Food Memories Gone Bad

[jgm]

A few random thoughts about the soup. . .

I recently heard someone say that if lentils are more than a year old, they lose their flavor. Even if you haven't had them longer than a year, it's possible something has changed about the lentils before they get to you; maybe they're held in a warehouse longer; maybe they're a slightly different variety of lentil. Same idea holds for the spices and seasonings you are using. Understanding how flavor combinations work, it's possible the cumin or one of the other seasonings is somewhat different from what you used then, and maybe the combination of ingredients unique to this recipe highlights that difference, although perhaps you wouldn't notice it in other dishes.

I think our palates change, depending on what we've eaten lately. Less than 10 years ago, I adored those stupid little powdered sugar doughnuts that come 6 to a package for around a dollar. And I do mean adored. For awhile, I ate them every day for breakfast, until I made myself stop, and find something healthier. Then about 3 or 4 years ago, I started making a conscious effort to add more fresh fruits and vegetables into my daily diet, and to start making new recipes. One morning about a year or two ago, in a rush, I picked up a package of the doughnuts. When I got back to the office, and started eating them, I was appalled at the way they tasted. Horrible! So maybe it's the foods I've been eating lately; maybe it's the aging process itself.

I have also grown more sensitive to salt in the past few years. Dishes that taste fine to everyone else, nearly gag me sometimes. It could be that now that I'm eating fewer processed foods, my tolerance for it has changed. Or again, it could be the aging process.

[GSBravo]

I think it's that just we grow up and want to remember things being better than they are/were.

Case in point, earlier last year, we (the SO, adult daughter, and son in law) went to the National Zoo in DC. It wasn't as good as I remember it being. I mean the mystery and wonder, all that. It wasn't there.

On the same trip,w e stopped by the National Catehrdal. It still has all the mystery and wonder as the first time I saw it.

So whether it's food or places, I think we change over time- for better or worse- and recapturing those day is hard.

[racheld]

Word Birth!!! Word Birth!!!

Blandulize

Lexikeepers take note.

[Jensen]

And now I have to find a new "perfect lentil soup" recipe.

This could take years.    

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Perhaps this will help you begin that quest: click

I believe that commercially produced food made at one plant may taste different than the same food made at a different plant. Have you moved recently?

[Carrot Top]

All of these are good answers, and true answers, too - to this question.

It's funny how often in life a thing can not be clearly defined with exact reasons as to "why" or "how" - giving each reason an exact percentage of blame or cause or source or whatever.

Life would be much easier if it could be that way.

In the case of this soup, GS Bravo - I think that your story of the Zoo and the Cathedral is useful, and it gives example to what has been running through my mind this morning as the (as close as it will get) answer for me with this soup mystery.

It could be, as with all works of art or craft - that some have a really lasting significance due to whatever it is that makes them superlative. Great art, classics, remain strong and vibrant and meaningful to humanity through centuries - lesser works do not. Perhaps the Cathedral has that essence and the Zoo does not. . .

This soup was never that great to begin with, I've decided. What made it seem so to me at the time was relativity. Its relationship in terms of what it was and how it tasted in relationship to what we mostly ate then, made it superlatively delicious.

At that time, we mostly ate "haute" rather than "plebe", elegantly rather than earthily. Meats with sauces sort of thing - pasta or rice or potato sides, with vegetables rather as an afterthought.

That's okay, I guess except for the fact that it is not really the way I like to eat. Mostly I do prefer plebe, and whereas meat can yield a world of ingredients and options, vegetables seem to yield a universe, to my mind.

This soup is a real gathering of plebe and veggie. In that way it was good.

So the soup *was* sort of a thing that was magnificent - but only in comparison to the usual things we were eating, for its own reason.

A philosophic answer, I guess.

All the others are true, too though.

Especially the part about getting old. Can't escape that one.

[Carrot Top]

Perhaps this will help you begin that quest: click

I believe that commercially produced food made at one plant may taste different than the same food made at a different plant. Have you moved recently? 

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Yum. That soup looks GREAT!!!!

I've moved too often. And am often disappointed with lentils.

[Carrot Top]

Word Birth!!!  Word Birth!!!

Blandulize  

Lexikeepers take note.

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The real question, rachel, is whether or not we can invent a kitchen tool that can be sold by infomercial that fits this word.

"The Blandulizer" : "This machine will take all flavor out of any food you cook, allowing you to serve it to any ill-mannered taste-bud lacking relatives you may have in your life. Useful for all foodies at any large holiday celebration."

[Jensen]

"The Blandulizer" : "This machine will take all flavor out of any food you cook, allowing you to serve it to any ill-mannered taste-bud lacking relatives you may have in your life. Useful for all foodies at any large holiday celebration." 

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A pressure-cooker made especially for vegetables. Guaranteed to suck every last ounce of flavour out of the veggies so that you can pour it down the drain with confidence!

[YoChefGregg]

Two real quick examples, dill and cilantro.

As a child I didn't eat dill pickles because of the dill. Couldn't stand the flavor. Now I make inlagd gurka, a quick swedish pickle, a couple of times a month and use about a cup of fresh dill.

And cilantro. The first time I purchased fresh cilantro, 10 years or so ago, the smell gave me a stomach ach and I through it in the trash. Now, posole wouldn't be posole without a good sized portion of fresh cilantro added just before digging in.

[Kim Shook]

Sometimes I will make something that I KNOW I loved a few years ago, that I remember eating and enjoying and serving to guests and I just don't like it anymore. 

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Which things have done this recently, Kim?

I need company in my misery here.

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I used to make this jazzed up chicken casserole with Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice - I REMEMBER this being gooey, comforting and rich and REALLY flavorful. I've made it twice in the past year and it was...ok - a little bland and boring. Also what my mom used to call 'Beef Birds' - its that one where you smear a bread dressing on thinly pounded beef filets, roll them up, brown in fat and then braise until done - I think it was based on an old Julia Child recipe. I grew up on this and always requested it and when I made it recently, it was also somewhat lacking . But on an up note, my Italian Pot Roast (from 'Simple Fare' by Ronald Johnson) is ALWAYS good and has been for years! Don't be sad - see this as an opportunity to explore new recipes !