The "Culinary Axis of Evil"

[bleudauvergne]

QUOTE

1. Topinambour (Jerusalem artichokes) no matter how lovely they look at the market ...

Amanda said:

Don't have the book. What's up with sunchokes? Are you allergic?

Hi Amanda, Jerusalem artichokes are not really artichokes at all. They are tubers that resemble oversized pink larvae, interesting, exotic, cool to buy, all over the winter markets in here in France, cheap. You peel them and they look relatively harmless. You boil them, saute them, whatever, add some celery salt and they taste nice, actually much like artichoke hearts (that's where the name comes from). I treated them like celery root. But three hours later, this incredible reaction occurs in the intestine, creating so much gas, and so suddenly, that it puts your body into shock. My husband thought he was having a heart attack, I had the same reaction but a little less (and I had eaten less) so we surmised it was the tuber, the pain was terrible!

Avoid them if you can. If anyone can provide a method of cooking them that removes the wind, please let me know.

- Lucy

[cdh]

Just remembered another nomination for the axis of evil- russian buckwheat groat kasha. Has a weird solvent-y kind of flavor and just sucks.

and, btw: snails- yummy! bugs? never tried em. My mind is, on the other hand, open to the possibility that bugs might taste good. An anthropologist friend of mine who spent a few years in Papua New Guinea told me that the sago grubs are quite good.

Edited February 9, 2004 by cdh (log)

[Pan]

You people, all of you, are very strange.

Why has no one mentioned bugs? You know, snails. I have never tried one and I never will.

To me, unless you're keeping kosher or have some other religious reason, that's either narrowminded or - more likely - phobic. I, on the other hand, have tried snails and then decided that I don't like them. Ditto for frogs.

[rancho_gordo]

Whew, I am so glad I read this string where so many people have confessed their hatred for cilantro.  I LOVE it with a passion, and I'm having 12 people for dinner on thursday.  I was going to put lots of it chopped fresh into the mushroom tamales I'm going to make.  Now I think I'll keep it to one super cilantro laden sauce that can be optional.  One sauce with cilantro and one without. 

Wow- in all my years of cooking and serving friends , family and numerous guests, I've probably met two or three people who don't like cilantro. I have so few food dislikes that I have a hard time sympathizing with a lot of these foods listed. I think it's sweet that you would omit cilantro but I wouldn't.

I'm not saying that some of you fit, but there is nothing more irritating than a "special needs" eater. So many of these people think that being particular and being picky are the same thing. Or that their special weird food quirks somehow makes them more interesting. It just sends me running the other way. Some of these people wear it like a badge.

I'm trying to think of somehing I just plain refuse to eat and all I can think of is ground beef, and that's not because I don't like the taste.

I'm referring to real food using real ingredients. Better Living Thru Chemistry Cuisine is another matter.

[bleudauvergne]

Rancho G -

Those special needs eaters are a fact of life here among the ranks where I live. Maybe I got lucky. The sis in law who won't touch cheese in any way shape or form, and who once became the martyr on the night I entertained 50 at home because she was given the lowly task of spreading the roquefort walnut spread on celery sticks when she asked to help (she didn't like the smell). Her husband who arrives with a list of foods we mustn't serve, depending on what diet he's on. The lofty ones who shun the cocktail lovingly designed to start the evening and prefer my husband to ferret around in the cave for a bottle of our finest champagne instead - "oh, just a simple glass of champagne will be fine for me, so much better with these smoked almonds". The father in law who does not tolerate onions, garlic, anything spicy, cherries, fruits and excess roughage. The friend who does not eat fish. I used to let it get to me. Now I just prepare accordingly.

But tamales, in principle do not have a sauce. This is my excuse to make two.

I am happy!

- L

Edited February 9, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[SeaGal]

I also like most things, or at least can tolerate them. However, there are a few things I won't try again or just push away if it shows up on my plate.

Natto--big, slimy, sticky ugh!

Krab--always fish this stuff out of vietnamese seafood soups. And whatever happened to real crab in California roll?

Caviar--I tried. Last New Year I decided to splurge and bought an ounce of Osetra. Roasted some little red taters, added a dollop of creme fraiche with chives, plopped on a spoonful of caviar and bleech!

Swallowed a nice glug of Champagne and tried again, and again. Oh well, just too much oily, fishiness. But I really wanted to like it.

Any type of Strawberries other than real, fresh, uncooked ones--eg strawberry soda pop, strawberry poptarts, strawberry-rhubarb pie (what's with ruining a perfectly good rhubarb pie!)

Ika--raw squid is just too textural for me--also feel this way about sea cucumber. (but I scarf down uni, so I think that makes up for it.)

What an amazing array of likes and dislikes.

Jan

[creepygirl]

Green bell peppers--I actually don't mind eating them with a little dip when they're part of a crudite platter, but when they're added to cooked dishes or salads, their flavor completely overwhelms the other flavors in the dish for me. Probably one reason that Cajun food generally doesn't do it for me.

Maraschino cherries--Way too sweet and an unnatural, uncherry-like flavor.

