What new foods have you tried recently?

[kittyP]

But there's gamey, and there's shitty-gamey. Pheasant is nice, venison is nice. Grouse is shitty, and so was this pigeon.

(((pigeon)))

 

[polly]

(((pigeon)))

Well, it didn't die in vain: I will never eat any of its brethren.

 

[zenie]

View attachment 59049

Blue corn tortillas. In spite of their appearance they're not mouldy, or made out of slate. Like them a lot. They're a tiny bit more delicious than ordinary maize tortillas (they've got a stronger taste of earth / vegetable / corn) but not worth paying extra megabucks for. What is worth it is the novelty value and it makes you realise just how much the colour of a food affects how you perceive it. I kept stopping and looking at them as I ate, thinking "hmmm..... blue .... weird ... hmmm...." .

(I LOATHE and never even touch blue cheese, btw. so these may yet be one of the very very few blue things I will ever eat.)

Gluten free aren't they?

Last night I had 'morning glory' (fnar) some kind of thai green bean type things.

 

[smmudge]

I bought some maryland "gooeys" - it is apparently a crunchy cookie with a soft chocolatey centre. Just about to open them and I'm very excited. Oh it looks so exotic!!

 

[kittyP]

I bought some maryland "gooeys" - it is apparently a crunchy cookie with a soft chocolatey centre. Just about to open them and I'm very excited. Oh it looks so exotic!!

I reeeaaally like them

 

[Chick Webb]

I got some kombu recently. I wanted to eat it to get some iodine into my diet, but I thought it would probably be horrible since my only other foray into the world of seaweed (an awful hijiki and orange zest concoction I made) was a fiasco. Kombu is actually really nice, cut up into strips with noodles or in soup. It doesn't have a strong "seaweedy" taste or smell and just tastes like any other mild flavoured vegetable you might be having with your noodles/soup, although it does have a pretty unique texture. It's mad expensive but the pouch I have of it should last a long time.

 

[smmudge]

I reeeaaally like them

They were very good

 

[eatmorecheese]

Gennip fruit (or Spanish Lime)





Like a lychee, but nicer. You suck the flesh inside from the stone. Bought a bag in Croydon market, surprised I'd not tried them before (or even heard of them).

 

[RubyToogood]

I got some kombu recently. I wanted to eat it to get some iodine into my diet, but I thought it would probably be horrible since my only other foray into the world of seaweed (an awful hijiki and orange zest concoction I made) was a fiasco. Kombu is actually really nice, cut up into strips with noodles or in soup. It doesn't have a strong "seaweedy" taste or smell and just tastes like any other mild flavoured vegetable you might be having with your noodles/soup, although it does have a pretty unique texture. It's mad expensive but the pouch I have of it should last a long time.

What I've learned with seaweed is to avoid the Clearspring ones you get from healthfood shops. If you can get it from a Japanese/Chinese supermarket instead it generally tastes nicer.

 

[Chick Webb]

What I've learned with seaweed is to avoid the Clearspring ones you get from healthfood shops. If you can get it from a Japanese/Chinese supermarket instead it generally tastes nicer.

Ahh, Clearspring was the only one I could find. The kombu is pretty nice. The horrible hijiki came from that company too, although I think it was my cooking that was at fault there.

I don't have a local oriental supermarket anymore. I don't even know one that handy for my work or home. It's rubbish!

 

[Greebo]

<snip> I don't have a local oriental supermarket anymore. I don't even know one that handy for my work or home. It's rubbish!

Wing Yip do mail order

 

[Chick Webb]

Wing Yip do mail order

I used to live up near that place. I always intended to pop in there but never got around to it. Now I don't have to!

 

[RubyToogood]

I think basically the Japanese brands are actually geared towards normal people, as opposed to those who want to suffer because they think it's doing them good.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I bought a block of 100% Columbian cocoa the other week, and you're supposed to use it to make drinking chocolate by melting a couple of squares into hot milk, etc. I wondered what it tasted like by itself so had a chunk. Not nice at all! Dry texture, bitter but not as much as I expected, and turned into an unpleasant clag in my mouth. I had to have some dark chocolate digestives to rescue my tongue.

