What foods you don't ever want to see on your plate?

[Timothy]

My local Korean market has a deli and I'm pretty sure some of the kimchee in the kimchee section is as you described, and also pretty sure I've tried at least some of these. I usually go a year or two between kimchee attempts and currently it's not time yet for another attempt.

It's a lucky thing there's so many Koreans (and other Asians) in Los Angeles. I'd never have this kind of access to Asian food in much of America. The large presence of Asians is certainly a factor in my liking Asian cuisine and liking to cook my own Asian dishes. (Gotta admit that Thai is my favorite!)

Kimchee is eaten as a condiment. Much like you would use pickle relish. Eating it straight up like a salad is overpowering to most folks. A tiny bit of kimchee on a bite of pork or beef is very good.

I love to put a tad of kimchee on an oyster on the half shell. OMG, it makes my mouth water just typing that. Ha!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I've thought of kimchee as a side dish, not as anything you consume alone, although if I don't like a small taste of it I'm unlikely to want it on something else.

One thing I do as an individual quirk of my cooking interest (perhaps others do this, perhaps it's common) is that I almost always taste cooking ingredients, even those other people would never taste, particularly including ingredients that would never be eaten alone. I like to think that tasting what goes into something (even raw when the end result is cooked) gives me a perspective on the effects of individual ingredients on the end product result. (A few things I skip like raw hamburger or ground chicken.) In fact raw galangal root was my particularly worst experiment, one of the most sour or bitter things I've ever tasted.

Oysters are something I'd rather not find on my plate. Tried them a long time ago, didn't like them, don't feel particularly deprived by not trying them again. Of all the foods in the world I'll never try but a small fraction of them so I don't feel particularly bad not trying oysters again.

I guess kimchee is different because there's a whole Korean cuisine that I don't particularly like for some reason, and it puzzles me that I like the other Asian cuisines so much that I wonder why I don't like Korean.

And if it never works out there's plenty of Asian cuisines and dishes, enough that I'll never have time to try them all, never have time to develop my own recipes for cooking in my own kitchen, so I won't feel deprived if I never like Korean. It's probable that even the most adventuresome foodie would never like everything, so Korean can be my personal exception. I can live with that.

 

[buckytom]

kimchee is more of a part of a small meal or a side dish not really a condiment. unless you consider banchan to be a condiment. i think of condiments as a sauce or some kind of seasoning to go on something more substanntial.

it' always eaten with a side of rice, and often with some roasted seaweed.

 

[GLC]

Dogs do have a sensitive sense of smell, but that doesn't mean they are gourmets. It's often the case that I prepare my dinner, I prepare my dog's dinner, I serve his then I serve mine, but by the time I sit down he's already inhaled his dinner in maybe 90 seconds and wants to sniff at mine or go outside.

I have some Milkbone doggy treats and they smell overpoweringly strong to me but my dog seems to like them. They small too strong for me to want to try a taste.!

Dogs are different. Humans have some 9,000 taste buds. Dogs have about 1,700. (Cats even fewer.) Dogs are very sensitive to bitter taste, so much so that they normally dislike something containing saccharine, because it has a bitter component. The balance of taste receptors being different, preferences will be different. And dogs taste sweets more acutely. But this is also because, having a less developed set of receptors, taste isn't as important to a dog. They don't, for instance, get tired of their usual dog food and demand some variety. Their foods tend to be strong but rather uninteresting in taste from a human perspective. But they still share with us the tendency to acquire a dislike of a food that made them ill. (For years, I couldn't eat crab-stuffed jalapenos, after I got a bad one.)

But I don't know about dogs being incapable of having something of a gourmet taste. My dog (bouvier) is no chowhound. He may or may not finish one bowl of food before it's time for the next. But he is distinctly more enthusiastic about lamb as the dog food meat component than beef in the same line of food. And he will go right to work on a bowl and finish it, if some fiore sardo or grana padano or some other aged cheese is grated over it. And his favorite treat is a bit of cheese rind, pricey hard cheeses preferred. He has no use for MilkBones and immediately takes them out and buries them.

But animals are individuals, too. Like my cat who liked dry onion skins and would pass up tuna for a mushroom.

 

[Timothy]

kimchee is more of a part of a small meal or a side dish not really a condiment. unless you consider banchan to be a condiment. i think of condiments as a sauce or some kind of seasoning to go on something more substanntial.

it' always eaten with a side of rice, and often with some roasted seaweed.

It's really hard to classify something like Kimchee. It's kind of whatever you use it for.

I use it as a condiment. Exactly as I would any relish. I add a bit of it to whatever bite of food I'm eating, and never eat it "as is". To me, eating kimchee by itself is how I would think of someone using a spoon to eat mustard right from the jar. Too stongly flavored to be very good by itself, but excellent when added to a bite of something else.

I guess what I'm trying to say, Tom, is "To each his own" in regard to kimchee.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

GLC, thank you for the interesting post! I'm glad that apparently forum members and management don't make any big deal about strictly adhering to topics, unlike some other forums where the heavy moderation makes me uncomfortable. ... My dog ate Pedigree brand for years but a year ago he lost his enthusiasm and sometimes didn't even finish his dinner. I tried several brands until he started liking Merrick, which seems to be a bit more health foodie or more distinctly different flavors. I think of dogs as gourmands. It's funny a gourmet guy having a gourmand dog!

