Unusual Food Pairings & Recipes

peachexploration · Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 61 Location: Florida

I was watching the food network and noticed that we have some wierd stuff served right here in the USA. I mean really wierd stuff like (IMHO):

Fried Pickles (It's apparently a southern thing) :shock:
Deep fried ice cream (pure sacrilege) :lol:

Anyone else? :)

squirrel · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 96 Location: Bucharest, Romania

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: french fries from McDonald's and icecream from McDonalds!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: love it!

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

Had the extreme pleasure of dining at Heston Blumenthal's restaurant in Bray(London suburb) several weeks ago. His restaurant has been aptly called "The Willy Wonka-land of avant garde cuisine". Here is a sampling of what we ate; snail porridge, sardine on toast sorbet, salmon poached with licorice, sweetbread cooked in a salt crust with hay, mango & douglas fir puree, black olive puree, pistachio scrambled egg, etc etc. The entire meal was surprise after surprise, both in presentation & taste! (The folks who write for Michelin also seem to agree, as Mr Blumenthal now has 3 starts!)

peachexploration · Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 61 Location: Florida

cocodrilo wrote: sardine on toast sorbet...

Hmm, Sardines in a sorbet? Yeah, that's pretty unusual. :D

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

Chef Blumenthal purposely tries to defy the common connection between brain & tastebuds! He also creates a "bacon & eggs ice cream" which I intend to try on my next visit to England. In Japan, we have locally-made lavender ice cream in Hokkaido(as well as sea urchin, crab and wasabi flavors!) and in Shikoku, where there are soy sauce factories, a soy sauce flavored ice cream. The latter is the only I have tried and was quite good! :D

peachexploration · Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 61 Location: Florida

cocodrilo wrote: Chef Blumenthal ........also creates a "bacon & eggs ice cream"..... You must tell us how that goes. For real ice cream (more of a custard), it requires eggs but bacon? Hmmm....

cocodrilo wrote: .....In Japan, we have locally-made lavender ice cream in Hokkaido(as well as sea urchin, crab and wasabi flavors!) and in Shikoku, where there are soy sauce factories, a soy sauce flavored ice cream. The latter is the only I have tried and was quite good! :D

Really? Sea Urchin, crab and wasabi ice cream. Okay, I'd be too chicken to try those :lol: but soy sauce in ice cream? I guess that is really no different that the salt itself so I could probably handle that one. :D

starrleicht · Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Posts: 11 Location: USA

Ok, i'm serious here - how can you fry ice cream - wouldn't it melt? :cry:

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

starrleicht wrote: Ok, i'm serious here - how can you fry ice cream - wouldn't it melt? :cry:

I've tried it before. A large scoop of REALLY frozen, hard ice cream is battered?) then coated with something like cornflakes, then fried for a very short time. No, it doesn't melt! It's the same concept as "Baked Alaska", the dessert consisting of a block of neopolitan ice cream covered with merengue and baked in the oven(VERY hot oven, just till the merengue cooks!)!

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

OK, here are some weird (or at least unusal!) food pairings from Japan:

Mayonnaise on a bowl of hot, white rice!

Chicken nuggets on pizza. Also, instead of the traditional tomato sauce, I've heard of cream sauce being used!!! Most pizza places offer a seafood pizza topped with octopus, squid and clams, among other things...

Strawberry Kit-Kat. (Are those available in the USA?)

Tidy-bowl blue "soda flavored" shaved ice that turns a kid's tongue a sickly blue!

Banana curry.

Cakes topped with whipped cream instead of icing/buttercream frosting. De rigeur are perfectly-shaped, plump strawberries atop! (This is what a typical "Christmas Cake" looks like. Yes, the strawberries are greenhouse-grown as it snows here in the winter!)

Shrimp crackers.

salsachinita · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:31 am Post subject:

I am a bit of a dare-devil eater, so several items listed by cocodrilo does not sound strange.

Jamie Oliver has a recipe for Squid & lychee salad :shock: ......I'm dying to try it!

I also like a few odd combination of antipasto items: prociutto (parma ham) wrapped around Cantaloupe melons, Kabana sections with Ya pear, Mortadella wrapped around blanched Asparagus with a dollop of Japanese mayonnais.

Vietnamese Sugar Cane Prawns (ok, shrimps for you US folks!) is another strange combination.

Stragne ice creams, apart from the abovementioned ones, has anyone tried Chocolate Chilli :shock: ?! Another one I've tried was a bright BLUE (like Smurf!) one with lots of bubble gum balls. No idea what it was called, coz I was seven I think.......but I did remember not having enough time to finish chewing all the gums before the ice cream melted :roll: .........

salsachinita · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:45 am Post subject:

Not that I remember the recipe or anything.......when I was visiting my friend in Seattle, she cooked me this dish call "Coca Cola Ribs" :shock: !

Yes. She DID use Coca Cola (in place of red wine) to simmer the ribs. While I wouldn't cook this dish in a pink fit, it WAS nice :P !

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

salsachinita wrote: Not that I remember the recipe or anything.......when I was visiting my friend in Seattle, she cooked me this dish call "Coca Cola Ribs" :shock: !

Yes. She DID use Coca Cola (in place of red wine) to simmer the ribs. While I wouldn't cook this dish in a pink fit, it WAS nice :P !

I've heard of people cooking meat dishes with coke quite a long time ago. Seems something in the cola syrup(or is it the soda?) that tenderizes the meat. Pretty much the same effect it has on your teeth(namely,rotting them!) if you drink ample quantities!

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

OK, here's a weird one!

BEER & CHEESE SOUP

Saute 1 cup each of onions, celery & carrots. To 6 cups chicken stock add 1 heaping cup grated cheese to which 1/2 cup flour has been mixed in.(The flour in the cheese, not the soup stock) Stir in slowly. Add the vegetables when thickened and 1 can(or bottle) of beer. To season, add 1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce and a tad dry mustard.

From Karen's recipe scrapbook, circa 1995. Origin unknown.

salsachinita · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:59 am Post subject:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Mental Note: must give recipe to my friend Betty. These items seem to be all she has in her fridge/kitchen :lol: :roll: !

cocodrilo · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 193 Location: Kurashiki, Japan

Noodles served cold, in Tom Yum sauce(VERY spicy Thai sauce)! Saw this on a cooking program the other day. Looked GREAT! I'm going to try to make it this week! 8)