Guilty Pleasures – Even Great Chefs Have 'Em – What's Yours?

[Rebecca263]

Roasted chicken "butt"..... well, what do you know, I'm a girl who likes tail!

Also, I avoid it almost completely, but I adore BUTTER. On almost anything, really. Like, oh, what say we try it on a spoon....... with a sprinkle of salt or lemon..... sooo bad, but sooo good! ACK! I'm on a diet, so I'm spending way too much time on eGullet this week!

BUt, one of my all time favorite bad things is a small amount of salad dressed with an immense (at least 10 oz.!) quantity of Blue Cheese and a few drops of Balsamic vinegar smushed together.

[Metal Spice]

Anything deep fried! I try to fool myself by saying that since I have my own deep fryer & I control what oil goes in & since it flash fries relatively quickly, that it's not too bad for me! Yeah, right. OK, sure, while I'm dreaming I'd like a million dollars too. I think the fried stuiff makes me feel more guilty than eating sweets does. My favorites are crab rangoons & cheese sticks. Ok, now I'm really hungry.

[NulloModo]

My favorites are crab rangoons & cheese sticks. Ok, now I'm really hungry.

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crab rangoons

So blatantly not chinese, yet so often the best part of the chinese buffet...

[epicurean905]

If I want to feel completely nasty and keep in touch with my Southerness at the same time, I eat a whole bag of Golden Flake bbq pork skins, a banana Moon Pie, and a Nehi peach soda. The beauty is that this entire snack is less than three dollars!

[Mabelline]

Oh hell yeah, pork rinds! Fresh, and cooked right in front of you in a big ole iron pot at one of the big First Monday's all over TX. What good garbage!! Fresh boiled peanuts as well!

[NulloModo]

Oh hell yeah, pork rinds! Fresh, and cooked right in front of you in a big ole iron pot at one of the big First Monday's all over TX.   What good garbage!! Fresh boiled peanuts as well!

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What's a First Monday?

Can't seem to find fresh cooked in front of me around here in DE, but all of the hispanic grocery stores sell ziploc bags full of very good cracklings, with lots of that nice soft yet crispy fat still on them, so much better than the puffball ersatz pork-rind crap that Utz and the like try to pass off.

[Mabelline]

First Mondays are an extension of the oldtime Market and Courtday in Texas county seats, when it was hard to get to town, or hard leavin' your place. Therefore, it was generally accepted that you brought your produce, critters, or legal woes to the courthouse square for the weekend of the month immediately preceeding the first Monday of the next month. Thus, the dates always were different. Weatherford has one. Canton has one. Fort Worth and Grand Prairie both have ones that are permanent flea market type setups.Open every wkend.

Yeah, if you've a place that sells them home-made and -packaged, go for it, sweetheart. It'll make your face happy

Just don't forget the boiled peanuts. Shrivelled fingers and a stupid grin, for sure.

Damn: proceed and precede have always ate my brain cells.

Edited June 28, 2005 by Mabelline (log)

[TMus1111]

I think Ling already mentioned eating icing straight, so I'll offer up my other guilty pleasure. Ordering a large french vanilla coffee from DD, light and xxsweet - drinking it the whole time looking forward to the suger that wasn't properly mixed in that has now settled at the bottom of the cup, and then finally grabbing a spoon and getting what I really wanted the whole time FRENCH VANILLA SUGAR THAT IS STILL WARM AND GOOEY - YUM.

[Susan G]

Raw chocolate chip cookie dough. I say the risk of salmonella is worth it!

[honeye22]

Raw chocolate chip cookie dough.  I say the risk of salmonella is worth it!

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Okay. After reading Ling's post I don't feel quite so bad about my own list:

-Pork. Bacon, sausage, ham, anything with pork in it is yummy to my tummy.

-Gravy. Last night I had chicken wings (fried, of course) and french fries smothered in gravy from the Chinese carry out around the corner.

-Fluffernutter sandwiches. Peanutbutter, marshmallow fluff, bread.....yum.

-fried potatoes cooked in at least a stick of butter. And then bacon fried in the leftover potato butter....

okay, I may have to hit the Chinese carry out tonight for more gravy covered goodies. Oh man, whomever invented gravy should be granted Sainthood.

