The food thread

[Rider]

We have a bunch of threads around here that talk about various aspects of our life, entertainment, politics, drinking... but not food.

Having corrected this injustice against one of man's favorite means of self-sustenance (save maybe procreation), let's talk food! What did you eat recently? Anything you enjoy or dislike?

Me, I'm not much of a connoisseur... I like fries, I'm a fan of burgers and pizza. proper pizza mind you... not the "let's smear meat and tomato smudge across this piece of bread and call it a pizza" crap that our local New York Pizza serves. Other then that, I like fishfood but I rarely eat it because it's tedious to prepare and it'll always pale in comparison to what one can have served at a decent dining place. We have a little Greek place down town that serves some killer squid. A definite recommendation!

Also, today I learned that using tomato paste as a substitute for pasta sauce can destroy a meal. I'm not sure if it was the stuff itself or the fact that I added water because it was too thick, but it ended up making the whole thing taste like sewage. Lesson learned.

Share your thoughts!

[Shiver]

I love spicy food. My tolerance for capsaicin is unnatural. There are some downsides to this. For one thing, cayenne pepper is barely discernible from paprika to my warped taste buds. It tastes a little different, and that's it. Another problem I frequently run into is that most restaurants I go to won't humor me when I ask them to make a dish as hot as they possibly can. I add an extra 5% to the tip when this does happen. A lot of dishes simply weren't meant for that sort of thing, so I can understand if a cook won't humor me. I've been thinking about getting a bottle of this stuff for years.

Me, I'm not much of a connoisseur... I like fries, I'm a fan of burgers and pizza. proper pizza mind you... not the "let's smear meat and tomato smudge across this piece of bread and call it a pizza" crap that our local New York Pizza serves.

Finland isn't much known for its food, is it? My suspicion is that the best food in Europe can be found within Italy, France and Spain. Someone enlighten me.

[Scott_Irving]

I like KD and I've learned over the years how to cook it just right and that adding stuff to it can be tasty to. 

[Lukipela]

Finland isn't much known for its food, is it? My suspicion is that the best food in Europe can be found within Italy, France and Spain. Someone enlighten me.

Rider is Dutch, so he wouldn't know. But as a Finn, I feel I need to mention that we actually did win one international pizza award in 2008, even though all I can find is this crappy news article. If memory serves me right, we then named the pizza "Berlusconi" as a way of flipping the Italians off.

But other than that, Finland is mostly famous for committing atrocities to other peoples food. Don't get me wrong, like the rest of Scandinavia we do have some pretty brilliant stuff. Mostly to do with game and fish, utilising all the berries, mushrooms and other stuff that grows around here. But whenever we import something (pizza, pasta, noodles, whatever) we do our humble best to make it "more Finnish". This usually translates to "less taste and more flour".

As for what food I like? Well, I don't have any particualr favourites. I'm partial to fish, so I suppose a nicely pan-fried Zander fillet with with a creamy chanterelle sauce ranks pretty high up there.

Also what is KD Scott?

[Eth]

My suspicion is that the best food in Europe can be found within Italy, France and Spain. Someone enlighten me.

  The usual consensus that I've heard is that France is home to the world's best food.  I'm quite partial to Italian food, myself, though.  Spain is better-known for torturing people than for cooking, IIRC. 

  My tastes tend to run along the same lines as Rider's (pizza, burgers and fries).  My breakfast and lunch are very consistent.  Most days, I eat this:
Breakfast: Bagel and cream cheese, black tea.
Lunch: Cheddar cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread, banana, apple, granola bar, black tea.
I mix it up for dinner, though. 

  Portland, the city I'm in, is on the verge of realizing its "restaurant culture."  You know how each major city has its own style of food?  Portland hasn't quite made it there yet, but it sure feels like it's on the cusp.  There are a lot of culinary innovators around here, trying all sorts of interesting fusions of different cuisines.  Fun stuff.  Too bad I can't afford to eat out much. 

[fossaman]

Crush up some ritz crackers (or other buttery non-solid cracker variety of your choice) into tiny crumbs and add some powdered parmesan cheese.
Dip a chicken tender in some milk, and then in the crumb/cheese mixture.
Fry in a little bit of oil.

Congratulations, you just made fried chicken with practically no work. It may not be as crunchy or greasy, but it's darn good.

I consider food to be more of a necessary evil than anything else, but my opinions of it are understandably skewed, what with the whole spent-five-years-eating-only-one-meal-a-day thing. I generally think that anything you can make from scratch is going to be better than pre-processed food, barring cooking mishaps.

[Dabir]

It is indeed a widely held opinion amongst people outside western Europe, brits included, that French food is the best. In my opinion, the most DELICIOUS food is to be found in Germany, home of sauerkraut (which admittedly tastes like vomit) and at least many kinds of sausages (which do not). Also famous for beer, bread products and some of the less runny cheeses.

Outside Europe, I was taken to a Persian restaurant recently and thoroughly enjoyed it - again a lot of meat, spiced slightly, with various delicious deserts.

What are the Indian reastaurants like where you guys are? Round here we've got a bunch of good-quality ones, but how well have they done elsewhere?

