Interesting foods
 

It's not a website, but it is in my fridge. It's quite hot.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../chilli001.jpg

Dracula flavored ice-cream...that IS interesting. Does it taste like Dracula or is it merely blood flavored?

I'm thinkin' garlic.

I remember seeing a curry, vindaloo I think, that had the advisory:
"makes your arse look like a japanese flag"

Did they specify whether it was a WWII era flag or not?

I'm guessing that would be extra hot for pre WWII and regular for post WWII!

A story about my native land's cuisine.

You don't actually eat that crap, do you, dis?

Not in nearly a decade, but it was once an annual christmas ritual (no, really. The part about "No more than once a year" is serious, even the most devout don't seem to cross that line.)

But for me, the foul swill is tempered in nostalgia (read: permanent brain damage), so if you ever come across the stuff, and are feeling brave enough to give it a shot, let me give you a few pointers:

1) As soon as you feel like you're going to gag, give up. Fill yourself up on the boiled potatoes, or the boiled peas, or the boiled whatever. If they've got lefse (the scandanavian equivalent of the tortilla, but made from potatoes), load the gullet with that. It's good with cold butter. This dish is an interesting study in Newtonian physics: The more you try to force it, the more it forces back.

2) Never, ever, examine it before you eat it. The article I posted suggested it was filled with a myriad of tiny, invisible bones, but here's the sad truth: Lutefisk is an artifact to the days before refridgeration. They'd catch codfish out of the baltic, dry it on the docks, soak it in lye to kill the maggots (or anything else potentially growing on it), and then rehydrate through a long soak. They'd then bake the crap out of it. Contrary to the previously linked article, absolutely nothing would retain any sort of structural continuity: It was all somewhat jellified. Thus, the family tradition was to disguise it behind a cream sauce to try to forget what we were eating, and then cover that in allspice in order to forget the unpalatable horrors of the sauce. From there on out, we'd typically rely on some relative that couldn't stomach the stuff and start sneaking our sustenance for that holiday meal by sneaking portions of whatever alternative dish they'd made instead. As for trying to visually disect it beforehand: The process does horrible things to the fish. It turns out that when you can discern a translucent and softened fish spine, it has a pretty reliable tendency to force you back to guideline #1. Seriously, this is not a time for visual observation. This is a good time to think about the pleasant holiday possibilities instead, such as Joulupukki, the christmas goat (no, really. you can't make this stuff up.)

3) As far as anyone can discern, lutefisk is more a hazing ritual than anything else. I never could properly stomach the stuff (my inaugural effort led to a rather violent purging (at least by 10-year old standards)), and as best I can tell, the only americans that claim to appreciate the stuff are the ones that were force-fed it through too many holiday seasons, and have decided the only proper revenge is to force it upon future generations.

But, all those helpful pointers aside, I could probably manage a plate of it today. Partially from nostalgia, partially glad that it isn't something truly horrid, such as surstromming. Apparently, if you buy that particular horror canned, you need to forget everything you think you know about botulism. Just because the can is bulging at both ends, the tradition states that you should consider that "ripe" and not reason for calling the CDC. (although familial stories suggest that the stuff was so supremely vile, even the most stout-hearted scandanavian relatives couldn't face it, and it was so far removed from edible fish that the family cat fled in terror)

Stories such as these kind of make one appreciate their own ethnically historic traditions.

:greenface

When I was a kid we would eat headcheese on a fairly regular basis. What the hell were my parents and grandparents thinking?

Headcheese, for those who don't know, is basically like bologna. Except it's made of all the stuff that can be scraped from a boiled pig's head. The chunks are encased in gelatin. You know, that slimey jelly stuff you find on the edges of a canned ham.

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I think Souse is just like that, only with the blood added back in.

My dad lived off of headcheese for all of college.

He went to Alabama.

I think bologna has all the same ingredients, but they blend it all together so it's one uniform color, instead of chunks floating in gelatin. Somehow a uniform pink is less gross than chunks.

Actually, I have.

Oh dear. That's right. I'd been repressing that particular memory.

This should be in that other thread whose name escapes me, but I've never eaten bologna. 46 and never touched the stuff. Not a big fan of many cold cuts.

Funny you should mention that. Apparently, my grandmother used to make a similar thing, but under the insiduously-generic name of "lunchmeat". No matter what probing questions I'd ask, I never got a full explanation of what it was, but I did get some hints that boiling the cheap butcher leftovers (yes, including the skull) was involved somewhere in the process.