[NulloModo]

First Mondays are an extension of the oldtime Market and Courtday in Texas county seats, when it was hard to get to town, or hard leavin' your place. Therefore, it was generally accepted that you brought your produce, critters, or legal woes to the courthouse square for the weekend of the month immediately preceeding the first Monday of the next month. Thus, the dates always were different. Weatherford has one. Canton has one. Fort Worth and Grand Prairie both have ones that are permanent flea market type setups.Open every wkend.

Yeah, if you've a place that sells them home-made and -packaged, go for it, sweetheart. It'll make your face happy

Just don't forget the boiled peanuts. Shrivelled fingers and a stupid grin, for sure.

Damn: proceed and precede have always ate my brain cells.

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Ah, it sounds like an interesting get together. Unfortunately my only experience with boiled peanuts has been a pre-packaged product from Wal-Mart that I don't particularly care to repeat. If I ever see those fresh, I will certainly give them another go.

[Misa]

Raw chocolate chip cookie dough - I sometimes make it just to eat the dough, freezing part of it to make it last longer.

Pickle juice - It sounds gross, but I really do enjoy it. And I know it's pretty bad for me.

[jgarner53]

Definitely raw chocolate chip cookie dough. I'm with Ling in that I like it better than the finished product.

Dough of any kind, actually: pie dough, puff pastry, even bread dough, but pie dough's my favorite - slightly salty yumminess. It's like what you imagined playdough would taste like as a kid but never did.

Not one but two or three bowls of Cap'n Crunch with 2% (or better yet whole), or Froot Loops or Sugar Corn Pops. After all that sugar, I'd swear I could fly.

Crispy skin rules.

[Ling]

Okay.  After reading Ling's post I don't feel quite so bad about my own list:

Glad to hear that.

I am eating brownie batter of the Scharffen Berger variety now. (The recipe is posted in Recipe Gullet: http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r1291.html )

Ling, for the love of GOD, how old are you? I want to be you for just one day

Geez...............

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I'm 22.

edit: typo

Edited June 29, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Bernaise]

I thought I could....but I can't, I just can't....

[Irishgirl]

some recent indulgences  :

-cream cheese frosting. like, a bowl of it.

-pecan cream filling from an excellent carrot cake recipe. again, I make extra just so I can eat a bowl of it.

-uhm...the coconut cream filling I made for a cake today

-the Costco-sized jar of peanut butter. A big spoon. A bag of good quality (but not too expensive) dark chocolate chips (like Callebaut). Scoop, sprinkle, eat. I do this daily. 

-picking off all the struesel on the cake...and the pie crust edges. not because it's bad for me, but because I feel a bit guilty stealing all the good bits...

-any type of cookie dough (I usually prefer this over the actual baked product)

-I fry sausages almost every morning for breakfast, and scramble my eggs in the leftover sausage grease. Mmm...smoky, porky, eggs.

-I like anything that I describe as "fat on fat"--examples: fried prawns smothered in chili-mayo, poutine (fries, cheese curds, gravy), fried chicken skin and gravy, dense cheesecakes with homemade caramel sauce (making this in a few days for a bbq....looking forward!)

-I've posted about this before, but I often eat sour cream like most people eat yogurt (straight out of the container). In fact, I ate a container yesterday. So much tastier than the healthy stuff. 

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Ling, for the love of GOD, how old are you? I want to be you for just one day

Geez...............

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You should check out the Vancouver forum and see how much she eats on a regular basis. she is legendary over there. "Truth be told: the last three restaurants you have eaten in"---SORRY, don't know how to link yet!

[Chris Amirault]

Let's stay on topic and stick to guilty pleasures, folks!

[Tess]

I am eating brownie batter of the Scharffen Berger variety now.  (The recipe is posted in Recipe Gullet: http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r1291.html )

Now, there is something I should not eat, but I'm about to! As it happened, I had seen your mention of the brownies and just bought the chocolate so I can make them for the 4th of July barbecue we're going to. Of course, I had to buy double so I can make a batch for a dry run. Heh.

Man, I should also not be eating something that expensive! Valhrona bittersweet as on sale at Trader Joe's but I had to go to Whole Foods for the SB, and two packages of that (albeit really enough for three batches) set me back a bundle!

(Ling, do you use dark or light brown sugar?)

[simdelish]

Hot Tamales

the cinnamon candy made by the same folks who make Peeps.

