Foodie fun

[davmillar]

Chicharrones from a bag, drizzled with hot sauce.  A yummy, typical Mexican snack food.

I can't get past the slimy, slippery texture. Fried pork rinds I can do no problem. But chicharron tacos... nope.

[inkyatari]

Hot sauce on snickers bars is one of my favorite things.

[tolbs17]

I enjoy this commercial... Who likes tacos?? I do! I wish I had 5 a day. It's like my third favorite food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMD_5lfM-4c

[ozarkman417]

I enjoy this commercial... Who likes tacos?? I do! I wish I had 5 a day. It's like my third favorite food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMD_5lfM-4c

I feel bad for the toilet at Taco Bell...

[MNHighwayMan]

I feel bad for the toilet at Taco Bell...

Why? Do you often try to shit out food at the same place where you bought it? Unless you're going to Taco Bell daily, and at the same time as a bowel movement, it isn't their toilets you have to be concerned about.

[csw]

Allegedly, döner kebabs can be found in Minneapolis...can one of the Minnesotans confirm? I've been wanting one since the day I left Germany...

[kphoger]

I recently started getting my feet wet with sardines (figuratively, not literally).
Anyone else on here eat sardines?  If so, I'm curious how you prepare them.

[hbelkins]

I love eating chicken with fries. My favorite! Either Jersey Chicken or KFC or even Popeyes.

Just wait until you dine at a Raising Cane's.  Succulent chicken tenders are their specialty and yes, they do have fries!

Rick

I have to look that up and see where it is. And I will give it a shot if it's near me!

Zaxby's is pretty much the same thing. Although I've gotten to where I prefer Cane's over Zaxby's.

[kphoger]

I recently started getting my feet wet with sardines (figuratively, not literally).
Anyone else on here eat sardines?  If so, I'm curious how you prepare them.

Update:

Until recently, I had been on the hunt for the smallest sardines available in stores.  This is because I was born after 1979, and turning to Google for answers is what we do, and a lot people online said the smaller sardines have the best flavor.  Well, I've only been able to find one type of two-layer sardines in town (fish small enough to be packed in the tin in two layers), but I've tried a few different kinds in addition.

Since posting in September, the most obvious use of sardines has been to make sardine salad out of it, similar to tuna salad, with mayo and mustard and diced pickles and stuff.  This is versatile for a snack (crackers or toast) but all the mayo probably negates the health benefits of eating oily fish.  What was a big winner with my younger two kids was to coat the fish in an egg wash with Frank's hot sauce mixed in, then bread them in seasoned flour, then pan-fry them and serve them as part of a pasta dish.  It was fantastic but, when my wife and eldest son arrived home, they said the house completely reeked of fish.  The biggest frustration with trying to use whole sardines has been that digging the little guys (which have been thoroughly cooked and soaking in oil) out the tin and then manipulating them in various ways–without breaking them–is an exercise in futility.

But I had a breakthrough on Tuesday evening after the kids went to bed.  I had an idea pop into my head, more or less completely formed, for something to try.  I had at some point bought a tin of Bela brand sardines in lemon-flavored olive oil, from Portugal, at the local Sprouts store.  These were definitely not the smallest sardines out there:  instead of, say, 20 fish per tin, there were only four.  To start, I sautéed some diced onion and bell pepper in a skillet, then added garlic, paprika, coriander, and salt.  When all of that was sautéed to my liking, I put in some red salsa and Frank's hot sauce.  Finally, I cut each sardine into three chunks, added them to the skillet, stirred everything around, and put it on a plate.

Served with some smoked Gouda cheese, it was a might fine nighttime snack.  The chunks of fish stayed pretty much intact, even after some stirring-around.  The only thing I missed was a squeeze of lemon, but we were out of that.  Served over a little bit of rice, the dish would be even better.

So now I'm no longer on the hunt for the smallest sardines.  Now I'm on the hunt for more Portuguese or Spanish sardines, and I no longer want to use the little ones for anything other than mashing them up into a salad.  I saw at Sprouts yesterday that they carry two other varieties of the same brand.  Next time I'm at Whole Foods, I'll have to review their selection as well.

