larry_stewart
Master Chef
So, its crappy weather up here in the North East/. Definitely a good day for cooking ( esp. soup). I rifled through the cupboard to see what I had on hand. I had some Saffron, I knew I had a leek that hadn't been used in the fridge, and coincidentally, earlier in the day I came across a soup recipe that required both of those ingredients.
Let me start by saying that I've used saffron a few times before , for other soup or rice dishes and haven't been thrilled. I figured that Id give it another shot, since I had it laying around. It was not very old and packaged really well. It was the kinda thing where I saw it on the counter when shopping for something else, and my cooking curiosity got the best of me. It was probably a light shopping week, so I figure , what the heck, lets buy it.
So I followed the recipe ( basically a potato leek soup with saffron, wild rice and fried almonds and garlic to garnish. The soup wasn't bad ( Not great, but not bad). I enjoyed the texture of the fried sliced almonds in the soup , which is not something ive done before and was surprised cause I thought the texture contrast wouldn't be pleasant, but it was. But then I got thinking, if there was one aspect of the soup that I wasn't crazy about was the saffron flavor its self. Im not going to say it was bad, but I didn't feel that its taste justified the price.
Sure, certain items are pricey cause of supply/ demand issues, short shelf life, exotic locations, High quality, snobbery, pumped up marketing as the Item that you ' must have'. and many other reasons, but not necessarily that they are all great. Now this includes, but is not limited to Saffron, truffles, caviar, certain cuts of beef, certain wines ......(Being vegetarian , clearly I didn't try a few of the above, but I know they can get obnoxiously pricey).
This all leads me to my question, are there any obnoxiously priced ingredients that you feel is worth the price, based on its flavor ?
Sure, I treat myself every now and then when the recipe calls for it, but there have been very few times where I didn't say " I wish I had my money back, and skipped that ingredient or recipe"
I love truffles, but prefer the truffle oil over the actual truffle cause the consistency isn't appealing to me ( kinda like pencil shavings) and I feel the flavor gets more dispersed with the oil. Saffron, as mentioned above, the first time I tried it it kinda reminded me of cat urine ( not that ive ever tried cat urine before, but if I had, thats what I would have imagined it kinda tasted like). Then had it a few more times, some not as potent as the first time, and this last time almost tasted like an electrical fire smells. Sure there are different brands, qualities , locations that could affect taste, but ive had it enough times, with repeated consistency , that I can get the general taste without thinking it was just a ' bad batch'
So, once again, is there a certain obnoxiously priced ingredient that you feel its taste justifies its price ? ( obviously there are no wrong answers, bjust curious about opinion here)
Let me start by saying that I've used saffron a few times before , for other soup or rice dishes and haven't been thrilled. I figured that Id give it another shot, since I had it laying around. It was not very old and packaged really well. It was the kinda thing where I saw it on the counter when shopping for something else, and my cooking curiosity got the best of me. It was probably a light shopping week, so I figure , what the heck, lets buy it.
So I followed the recipe ( basically a potato leek soup with saffron, wild rice and fried almonds and garlic to garnish. The soup wasn't bad ( Not great, but not bad). I enjoyed the texture of the fried sliced almonds in the soup , which is not something ive done before and was surprised cause I thought the texture contrast wouldn't be pleasant, but it was. But then I got thinking, if there was one aspect of the soup that I wasn't crazy about was the saffron flavor its self. Im not going to say it was bad, but I didn't feel that its taste justified the price.
Sure, certain items are pricey cause of supply/ demand issues, short shelf life, exotic locations, High quality, snobbery, pumped up marketing as the Item that you ' must have'. and many other reasons, but not necessarily that they are all great. Now this includes, but is not limited to Saffron, truffles, caviar, certain cuts of beef, certain wines ......(Being vegetarian , clearly I didn't try a few of the above, but I know they can get obnoxiously pricey).
This all leads me to my question, are there any obnoxiously priced ingredients that you feel is worth the price, based on its flavor ?
Sure, I treat myself every now and then when the recipe calls for it, but there have been very few times where I didn't say " I wish I had my money back, and skipped that ingredient or recipe"
I love truffles, but prefer the truffle oil over the actual truffle cause the consistency isn't appealing to me ( kinda like pencil shavings) and I feel the flavor gets more dispersed with the oil. Saffron, as mentioned above, the first time I tried it it kinda reminded me of cat urine ( not that ive ever tried cat urine before, but if I had, thats what I would have imagined it kinda tasted like). Then had it a few more times, some not as potent as the first time, and this last time almost tasted like an electrical fire smells. Sure there are different brands, qualities , locations that could affect taste, but ive had it enough times, with repeated consistency , that I can get the general taste without thinking it was just a ' bad batch'
So, once again, is there a certain obnoxiously priced ingredient that you feel its taste justifies its price ? ( obviously there are no wrong answers, bjust curious about opinion here)