Looks good but tastes bad

[Malkavian]

This may be an odd one but:

My roommate's yard has a wild cherry tree (yay, right?) The fruit are small, purple-reddish with a "hazy" skin that reminds me a lot of certain kind of plums...so I pluck one off and pop it (no taking a bite, they really are small) into my mouth.

Ye Gods...it's like all the charm of a crabapple got condensed into a package a quarter the volume. BLECH!

I'm h oping they just either weren't properly ripe or the dry weather had thrown them off somehow--After our lovely week of 100 degree weather all the fruit dropped off, and I was able to see that it bears a decent amount...

[Terrasanct]

The wild cherries I've had are all sour, but they make great preserves.

[Carrot Top]

Mulberries.

Though goodness knows I try to persuade myself the mushy vapid things taste okay.

Edited September 2, 2007 by Carrot Top (log)

[beccaboo]

Mulberries.

Though goodness knows I try to persuade myself the mushy vapid things taste okay.

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I've made mulberry jam, with lots of lemon, and it's pretty good. Tastes kind of like figs.

[Carrot Top]

I did that one year too, but I think by the time it was made the die was set for I'd already eaten so many berries trying to like them that their raw personality carried over into their cooked, in my imagination

Here's another though: A persimmon not allowed to soften completely.

[jumanggy]

Also on cherries: I had a slice of Black Forest Cake and saved the cherry for last. How unfortunate that my last bite turned out to be what I imagined raw perfume would taste like.

I recently had a slice of French Apple Pie that tasted like water. I think they might have used Chayotes or something. Gross. First time I ate streusel so heartily.

[Domestic Goddess]

Looks good but taste blah?

Two words: Korean cakes.

They are oh so pretty but cardboard taste better. Even the chocolate ones look scrumptious but one taste will tell you that there is no ounce of chocolate flavor in them. Gah! What do they use for chocolate?

I baked a REAL chocolate cake once and my korean friends practically went into orgiasmic ecstacy.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

The cakes at the Chinese buffet that I take my 8 year old to. They had a chocolate cake that must of been frosted with chocolate flavored cough syrup.

[sazji]

...most supermarket peaches, especially if they have been shipped across the country.

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Oh...I gave up on peaches in the US years and years ago. Even the farmer's market ones were that way...fragrant and beautiful, but you bite into them and they're just mealy.

Luckily it's not that way in Turkey. (Yet.) Eat yer heart out.

Doddie, I think I've found one more eerie similarity between Turkey and Korea!

The "big teaser" in Turkey is chocolate in any but the really good pastry shops. So much so that I've come up with the "Axiom of Chocolate Inversity" - That is, the degree to which a chocolate sauce or other product appears dark and rich is directly inverse to its actual chocolate content." The last victim was a visitor from the states at an actually fairly famous puddinig shop. She fell in love with the muhallebi (an unsweetened milk pudding) with what appeared to be a rich dark chocolate sauce. Despite my warnings she remained unconvinced. Till she actually took a bite that is. They use the cheapest cocoa and possibly food coloring.

The real thing *is* available here but I daresy more people than not have never actually tasted a really good chocolate dessert.

Edited September 4, 2007 by sazji (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

Thanks for the warning Sazji! I remember the first time I put a bite of korean chocolate cake into my mouth. It was my husband's birthday cake bought by his office. Everyone was looking at me, waiting for my reaction/comment. For a horrible moment, my smile froze on my face, there was no chocolate taste on the cake. It was like chocolate colored soft sponge. I hurriedly swallowed the small piece of cake. I told them the cake was really... pretty. Thank goodness that went well with them.

I discreetly gave my cake slice to hubby, who promptly disposed of it in his desk. I thought it was just a fluke, maybe that one bakery didn't really use good chocolate. Then when I moved here, I found out that was one of the "best" cakes produced here. Sigh, I still keep hoping I'd find a "REAL" chocolate cake here in South Korea. 5 years and still no luck.

