larry_stewart
Master Chef
Did you ever eat something you had always liked, then had a bad experience while eating it ( a bug in it, it was spoiled, foreign object ...) and then never able to eat it again ( more for psychological reasons than anything else)?
Well, a few years ago, i ordered morel mushrooms from a very reputable company. Fresh from the field. I got them in a few days, they were perfect. I cleaned them, cooked them up in a pasta ,garlic, cream, white wine kinda way. Probably one of the best dishes I had made.
A few years went by, i came across the recipe again, and decided to give another go at it. Ordered my shrooms from the same company. Got them a few days later. they came in this paper bag with instructions how to clean, and a warning that said they are freshly picked from the field, and may contain some worms, dirt, sticks ... No big deal, Im an avid gardener, and I've eaten my share of bugs, dirt and sticks ( not intentionally, but it happens). I dump the bag, and a pound of shrooms come out, along with some dirt, sticks and what looked like a single maggot looking insect. I grabbed one shroom, kinda tapped it on the counter ( to shake off any foreign debris), and tossed it in my mouth. I then proceeded to wash the shrooms, as instructed, as I was just about to use them. Any time i wash any thing, i try to do it in a white bowl, so i can ultimately see that when the water is clean, what ever Im washing is now clean. So i did this, and scooped out the mushrooms, and I swear there must have been 100 maggot looking insects at the bottom of the white bowl. Ok, so i did it again, hoping that was it, and the water would be clear so I could move on to making the dish. Sure enough, i removed the shrooms again, and another 100 + maggots came out. Now , I was wondering if id ever really be able to thoroughly clean off the shrooms, given the amount of insects I spotted, and the hollow, porous, irregular surface of the shrooms. So, did it one more time, and sure enough, another 100+ insects. At this point, I was done. Even if the water was clean the next time, I know Id be wondering how many insects Id miss. I also wondered how many I ate in my first bite, and how many I gobbled up a few years back when I made the dish for the first time.
I ditched the shrooms ( a significant amount of money), I headed to the store, and got a variety of wild/ exotic prepackaged shrooms, and finished my dish ( as I was already 1/2 way through the preparation, so I had to do something.
Now, as a result of that experience, Im not sure I can ever eat fresh morels again. I don't knock the company, as they warned me, and I've gotten other things from them ( including morels ) in the past, with no issues. Just in my head, I now have linked eat morels with eating a mouth full of maggots.
One other time I had an issue was when I made this mexican style fried pepper. Pretty easy, toss a frying pepper on the grill to char the outside. Let cool, remove the char, seed and slice open so its kinda like a filet. Egg and bread crumb the outside as if you were making eggplant for eggplant parm. Then , arrange ( as if you were making eggplant parm) but instead of marinara, use salsa, and instead of mozzarella , used monkery jack, then back. Or can just serve as individual cutlet, toped with salsa and the cheese. ( sometimes , when breading, I toss some corn meal in with the bread crumbs too. Anyway, i used to love this dish. But many years back, i had gotten Meningitis, was sick for 2 weeks, losing 12 ppunds, fever of 105 for those 2 weeks, only to be broken to 103.5 after motrin. Zero appetite, loss of taste, it was terrible. When I finally was feeling better after those 2 weeks, i decided to make something i really enjoyed eating, the peppers. I found out the hard way , that eating a dish like that, after not eating for 2 weeks ( and i mean literally not eating, maybe a little jello, but thats it.). I got so nauseous and threw up everything. Took me 20 years before I could eat it again, and i still get the heebee geebees everytime i go to eat it, but it sure was good.
Larry
Well, a few years ago, i ordered morel mushrooms from a very reputable company. Fresh from the field. I got them in a few days, they were perfect. I cleaned them, cooked them up in a pasta ,garlic, cream, white wine kinda way. Probably one of the best dishes I had made.
A few years went by, i came across the recipe again, and decided to give another go at it. Ordered my shrooms from the same company. Got them a few days later. they came in this paper bag with instructions how to clean, and a warning that said they are freshly picked from the field, and may contain some worms, dirt, sticks ... No big deal, Im an avid gardener, and I've eaten my share of bugs, dirt and sticks ( not intentionally, but it happens). I dump the bag, and a pound of shrooms come out, along with some dirt, sticks and what looked like a single maggot looking insect. I grabbed one shroom, kinda tapped it on the counter ( to shake off any foreign debris), and tossed it in my mouth. I then proceeded to wash the shrooms, as instructed, as I was just about to use them. Any time i wash any thing, i try to do it in a white bowl, so i can ultimately see that when the water is clean, what ever Im washing is now clean. So i did this, and scooped out the mushrooms, and I swear there must have been 100 maggot looking insects at the bottom of the white bowl. Ok, so i did it again, hoping that was it, and the water would be clear so I could move on to making the dish. Sure enough, i removed the shrooms again, and another 100 + maggots came out. Now , I was wondering if id ever really be able to thoroughly clean off the shrooms, given the amount of insects I spotted, and the hollow, porous, irregular surface of the shrooms. So, did it one more time, and sure enough, another 100+ insects. At this point, I was done. Even if the water was clean the next time, I know Id be wondering how many insects Id miss. I also wondered how many I ate in my first bite, and how many I gobbled up a few years back when I made the dish for the first time.
I ditched the shrooms ( a significant amount of money), I headed to the store, and got a variety of wild/ exotic prepackaged shrooms, and finished my dish ( as I was already 1/2 way through the preparation, so I had to do something.
Now, as a result of that experience, Im not sure I can ever eat fresh morels again. I don't knock the company, as they warned me, and I've gotten other things from them ( including morels ) in the past, with no issues. Just in my head, I now have linked eat morels with eating a mouth full of maggots.
One other time I had an issue was when I made this mexican style fried pepper. Pretty easy, toss a frying pepper on the grill to char the outside. Let cool, remove the char, seed and slice open so its kinda like a filet. Egg and bread crumb the outside as if you were making eggplant for eggplant parm. Then , arrange ( as if you were making eggplant parm) but instead of marinara, use salsa, and instead of mozzarella , used monkery jack, then back. Or can just serve as individual cutlet, toped with salsa and the cheese. ( sometimes , when breading, I toss some corn meal in with the bread crumbs too. Anyway, i used to love this dish. But many years back, i had gotten Meningitis, was sick for 2 weeks, losing 12 ppunds, fever of 105 for those 2 weeks, only to be broken to 103.5 after motrin. Zero appetite, loss of taste, it was terrible. When I finally was feeling better after those 2 weeks, i decided to make something i really enjoyed eating, the peppers. I found out the hard way , that eating a dish like that, after not eating for 2 weeks ( and i mean literally not eating, maybe a little jello, but thats it.). I got so nauseous and threw up everything. Took me 20 years before I could eat it again, and i still get the heebee geebees everytime i go to eat it, but it sure was good.
Larry