[Cedric6014]

Indian restaurants in my town are pretty good for the most part. There is quite a large Indian community here. Best place in fact is a take-out only place just down the road from where I live. Possibly not helpful information to most of you

We are also blessed with dozens of South-east Asian restaurants/eateries which make delicious spicy food – and cheap too.

I think food is the best thing ever.

[Shiver]

What are the Indian reastaurants like where you guys are? Round here we've got a bunch of good-quality ones, but how well have they done elsewhere?

I'm quite partial to Indian food. They recognize me at one of the Indian restaurants around Madison, so that's one of the few places I can go to satiate my craving for burning. I keep too many vegetarians as company and Indian restaurants are good for satisfying them too.

Another vice of mine: Game meat. I fucking love venison, and have considered taking up hunting just to get more of it.

[Scott_Irving]

Kd is to "cool" term for Kraft Dinner which is just high end boxed mac and cheese.

[Cedric6014]

Kd is to "cool" term for Kraft Dinner which is just high end boxed mac and cheese.

How the heck would we know that!

[Bleeding Star]

Cedric says:
Indian restaurants in my town are pretty good for the most part. There is quite a large Indian community here. Best place in fact is a take-out only place just down the road from where I live. Possibly not helpful information to most of you

We are also blessed with dozens of South-east Asian restaurants/eateries which make delicious spicy food – and cheap too.

Bastard. Dublin has very poor ethnic food. You can find acceptable stuff, if you look very hard, but you'll pay for the privilege.

Shiver says:
Another problem I frequently run into is that most restaurants I go to won't humor me when I ask them to make a dish as hot as they possibly can.

In a lot of places, if your skin is the wrong colour then they just won't make it hot enough for you. Luckily my tolerance for heat has declined as I approach senior-citizen status, but nevertheless, if I order a curry hot then I expect to sweat at least a little!

Eth says:
The usual consensus that I've heard is that France is home to the world's best food.

Only if you're a pretentious wanker (i.e. French). I'm not a big fan myself (though it beats English food) -I much prefer Italian.

[Lukipela]

Crush up some ritz crackers (or other buttery non-solid cracker variety of your choice) into tiny crumbs and add some powdered parmesan cheese.
Dip a chicken tender in some milk, and then in the crumb/cheese mixture.
Fry in a little bit of oil.

Congratulations, you just made fried chicken with practically no work. It may not be as crunchy or greasy, but it's darn good.

I'm going to have to try this out. It's probably go quite well with fish as well. My mom used to make "Kentucky Fired Zander", which is basically a similar batter on white fish. You might want to try that out with some cold sauce, crème fresh based if possible.

I consider food to be more of a necessary evil than anything else, but my opinions of it are understandably skewed, what with the whole spent-five-years-eating-only-one-meal-a-day thing. I generally think that anything you can make from scratch is going to be better than pre-processed food, barring cooking mishaps.

Yeah, I agree. We only do eat preprocessed food if there is simply no time or if we are hung over. Lunch on New Years Day is always from McDonalds.

What are the Indian restaurants like where you guys are? Round here we've got a bunch of good-quality ones, but how well have they done elsewhere?

There are a few Indian restaurants in town, and the food there is generally pretty good. We also cook Indian food at home every now and then. Well, I say Indian although I suspect any actual Indian would find it flat and dull. I love the spices and the overwhelming mixtures of flavours. The Finnish Alcohol Monopoly stores also have one brand of Indian red Wine, nice and quite rich in taste.

Only if you're a pretentious wanker (i.e. French). I'm not a big fan myself (though it beats English food) -I much prefer Italian.

I concur on that Italian food is great, but I don't think French food is bad in any way. It's just very hyped. I also think that there are plenty of other European places with great food (The Scandinavian region for example, and Greece). But they don't get marketed the same way. I've often wonder if emigration plays into this somehow. Wherever they emigrate to, Italians, Spanish and French seem pretty likely to start up restaurants. Maybe if Swedes hadn't been such dependable workers in other areas their stolen meatball recipe would be more famous.

[Bleeding Star]

Lukipela says:
We also cook Indian food at home every now and then. Well, I say Indian although I suspect any actual Indian would find it flat and dull. I love the spices and the overwhelming mixtures of flavours.

Me too. I'm awesome at cooking indian food and I don't really give a shit if it's authentic or not. The kitchen usually looks like a disaster area when I'm done though.

Finnish Alcohol Monopoly

Sounds sinister.

The Scandinavian region for example

Rotten fish, cheese paste, and dry bread. No thanks!

Greece

I'll agree on that one. I always thought Greek food was too rich until I actually went to Greece. Mmmm, seafood and greek salad. Yum! And so cheap, too.

Maybe if Swedes hadn't been such dependable workers in other areas their stolen meatball recipe would be more famous.

Enough with the Swede-loving already!

[Lukipela]

Me too. I'm awesome at cooking indian food and I don't really give a shit if it's authentic or not. The kitchen usually looks like a disaster area when I'm done though.

Our kitchen is tiny and always looks like a disaster area. Moreso after Indian though, or at least more colourful. Still, the kitchen is there to be used.

Sounds sinister.

It kind of is.

Rotten fish, cheese paste, and dry bread. No thanks!

Cheese paste?