Extreme Cuisine & Strange Ingredients

Post by **Darb** » Wed May 26, 2004 11:30 am

Heh.

Oh, almost forgot another tasty item: Softshell Crabs.

Not very extreme as far as extreme cuisine goes, but some people shy away from them.

Wonderful stuff. Just had one for lunch

bob k. mando · Post by **bob k. mando** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:37 pm

I think you're thinking of Jeffrey Dahlmer. Definite sicko.

dahmer was in milwaukee, Wisconsin. the guy in atlanta was, i believe, black and was ~10yrs further back.

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 12:18 pm

I have to share this because it's funny.

My friend and I were eating at our regular sushi bar last night, and our friend behind the counter plunked down one of our perrenial favorite dishes ... salt-fried head-on shell-on shrimp, with fried scallions. Naturally we devoured it. While we were eating, we asked what the Japanese name for the dish was - figuring it'd be some variant including the word 'ebi' (shrimp).

Our chef friend quipped in his broken 'Engrish' ... "Bottum Ov Frweezah ... vera speshal, vera dewishus"

In other words, he had some spare shrimp in his lowboy freezer that needed using, so he just dusted them with a light coating and tossed em (still frozen) in the fryer for us.

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:35 am

I stopped by my usual sushi spot on my way home from work last night, at around 9:30 pm, and for the first time in a few weeks I can add something new to my extreme cuisine resume ... pickled jellyfish.

In this particular dish, the jellyfish had been purchased dried and salt cured. My friend had re-hydrated it, cut it into transparent linguini-style noodles, and then marinated it in sweet rice vinegar and mirin. Next, he served it over thinly sliced cucumber, with a generous splash of sweet rice vinegar, dashi, a light scattering of sesame seeds, and a few strands of a variety of seaweed that had a complimentary flavor and texture.

It tasted great, and the texture was interesting too - sort of like a cross between rice noodles, raw squid & firm-gelatinous varieties of seaweed, and the dressing was very similar to classic sunomono.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 12:14 am

I've been following this thread for a while but could never think of anything weird that I'd eaten. Then today when I was eating lunch I realized I had something all along... chicken feet! I never thought it was weird before because I eat it all the time (mom's side of the famly is full-blooded Chinese). That's all I can think of right now but I'll try to think of some more weird things.

Post by **Darb** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 11:51 am

I've never cared for fried chicken feet - if I recall, the texture just didn't appeal to me, nor was there enough meat on them to make the effort worthwhile.

I've tried fried chicken heads too ... didn't really care for those either.

Anyway, have you seen some of the stuff they have people doing on "Fear Factor" ? I doubt I'd win on that show .. I don't do bull's testicles or live bugs. Ick.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 3:40 pm

The chicken feet weren't fried. they were dredged in sauce that tastes like a mix of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sweet and sour sauce. Then it was either stir-fried or steamed (not sure which) then dredged in the sauce again. Pretty tasty but you're right, there isn't that much meat on them.

Superenigmatix · Post by **Superenigmatix** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:14 pm

Here's a web-site devoted to this thread's subject.

Weird Foods

sE

Post by **Darb** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 5:13 pm

Cool.

I checked the fish category, and I've had all but about 10 of them ... in one form or another.

I'll have to read the other categories tomorrow.

Post by **laurie** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:31 pm

Brad - do you really consider escargot extreme? (from the list in your 1st post here)
I love the little snailies in garlic butter - order 'em whenever they're on the menu (not often in my area, but when traveling......)
I also had them in a soy-sauce in a Japanese restaurant in Toronto - not as good (too salty) but not bad either.

Had rattlesnake cooked on stick over open fire - interesting, but probably wouldn't do it again.

My Dad was into frog's legs (eating Kermit - yuck!) He also ate a lot of bugs while in New Guinea/Philipines during WWII - said the grasshoppers and locusts were best cuz they were big enough to actually taste.

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:34 pm

/me retches.

Post by **laurie** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:48 pm

Me too, ECM, but I gotta feeling they were better than the Army food......

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:49 pm

Hehe, good point!

Fiachra · Post by **Fiachra** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:57 am

Hi, I'm a bit new here, but wanted to add my share of thoughts:

I'm a hobby cook, and I serve a large dinner for all all my pals every Thursday night, that's about 8-12 people every week.

I live in Bavaria and some of the food mentioned is considered regular food here:

Wild boar (marinated & grilled) is a favourite Bavarian dish and I serve it about every 4-6 weeks. I also make a grand goulash from the same meat.

Rabbit is more or less a popular dish all over Europe, although I don't make it that often.

