What are some things that are main stream, everyone likes except for you?

[taxlady]

Sweet flavour does absolutely work with savoury, you just have to know how the flavours work together.

I don't object to unsweetened fruit with my savoury, if it isn't too much. But, you have to understand, even as a kid I wouldn't eat sautéed onions because, they were too sweet. I will eat them now, but please, please, don't add sugar to "caramelize" them. And sweet and sour almost anything is too sweet for my taste.

 

[dragnlaw]

Sweet flavour does absolutely work with savoury, you just have to know how the flavours work together.

I'm not saying it doesn't work with savoury - I'm saying I don't care for it. There are a few tagine recipes that I make, but not many as I find the fruit that is in them ends up making it too sweet.
I intensely dislike 95% of BBQ sauces, especially when drowning bones in restaurants.
I once had some individually frozen French Onion Soup, quite small, perfect as a starter, it was so sweet as to make you gag. There is no way they didn't add sugar. It was awful.

In Asian foods Plum sauce, Cherry sauce - tiny amounts only! Yes, they go with "*** whatevers" but please don't drown them!

I love my desserts, but even then, it seems nowadays I'm can't devour a whole pan in one sitting. A little bit here and there, all day long...

Edit:
However - I love chutney's especially Mango! on meat, on a spoon, on my finger!

 

[GotGarlic]

DH made ham steaks recently. He glazed them with maple syrup So good!

 

[Linda0818]

DH made ham steaks recently. He glazed them with maple syrup So good!

I love maple-glazed ham. Brown sugar ham as well.

 

[GinnyPNW]

For ribs, I've learned to use a nice dry rub...sous vide & finish on the gas grill...then let everyone choose their own sauces. I generally use homemade Carolina-style, maybe an Alabama White Sauce (especially for pulled pork)...and then there are some bottled crap sauces that others can choose to use.

 

[Badjak]

I like coffee, love cilantro, don't mind kale.
Liquorice is great, but I can see it being an aquired taste. I grew up with the stuff
Love fruit, but not in my meal.

Hate cheese, unless it is melted
Hate intestines, but love pate

No to soggy chips and please no vinegar!
Also no mayonaise.
Margarine belongs with small chemical waste!

 

[Saute]

Sushi. Hurl city.

Don't do fennel or anything vaguely "licorice-y". Nope.

Big One: Wine. Do Not Want.

 

[Texmex]

I know variations of this question circulate from time to time. I'm bringing it up again, cause yesterday I had nuggets with Buffalo sauce ( Like buffalo wings). Ive had many variations of the sauce, on quest to see why everyone loves it so much. It's not that I dont like it, but in my mind, I just can't see why it is so popular and main stream. Here are a few oof my top choices of foods/ drinks that are so popular, and I seem to be the exception.

1) Coffee: Its smells nice ,but in my opinion, tastes horrible. Clearly I am in the minority, but I just dont get it. I need to add so much sugar and flavorings just for me to be able to tolerate it, yet I'll watch my wife drink a basic brew and enjoy it so much. Every time she has a cup, I watch her and feel like Im missing out on something. I then give it a taste and confirm how much I hate it.

2) Kimchi: Years ago , when the cooking shows were obsessed with Kimchi I was intrigued. I love fermented foods, I love Asian foods and I love trying new things. I never heard of it, let alone tasted it before, so I figured, why not give it a try. I decided to make it myself first time around. I followed all the directions. I consider myself a relatively competent cook, and Im very good at following directs ( from all the years school that a had it beaten into me). I tasted the final product, and I thought I screw up, or it rotted ... I decided to go to the store and get some professionally made kimchi, so I had what to compare it with. Cracked the jar open, and t basically tasted very similar. Finally, I had a Korean co-worker who was born and raised in Korea. I explained my situation, and she said she'd make me a batch, so I could taste the real thing. Sure enough, same taste ( to me). I just dont get its popularity. Maybe on Korea, as thats basically comfort food, but here I see the Kimchi dumplings, Kimchi tacos, kimchi soup .... Again, clearly im in the minority, considering its popularity, but I just don't get it. I know many versions of kimchi has fish sauce in it, clearly I didnt try any of those versions, but when speaking to my Korean friend, she told me that even the fish-sauce-less version still tastes pretty authentic.