Timothy I'm just trying to get to the point of not disliking the flavor of kimchee and when I get there I'll look for compatible foods. For some reason I don't like Korean cuisine in general although I don't quite understand why. (I'll admit my sampling of Korean food has been limited.) It seems the seasonings always seem not quite right to me. Like for instance my Korean market has a eat in or take out mini-store inside (these kinds of markets often several or a dozen different businesses operating within the store, all the way from cellphones to travel to bakeries or cosmetic stores). I tried what I presume is the Korean version of sweet 'n sour chicken and the spices just turned me off. I love Chinese and Thai sweet 'n sour so I don't know why the Korean wouldn't be good.

Korean barbecue is good, but I avoid it because these places at least in L.A. are "all you can eat" style, and I don't go to "all you can eat" because I always overeat. Maybe I'll like kimchee some day...

 

[buckytom]

agreed, tim. i guess the use of it as a condiment is more of a western thing, which certainly isn't bad. just not traditional.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Saw another topic, was reminded...

I don't want to see frog legs on my plate! Tried them once, sort of reminded me of chicken but the idea didn't settle well.

Nor snakes. Definitely don't want to see frogs, snakes or insects on my plate!



(Sorry Timothy, you and I see eye-to-eye on most subjects but I think your horizons are somewhat broader than mine.)

 

[GLC]

I had a friend who worked all over the world as a helicopter mechanic, mostly for oil companies, so that meant 3rd world and other back of beyond locations. In Ivory Coast, he was stationed kind of in the bush. He said that if you ordered chicken, you had better see the chicken walking around and not let it out of your sight. Otherwise, your chicken might be monkey by the time it was served.

That either speaks well of the flavor of Cote d'Ivoire monkey or badly of the flavor of their chicken.

 

[Timothy]

Saw another topic, was reminded...

I don't want to see frog legs on my plate! Tried them once, sort of reminded me of chicken but the idea didn't settle well.

Nor snakes. Definitely don't want to see frogs, snakes or insects on my plate!



(Sorry Timothy, you and I see eye-to-eye on most subjects but I think your horizons are somewhat broader than mine.)

I've already eaten all three. snake was my least favorite of the thrree and frogs legs my favorite. insects taste like crunchy oil fried anything. Close your eyes and you wouldn't know it was a grasshopper.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

That reminds me of escargot. I had it one time and thought it was delicious, but later upon thinking about it I decided that practically anything cooked in garlic and butter would taste delicious.

Thus, escargot added to my list of things I don't want to see on my plate. There's plenty of things just as good that don't have a "yuck" factor.

 

[Timothy]

That reminds me of escargot. I had it one time and thought it was delicious, but later upon thinking about it I decided that practically anything cooked in garlic and butter would taste delicious.

Thus, escargot added to my list of things I don't want to see on my plate. There's plenty of things just as good that don't have a "yuck" factor.

So even though you've eaten and enjoyed them, you've assigned them your "Yuck factor" and decided to never enjoy them again?

I see that as a shame of lost enjoyment.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Yes, although I feel no shame. It was a good thing to try once and I'm glad I did. Anyway they're probably expensive now and I haven't seen them on any menus lately.

How different do you think the restaurant ones are from the ordinary species found in US gardens?

 

[Timothy]

Yes, although I feel no shame. It was a good thing to try once and I'm glad I did. Anyway they're probably expensive now and I haven't seen them on any menus lately.

How different do you think the restaurant ones are from the ordinary species found in US gardens?

I really have no idea. I've wondered that myself.

 

[Skittle68]

I agree with the frog legs. I have tried them and to me they tasted like slimy, slightly fishy chicken. Not that great.

 

[CWS4322]

When I was in high school, after a ski meet, we would go to a restaurant in Duluth, MN that had EXCELLENT frog legs. They were my favorite--or maybe I was just exhausted after skiing and would eat anything. I also pocketed the Rye Crisps...

 

[Skittle68]

When I was in high school, after a ski meet, we would go to a restaurant in Duluth, MN that had EXCELLENT frog legs. They were my favorite--or maybe I was just exhausted after skiing and would eat anything. I also pocketed the Rye Crisps...

Lol I live in Duluth MN!! What restaurant was this? Wondering if it's still around

 

[CWS4322]

Lol I live in Duluth MN!! What restaurant was this? Wondering if it's still around

That is why I mentioned it--the restaurant was a "rotating" restaurant on top of a hotel...wonderful view of the city...sorry, I can't remember the name. But the frog legs were excellent. I am not a fan of frog legs, but the ones there were excellent. Near the harbor? (Pulling this from grey matter based on the view of the water).

 

[Skittle68]

That is why I mentioned it--the restaurant was a "rotating" restaurant on top of a hotel...wonderful view of the city...sorry, I can't remember the name. But the frog legs were excellent. I am not a fan of frog legs, but the ones there were excellent. Near the harbor? (Pulling this from grey matter based on the view of the water).

The Top of the Harbor, above the Radisson. The outer floor in the round building makes one rotation per hour, so you pretty much get the whole view of Duluth if you eat there. I never eat there, because the food isn't that great and it's over priced. It's more of a tourist thing I guess. No locals go there. Once I had chicken Kiev, and it was ground and pressed, straight from the freezer like you would get at the grocery store. I wish it was a decent place to eat- I love the concept.

 

[GiddyUpGo]

My mom used to make this recipe called "cream tuna peas on toast." It looked like someone threw up on a slice of bread.

Come to think of it, I wouldn't want to see any version of peas on my plate. I still don't like them, all these years later.