[kevinb1994]

I recently started getting my feet wet with sardines (figuratively, not literally).
Anyone else on here eat sardines?  If so, I'm curious how you prepare them.

Update:

Until recently, I had been on the hunt for the smallest sardines available in stores.  This is because I was born after 1979, and turning to Google for answers is what we do, and a lot people online said the smaller sardines have the best flavor.  Well, I've only been able to find one type of two-layer sardines in town (fish small enough to be packed in the tin in two layers), but I've tried a few different kinds in addition.

Since posting in September, the most obvious use of sardines has been to make sardine salad out of it, similar to tuna salad, with mayo and mustard and diced pickles and stuff.  This is versatile for a snack (crackers or toast) but all the mayo probably negates the health benefits of eating oily fish.  What was a big winner with my younger two kids was to coat the fish in an egg wash with Frank's hot sauce mixed in, then bread them in seasoned flour, then pan-fry them and serve them as part of a pasta dish.  It was fantastic but, when my wife and eldest son arrived home, they said the house completely reeked of fish.  The biggest frustration with trying to use whole sardines has been that digging the little guys (which have been thoroughly cooked and soaking in oil) out the tin and then manipulating them in various ways–without breaking them–is an exercise in futility.

But I had a breakthrough on Tuesday evening after the kids went to bed.  I had an idea pop into my head, more or less completely formed, for something to try.  I had at some point bought a tin of Bela brand sardines in lemon-flavored olive oil, from Portugal, at the local Sprouts store.  These were definitely not the smallest sardines out there:  instead of, say, 20 fish per tin, there were only four.  To start, I sautéed some diced onion and bell pepper in a skillet, then added garlic, paprika, coriander, and salt.  When all of that was sautéed to my liking, I put in some red salsa and Frank's hot sauce.  Finally, I cut each sardine into three chunks, added them to the skillet, stirred everything around, and put it on a plate.

Served with some smoked Gouda cheese, it was a might fine nighttime snack.  The chunks of fish stayed pretty much intact, even after some stirring-around.  The only thing I missed was a squeeze of lemon, but we were out of that.  Served over a little bit of rice, the dish would be even better.

So now I'm no longer on the hunt for the smallest sardines.  Now I'm on the hunt for more Portuguese or Spanish sardines, and I no longer want to use the little ones for anything other than mashing them up into a salad.  I saw at Sprouts yesterday that they carry two other varieties of the same brand.  Next time I'm at Whole Foods, I'll have to review their selection as well.

I'm not the only one who enjoys some Gouda cheese then. I usually get the Babybel ones.

[kurumi]

Taiwanese stinky (fermented) tofu. The first time I encountered it, the table next to us had ordered it; the aroma (to my uncultured nose) was like a dog had climbed up on the table and left a gift. So naturally I thought, "Some day I'm going to try that."

One day, out with the extended family (about 8) I did, to their mild annoyance. The taste was... OK. There was more the feeling of being on a roller coaster and wanting the incline to take you up as fast as possible so the scary part would be over.

Now stinky tofu in Taiwan is apparently much better than anything you can get here in the US. So there's one more thing to try.

[sparker]

Always had a liking for kim chi -- Korean pickled cabbage; especially fond of the extra-hot variety (found in jars and bright red with chiles).  Quite odiferous when opened; usually keep it out in the auxiliary refrigerator in the garage (and tend to eat it out there right out of the jar as well).  My GF rolls here eyes about my choice of "oddball" foods, particularly when they tend to be a bit off the charts in regards to smell.  One of my favorite cheeses has always been Milwaukee Bier Kaese, a particularly "smelly" (quite possibly the source of the remark "who cut the cheese"!) rinded port salut variety.  Used to be able to get it in some supermarkets; but because it's made of unpasteurized milk, chains have stopped selling it -- but it's available from a couple of WI sources online.  That will invariably be for garage or back yard consumption! 

