general principles....

Heh heh heh

Yup. I actually had a very good laugh over it myself--once the queasy feeling passed.

Then I came right to the Extreme Cuisine thread to report my experience.

Hey, the oatmeal was delicious...until I found that thing.

This morning, I'm eating Cocowheats!

No fur-in objects in that visible to the naked eye.

Jenevieve · Post by **Jenevieve** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 12:04 pm

I've never had anything exceptionally unusual. The weirdest things I've eaten are kudu sausage, and impala jerky. Both are quite good. I almost ate a mapani worm (delicacy in Zimbabwe) but I chickened out at the last moment. it was blackened and crunchy looking and it still had its hair. Ick.

Oh, I just remembered something else. It's a drink that's common in Lesotho, but I forget what it's called. It's made out of grain that has fermented for a while, but isn't alcoholic. It's thick and has a weird texture and sastes oddly sour and extremely disgusting.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:25 pm

Jenevieve wrote:I've never had anything exceptionally unusual. The weirdest things I've eaten are kudu sausage, and impala jerky. Both are quite good. I almost ate a mapani worm (delicacy in Zimbabwe) but I chickened out at the last moment. it was blackened and crunchy looking and it still had its hair. Ick.

Oh, I just remembered something else. It's a drink that's common in Lesotho, but I forget what it's called. It's made out of grain that has fermented for a while, but isn't alcoholic. It's thick and has a weird texture and sastes oddly sour and extremely disgusting.

Fermented Sorghum perhaps ?

I'd love to try the sausage and jerky ... the mapani worm might give me pause, but I think I'd probably do it.

OK, I have a new item to add to my list. I was at my regular sushi haunt, and got to try a rare delicacy ... 8 whole fresh baby squid (each about 2" long, from crown to tentacle tips), lightly par-boiled. My chef friend's supplier came across some, and my buddy nabbed what he could for himself and his VIP customers. I think he just flash-poached em in salted water, drained them, and then served with as is, with a little splash of dashi, atop a little seaweed. My wife saw my car on her way back from shopping, pulled into the parkinglot, and walked up to me at the sushi bar just as the bowl arrived ... she went "Eeeewwwww", and we (the chefs and I) all laughed. They looked really cute in the bowl ... still whole, with their par-cooked innards/liver oozing out of their jet-holes (a self-made sauce) and their eyes bulged out. Very tasty ... although the inner cores of the eyes were hard, just like small undercooked tapioca.

I thought my wife was going to faint.

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 2:25 pm

ok... that was a bit more graphic than I'm accustomed to over breakfast.... I guess I'll have to admit to being more squeamish than I thought I was.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 2:54 pm

Hehehehe.

(teasing) Awww c'mon ... a devout francophile like you should be well acclimated to such things. Perhaps you'd rather have some classic French dishes, like frog leg fricasse, or snails poached in garlic butter ?

Mmmmmmmmm (foodgasm) !

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:07 pm

I can do frog's legs (we have church frog leg suppers here in Quebec LOL) but I can't do escargot. I was a good girl, I tried it... I even swallowed it... but I just can't. The texture is just awful... the taste is... questionable, and since seeing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets... there's just no way. (sorry, I'm a major emetophobe, and I just can't watch that part.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:13 pm

I tried it... I even swallowed it... but I just can't ... there's no way.

S'ok. I know quite a few ladies who don't swallow ... escargot, that is.

Post by **Kvetch** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:41 pm

Even ignoring my vegetarianism, if I don't like the texture of MUSHROOMS, what snails would do to me I hate to think. And frog's legs - what is the point exactly? why not eat the lot?

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 4:26 pm

Fog legs are all muscle and thus edible. Fog abdomens have very little muscle ... just lots of internal organs and glands, most of which are inedible (and in some cases, toxic).

So, only the legs are typically used.

Post by **Kvetch** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 4:45 pm

makes sense, I s'pose.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 4:59 pm

Ok, quick digression into food history ...

