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Just for fun:The "weirdest" ingredient.
What was the most weird thing you ever used as an ingredient - for lack of a better option or cause the recipe called for it?
asked by mensaque
11 months ago
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Well it wasn't really weird but once for cooking club we did a bleu cheese challenge so all dishes had to include it. It was overload!
pierino is a trusted source on General Cooking and Tough Love.
added 11 months agoI'm having a tough time with this one because I don't think of food as wierd. More thought required....
Love Gorgonzolla but blue cheese tastes weird enough for me,kbc!And to put some litgh on how did I think of this question:my great grandmother used to make a pumpikin candy that required leaving the pumpikin in a soak of lime and watter.The next day,she had to wash it for qiute a while and soak it again in fresh water to remove it.All that to create a crunchy candy crust and still maintain a soft interior.Weird enough for you,pierino?
Hey,pierino...I've been meaning to ask you:how was the work on New Years?I got hurt around that time when I gave you the tips for the brasillian menus and was wondering if my message was usefull to you.
About 20 yrs ago I wanted to make authentic black beans and it called for "epazote". Absolutely unable to locate. Last week in the supermarket they had it in the fresh herb section. Now to find the recipe again. LOL.
What is normal to me, based on where I live, like goeey ducks, is very unusual in other parts of the world. I have two unusual ingredients that I tried cooking. One is alligator and two is possum. They were both in Louisiana. Alligator I will do again, possum never. I am language deprived, I only speak English. Don't know how these ingredients translate in Portuguese. Love your questions, Mensaque.
pierino is a trusted source on General Cooking and Tough Love.
added 11 months agoActually SKK, they do have Cayman in Brasil---related to gator. Brasil was among the states that did have influence on the Creole cuisine of that great Melting Pot, New Orleans. Out in the bayous of Lousiana they also cook nutria. Think of them as an aquatic opussum except that they are not a marsupial. They were introduced from somewhere else, I forget where.
Thanks, Pierno, interesting note about Cayman in Brasil. I lived in Louisiana, Patterson to be exact and in those days nutria was trapped for its fur. I was never tempted to eat it. Nutria was introduced from South America. Now I live in Seattle overlooking the Ballard Locks and the Ship Canal and nutria are right out there eating their aquatic plants and mussels. Another interesting note is down the road at my fish monger I can purchase frozen alligator raised in Hagerman, ID which is outside of Twin Falls. <a href="http://www.mtexpress.com/2001/01-03-07/01-03-07alligator.htm" target="_blank">http://www.mtexpress.com/2001/01-03-07/01-03-07alligator.htm</a>
Alligator would be our "jacaré"...like a crocodille,common in the Amazon.My mother ate it once and said it was delicious...like a very wite and firm fish fillet.And possum...would translate into "gambá".Similar to a big rat,sprays like a skunk only without the cuteness.Thanks for all the love,SKK.XOXO.
My mom makes a mean okra!
Cynthia is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.
added 11 months agoCan't think of anything exceptionally weird yet, either. But how are you doing since your surgery? Are you able to go downstairs now? Good to hear from you.
I'm much better,thanks,B.I did not have surgery...just wore a cast for 2 months and stayed off my foot for another month.Now I'm using a cane for climbing stairs and trying not to strain it too much.Missed you too.
I wanted to cook authentic Thai and I had to make ingredients for ingredients for the finished dish. Weird for me was using "Shrimp Paste". The recipe called for the quantity (something like 1/4 cup) to be wrapped in foil, then the foil pack had to be heated in a skillet. If the smell of the shrimp paste wasn't bad enough - once it got warm neighbors thought I was cooking dirty diapers! The house reeked for most of a week. The recipe, however, was delicious.
I had an similar experience with some chicken kidneys once.House smelling like a public lavatory for two days...
Sarah is a trusted source on General Cooking.
added 11 months agoHomemade tempeh was a new one for me - soybeans with about a 1/4" fuzzy grey-black mould growing on top. Also a revelation when twice-cooked in a delicious Indonesian-style curry sauce.
