Reader Mike L. sends me disgusting stuff like this — ugh — which forces me down a branch line of thought, basically to help me get rid of the taste of vomit.
I spend a lot of time talking about how much I love Britishland foods (fish & chips, meat pies, sausage rolls etc.) but I have to say that I’ve also come to love me some Tex-Mex dishes, e.g.:
and:
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the kitchen.
Kim,
You ever visit Manny’s when you lived in Chicago-stan? While Fish-n-chips from the local chippie and Tex-Mex certainly have their place … I contend there is no finer “food for the soul” than Jewish Deli. Come to think of it .. I have a couple of rye bagels, Philly with chives, nova lox and some capers at the ready. Hmmm… and a hot pastrami sammich on toasted marble rye with a spot of brown mustard and a garlic dill pickle on the side? Oh, MAMA … And you best not forget the knaidles in chicken soup. No finer nectar exists. Finish it with some Joyva brand Halvah and you have Fed Your Soul the way HaShem intended.
Brad, you KNOW I love most things Tribe. Just not your diet.
I hate, absolutely LOATHE rye bread, lox and gefilte fish make me want to heave, and that cardboard matzoh stuff is disgusting. Matzo ball soup? Okay, I’ll cop to that one. But as for the rest… ugh.
Kim,
I’ll meet ya half way on gefilte … there’s “good” gefilte and then there’s drek. Even the hand-crafted “good” stuff is at best meh. Good that I don’t live in an eastern European shtetl like my paternal ancestors.
What comes next is likely to get me banned from your pages .. couple months ago I had a SERIOUS hankering for a pickled tongue sammich. I tried nearly half a dozen delis within a 30 minute drive of Casa de Me. Everyone stopped carrying tongue – not enough demand – go figure. The ONLY place I could satisfy my fix was to trek down to Dempster Street in Morton Grove and hit Kaufman’s …
Lox = JewSashimi = mucho yum.
I was on the air in radio once upon a time, and interviewed Kenny Smith (best known as the starting point guard for the Akeem Olajuwan Houston Rockets) not long after he retired. A brother from the ethnic kaleidoscope of Queens; bagels & lox is one of his faves from childhood.
If you’re gonna play in Texas, ya gotta have a taco in your hand (apologies to Charlie Daniels.)
Charlie wouldn’t care, that was an Alabama song! But, the sentiment behind it valid.
Me slant-eyed mum was born & raised in Hawaii, & I’ve spent a lot of time there. The Hawaiian culinary culture is an amazing hodgepodge – mostly in a good way, but not always. I attended a Filipino luau once upon a time, where a vile goat stew was one of the offerings. The meat was entrails, and the animal’s bile was one of the flavoring components. The smell alone was gag reflex inducing. I’m an enthusiastic cook & quite an adventurous eater, and it’s the only dish I’ve ever been offered that I didn’t try.
Something from the other side of the world I’m curious about but have never tried: blood sausage. There’s a variety available via Amazon. Opinions? Advice?
blood sausage or black pudding is usually a component of the full breakfast, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast etc. I like it. There are styles with more or less barley added to it. Give it a try. I don’t think I’d want an entire sandwich of it but a couple pieces with breakfast are a nice change from bangers.
JQ
Crumbled black pudding with poached egg and a little salad is very nice. If you want your belt tightened, try a slice of black pudding covered by a rasher or two of bacon and topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.
Black pudding WITH something, as described by you: okay. By itself? Ugh.
One time, for some stupid reason, my wife decided to try the cauliflower “mashed potatoes”. It was, eh, buttery with an odd texture and not much taste. The texture was nauseating, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. My son nailed it. He said it tasted like mashed potatoes after you puked it back up. Both my wife and I got up from the table and threw out plates in the trash. After hearing that, neither one of us were going take another bite of that shit.
Cauliflower soup is a favorite at Casa Slant-Eyed Polack. It’s often identified as potato soup by friends who aren’t told what it is.
@Slant …
Living in the greater Chicongo area … I’ve had many versions of Polish pickle soup and other Polish delicacies. Oof .. that stuff is tasty. I also make a pretty good potato leek soup with hunks of smoky kielbasa or Neuske’s bacon from Wisconsin. It’s no wonder I’m a bit like a .45acp cartridge … short, squat, slow, but usually good enough to get the job done.
There is a Little Poland neighborhood not that far from me that has a lot of Polish markets and restaurants. One of the restaurants makes a tripe soup that is absolutely delicious. Their pierogi are second only to my wife’s and my mother in law’s pierogi. The markets have a variety of kielbasa so we started at one end of the case and worked our way down.
JQ
I have mixed feelings about this. I would try it just out of curiosity; I generally like cauliflower dishes, and I could use more vegetables in my diet. I find the explanation by Leslie Neslage (Chick-fil-A’s director of menu and packaging) interesting: “Guests told us they wanted to add more vegetables into their diets, and they wanted a plant-forward entrée that tasted uniquely Chick-fil-A.” Assuming that’s not just marketing BS, I applaud the chain’s desire to give their customers what they want. That’s what all businesses should be doing, instead of shoving things down their customers’ throats because the business thinks that’s what they SHOULD want. (Which is how this move will be interpreted by many people, and I’m not going to say they’re wrong without more data.)
But I’m having trouble convincing myself that the director of menu and packaging is serious about this. If you really want more vegetables in your diet, why are you at Chick-fil-A in the first place? Who in their right mind would go to ANY fast food chain and ask for vegetables? I would like to give Leslie Neslage the benefit of the doubt, but I’m leaning in the direction of “I’ll take Things That Never Happened for $200, Alex.”
I’m also intrigued by Chick-fil-A’s choice of cities to test-market this sandwich. Three cites, two of which are in the Carolinas. Is it because we Southerners have a reputation for being willing to eat ANYTHING, as long as it’s been breaded and deep-fried? Because it’s true. We totally will. Anyone who has been to a state fair in the South can attest to that. Well played, Chick-fil-A.
I’m not going to drive to Greensboro or Charleston just to try this thing, but if it shows up in my area, I’ll give it a shot. If anyone can make a cauliflower sandwich palatable, it’s Chick-fil-A.
“If you really want more vegetables in your diet, why are you at Chick-fil-A in the first place? Who in their right mind would go to ANY fast food chain and ask for vegetables?”
My feelings in a nutshell.
You want vegetables, go to a vegetarian restaurant? None in your area? Well, THAT’S the market speaking.
If no one will buy it, just like electric cars, it would go away.