But my latest "craze" has been for Paqui chips, which come in two varieties -- a chili/lime version, very hot, with a mixture of cayenne and habanero powders with a nice dose of lime juice.  The other is their ghost pepper variety (it's ingredient #2 -- even ahead of salt!).  Hot doesn't begin to describe it; if you can get 3-4 down in a couple of minutes, you're doing well!  I usually have some sort of guac around to dip it in to make the heat tolerable.  But they do taste good!  And the company also has a chip made of the Carolina Reaper -- apparently one has to order it, and there's only one chip per tiny bag!  Since those are supposed to be 2.2 times as hot as a ghost pepper, Paqui is covering their ass -- you have to sign a waiver to get a bag/chip!  I'm curious -- but not in any particular hurry to try one out!  But I've got a couple of bags of ghost pepper chips and about a dozen bags of chili/lime in the pantry; those will do just fine!

[kphoger]

I'm not the only one who enjoys some Gouda cheese then. I usually get the Babybel ones.

Pro tip:   Aldi has great cheese.

Always had a liking for kim chi

Ick.  I've only had it once, as part of a fusion taco from a food truck.  I had high hopes in that type of dish, but it tasted like I was eating literal garbage on my taco.

[kurumi]

I don't know why kimchi, tsukemono, vietnamese picked veggies are great, but dill pickles ruin everything they touch.

[kphoger]

   Dill pickles are the only pickles!

[kphoger]

Somehow, with all my love for and travels to Mexico, I made all the way to Saturday without ever having eaten menudo.  OMG, where has this been all my life!  Oh yeah, that's right, it's been in practically every Mexican restaurant worth its salt.

Any over tripe lovers out there?  I think it's certainly not for everyone but, if you like beef fat, then you should also like tripe.  It's kind of slimy, but it isn't chewy or tough at all (at least, from this restaurant, it isn't).  Yum yums!  I'm currently eating the leftovers on my lunch break.

[US 89]

The strangest food I recall having was fried alligator at a "Cajun" restaurant in Oklahoma City. It tasted like chicken.

   Dill pickles are the only pickles!

Agreed.

[sparker]

   Dill pickles are the only pickles!

Most kosher delis feature "half-done" pickles -- cukes or cuke slices that have been brined for about half as long as commercially available dills -- the tartness of the vinegar brine but retaining the basic cucumber taste.  One hell of a lot better than the supermarket stuff -- even the "premium" product from kosher suppliers.  And they're fresh, since most delis brine them on the premises (in L.A. area, found at, of course, Canters on Fairfax, Billy's Deli in Glendale, and Roll and Rye -- also Fairfax district, right across the street from CBS, as well as in Culver City on Sepulveda).  Up here, the best so far have been at Brothers' Deli in Burlingame. 

[CoreySamson]

I don't generally eat too many strange foods, but there's a relatively local treat that I tried once. It's called a raspa. It's shaved ice but they put chamoy and pickles on it (you could also get gummy bears and some other fruit on it if I remember correctly). My church had an event where they served it one night in the summer, and OMG it was good. Don't knock pickles and shaved ice until you try it.

[index]

I have nothing fancy that I've eaten but I have put seaweed salad on doritos before. Tastes better than it sounds...or not. I don't know. It does to me. The combination is nice.

[kphoger]

I have nothing fancy that I've eaten but I have put seaweed salad on doritos before. Tastes better than it sounds...or not. I don't know. It does to me. The combination is nice.

I imagine Doritos would be similar to tortilla strips that way, which is a fairly common salad topping.

[cjk374]

   Dill pickles are the only pickles!

I'm afraid I must disagree with your assessment Mr. Hoger. Dill pickles are nasty with the exception of hamburger slices. Yes, I am different.

Sweet pickles are the best! I can eat those straight out of the jar, then drink the juice to help with cramps. I will slice up sweet pickles and put them on hamburgers & hot dogs. And when it comes to tater salads...sweet pickle relish only please!

[kphoger]

Pickle relish doesn't belong in potato salad.   

[cjk374]

Pickle relish doesn't belong in potato salad.   

Neither does mayo!

[kurumi]

My admittedly inconsistent take: Kimchi is great, carrot/daikon in banh mi is great, same for the daikon cubes you get with your fried chicken, same for tsukemono. But dill pickle wedges or slices ruin everything they're in.