It's like the potato chip saying... I can't eat just one.

My kids buy me a box for every holiday, Mother's day, birthday, etc.

They were on sale yesterday at the grocery store (20 cents off!!!) and I just polished off the whole box (1/2 pound) while doing my eG reading for the evening. Let me check what the nutrition box says....

uh oh,....not a significant source of anything...150 calories per serving.... 6 servings per box....

ok, let's not go there

[Ling]

Tess: I use dark brown, and make sure the sugar is packed.

[Verjuice]

I'll occasionally make myself a tuna melt on fresh rye with cheddar and fontina, pesto and aioli, bacon and tomato. The sandwich is pressed and subsequently fried in a foaming panful of butter. I like to add alarming quantities of Maldon salt as I eat. And after every crisp and oozing bite of sandwich, I munch on dill pickles. Cleanses the palate.

Here in the Emirates, when the garlic in the markets is in too poor of a condition to make aioli with, I'll often hit up shawarma joints for a tub of the invariably delicious garlic mayo that they slather on sandwiches. The guys are more relaxed in the mornings because shawarma-making never begins before 5pm, and they're usually happy to fill my Tupperware for tuppence. Then, I'll make a platter of bacon to dip in it and call that breakfast.

I also can never get enough kibbeh nayeh (a velvety mezze dish of the freshest raw minced lamb with bulgur wheat, garnished with raw onion and a generous splash of olive oil. Scooped up with warm pita. It's wonderful but now that I'm back in the Gulf after a long hiatus, I'm eating it four times a week.

Lipitor, here I come.

[Janedujour]

I'll occasionally make myself a tuna melt on fresh rye with cheddar and fontina, pesto and aioli, bacon and tomato. The sandwich is pressed and subsequently fried in a foaming panful of butter. I like to add alarming quantities of Maldon salt as I eat. And after every crisp and oozing bite of sandwich, I munch on dill pickles. Cleanses the palate.

Here in the Emirates, when the garlic in the markets is in too poor of a condition to make aioli with, I'll often hit up shawarma joints for a tub of the invariably delicious garlic mayo that they slather on sandwiches. The guys are more relaxed in the mornings because shawarma-making never begins before 5pm, and they're usually happy to fill my Tupperware for tuppence. Then, I'll make a platter of bacon to dip in it and call that breakfast.

I also can never get enough kibbeh nayeh (a velvety mezze dish of the freshest raw minced lamb with bulgur wheat, garnished with raw onion and a generous splash of olive oil. Scooped up with warm pita. It's wonderful but now that I'm back in the Gulf after a long hiatus, I'm eating it four times a week. 

Lipitor, here I come.

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Yum!

Ok, my name's Jane and I drink YooHoo.

God, I still love smoked oysters, and I'll eat a whole tinful in a minute. The oil is nice on a salad too with grapes and shaved reggiano. Thank god someone decided to add the new "peel off" ring lid to canned sardines and oysters and I don't have to fiddle with the damn can opener anymore!

I have a small container of duck fat in my fridge, and sometimes I'll dip a spoon into it and just feel it melt on my tongue.

Bad? never!

Edited June 30, 2005 by Janedujour (log)

[Ling]

I have a small container of duck fat in my fridge,  and sometimes I'll dip a spoon into it and just feel it melt on my tongue.

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My mom eats butter straight from the fridge! She just stands there at the kitchen counter, slicing butter and popping it in her mouth. Her eating habits are sometimes just as nasty as mine....heh heh heh.

[honeye22]

I have a small container of duck fat in my fridge,  and sometimes I'll dip a spoon into it and just feel it melt on my tongue.

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My mom eats butter straight from the fridge! She just stands there at the kitchen counter, slicing butter and popping it in her mouth. Her eating habits are sometimes just as nasty as mine....heh heh heh.

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how is it that none of you are roughly the size of a house???? I walk by the Krispy Kreme store, and my hips expand by about 5 inches! Seriously, I wish i had that kind of metabolism. I plan to make an entire dinner tonight of guilty pleasures: Roasted garlic smeared on toasted bread with olive oil, fried corn, french fries with gravy and maybe some cookie dough if I'm up for it. "happy heartburn.......happy heartburn......"

[Eliza Cross]

Tostitos are my downfall.