3) Buffalo Sauce (for wings): Finally, as mentioned earlier. Buffalo sauce. First time tasted it, I wasnt crazy about it, so tasted many versions of it, all tasting the same ( Or similar ) to me. It's not that I don't like it, I just dont get why everyone loves it. totally a personal preference. Maybe the real chick brings out a certain element of the sauce that I just never experienced .

Granted, being a vegetarian, there are certain aspects of certain flavors I'm missing out on. That being said, When I'm driving around in the summer , windows down, and I smell aa BBQ going on. Its smells great. I may choose not to eat it, but when I smell it, I get it, and understands why people love it. Same with bacon. When I smell it, I get it. But Coffee, Kimchi and Buffalo Sauce, just dont get their popularity. Obviously personal choices and and subjective flavors.

I have always marveled that there are actually restaurants that are just for chicken wings. I have no desire to eat wings. If there are some especially good sauces I would prefer mine on a thigh! I just really don't get it.

I also hate coffee. If there's a strong smell of it it actually makes me slightly nauseous and has ever since I was a kid. I have to hold my breath when going through the fresh coffee being section at the gourmet store.

I think a lot of seafood is obnoxious and don't even like to look at it. In the very distant past I have at least tried a bite most things. And then I discovered I'm allergic to a lot of it anyway like clams or oysters and to a lesser extent crab and lobster. About the only fish I ever really want is I will make red snapper blackened and serve it with fresh salsa about once a year.

Unfortunately I am also allergic to Coconut anything and a lot of people are using it to cook with now which is me bad gastro problems because you usually don't know. It can make me faint, but that has only happened with coconut milk in a drink before but close calls other times as well.

So that rules out a lot of Asian food for me because they are always using mystery sauces that have seafood something in them or coconut oil. I used to have a manager who wanted me to go with her to eat Thai food for lunch and I mean I can't even eat a Thai salad without getting really ill but I would go with her and then suffer through it. And she would bring me her leftover bag. She probably thought I didn't purchase more than a salad for some financial reason. Even the little dinner salads made me sick.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to eat at the raw food places. And I think pho looks awful and would likely be allergic to something in it so at least I have a good excuse not to even go there. The only thing in it that looks good to me is the egg, and it would look better not swimming in the muck.

Overall I think food trends are good just for the experience, but a lot of them are definitely not for me.

 

[dr morbius]

I don't like coffee. A few years ago I developed ulcers and I am still subject to them, so I avoid alcohol. The last time I had an alcoholic beverage it was hard root beer, around Halloween maybe ten years ago - maybe more, I'm not sure. I checked myself into the ER a couple days later with two ulcers. That was enough. I'll cook with wine, though.

I don't like peas or artichokes. I can't understand why anyone would like artichokes. Peas I understand, just dislike. My mother made us eat beef liver, and she probably overcooked it. I still remember how much I hated it and I haven't tried it for at least 45 years. She made fried perch, too, and for years I thought I hated fish. I actually like some kinds of fish when properly prepared.

I use canned green beans for green bean casserole, but that's the only canned vegetable we'll ever eat. I grew up eating canned vegetables and, no surprise, the only one I found tolerable was corn. I hated spinach until I tried the fresh stuff, which is now my favorite veggie.

I will not eat sushi, sashimi, or raw beef. If you want me to eat something that flew, swam, walked or crawled: cook it.

I don't much like marshmallows, especially "fluff". Ick.

Oh, yes. The food I hated the most as a kid and haven't gone near since I've been allowed to make my own choices: okra. Awful! Slimy, gooey... just the worst thing in the world. Made me choke, every time. It's entirely possible my mother got okra wrong (*), and I might like gumbo since I like spicy foods, but I'm not going near okra.


* My late mother was a fantastic cook on many things, but there were ways in which she was stubborn and inflexible. There are a few things I make to this day identical to the way she made it back then, so I don't want to leave the wrong impression.

 

[dragnlaw]

dr morbius...
I will not eat sushi, sashimi, or raw beef. If you want me to eat something that flew, swam, walked or crawled: cook it.

I ditto that! Had a friend who was always pestering m to come for tuna. 'So wonderful, you'll love it!'

My reply then and still is - 'If you serve me tuna, it had better be out of a can.'

 

[taxlady]

dr morbius...
I will not eat sushi, sashimi, or raw beef. If you want me to eat something that flew, swam, walked or crawled: cook it.