What I remember was uniformly grey, vaguely the same texture as bologna, clearly heavily flavored with whatever scandanavians seem to think is palatable (as in, I've never tasted a non-scandanavian dish that even comes close to that specific seasoning), relatively non-uniform in size, and while I can still vividly remember it, I'm not sure I can say I miss it.

But, then considering that I've discovered most of the recipes my mother once claimed as her own creations turned out to have their true origins on the back of food cans, box labels, etc., I'm more than happy to let the family food traditions lay fallow.

Ever had a hot dog (I mean the weird amalgamation of leftover parts, not the Hebrew National kosher "We promise no lips, hooves or assholes" variety)

If so, a few quality standards aside, you've basically had bologna.

I'll eat it if it's called pâté.

Lots of folks down here call bologna "round steak".

I pronounce it baloney. To attempt to convert me is futile.....

I have had a few mystery dogs in my day. Is that what bologna tastes like?

Still don't think 'll be trying it soon.

We used to eat offal at least once a week - oxtail, tongue, kidneys, heart. Never had headcheese though. The very name conjures up unwashed foreskins....

The best I can offer in the way of interesting fishy treats is jellied eels. I am biased, having been brought up by proper East End Londoners, but for me they are no more weird & wonderful than rollmops.

We used to make head cheese with my grandfather, a long and difficult process.
His motto, "if you ain't related to it and it ain't poison, its food" and there's exceptions to both'a those rules.
I have this jar of spicy fish, they are just little fish in this spicy sauce. They look like minnows, but are delicious, was recommended to me at an Asian grocery I frequent in Orlando.

WFT?

Sorry for the poor quality cam-phone pic. Found this (a whole case) in the lunchroom. This must be what Kato eats.

First, damn I missed you, Sundae :lol:

And what is a rollmop?

Sorry, thought they were ubiquitous... Rollmops are basically pickled herrings, sold in a jar. They're Scandinavian but are very popular over here and you can buy then in supermarkets rather than delicatessans.

In my mind you can't go wrong with filleted fish, salt, pepper, onion (and chilli depending on the brand) soaked in vinegar. Damn, mouth watering as I write this.

And I AM glad to be back, even if it does leave me craving fish in the early hours! Could that be a new tagline?

I'm going to the store to get a can of sardines. Torn between the mustard or the green chilies.....

Foot, yeah, that's about it. Though hot dogs generally have a bit more sodium-nitrite bite.

Where were you raised that there was no bologna? Or baloney if you'd rather?

When I was a kid I remember a stage where all I would eat was bologna and plain yellow mustard on white bread... mmm now I'm hungry, but now I've evolved to wheat bread with spicy mustard and American cheese. The color of bologna still reminds me of earthworms though.

Welcome, You.

Bologna is made out of earthworms. And testicles that aren't of sufficiently high quality to be used in hot dogs.

Bologna isn't so scary when you compare it to the horrors of kipper snacks (no, I don't think I fully understand what the kippering process entails, and I don't want to, I'd prefer to eat it in ignorance) or pickled herring. (best in the with-sour-cream variety in my book) All bologna (and most hot dogs) amount to are some generic meat that you can't recognize anymore. Could be chicken, turkey, beef or pork. Throwing scraps in the grinder is hardly creative. Pickling fish? That takes style (or at least a seriously stunted concept of the culinary arts)

I knew a guy who tested/serviced equipment controls in factory settings. One of his clients once was a turkey dog factory.

The factory would remove the breast from turkeys to use for lunch meat, then they would boil the rest of the carcass. That boiled carcass would be smooshed between two large rollers with holes in them, kind of like a foley food mill. The turkey mush that squeezed through the holes of the roller would then be mixed with flavorings and preservatives, and pumped into the casings for the dogs.

That description is much better than I expected, actually.

Another weird food site I found :thepain3:

BTW, Worked in a plant for a while and ran both.
The difference between Kosher and non-Kosher is HUGE!!!!
If there is a product where there is a choice between the two, I buy Kosher, no matter what the price difference. Even if that means I cannot afford to eat it when I want it.
This is not an exaggeration... and I will eat almost anything, but it needs to be clean.
My Dad just brought me home a jar of creamed herring!

My condolences.

I like it... s-good chit.