TME Gastronomy

(as per Funio's request)

It's a thread about food! Whether it's caviar or chicken-fried steak, discussion of comestibles of any kind is welcome here.

I was actually thinking the other day about the five most memorable meals of my life. I'm deliberately excluding stuff I eat on a regular basis, but these are ones I still have dreams about:

-The pizza I had in Pizza Marinara Au Feu De Bois on the Rue Dauphine in St. Germain in Paris. Wood-fired really is the way to go, and this pizza (just a plain old Margherita) was so divine that my parents and I went there twice. And while it's an odd combination, the mousse there was superb, too.
-The cheeseburgers at the Charcoal Pit in Wilmington, DE—best damn burgers anywhere. The first time I went there I devoured the burger before I even touched the fries, which to me is always a sign of a good burger.
-The ginger-dressing salad, teriyaki chicken and chocolate mochi ice cream at The Drunken Fish in St. Louis. Perfectly flavorful and filling all around. The salad was an unexpected pleasant surprise, the chicken tender yet crispy (with perfectly sticky rice to go alone with it), and the ice cream delightful.
-The complete meal package at Ciao! in Toledo, OH—my cousin is a chef there, and he treated us to a feast of pizza, goat cheese with fried onions, salad, cream sauce tortellini and chocolate mousse. It's the most I've ever eaten in my life, but was completely worth it.
-The coconut shrimp at the Federal House in Annapolis, MD—crunchy and sweet, but the trick was eschewing the typical cocktail sauce for an Asian sweet-and-sour sauce. Excellent.

Currently for lunch I'm whipping up some farfalle with garlic cream sauce—based on a recipe I got from the California Pizza Kitchen (probably my favorite chain restaurant) cookbook that uses fettucine, but it really works for any pasta. It's so rich, but every time I've made it it was heavenly. Do any other of you TMErs cook?

I normally cook lots and lots, but it was hard to do it so much in Hungary. Now I'm in a pretty remote part of London my choice of decent food shops is limited to kosher grocery shops (pickled and canned goods, mainly) and Somerfield, which sucks all over the place. So lately I've been sort of throwing things together rather than actually cooking them - I've been getting through an inordinate amount of smoked salmon (offcuts), the best of which you can buy in Somerfield, Morrisons and Sainsburys for as little as 80p. I chuck it in elaborate salads with capers, quinoa, mozeralla and all kinds of stuff. My ultimate comfort food at the mo is lumpfish caviar mixed with a couple of chopped-up boiled eggs and some raw oinion, spread on buttered muffins and drowned in lemon juice. Fucking yes.

I can also cook pretty good Thai - I lived with a Thai chef for nearly a year back in the day, which has left me with a pretty good grounding. My specialities are Tom Yum Gai and Pad Pak Boong (stir-fried morning glory).

generalmalaise said:
I can also cook pretty good Thai - I lived with a Thai chef for nearly a year back in the day, which has left me with a pretty good grounding. My specialities are Tom Yum Gai and Pad Pak Boong (stir-fried morning glory).


that's what i want to master next. i have no wok and i'm not asian pantry stocked, but soon.

i love cooking though. probably my favorite hobby.
lately all i want to make is mac and cheese though.
=)

gloathcrusade said:
I have had this ridiculous habit of picking at my food since I was a kid: I won't eat onions (ESPECIALLY onions), mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, basically any cooked vegetable that isn't broccoli or a potato. So whenever I go to a restaurant, I order basic meals where I know what's going into the food so I don't have to embarrass myself by making a pile of food I hate on the side of the plate.
I'm sort of the same. I'm fine with peppers, carrots, and some things now, but I still can't stand onions, tomatoes, or mushrooms. I'm more inclined to order things without whatever ingredient despise than order basic things, though, because I do like to try new and interesting things despite my aversion to some vegetables.

I'd cook more if I didn't feel like so much of it goes to waste. I'm not a bad cook, but my roommates would never eat anything I made, so if I didn't get the recipe down to a serving or two (such a pain) most of it would go to waste. I hate buying things knowing that I'm only going to get a serving's worth out of them too. So typically most of the cooking I do is macaroni and cheese, because I get cravings. But I actually make my own cheese sauce, because none of the boxed stuff seems to cut it anymore.

Pizza's been my favorite food since I was little, I could eat it every day. My favorite pizza has jalepenos, banana peppers, roasted red peppers, and sundried tomatoes on it. (I'm vegetarian)

GroupSupport said:
I'm a huge herring enthusiast. Actually all like all kinds of fishes, and sea food. And I perfectly understand Captain Nemo and his kitchen habits.



Seriously? I eat herring at least once a day. It's a king amongst fish, only dressed like a herring.

generalmalaise said:
GroupSupport said:
I'm a huge herring enthusiast. Actually all like all kinds of fishes, and sea food. And I perfectly understand Captain Nemo and his kitchen habits.


Seriously? I eat herring at least once a day. It's a king amongst fish, only dressed like a herring.

i've never had it!


i feel like being picky is just to limiting. so i gave it up.
words can't even express how much i used to hate broccoli. i remember gagging over it when i was young and about a month ago i decided to go ahead and eat some and now i can't really get enough.

there are a few exceptions. they're usually related to texture and involve mayo, but for the most part, i'll try it.

I had canned soup for dinner. Fuck all you people.

Recently I've been liking seafood more. Some of my favorites are king crab (all-time favorite), orange roughy (second favorite), cod, shrimp (scampi, grilled, fried, etc.), and mussels.

Never tried herring yet; I'll have to try it sometime.

I literally love bacon on croissants, or, if there is no bacon, cheese and tomato.

I agree. I sometimes make grilled cheese with slices of tomato.

however, I havn't put ketchup on a hotdog since I was 12.

i just feel like in all scenarios where you'd use ketchup i'd prefer bbq.