 

[Purdie]

Spinach and cottage cheese bake. Pretty tasty and a stayer in my recipe notes.

 

[Greebo]

I bought a block of 100% Columbian cocoa the other week, and you're supposed to use it to make drinking chocolate by melting a couple of squares into hot milk, etc. I wondered what it tasted like by itself so had a chunk. Not nice at all! <snip>

Much better if you melt a square of it into a venison stew or a panful of chilli con carne.

 

[foamy]

A white fleshed sweet potato.
Didn't realise these existed when it was delivered in my online grocery shopping along with an orange fleshed friend

 

[Callum91]

A white fleshed sweet potato.
Didn't realise these existed when it was delivered in my online grocery shopping along with an orange fleshed friend

Quite a few varieties if memory serves me right. Nutritionally speaking I'd stick to the darker ones but from a culinary perspective I do prefer the white ones (if I can get my sweaty mitts on 'em).

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Much better if you melt a sqaure of it into a venison stew or a panful of chilli con carne.

I've got a couple of packets of dried ancho chillies as it happens, so it might be a fortuitous match.

 

[kittyP]

Much better if you melt a sqaure of it into a venison stew or a panful of chilli con carne

Oooh yes!

 

[Greebo]

I've got a couple of packets of dried ancho chillies as it happens, so it might be a fortuitous match.

It doesn't exactly make the hotter spices less burny, but it rounds out the heat.

 

[Orang Utan]

I had scampi in a pub today. Never again.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I had scampi in a pub today. Never again.

I've often wondered what scampi actually is. Is it a species of fish, or it just some weird concoction manufactured by the fish processing industry? I remember it being on the menu at Beefeater places in the 70s/80s, and it seemed oddly artificial.

 

[kittyP]

I've often wondered what scampi actually is. Is it a species of fish, or it just some weird concoction manufactured by the fish processing industry? I remember it being on the menu at Beefeater places in the 70s/80s, and it seemed oddly artificial.

It's somewhere between a prawn and a crayfish.
Like this. I think it's what the French call Langoustine.

I bloody love the little fuckers

 

[QueenOfGoths]

It's somewhere between a prawn and a crayfish.
Like this. I think it's what the French call Langoustine.

I bloody love the little fuckers

Me too! Scampi and chips is...is...exotic! I bloody love it too

 

[zenie]

It's somewhere between a prawn and a crayfish.
Like this. I think it's what the French call Langoustine.

I bloody love the little fuckers

Me too

Asked flatmate to put me some malted milks on the shipping delivery list....he got half chocolate covered ones. OMFG!!

 

[Orang Utan]

I've often wondered what scampi actually is. Is it a species of fish, or it just some weird concoction manufactured by the fish processing industry? I remember it being on the menu at Beefeater places in the 70s/80s, and it seemed oddly artificial.

I think that's why I never had it - my snobbish parents probably thought it was a bit proley.
I think they're just big prawns. Which is fine. But they ruin any potential taste by the way they cook it. It was one of those pubs that has too much choice on the menu, so none of the dishes are that good and you always regret your choice.

 

[antimata]

coconut oil.
used as lard substitute.
i wouldnt fry a steak in it but its good in curries/meat in the pot randos.

 

[trabuquera]

Further adventures in blue corn: some dodgy-looking, allegedly 'healthier' blue corn tortilla chips with various seeds (chia, broccoli, flax etc) baked in. Bought at TK Maxxx, wtf. They were OK, but didn't taste any different from ordinary tortilla chips (except a bit more redolent of old frying oil) - and judging by the numbers on the packet, absolutely no better on the calories/salt/evil numbers than any other sort of tortilla chip.

 

[Mogden]

Further adventures in blue corn: some dodgy-looking, allegedly 'healthier' blue corn tortilla chips with various seeds (chia, broccoli, flax etc) baked in. Bought at TK Maxxx, wtf. They were OK, but didn't taste any different from ordinary tortilla chips (except a bit more redolent of old frying oil) - and judging by the numbers on the packet, absolutely no better on the calories/salt/evil numbers than any other sort of tortilla chip.

Bollocks. I bought some of those a couple of days ago. Good job they're going in the festival treats bag.