BBC Top 50 list -

[YKL]

Am not sure if this is the correct forum to raise this, but thought I'd chance it.

Over on the BBC website, there is a new top 50 survey they're compiling to see views on top 50 views and where to eat it. Has anyone else seen it? Or more likely, is this a very old discussion topic?

think the link is http://www.bbc.co.uk/50/

[YKL]

I never got round to voting ... but think the programme is on BBC 1 on Wednesday at 7pm? called 50 things to eat before you die.

did anyone on egullet vote?

[Suzi Edwards]

Fresh fish was number one.

[daw]

Fresh fish was number one.

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Seafood featured extensively in the list which is here

David

[Suzi Edwards]

I was thinking about trying to write something considered about the show, but given that it was about as stimulating as a marshmallow is filling I'm left feeling a bit perplexed.

What was the actual point of the programme? Other than to fly Ainsley Harriot around the world and act as some advertorial for The Cheesecake Factory? I knew it wasn't going to be the TV equivalent of Gatronomica but I was expecting something more substantial.

It wasn't really a list of 50 things to eat before you die. It seemed to be a list of 50 things that you can eat that was primarily voted for by a group of Australians (hence the inclusion of Kangaroo, Moreton Bay Bugs, Barramundi, Australian meat pies and barbecue (from the footage not the American version). I was getting to the stage where I was half expecting Vegemite to be number one.

There were some strange inconsitencies that I'm guessing came from the show's producers having to corrolate a lot of similar foods into one category. Or at least, I'm hoping that this is why "tapas" came in at number 46, "curry" at number nine and "Chinese food" at number five while "San Francisco Clam Chowder" was at number 12. I just can't bring myself to believe that a good enough proportion of the UK food interested public (because I'm guessing this is who voted, otherwise this land is just filled with people who'll vote for anything*) are so badly eaten that they would seriously add "sandwiches" to a list of things you have to eat before you die.

So here's my challenge

What are the 10 things you have to eat before you die? I've moved this thread to the"Food, Media and News" forum because it's nice to get away from the UK forum once in a while and I hope that as a group we might be able to come up with a more inspiring list.

*Actually, that's clearly the case. Witness the victory of Steve in the X Factor.

[Chris Amirault]

How 'bout...

a slab of sauteed foie gras

steamed lobster dripping with butter

a fresh field strawberry

a fried clam, with a massive belly, just removed from clean, hot oil (with a cold beer handy to wash it down)

a scoop of homemade chocolate ice cream

a soup spoon of balanced, steaming pho stock, with a few shreds of cilantro and scallion floating in it

a piece of roasted chicken with a thick slice of truffle beneath the skin

a shot of espresso, made with fresh beans just ground, with a thick layer of crema, just pulled

a pile of smoky, vinegary North Carolina bar-be-que

and, of course, larb!

[Suzi Edwards]

What a fantastic list! I'm going to have to have some restaurant dishes in mine, but here's my list in no order

1. Shanghai soup buns

2. Chicken with truffles

3. Lobster with white truffles (from ADNY, natch)

4. The perfect french baguette with salted French butter

5. Chicken noodle soup

6. A whole ripe Flower Marie cheese

7. Crottin De Chavignol with a glass of your favourite gutsy red wine

8. Varmint's barbeque

9. Shrimp tempura with cranberry and Meyer lemon (from Trio)

10. Chocolate. My home made truffles made with organic cream and whatever my chocolate du jour is most likely

[Suzi Edwards]

Aaargh. No room for a glass of the most expensive vintage champagne you can't really afford.

Might have to rejig the list.

[jackal10]

I think you need two lists

1. Top ten things I've eaten or drunk

2. Top ten things I've still to eat or drink

[foodie52]

Ortelans

Fugu

The menu from Babette's Feast

Varmint's pig

[Suzi Edwards]

I think you need two lists

1. Top ten things I've eaten or drunk

2. Top ten things I've still to eat or drink

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Yep, you're right, but given that I doubt that 73.4% of the people who voted in the BBC poll have never had a great baguette with perfect butter I think we can go with the one list for now.

But feel free to have both things you have never eaten and things you think everyone else should eat on the list. I was tempted to put Fugu on my list, but then I thought "what happens when I try it if I don't like it? What if it doesn't live up to my expectations? The only thing on my list that I haven't had is chicken with truffles. But I put it on as I know what both of the things are like and I have high expectations.

Of course, one can always edit one's post or change one's view at a later date. I'm not sure that Ainsley Harriot is going to be mugging to the camera over our selections.

[Shalmanese]

The perfect Tomato, plucked straight from the vine and eaten in the garden, still warm.

Kobe Rib Eye steak, served rare

Ice cold home made lemonade on a blazing hot day

Truffles

Grade A sashimi tuna, served with some real wasabi and very good soy

Sauteed foie gras

A whole X where X is pig/lamb/cow. And by whole, I mean EVERY part of the animal, organs, brain, bones used for stock, rendered fat used for cooking etc.

A meal cooked by Ferran Adria

Creme Brulee

Varmint's pig.