As with most cuisines, most local/regional specialities generally evolve from the simple act of eating whatever happens to be available and/or plentiful in the locale that originated it.

Bouillibaisse, for instance, originally evolved from fishermen (before the days of refrigeration) making a quick stew at home from whatever scraps they couldnt sell that day ... it later evolved into a high-end dish made for it's own sake with high quality ingredients, rather than just scraps.

Take also oysters and lobsters ... back when they were plentiful and easy to find, they were considered food for poor commoners. They've since become less common, more expensive, and thus gourmet fare, shipped round the country, and often to places nowhere near the sea.

Back to frogs and snails ... what used to be something gardeners or people living near marshy areas used to eat because it was free (and necessary) has since evolved into a high-end dish that people who live nowhere near the local or circumstances that spawned the practice pay big money for.

- Ye food geek

p.s. I'm not even going to try to connect this digression with the Scottish practice of eating deepfried mars bars.

Post by **Kvetch** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:03 pm

Brad wrote:p.s. I'm not even going to try to connect this digression with the Scottish practice of eating deepfried mars bars.

you dissin'? - that's a bonny Yorkshire dish too. Sold in chippies the county over. Hmm. must try it.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:10 pm

Dissin indeed. Perhaps it evolved from some starving brit bloke spotting a floater in a public toilet somewhere in devonSHIRE, and wondering how it'd taste, battered an deep fried.

(kidding)

p.s. Indirect payback for the "Revocation of Independance" post made elsewhere.

Post by **Kvetch** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:15 pm

re: payback - I could tell

.

First rule of pub toilets - you NEVER look at the toilets, even if you are vomiting over them.

People in Devon are a bit odd, but too soft to take the grease and sugar involved in a fried mars bar.

tell me, have you ever tried one?

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:18 pm

No, but all kidding aside ... (looks both ways) ... I'm sure they prolly taste pretty good.

ChoChiyo · Post by **ChoChiyo** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:19 pm

My mom used to render lard when we butchered hogs. It was a hot, smelly process. The crispies left over smelled wonderful, but tasted HORRID.

The cats and dogs liked them though.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:42 pm

CHO: I'd *kill* to live near a farm that sold freshly butchered primal cuts of prime pig. The stuff sold in supermarkets around here low grade (i.e., non-prime means overly lean), already broken down into finished cuts, and not nearly as uber-fresh as I'd prefer.

Case in point ... a few years back I picked up a whole 16-18 lb bone-in pork loin (sans chine bone) and put it in my fridge. When my BBQ rolled around the next day (a family event, rather than one of my foodie jamborees), I lugged it outside to the porch, along with a cutting board, peeled it (slip an oyster knife under the silver skin on the back of the ribs, and just pull), split it into chops, rubbed em in dry rub, and slapped em on the grill. My wife's family looked at me like I was a blood-soaked caveman who'd just chased down and butched a wild boar ... well ok, that's exaggerating a bit, but not by much.

People around here are so spoiled by supermarkets, that seeing an old fashioned hog boucherie at a farm would probably send em screaming for the hills. I've never been to one myself, but I'd love to.

ChoChiyo · Post by **ChoChiyo** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:53 pm

I am less than three blocks from one right now...I wouldn't know how to mail fresh meat to a person--but I would do it, if I knew how. this old fashioned butcher shop takes the live animal in the back door and sends the freshly cut bits (cut to order) out the front.

It's quite amazing.

I don't like to watch the killing part, but watching them cut the meat into steaks, roasts, whatever, is very interesting.

I've had my hamburger ground fresh before my eyes many times.

When I was a kid, my dad and grandpa would butcher hogs or cows right out side in the apple orchard. It was disgusting, but kinda cool.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:05 pm

Won't work - trying to package and ship meat in safe fashion, without resorting to freezing, is a major PITA (pain in the a**) for home cooks. Only meat packing companies can do that these days. Thanks for the offer though. You're a dearie.