Hubby refuses to eat any cake except the ones I bake at home.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[Mikeb19]

I'd say most restaurant food is like that - looks good but tastes bad. Maybe if chefs and cooks stopped trying to make food look 'fancy', they'd have more time to make it taste good.

Reminds me of one restaurant that I worked at as the pastry chef - the exec chef wanted me to do a bunch of sugar garnishes and shit that no one actually ate (nor would they want to ). I ended up spending 80 percent of my day making dumb ass garnishes, and as a result I wasn't able to progress the menu the way I wanted (I was taking over after the other pastry chef left). Needless to say, I didn't last long (my choice to leave BTW)...

[chromedome]

That's one of my pet peeves. I truly detest getting a plate that's styled and ornamented to the nth degree, and tastes like nothing in particular. I may eat with my eyes first, as they say, but I eat with my mouth most.

[llc45]

Just about any birthday cake served at my office. Always purchased at the supermarket nearby, always dry and way too sugary with icing that tastes like lard. Everyone else seems to be enjoying it while I sit there and force it down rather than seem like a cake snob. Really dread it when we have several birthdays in a row. Unfortunately, the person who gets the cakes takes great pride in picking them out so it's hard to upset the apple cart. Oh well...

[BekkiM]

Cinnamon rolls anywhere... I know in my mind what they're *supposed* to taste like, but whenever I order one, whether it be a diner, a fancy breakfast place, or a local bakery, well, bleagh... Dry, cardboard, with no particular taste of cinnamon, just sickenly sweet sugar. I should know better.

Frozen chicken pot pies... I remember, as a child, loving these things but either they've changed the recipe or I've grown out of them (which is a sad, sad state of affairs--growing older is fine, growing out of chicken pot pie is just tragic). Mushy, greasy, too salty, and the vegetables are just nasty. I should know better.

Supermarket peaches, plums, and nectarines... So round, so juicy-looking, so glowing with fruitiness. They always make me think of the description of the peach in James and the Giant Peach, which, in turn, always made my mouth water. Then you taste and *gak*... Mealy, dry, juiceless, hard, sour yuckiness. I should know better.

[eskay]

Supermarket peaches, plums, and nectarines...  So round, so juicy-looking, so glowing with fruitiness.  They always make me think of the description of the peach in James and the Giant Peach, which, in turn, always made my mouth water.  Then you taste and *gak*...  Mealy, dry, juiceless, hard, sour yuckiness.  I should know better.

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This. But then, when you finally get a basket of good ones, and bite into one...somehow it makes it all worthwhile

[dockhl]

Frozen chicken pot pies... I remember, as a child, loving these things but either they've changed the recipe or I've grown out of them (which is a sad, sad state of affairs--growing older is fine, growing out of chicken pot pie is just tragic). Mushy, greasy, too salty, and the vegetables are just nasty. I should know better.

And when they made them microwaveable............the crust went right down the tubes

[BekkiM]

Frozen chicken pot pies... I remember, as a child, loving these things but either they've changed the recipe or I've grown out of them (which is a sad, sad state of affairs--growing older is fine, growing out of chicken pot pie is just tragic). Mushy, greasy, too salty, and the vegetables are just nasty. I should know better.

And when they made them microwaveable............the crust went right down the tubes

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Microwaved pot pie = pure evil

[Toasted]

Last weekend we went to a local restaurant. It's really a lovely place. I noticed that one of the tables next to us had ordered the portabello torte. It looked awesome but tasted horrible. It wasn't cooked enough and I think the mushrooms even looked slimy-like they had been kept too long. Beautiful presentation but repulsive food.

[Beebs]

Wedding cake. And the fondant that comes with wedding cake. Bleeeaah. Although there was this one time that the wedding cake tasted as good as it looked, but that was the first and probably the last such encounter.

Chinese-style cheese cake. Gorgeous to look at. Tastes fluffy, bland, made with tons of gelatin and no cheese. Ick.