[Suzi Edwards]

It's a simple fact but the thing I feel proudest of eating on all the lists is Varmint's pig. That creature has entered folklore.

I mean the pig, not Varmint :-)

[Marlyn4k]

My favourite winter dish is Pig's Trotter Pierre Koffman...the Marco interpretation with Morels and sweetbreads..."if it were art it would hang in the tate"... £19.50 at Mirabelle (if you can put up with the service)

I think Oysters are something you should eat before you die even though I can't stand them.

The perfect, richest, chocolate fondant with a glass of d'yquem...

Although Paul Burrell may have a different perspective on this list

Yeah, agree about X-Factor, G4 really talented, was good television though. They could have a celebrity chef XXXX-Factor: Gordon Ramsay "What XXXXin bollocks, you XXXXin Judges wouldn't last 5 XXXXin minutes in my XXXXin kitchen, utter Bollocks". Simon Cowell "hmmm, good use of the bollock". Next XXXX contestant Tom Aikens... "You XXXXers stole one of my XXXXin spoons, you deserve a XXXXin branding with a hot XXXXin knife". Sharon Osbourne "He's so XXXXin cute".

[Andy Lynes]

The BBC list was laughable, not least because Pickled Onion Monster Munch were omitted.

Everyone should try Ami du Chambertin at least once before they die. Actually, make that once a week.

[Carlovski]

I'm pretty sure the thing I will eat before I die will be a taste of copper...

That list (And programme) was dire. Truly dire. Although the image of cows drinking stella was interesting!

Splitting out about 10 variations of Aussie produce (Lovely though I'm sure it is) and then lumping together 3 of the most diverse cuisines in the world into single categories is just stupid.

Where was the ortolan? The stuffed camel? The giant Panda sandwich?

Couple of entries made sense, durian etc.

The funniest thing I thought was the woman who finally after many years managed to eat her own crab while on holiday - oh yeah, because it's completely impossible to prepare your own isn't it?

PS

I would rather eat at a little chef than go to a G4 concert. (See how I kept that vaguelly on topic!).

[Suzi Edwards]

The BBC list was laughable, not least because Pickled Onion Monster Munch were omitted.

Everyone should try Ami du Chambertin at least once before they die. Actually, make that once a week.

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Where can we buy this cheese?

[Suzi Edwards]

That list (And programme) was dire. Truly dire. Although the image of cows drinking stella was interesting!...

The funniest thing I thought was the woman who finally after many years managed to eat her own crab while on holiday - oh yeah, because it's completely impossible to prepare your own isn't it?

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Totally with you on the Stella. The concept of rearing Kobe beef in the UK and giving them a lager that is nicknamed "wife beater" and using a large brush to massage them struck me as very, very strange. It's as if even when we're trying to create an artisanal product we cut corners. Bet the Stella was on three for two in the supermarket.

There were a few errors in the talking heads as well. Apart from the aforementioned woman (who surely was an outtake from the Monty Python sketch about growing up in a hole in the ground and eating gravel) There was also the man who loved kleftiko because it was a mixture of "lamb and cheese"

[Carlovski]

Quite a few recipes for kleftiko do include cheese, though I prefer it without.

I also thought that the beer drinking cows was apocryphal?

[Andy Lynes]

The BBC list was laughable, not least because Pickled Onion Monster Munch were omitted.

Everyone should try Ami du Chambertin at least once before they die. Actually, make that once a week.

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Where can we buy this cheese?

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La Fromagerie stock it. As with all cheese, condition is critical, but when perfetly ripe, the flavour is truly trancendental. It may not be better than sex, but it's a very, very close call.

[Adam Balic]

Kangaroo, Moreton Bay Bugs, Barramundi, Australian meat pies and barbecue.

[elswinger]

Well, I will never eat Kangaroo or Guinea Pig, or anything else I might have as a pet.

My list of things I still have to try (excuse the misspellings):

Foi gras, truffles, Dom Perignon, Baluga caviar, very old and expensive Balsamic vinegar, fugu, Cuban cigar, and absinthe.

[=Mark]

It's my understanding from folks who have tried fugu that from a culinary standpoint it's a fairly unremarkable bland whitefish. It's the extemely unlikely possibility of a fatal outcome that gives it popularity.

[SamanthaF]

The "50 Thing's" program has got to be the biggest waste of an hour of my life.

I bloody hate that twat Ainsley. I want my money back from the BBC.

[KatieLoeb]

Butter Poached Lobster

An achingly fresh oyster

Sauteed Foie Gras

A glass of Chateau de Y'quem

Sauteed Foie Gras with the glass of Chateau de Y'quem

A really well aged and well marbled steak, cooked no more than medium-rare

Real fresh (not reconstituted from powder) wasabi with ruby red sushi tuna

A fresh tomato out in the sunshine with nothing but a sprinkle of sea salt

A still quivering fresh scallop

Truffles shaved over virtually anything

A glass of an older vintage of Pol-Roger Cuvee Winston Churchill. It's a revelation in how exquisite Champagne can truly be.