I suppose popularity varies by region and culinary experience, but here are some root vegetables that most people (of my generation at least) don't like and rarely eat (if ever):
1. Turnips -- they have a wonderfully delicate flavor if they are fresh, not woody, and if they aren't boiled too death.
2. Parsnips -- boiled, sliced and fired in butter this cousin to the carrot also has a nice delicate flavor. Very good as long as it isn't too fibrous.
3. Jerusalem artichokes -- my grandfather used to grow these. I've seen recipes for cooking them, but we liked to eat them raw (peeled and washed first, of course). They have a nice crunch (texture is kind of like jicama) and a nutty, earth taste.
4. Beets -- They get a bad rap because too many of us were served canned beats which tasted horrible or if not-canned, boiled to death and mushy. I think the key to good beets is to roast them (although I liked them boiled as well)
Also: I have never had celeriac -- I see it in the stores, but was never served it and haven't taken the time to cook it myself. Anybody out there in to celeriac?
I'll be back with other unpopular/unknown food items, but feel free to add your own.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I know about parsnips and turnips very well. You are right. If cooked properly they can be very good. Turnips, as I recall, can taste pretty good raw and sliced thin. I have not had them for years.
I grew up with scrapple for breakfast. Pretty good as I recall. Probably not considered dietically correct today. Posts: 440 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Fennel is lovely if cooked right - it's just important not to use old fennel, because then the flavour will dominate everything.
My favourite is baby fennel roasted with prosciutto - yum.
Liver can also be yummy - though I only came to this realisation recently. Calf liver for preference, sliced very very thinly and served with bacon. Or rare pidgeon breast, if you're being fancy.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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chicken feet is something I've been offered but declined
I don't know how usual or not it is but pickled herring is quite good,and so are droppees (sp?) which is salted black licorice
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Brussels sprouts are my vote. I get them exactly once a year, but only if I go to my mother-in-law's for Thanksgiving. Yum.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Oh, I love Brussel sprouts. I have them all the time. I am partially green from eating so many.
Posts: 440 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Thanks everybody. I love this kind of stuff.
On fennel: I've only had it in sausage (which I love). I should try it like that.
On rutabagas: Have had them once or twice -- roasted with other winter veggies. Not bad. I think I'd have to try them by themselves to know for sure. How would you desribe their taste, Ela?
On brains: I once ate brain pounded, breaded and fried at a KFC-like fast food place in Bucharest. It was... spongy. And kind of tasteless.
On brussel sprouts: don't know if I like them because I've never had them prepared properly. How do you cook them screechowl?
On liver: Not a big fan, but then again, I never had it like imogen describes. I'd probably like that. Yet another one of those damn "when I was in Romania" stories -- I once was served (and ate) a calf liver the size of my fist. It was soooo dry. Man it was nasty.
---- Which reminds me: I had beef tongue sliced thinly and marinated in something delicious (olive oil, garlic and some herbs -- not sure all what was in there) at a Basque restaurant. Very good.
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Tongue is the one thing I can't eat. Whenever I imagine it I can almost feel myself crunching down on my own tongue.
Posts: 575 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Fried eggplant with walnut sauce. I first had it in a Georgian restaurant in Moscow. Very yummy.
Posts: 1512 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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I had roasted radishes once (I was experimenting). Really good. Starchy and a little sweet.
I LOVE brussels sprouts. No one else in my house will eat them, so I buy the frozen kind. I steam them in the microwave, nothing special. A little salt, maybe butter if I'm in the mood for that. Mmmmmmm...
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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Mmm, tongue. Pickled (or plain) is nice cold, but my favorite way of making it is sliced, hot, cooked (the second time, after boiling and peeling) with a sweet-and-sour sauce (brown sugar, lemon juice or cider vinegar, water, cornstarch, maybe some spices) and almonds and raisins. *drools*
Haven't had them in ages, but sweetbreads are yummy too. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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...is undeniably the best fruit in the whole freggin' universe!
Heh. It's an acquired taste. You either hate it, or you love it. Many people are rather deterred by the pungent odor of this delectable piece of exotic fruit, but once you can actually overlook it's overpowering yet oddly fragrant odor, it'll become the most mouthwatering, rapture-inducing, !ambrosia-of-the-gods-like thing that you have ever tasted.
Mind you, it's pretty pricey though.
Posts: 181 | Registered: Aug 2001
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My brother loves Durian. He's determined to go buy one at the local Asian market so I can try some.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Eggplant is wonderful! Aubergines is so much more yummy sounding a word for them, though. I think it's the name that puts people off. It's the most wonderful thing, particularly sauteed in olive oil and then sprinkled with garlic and parmesan cheese and then baked.
I also love the french dish ratatoullie, which has eggplant, zuchinni, tomatoes, onions, and green peppers with lots of spices and cooked in olive oil. I love Julia Child's recipe but I modify it to make it a lot easier to make.
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My favorite way to have spinach or brussel sprouts is steamed, then with a little butter, and the most vinegar you can stand without burning your tongue. Lots of salt, too.
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Ooh, kwsni, if you like salted lemon, have you ever tried 'saladitos'? (I think I spelled that right) They are dried salted plums, and where I grew up (SoCal), they were all the rage. You cut a lemon in half, and stuck the saladito (now that I read that, I think it should be 'saldito') right in the middle. Like a cherry in a grapefruit (but much, much better). Then you just suck on it. The plums are dried with the pit still in the middle, so don't eat that part, just the flesh of it.