I ditto that! Had a friend who was always pestering m to come for tuna. 'So wonderful, you'll love it!'

My reply then and still is - 'If you serve me tuna, it had better be out of a can.'

You wouldn't eat grilled, seared, or baked tuna? How done do you like your steaks cooked?

 

[GinnyPNW]

Apparently, people like...or at least do not object...to those plastic "baskets" some restaurants are so fond of using? Especially for fish & chips...but also for burgers and fries, etc. I do not like them. I do not trust them to be clean, if you know what I mean. That, and I generally eat my fish with a fork and knife and I do not find baskets to be knife & fork friendly.

Ooooo, one more thing: Can't stand bent tines on a fork! It is bent = it is trash. Get rid of it!

 

[Linda0818]

You wouldn't eat grilled, seared, or baked tuna? How done do you like your steaks cooked?

Nothing better than a grilled medium-rare tuna steak.

 

[taxlady]

Nothing better than a grilled medium-rare tuna steak.

I agree. It tastes nothing like canned tuna. I'm not knocking canned tuna. But, how is that even the same fish?

 

[Linda0818]

I agree. It tastes nothing like canned tuna. I'm not knocking canned tuna. But, how is that even the same fish?

Agreed. Canned tuna (which I happen to really enjoy, even right out of the can) tastes completely different than fresh tuna.

 

[dragnlaw]

I do NOT eat raw fish. Any presentation, picture or real life, that I have ever seen has been the piece of food that is absolutely raw for 3/4's of the thickness.

Sorry no, no and again no.

Beside I hope you trust your supplier as that tuna better be certified edible. The more popular it became the more scam artist were supplying very not up to par fish!.

 

[taxlady]

I do NOT eat raw fish. Any presentation, picture or real life, that I have ever seen has been the piece of food that is absolutely raw for 3/4's of the thickness.

Sorry no, no and again no.

Beside I hope you trust your supplier as that tuna better be certified edible. The more popular it became the more scam artist were supplying very not up to par fish!.

@Linda0818 and I were talking about cooked tuna. Fresh tuna that gets cooked. I have had seared ahi tuna salad twice at Bâton Rouge. It was delicious. Do you worry about eating a rare or medium rare beef steak?

I was talking about the difference between canned and fresh tuna, not about raw tuna in sushi. You wrote that for you tuna has to come out of a can.

 

[Linda0818]

Oops, I responded incorrectly. I was going to delete my error of a post, but can't. I don't understand why we can't delete our own posts here anymore. We can edit our posts, but can't delete them. Which is frustrating when you post something that you decide you want to remove.

 

[taxlady]

Oops, I responded incorrectly. I was going to delete my error of a post, but can't. I don't understand why we can't delete our own posts here anymore. We can edit our posts, but can't delete them. Which is frustrating when you post something that you decide you want to remove.

I find that a bit odd too. You can delete everything you wrote and type "oops". It sort of accomplishes the same thing. I have had to do that too.

 

[dragnlaw]

taxy, I do not like my beef, pork, chicken, fish raw.
I like my beef and pork medium rare - meaning still pink in the middle but not red/raw.
chicken and fish must be fully cooked. Chicken needs to be fall off the bone cooked. I have had chicken that is fully cooked according to the thermometer but still the tissue on the bone is (for want of better word) clinging and raw like. Fish must flake all the way thru. If not, my gag reflex is triggered.

and I don't care what gourmet scientists say, that tuna is raw. I've never seen it cooked or presented any other way.
One exception is smoked salmon. Still it must be paper thin, any thicker and my gf kicks in.
Ceviche is another. Total gagger.
I honestly think all that hype is only because people are too impatient to cook and think they look cool eating them raw, giving onlookers a shock factor. The shock factor has become a fad.
Yes, now there are some people who truly enjoy the texture and the lemon juice.
Shellfish - I used to eat oysters as a child (dad was from the Maritimes) then not for years, tried again, could eat maybe 3 but now - nope, and I don't like them cooked.

All the badgering in the world will not get me to change my mind.

ps, your tuna in your salad is the same tuna that is used for sushi. Except yours was probably flamed by a torch on the way to the cutting board.
It is highly recommended that when cooking tuna to be sure it is very well chilled before searing. This way the searing does not go too deep and start to cook the middle inch of the tuna, just 1/8th to 1/4" on either side.