under or overrated ingredients

[Richard_D]

Anyone tried bee pollen? Is it any good? what's it like? It seems to be cropping up all over the place, dusting this and that.

I'm personally underwhelmed by polenta, it's great for stopping your pizza dough from sticking and helping make crisp pastry but glad it seems to have gone out of fashion in restaurants as it seemed at one point every meal came with a chargrilled slice of yellow plastic.

R

[magnolia]

Never tried pollen but I love polenta. I wouldn't really call it an ingredient though, it's an entity unto itself.

I think red peppercorns and nutmeg are underrated...

[jennahan]

black truffles - overrated

anchovies -underrated

[PoppySeedBagel]

Overrated - lobster

Underrated - crab - especially the brown meat.

[Hallie]

totally over-rated: snails

totally unpleasant and over-rated: snail porridge

totally over-priced and over-rated: caviar

totally over-priced and out-dated: OXO Tower

totally over: bangers and mash chic

[Hallie]

totally under-rated: golden beetroot (with apple and roast pork)

totally under-whelming: Relais de Venise

totally unimportant: Ramsay's F Word

totally disgusting: Sainsburys (Finchley Road O2 Centre - now worse than ever...)

Edited November 13, 2005 by Hallie (log)

[grahamR]

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<center>

over-rated: caper berries

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under-rated: star anise

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Edited November 13, 2005 by grahamR (log)

[Sackville]

under-rated: lamb shoulder and mackerel

over-rated: lamb leg and salmon

[Mark Donnelly]

Over-rated:

Saffron - great for colour - but that taste

Fillet Steak - top dollar for bottom flavour

Nigella Lawson, Nigel Slater, AWT, et al - please, enough said

Under-rated:

black pudding - never seen it at a dinner party (in any shape or form)

[Dan Ryan]

Over-rated: lobster, balsamic vinegar, salmon, out-of-season tomatoes, anything but the freshest fresh peas, quail's eggs, baby sweetcorn, pork tenderloin, starfruit

Under-rated: crab, sherry vinegar, sherry, perry, tinned plum tomatoes, frozen peas, dried chickpeas, herring, kippers, pilchards, anchovies, cultivated mushrooms, ham hocks, shin of beef, pork belly, horse, pink peppercorns, lovage, lettuce, grapefruit

[MobyP]

Under-rated: ...pork belly, horse

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Boy, if I had a penny for each time that pork belly was under rated, I bet I could afford a volkswagon.

Had some frites cooked in horse fat the other day. Very nice they were too.

[degusto]

Had some frites cooked in horse fat the other day. Very nice they were too.

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Only very nice? You are underrating fries cooked in horse fat.

[canucklehead]

Over rated - White Truffle Oil - too often used as a short cut for 'luxuriousness' rather then the underlying dish itself.

Under rated - Eggs, nothing quite as delicous as a free run softly cooked egg with warm runny yolks.

Edited November 14, 2005 by canucklehead (log)

[Christopher Haatuft]

<br />

<center>

over-rated: caper berries 

<br/>

under-rated: star anise 

</center>

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Over-rated:

Saffron - great for colour - but that taste

Fillet Steak - top dollar for bottom flavour

Nigella Lawson, Nigel Slater, AWT, et al - please, enough said

Under-rated:

black pudding - never seen it at a dinner party (in any shape or form)

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underrated;

star aniseed and saffron together

[Christopher Haatuft]

agree on the truffle oil...what is the point? about as exclusive and refined as crabsticks

[adt]

about as exclusive and refined as crabsticks

If something tastes good and, used correctly, has a beneficial effect on other ingredients, why should one care if it's exclusive? the expectations of the word "truffle"?? Truffle oil is often over-applied, and sometimes to inadequate underlying ingredients, but a judicious drop or two needn't be unrefined, and the fact it's inexpensive at this dosage shouldn't matter. (so long as the menu is not listing it in some pretence at exclusivity..)

overrated - oysters, lobster, wagyu beef, undercooked eggs and bloody swordfish.

underrated - cardamom, beetroot, mackerel, cooked lettuce, roasted almonds, cabbage (deep-fried with muscovado sugar).

[Matthew Grant]

Over-rated: lobster, balsamic vinegar, salmon, out-of-season tomatoes, anything but the freshest fresh peas, quail's eggs, baby sweetcorn, pork tenderloin, starfruit

Under-rated: crab, sherry vinegar, sherry, perry, tinned plum tomatoes, frozen peas, dried chickpeas, herring, kippers, pilchards, anchovies, cultivated mushrooms, ham hocks, shin of beef, pork belly, horse, pink peppercorns, lovage, lettuce, grapefruit

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Blimey, how can Pork tenderloin be over-rated, never see it on a menu, IMO it is very underated, pork tenderloin from the Ginger Pig - fantastic.

Frozen peas are not under-rated either, every other chef advocates their use over fresh peas (unless they are minutes old)

[Emma M]

Have to big it up on the pork tenderloin front. You never see it on menus, but it's a regular purchase on our bi-weekly trip to the butchers. Marvellous stuff. Poached in garlic and sage milk and then roasted? Splendid.

[grahamR]

cabbage (deep-fried with muscovado sugar)

I can't google up a recipe for this intriguing combination. Got any to hand, ADT?

[adt]

Got any to hand, ADT?

Well, not a particular recipe as such, I just think savoy cabbage, and the various other less-identifiable 'greens' that randomly turn up in my organic box, are fantastic ingredients. For deep-frying I just tear the leaves into big triangles (ish), deep fry them till lightly browned, then dry on kitchen paper and sprinkle with the dark sugar and a tiny bit of salt. They're nothing more than big bits of chinese "crispy seaweed" really. Have to experiment with the oil temperature to avoid them being too greasy.

Another common childhood vegetable, cauliflower, although hardly underrated (in fact seemingly ubiquitous with scallops) also benefits from alternative treatment.

[grahamR]

Thanks. I'll be giving it a whirl and the cauli one too.

[circeplum]

Had some frites cooked in horse fat the other day. Very nice they were too.

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where????

[Jon Tseng]

Garlic shoots

Wonderful uniquely meaty texture

Haunting flavour

Why doesn't anyone use them???

[Carlovski]

overated - pancetta

underrated - bacon

I think I might need to qualify this one! Without access to a good italian deli like we are in the sticks it is much easier to get decent bacon (Preferabley something local and dry cured) than decent pancetta. Unfortunately though a lot of people will pay a premium for supermarket packets of almost see through slices of pancetta or far too small cubes, but won't pay for decent bacon.

[Hallie]

Over rated - White Truffle Oil - too often used as a short cut for 'luxuriousness' rather then the underlying dish itself.

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White truffle oil - or the truffle itself: so NOT over-rated. So worth every accolade.