And I made some pretty decent kangaroo stews when living in Australia (not an ingredient I consider weird, but many do).
I use it everyday & have been eating it all my life, but I still feel Asafetida is the weirdest ingredient around... especially the big lumpy types that need to be pinched off into bits or puffed up in the microwave & microplaned into dishes.
Its sticky resin from the roots of the wild fennel plant. & stinks to high heaven in its raw state, but boy, transforms so magically when toasted in oil..
Panfusine, Asafetida - must it come from wild fennel? Would gardened fennel have it the sticky resin you are talking about?
In good old portuguese,asa fétida means stinky wing!
SKK.. I don't think its the same as the wild fennel that grows in the US, according toWikipedia, the entire plant emanates that characteristic asafetida stink.. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida</a>
Years ago, when I was trying to save money by making my own, rather than buying it at a restaurant, I attempted hot and sour soup. Tree ear fungus was an exceptionally strange ingredient (at least to me), but the soup came out OK.... Buying the laundry list of ingredients ended up costing more than just buying it out, though.
I can't compete here. All I can come up with is green coffee beans. Not that I think they're strange, but guests find them and the roasting process quite curious.
Mensaque, once again you have started a very interesting conversation. To second boulangere's question, how are you doing?
I'm like House now...witty with a cane.Just for a while.
Yeast. Yeast is definitely weird weird stuff. Also, do you know where cream of tartar comes from? Seriously. I am endlessly amazed that collectively we figured out all this crazy alchemy we call cooking.
I'd say epazote. I may never understand it, but I keep using it for black beans.
Dried Jellyfish. but I already knew that I liked Jellyfish salad, so it didn't seem that strange.
I've cooked Geoduck stomach, it turns out that the best part of the beast, cut thin and quickly fried with a little garlic; up until I was in my early teens we had just ground up the foot and made fritters.
Honestly I think those little silver dragees that people put on cakes are pretty weird, especially since it says on the container that they aren't edible (I think that's only true in the US though). We use to put those and borage flowers on all our birthday cakes.
We have silver espheres for decoration in Brazil but I think they're made out of cassava starch but I agree.The tiny ones I even like cause they give it a crunch,but the bigger ones make food seem full of nails.
pierino is a trusted source on General Cooking and Tough Love.
added 11 months agoAnd now I keep looking at those durians in the Korean supermarket...
LOL.. I don't believe F52 has a recipe calling for Durians though...
What are durians(asked the brazillian girl)?
When I mentioned the lime on the misspelled pumpkin candy before...It wasn't until hours later that I realized how crazy I sounded!It sounded like I was talking about lime juice,but what I meant was the white powder used to paint walls.Is lime the right word for it or am I way off?
pierino is a trusted source on General Cooking and Tough Love.
added 11 months agoDurians (supposedly) smell like dead people walking. Except that the flesh is extremely sweet. So, I guess get in touch with your inner zombie. I know where to buy them but they still kind of scare me, and I'm not usually scared by food.
Salt of hartshorn (Ammonium Carbonate). When researching old Scandi cookie recipes, this came up from time to time - made of reindeer antler powder - used before baking soda. Needless to say, I did not get any. King Arthur Flour's website sells it, however.
Chris is a trusted source on General Cooking
added 11 months agoI have some hartshorn and use it occasionally. It does make a crispy cookies, and after baking, there is no lingering ammonia smell.
When I read your question, I was reminded of one of my husband's favorite episodes of "The Family Guy" where Stewie over pronounces the H in Whip...aka "miracle whip" and then he says "whierd" instead of weird!
Gotta love Stewie!!!One of my favorite characters ever!
Yup, good old durian. I like the flavor, and I agree that I has a funny smell, but it doesn't smell all that bad to me. I guess that's what working on a goat farm for years does to your sense of nasal propriety. Also, dried scallops I used for a homemade xo sauce. Stinky but delicious.
Chris is a trusted source on General Cooking
added 11 months agoThe Singapore airport has an M&Ms store with ~3-foot-tall M&M characters (plain and peanut) holding slices of durian and looking pretty dubious.