Fondant--only discernable flavors are sugar and something that reminds me of paste. Nasty texture, a way to ruin an otherwise perfectly fine cake.

[Mizzy]

anything with anise flavor to it.

kishkas, stuffed intestines. my mom would always prepare it when i was young, its a traditional jewish food that's served way too frequently in the kibbutz dining hall!

and margarine.

[torchef]

The true culinary axis of evil is as follows....

McDonalds-Coca Cola-Disney

Really. Think About it.

[tryska]

hmmm...my axis of evil...let's see:

1. organ meats of any sort. also things likes snouts, tails, lips, eyeballs. basically i'm a muscle-meat only type of girl.

2. certain cooked tomatoes. i love fresh tomatoes, i like blanched tomatoes, i like tomato-based ssauces and gravies (slow-simmered). i don't like marinara sauce, i don't like stewed tomatoes...basically all cooked tomatoes between blanched and disintegrated are gross to me.

3. Green peppers. they give me agita.

[cbarre02]

Potatoe soup... thought that i out grew this one. Then the other day i had one that tasted like the one mom used to made... i couldn't even finish the bowl.

[NeroW]

I used to hate cilantro too.

Thought of some more:

Sauteed spinach (oh wait, already said that)

Raisins (I don't even like to touch them or reach my hand inside a box of them)

Butterscotch candies

Turkey bacon (I don't hate this on general principles, I hate it because of the creepy flat way it looks, like cartoon bacon)

What is poi?

[tanabutler]

What is poi?

A staple of Hawaiian food: it's an acquired taste. It's somewhere between runny and gummy, and doesn't have much flavor. Not my favorite thing to eat, but I don't hate it.

[Mabelline]

Soda pop. Canteloupes. Red beets. Rubber cheese. Margarine. Fake baked goods.Slimy stuff. Soysauce made from hair. Wine made from rats. And guinea pigs.

[fifi]

Soda pop. Canteloupes. Red beets. Rubber cheese. Margarine. Fake baked goods.Slimy stuff. Soysauce made from hair. Wine made from rats. And guinea pigs.

"Slimy stuff." Does that mean you are in the same camp as I when it comes to okra? That will give Mayhaw Man something to deal with.

[Mabelline]

Yep, I reckon.Slimy okra is evil. Natto looks bad enough to make my skin crawl, and one time I was prevailed upon to eat some kind of an aloe thing that oozed.I'm also with whoever gets creeped by snails. They're just a slug with a house.

[Mayhaw Man]

Yep, I reckon.Slimy okra is evil. Natto looks bad enough to make my skin crawl, and one time I was prevailed upon to eat some kind of an aloe thing that oozed.I'm also with whoever gets creeped by snails. They're just a slug with a house.

Mabelline and Fifi-

Good News! There is a cure for the disease that you both apparently suffer terribly from-Blennophobia.

Perhaps with enough therapy you too can enjoy all of the pleasures of a full and slime laden lifestyle. I am sure that there is government money available to help finance the cure (should you need help) and all you need to do is take the first step. Make the call now. You will not regret it.

Heh, heh, chuckle, chuckle

[Mabelline]

Mayhaw Man, I ain't scared of that shit! I just ain't putting it in my mouth.

[Alex]

True evil =

1) Natto. I tried it once when I lived in Japan, much to the amusement of my Japanese companions. They later told me that half the native Japanese can't stand it, either. There also was some slimy mountain potato -- the Japanese name escapes me -- that I didn't even want to get near enough to try. Okra, for some reason, though, is ok.

2) Brains. On my first trip to a real French restaurant, when I was about ten, my mother ordered calves' brains in brown butter. 'Nuff said. Even without mad cows.

3) Cool Whip. Someone please tell me why this product should be allowed to exist?

[Steebles]

Mole - tastes like when you roll up a bunch of pennies to me

Sauerkraut - texture and smell.. I just hate this stuff

Broccoli (sp?) - G. Bush Sr. was right (about this one thing)

Slim Jims - OMG.. I'm gonna go hurl right now

[Mabelline]

Steebles-- that mole description is one of the most inventive I've heard! That also makes me think of how often the food you're eating does taste like copper, iron, dirt, etc.

[NeroW]

But I love Kool Whip and Slim Jims! Mmm . . . Slim Jims.

2 things that aren't really "culinary," but that I hate:

Cheeto-S (they smell like barf!)

Sun Chips (they also smell like barf!)

[mikey]

-raw celery

-cucumbers

-canned peas

-Miracle Whip

[paul mitchell]

1) Capers, especially when someone destroys really nice smoked sockeye with them.

2) Deep fried curly onions as a garnish on top of an appetizer.

3) I worked at a place where I sold about 200 pounds of squid a month. I cannot eat squid anymore.

4) anything they serve up on Fear Factor.

[Mabelline]

Man, I cannot believe I left out kool whip! My daddy called it calf slobber and refused to touch fake cream. I was brought up right, you see.

Edit to add: How could I forget nopales? I love the taste but they slime forever! My gramma would rinse them with vinegar, then cold water, and then I could eat them.

Edited February 12, 2004 by Mabelline (log)