How would YOU eat this?

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pacanis

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The title says it all. How would you go about eating this fine looking meal if you were served it in a restaurant?

This Detroit Remedy member (former member?) sure has some beautiful looking meals. Quite diverse, too. And I'm not exactly what this is, as it is simply labeled sweet, sour, salty, astringent, but it sure looks tasty.
user33443_pic4126_1281903088.jpg

Knowing that you don't eat every garnish placed upon a plate, I feel like this garnish should be eaten. Maybe squeeze the lime over everything... place the peppers on the side and cut them into small pieces to scoop onto your fork before taking some of the meat mixture and rice? And is that mint? I'd probably leave that, but that's me. Heck, maybe it is all garnish and all of it should be left :huh:
Of course, if this what being served at my house that rice would be flattened out on my plate and the rest piled on top :pig: The chilies would be cut and sprinkled on top... then my hands washed twice :ermm: And the lime squeezed over the top.

It sure looks appetizing, doesn't it?
So how many here would eat the garnish and what would be proper? (assuming you like those flavors)
 
I'd do the same, Pac, and eat the mint too! Anything on my plate is fair game.
 
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I'd do the same, Pac, and eat the mint too! Anything on my plate is fair game.

How would you eat the mint?
Would you tear it up with your hands and sprinkle it on top?
Daintily cut it with a knife and fork so as not to use your hands?
Pick up a leaf and nibble it now and then?
 
How would you eat the mint?
Would you tear it up with your hands and sprinkle it on top?
Daintily cut it with a knife and fork so as not to use your hands?
Pick up a leaf and nibble it now and then?

I would probably rip it up and sprinkle, or save it as a palate cleanser.
 
If the dish has heat, I'd probably skip the red chilies in the garnish. Beyond that, I'd squeeze the lime and grab some rice and some of the surrounding meat and veggies together and chow down.
 
I would use chopsticks.

So you would eat the garnish whole?
That's a lot of red chilie pepper to be eating in one gulp :ermm:
Or do you have a way of cutting up the garnish using chopsticks?
 
Give the chilies to my brother, nab the limes that others won't eat, lime juice over the meat portion, chopsticks would make quick work and the mint as a palate cleanser. Possibly lick the plate if there is no "company."
 
I'm still waiting for someone to rub the lime on their hand and sprinkle salt on it, preceded by a shot of 1800. What can your garnish do? :LOL:
 
This plate seems disjointed. The dish appears to be sweet and sour chicken (or possibly pork). Nothing wrong with that. But if it is, then none of those garnishes go well with the dish. All those things would be great on a Thai meal, but not on Chinese.

Also, I'm not so sure that's mint. Mint has jaggedy leaves and woody stems. It looks more like... hmm... basil maybe. :ermm: If it's basil, I would eat it. If it's mint, I would leave it there.

And while I love chiles, whole chiles just don't do it for me. Unless it's a community serving plate, unprepped peppers just look sloppy as garnish, in my opinion. They really need to be de-seeded and minced. Since they are whole, I would push those to the side.

The rest of it, I would just sort of try and get a little bit of everything in each bite.

You're right, Pac. If it were at my house, I would flatten out the rice and put the food on top. ;)
 
Yes, maybe the chilies were just for color/looks.
They sure look hotter than heck. I can see me taking a nibble of one and having a teary eyed moment at the restaurant, lol.
 
I'm still waiting for someone to rub the lime on their hand and sprinkle salt on it, preceded by a shot of 1800. What can your garnish do? :LOL:
Not a bad idea!
Like Clint Eastwood said in Pale Rider... "Nothin' like a shot of whiskey to whet a man's appetite." I reckon the same holds true for tequila. :LOL:
 
That does look delicious :) Often, in Asian dishes, garnishes are offered as a way of personalizing the flavor of the dish. I'd take a bite of the main with some rice and see how it tasted. If it needed it, I'd squeeze the lime over. I agree the herb looks more like basil, which I see sometimes in Asian restaurants. I might tear it up and sprinkle it over, if it seemed to need it. I also agree about the pepper - it needs to be ready to eat, if that's the intention.

Reminds of the judges on Chopped - some of them really object to inedible garnishes.

Tequila, though - now you're talking! ;)
 
looks sort of like chicken cashew ding, or almond or peanut ding. but a thai version from the picture.
any garnish on an asian plate, and really almost any garnish from any other cuisine should be edible amd even part of the dish.
adding a garnish that is only for show, and worse contrasts with the dish is ridiculously pretentious.
possibly french, lol.
 
I would tackle it with chopsticks. From the inside out so that I can have some rice and topping in each bite. I would squeeze the lemon over the rice and keep the chilies aside. Then I would order a shot of vodka and eat the chilies whole followed by the vodka shot. I have a very high tolerance for spicy heat and do such stupid things for shock value lol! Guess it's my party trick :p
 
ooh, vodka. you are a brave one considering the chiles.

i learned from my korean buddy that a way to challenge someone with spicy hot food is to get them to drink alcohol along with it for the heat. for some reason it increases the heat, something to do with the receptors in the tongue.
 
ooh, vodka. you are a brave one considering the chiles.

i learned from my korean buddy that a way to challenge someone with spicy hot food is to get them to drink alcohol along with it for the heat. for some reason it increases the heat, something to do with the receptors in the tongue.

That's why I add the vodka, it really does increase the heat. I'm a total chili nut :wacko:
 
:cool:
This plate seems disjointed. The dish appears to be sweet and sour chicken (or possibly pork). Nothing wrong with that. But if it is, then none of those garnishes go well with the dish. All those things would be great on a Thai meal, but not on Chinese.

Also, I'm not so sure that's mint. Mint has jaggedy leaves and woody stems. It looks more like... hmm... basil maybe. :ermm: If it's basil, I would eat it. If it's mint, I would leave it there.

And while I love chiles, whole chiles just don't do it for me. Unless it's a community serving plate, unprepped peppers just look sloppy as garnish, in my opinion. They really need to be de-seeded and minced. Since they are whole, I would push those to the side.

The rest of it, I would just sort of try and get a little bit of everything in each bite.

You're right, Pac. If it were at my house, I would flatten out the rice and put the food on top. ;)

disjointed?

i wholly disagree. ok, in parts, but wholly in spirit.

the only things you might be close on (imo) is that the mint is probably basil, and you should eat a bit of each in each bite. but not the rice, though. and the garnish is certainly part of the meal. you don't need a lot of lime or thai basil for fragrance.

whole, dried chiles are often added to spicy asian dishes to show that the dish is, in fact, hot and spicy. yes, average american asian places add them willy nilly as a cheap attempt at heat, but better and more authentic places stir fry with hot chili oil, then add a few whole dried or even fresh as a visual clue for the effect and to tip off the eater of the spiciness.

and mashing down the rice to serve the food on top is, well, up to your taste. like making chinese gumbo. some people like it that way, but imo, it takes away from experiencing the specific taste of the main food and the starchy counterparrt as they were intended. for the most part, so goes in asia.

you might as well rub your chopsticks together to remove any splinters first, then stick them vertically in your food between bites. :cool:

j/k.

in the end, who cares? what you like, you like. just remember that for others.
 
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