If you were on Death Row

[MrStomach]

and the warden told you you could have any meal you want (restaurant food, frozen food, home cooking, combination of whatever, etc...), as long as it was limited to four courses, what would you dine on for your last meal?

[tuqueboy]

first course: oysters on the halfshell; ceviche. (with an extra-dry chopin vodka martini)
second course: pan-seared foie gras (goose, not duck) (with a glass, aw hell, a bottle of chateau d'yqem).
third course: ribeye (rare-med. rare) sprinkled with a teeny bit of sea-salt, served with steamed asparagus in bernaise sauce), and yorkshire pudding (with a bottle of chateau margaux 1982).
dessert: iles flotantes (tiny meringue ``islands'' in a bowl of creme anglaise) (with a bottle of 1957 D'oliveira madeira).

[revsharkie]

I'd want to go to tbe Venesian Inn in Tontitown and order a steak with their wonderful homemade spaghetti & house salad, festival o'chocolate for dessert, and then excuse myself saying I needed to visit the facility, and slip out the back door and into the wind...

Then for my first meal after my last meal I'd find some Masamun curry and sticky rice.

[Peter Cherches]

After much deliberation I came up with my menu, though I'm cheating a bit. It's all over the place, but I think it could work as a meal.

First Course: Alsatian Tarte Flambee

Second Course: Shrimp Trio (Low-Country shrimp & grits; Kerala shrimp curry; Macanese chili shrimp)

Third Course: Camphor tea smoked duck accompanied by baby bok choi with fresh garlic

Dessert: Japanese grapefruit wine jelly with a dadar on the side (Indonesian/Malaysian bright green fluffy pancake, colored with pandan, stuffed with palm molasses & coconut).

http://petercherches.blogspot.com

[hamstrman]

In no particular order, one course would have to be Thai food.

In particular, Pad Ki Mow with crispy duck, Pad See Ew with shrimp, chicken satay, fried dumplings and hot and sour soup.

A second course would be every variety of doughnut from Doughnut Plant in Manhattan - Pumpkin, Peanut Butter and Banana, Vanilla Bean, Cranberry, Hazelnut, Chestnut, etc.

A third course would have to include California Pizza Kitchen pizzas with those amazing sesame dumplings they have. I know, they're tacky and commercial, but I love them so much. Just so damn good. I don't care, I eat fancy and common food alike.

The fourth course would have to be a no-price-limit omakase platter from Ushi Wakamaru on W Houston St in Manhattan. which would effectively satiate my sushi craving and provide for death by sushi before my meal ends. Hey, if not death by sex, then I'll take death by sushi. That fugu idea is a good one.

[BRIANTHEFOODUDE]

I would order Souvlaki or KFC :)

[TampaBarb]

I think I would have to start with a couple of bottles of grey goose vodka and a bottle of cranberry juice.....after finishing that off, who cares what they do to me.

I personally found the choice of a bag of jolly ranchers for a final meal interesting.

[MakingSense]

A couple of years ago I arranged media interviews for journalists with the warden in charge of Death Row for one of the States that executes a lot of people. This topic obviously came up.
We found out there are limits. No cigarettes - smoke-free facility. No wine, beer or other alcohol.
The food was limited to variations of the simple foods in the standard prison diet. The condemned weren't going to get interesting ethnic dishes, exotic cheeses, prime beef, lobsters or other expensive seafood, or just about any food worth living for.
I had arranged for us to have lunch at the prison but the journalists revolted, preferring to grab snacks at a truck stop on the highway. When I saw the food, I easily agreed.

[PaulF]

Gary Gilmore ordered a six pack of Coors.

I wrote a paper on him in junior high.

[chef chicklet]

What no alchohol? If I were going to crash in a plane I'd be hitting the mini bottle bar hard!

[ArtemisNYC]

Here are a few of my favorite things:
Medium rare cheeseburger with extra onions and pickles
Chicken stir fry with brown rice
A plate of brie, cheddar and montrachet cheeses
Haricots verts with a touch of extra virgin olive oil
Florida honeybell oranges (if in season) and/or a dark chocolate cake
And to wash it all down, a can of Mr. Pibb.

[prunefeet]

Oh my.
Roast duck (china town style)
Kimchee jigae with full panchan
Thick prime rib, rare with a side of escarole with lots of garlic
CHeesecake OR a perfect peach or mango

Wow, these items so do not go together. Who cares, what, I'm going to get indigestion? It would take me all day to ingest all this heavy stuff. What a way to go.

[upstate girl]

A banana with peanut butter
French fries with gravy
Homemade gnocchi with my mother in law's sauce
Brownie sundae

...what a combination!