[MelissaH]

My FIL was quite the jokester.

At one point, he persuaded a local bakery to give him an eclair, frosted but unfilled. He proceeded to fill it with mayo. (Actually, since it was my in-laws' family doing this, it was probably Miracle Whip.)

He then gave this particular eclair to a colleague.

MelissaH

[rooftop1000]

Frozen chicken pot pies... I remember, as a child, loving these things but either they've changed the recipe or I've grown out of them (which is a sad, sad state of affairs--growing older is fine, growing out of chicken pot pie is just tragic). Mushy, greasy, too salty, and the vegetables are just nasty. I should know better.

And when they made them microwaveable............the crust went right down the tubes

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Microwaved pot pie = pure evil

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I once had a stroke of genius If I cut the top crust off the frozen pie and cooked the pie in Micro and the crust in the toaster oven all would be good

I still have the scar from wedging the serrated knife through my palm trying to pry the crust off

Tracey

[Live It Up]

Frozen chicken pot pies... I remember, as a child, loving these things but either they've changed the recipe or I've grown out of them (which is a sad, sad state of affairs--growing older is fine, growing out of chicken pot pie is just tragic). Mushy, greasy, too salty, and the vegetables are just nasty. I should know better.

And when they made them microwaveable............the crust went right down the tubes

←

Microwaved pot pie = pure evil

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I once had a stroke of genius If I cut the top crust off the frozen pie and cooked the pie in Micro and the crust in the toaster oven all would be good

I still have the scar from wedging the serrated knife through my palm trying to pry the crust off

Tracey

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I thought I didn't like pot pie at all for years because all I had ever had was frozen. I don't know why because my mom actually makes great pot pie from scratch, but I don't remember her ever making it until I was 15 or so. I haven't had a frozen pot pie since before that, but I still get grossed out remembering the taste.

[markk]

Anything made by Whole Foods, but particularly the bread and the to-go items.

Well, I think I'd have to second that motion.

[markk]

Frozen chicken pot pies... I remember, as a child, loving these things but either they've changed the recipe or I've grown out of them (which is a sad, sad state of affairs--growing older is fine, growing out of chicken pot pie is just tragic). Mushy, greasy, too salty, and the vegetables are just nasty. I should know better.

And when they made them microwaveable............the crust went right down the tubes

←

Microwaved pot pie = pure evil

←

I once had a stroke of genius If I cut the top crust off the frozen pie and cooked the pie in Micro and the crust in the toaster oven all would be good

I still have the scar from wedging the serrated knife through my palm trying to pry the crust off

Tracey

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I thought I didn't like pot pie at all for years because all I had ever had was frozen. I don't know why because my mom actually makes great pot pie from scratch, but I don't remember her ever making it until I was 15 or so. I haven't had a frozen pot pie since before that, but I still get grossed out remembering the taste.

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This may apply to one of those "what do you do when the craving hits?" threads, but I too have very fond memories of Chicken Pot Pie, and when the craving hits I can do a pretty good job of satisfying it with a Boston Market pie, though I wouldn't eat one of their roast chickens on a bet. But the crust is good, the sauce works for me, the vegetables are distinct, and the large chunks of chicken meat work better in it than they do alone. The pies are "assembled" by the local restaurants, so they may vary, but mine are not sad at all like the frozen ones. They even reheat well. I'm very happy to have found them. And to answer the original question, I'd have to say that a food that looks good but that is ultimately unsatisfying is the actual Boston Market roast chicken itself. Oof!

[Marky Marc]

This is pretty regular occurance with me and dim sum.

"Oooooh! What's that mysterious looking dumpling there? BLEGH! Warm prawns with what tastes like oyster sauce and ketchup!"

To all the people that complain about never getting a decent supermarket peach: You guys just don't know how pick 'em. I eat a freakin delicous supermarket peach just about every other day.

Edited September 6, 2007 by Marky Marc (log)