Very, very strong flavor. Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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Zalmoxis- "On brussel sprouts: don't know if I like them because I've never had them prepared properly. How do you cook them screechowl?"
I micro everything, so put a serving in a bowl w/ a little water (if fresh make sure you have enough water) and give it the needed time. I find about 4 to 4 and 1/2 min. will cook a serving of the smaller sprouts.
You have to decide how firm you like them.
You doctor them up with cheese and I suppose other things. I just eat them plain with dinner.
People on here can probably come up with recipes for them.
Posts: 440 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Brussel sprouts are delicious steamed, with basamic vinegar sprinkled on.
I like spinach best in salad. (Or creamed, with a nice piece of cornbread.
Passion fruit juice - not the "mostly-white-grape juice-with-a-passion-fruit-waved-over-it-for-effect" stuff you mostly find in the grocery stores. You haven't lived until you've had it prepared fresh, just the fruit pulp, water, and a little sugar whipped up in a blender and then strained to get the seeds out. MMMMmmmmmmm. Lovely lovely stuff.
I also like cashew-apple (or caju in portuguese) juice, but it's really hard to find in the states. It's an acquired taste for many, though.
I like broccolini, but it's not easy to find either. It's like long skinny broccoli. Very pretty on the plate, too, if lightly steamed.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Oxtail (which is actually just a cows tail) - mmm... this makes the best soup. But buying it always freaks me out, excpecially from a butcher that brings the whole freaking tail out before cutting it up.
Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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The best soda I have ever had was a russian soda that was $1.25 per 12 oz bottle. Tarragon flavored soda.
Posts: 859 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Durian is definitely an interesting fruit. The whole "garlic-almond" element to its flavor is a bit offputting at first, as is its scent, but it's one of those things where I ate a bite, thought "eew", and then found myself reaching for another bite. Good stuff.
Langsaart are good too. Anybody ever had those?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Pomegranate sauce - I had it with broiled salmon at the Russian restaurant near us and it was amazing.
Capers. I use them in my pasta primavera sauce (without cream) and in chicken piccata. I've never had the chicken piccata, but Andrew loves it.
BTW, matzo brei should only be eaten with salt, like grits. Coincidentally, these are the only things that my mother cooks well.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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I adore maracuja!! It was my favorite thing when I was there. I however do NOT like suco de caju (as it was too thick and chalky for my taste.)
Your food choices sounded oddly south american!
Speaking of Brazil, I adore fresh spinach on rice and black beans cooked just right. Balsamic vinegar also makes any vegetable just better. (Cucumber with bv...yum!)
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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Nobody makes black beans and rice as tasty as Brazilians do. (Right now I could really go for a nice big bowl of feijoada.)
Yes, in a former life I was a Mormon missionary in Brazil (1986-88).
Have you ever had Jaboticaba? I have never met anyone who hasn't lived in Brazil who's ever even heard of this strange fruit.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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My brothers-in-law who were missionaries in Brazil can't believe that I hate maracuya. I had it in Honduras, and it was one of the worst things I ever ate/drank in a country full of nasty things to eat/drink.
I also hated maranon (which is the fruit portion of a cashew) and tamarind, which to my horror you can actually buy in supermarket around here now.
But back to the topic of weird things that are good, I sure wish I had had the chance to try iguana while I was in Honduras. Sadly, they were a little bit hard to come by in the more urban areas.
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Not all the fruit in Honduras was bad. There was a fruit called a mamey (not sure how it's spelled, but it's pronounced Mah-May) that was about the size of a shelled coconut and about the same color, but the flesh was like a firm peach or apricot, though much more reddish, and it had a large, irregular pit. It was very tasty, indeed. My companion became addicted and started dreaming of ways to import mamey trees to the U.S. and grow them in huge greenhouses or something. However, they didn't seem to be very common, even in the areas where they grew.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Steamed Radishes: possibly the most horrid taste in the world. Had to try a second one to be sure it was as bad as I thought. Yegads, where's the tongue scraper??!!!???
Shallots: beats the heck out of onions in many dishes.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Being a college student, most people think the food I eat are weird when I eat raw sliced zucchini or sliced tomatoes with a dash or salt. As for actual weird foods though, I'm not really sure that I have much experience...
Posts: 26 | Registered: Feb 2004
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It's interesting ...the fruit is about the size of a large watermelon with a prickly exterior. The interior reminds me of rubber bands (but can be cooked like spaghetti squash) and the fruits are these banana/pineapple flavored yellow things surrounding the seeds.
Seriously strange. But very delicious and expensive. My sister who lived in Brazil coerced me into spending about $60 for one. The experience was worth it.
Posts: 862 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Holy crap, you spent $60 on a jackfruit? I've only had them in Thailand, so I can imagine that their import price might be high, but my god!
One of my favorite things about travelling to other countries is getting to sample fruits I've never heard of that are indigenous to the region. I'm going to have to take a trip to Brazil to try all of the various fruits you guys are talking about.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Matzah brei with salt instead of sugar is a vile perversion of a delicious food. Ok, I'll occasionally eat it that way if someone else cooks it. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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) black licorice, though. ![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
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