Tripe is also served all over Europe, but it's certainly not everybody's favourite dish

Goose/Duck Liver is an all around favourite (yum!)

Pig knuckles are occasionally served, mostly in soups though

Stinky Cheese: well, we probably get the largest variety of those you can imagine.

Caviar: the real stuff is exorbitantly expensive, but tastes great and no comparison to the fake stuff.

What really tastes good, but shocks many people is horse meat. very popular is Southern European countries, you also can get it here in Bavaria. I can't serve it at my dinner parties cause some of my guests are against it (although they never have tried it).

In Bavaria ther's also a great horse meat knackwurst, one of my favourites.

By the way: goes for donkey as well...

Post by **Darb** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 8:35 am

It's true that "extreme" is a purely relative term. We use the term fairly loosely in here

Mmmmmm, escargot in garlic butter ... *SWOON*

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:18 am

Fiachra wrote:Pig knuckles are occasionally served, mostly in soups though

Pig knuckles = YUM

Norseraider

Post by **laurie** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:47 am

Brad_H wrote:
Mmmmmm, escargot in garlic butter ... *SWOON*

Ever ordered more than one serving (ie. enough for an entree)? Black looks from every direction.
Freakin' snobs......

Post by **KiltanneN** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 7:17 am

Don't quite know why I didn't think of this before - but here goes,

A few years back - I was living in Aus, and a bit out in the country. A town called Shepparton. [SPC fruit anyone?] While there one day my local church custodian spotted a tiger snake in the shrubbery. Not the MOST venemous reptile in Aus. - but the bite is definately fatal to a small child if not treated extremely quickly.

I have no idea why

- but the first call she made was to me. So I race on out there with a buddy and she points out the area of the garden where this snake is in residence. I have picked up a spade lying around - and we start to flush the little bugger out into the open. He's actually moving pretty sluggishly and I manage to get in a good strike right behind his head, almost completely decapitating him. [Along the lines of the ghost in Harry Potter that was constantly trying to get in to the Headless Hunt]. I finish off the job and very gingerly gather up the [still wriggling] pieces.

At this point I realise I have killed a supremely gorgeous speciman of one of God's creatures and decide I cannot waste it. I skin it - and eventually make a hatband out of the skin. VERY pretty! I make a meal out of the body - I lightly fry it in butter. Delicious! the meat tasted like chicken with a fishy overtone. The texture was really wonderfull. Lotso bones though... That flavour obviously came from the undigested Frog it had just ingested not long before taking up residencs in my churche's garden. I did NOT eat the frog in case anybody wonders.

After that experiance - I would eat snake again ANYTIME - so long as it was not an endangered species of course. I can strongly reccomend it to anybody.

Maybe not so extreme - but that is my little story...

kilt

Post by **Darb** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:18 am

Lightly floured and fried in butter is exactly the same way that italians serve eel, if you've ever had it.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 7:56 pm

Eel=YUCK!

Norseraider

Post by **Darb** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:32 am

I assume that you've never been out for sushi then ... Unagi/Unago (grilled eel with a reduction sauce) is a special treat. Wonderful stuff.

Post by **KiltanneN** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:02 pm

Brad_H wrote:Lightly floured and fried in butter is exactly the same way that italians serve eel, if you've ever had it.

The only way I've had Eel is smoked over an open fire - didn't even think of that as extreme

Kilt

Post by **Darb** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:46 pm

Sounds great

Like we said earlier ... "extreme" is a relative term. It all depends on what you were raised with and/or have grown accustomed to. Failing that, it also can depend on how adventerous you are.

Hunter B · Post by **Hunter B** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:22 pm

Brad_H wrote:I assume that you've never been out for sushi then ... Unagi/Unago (grilled eel with a reduction sauce) is a special treat. Wonderful stuff.

Your right Brad, I've never had Unagi, but I've had eel 3-4 times before, all different styles and I have only had it one way I would eat again(only if someone else paid though). That is why I made the earlier remark. Next time I go to a sushi bar I'll have to try some Unagi.

Norseraider

Post by **Darb** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 9:57 am

Unagi is exquisite.

Here's a roll to try when you go to your local sushi bar: an inside-out roll of unagi, avacado, and julienne of apple, drizzled with unagi sauce, and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. The apple is one of my own touches - most restaurants, if you look at their 'maki' (rolled sushi) menu, will include a version with julienne of cucumber ... but the apple works better, trust me.

Anyway, it's rich, creamy, sweet, and very flavorful, with a nice touch of crunchiness ... and no trace of 'fishiness'. In fact, the flavor is a bit reminiscent of ice cream topped with P/X Sherry

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