[onlytwomuses]

Small caesar salad with anchovies to start.
Shrimp cocktail with 8 jumbo shrimp.
10 P.E.I. oysters on the half shell with all the garnishes.
Foie gras
A baguette basket with a large rammekin of real butter, slightly softened
A bowl of grits with butter, salt and pepper
2 2-lb Maine lobsters, drawn butter
Fresh cole slaw
A large order of McDonald's french fries, hot and salted
A liter of diet coke
A bottle of Johnny Walker Blue
A bucket of ice
A slice of New York cheesecake.

[Heatherb]

Would you really want to drink diet coke on death row? Why not go for the bottle of regular coke? It's not like there would be any lasting repercussions...

:-)

[pescatarian]

some people prefer the taste of diet coke to regular coke

[Peter Cherches]

What are the 4 slowest-cooking foods in the world?

[Walters]

Peter, There was a great cartoon on this published recently. It showed two guards standing outside an inmate's cell. (He was the oldest inmate on death row.) The guards noted he requested roast Unicorn for his last meal and avoided the death penality on a "technicality"...

[beevod]

If I weren't watching my weight, I'd order a gallon of ice cream.

[Leslieville]

Good one beevod!

[junglekitte]

bbq pork ribs or pulled pork with potato salad, baked beans, and cornbread

a darkly toasted sesame bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, and red onion.

a fresh, crusty, and hot french loaf with good european salted butter. oh you could throw in some RIPE gamele ole or havarti cheese.

a danish hotdog. a bun with a danish hotdog, ketchup, mustard, remoulade, fried onions, and danish style pickled cucumbers.

oh and for dessert...oops, 5 courses, a giant bowl of the finest gelatos. hazelnut, mango, vanilla, mint/choc, saffron/pinenut, coconut, choc chip, oh any flavor really. ;)

[rcallner]

My sister in law is Japanese, and her English so-so. We're all chowhounds in the extended family, though, and make a HUGE fuss over meals during family vacations. One year Tomoko made some pronoucement about our "final meal," the night before we go our separate ways, which has a happier connotation than the intial concept of this string. The requirement for a great "final meal" (which is now the name of the family tradition) is that it be absolutely delicious, and something all of us love.

[ipsedixit]

All-you-can-eat buffet.

I would just eat and eat and never finish eating, so they could never technically pull the switch on me.

[wontonton]

Some of them ordered a LOT of food. I just hope they had enough time to digest it all before losing complete control of body functions while on the chair or the gurney.

[HillJ]

I'm not so sure I'd have an appetite...and I did notice a number of inmates on that link that did not eat.

Death by Chocolate?

[RiJaAr]

hmm, i have to agree with the inmates in that link..
bacon has got to be in there somewhere
freshly baked rye bread, still warm
crab legs with butter
shrimp with garlic butter sauce
scallops
mussels
a good thick steak medium rare
a wilted spinach salad
pork chops in mushroom sauce
dry ribs
i would never be able to eat all this, but one bite of each would be good
and for dessert
turtles cheesecake
smores ice cream

[RiJaAr]

i wonder how i could fit all that into 4 courses?

[C70]

chicken tikka masala with Basmati & naan.

a bacon cheeseburger with crispy matchstick fries, a side of dijon mayo of course!

a crusty baguette, with good OO and balsamic, and a piece of raw-milk Quebec cheese.

a bagel special- toasted Montreal bagel, scads of whipped cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onion, tomato & capers.

dessert not necessary. death by cheese.

[kevin]

a mini-urasawa extravanga, loaded with Kobe beef, beluga, foie gras, and toro. washed down with the Masa experience.

Followed by some Sketch ice cream and McConnell's as appetite cleansers. maybe a couple bites of a fig cake and choco pudding cake.

Some beef ribs for Phillip's extra spicey sauce. oh, and why not some link while we're at it. followed by some brisket from Kreuz market and some ribs from clark's outpost.

Some peking duck from china or sgv or vancouver bc's greatest chef. along with some dim sum and dumplings.

now, back for some desserts, maybe a dessert that splits the difference between savory and sweet, maybe Ferran Adria's el bulli stuff.

prawns and crab from Trishna.

some noodles from the greatest hawker stall in Bangkok thailand, followed by some okra mangoes, magnosteens, and durian (maybe the warden will wither away just from the stink of the durian)

a peter luger's porterhouse steak, and slabs of choc mousse cake followed by some of their schlag.

buttermilk pie from a joint in SC, followed by a missippi hot chil tamale, a slab of coconut cream pie from apple pie along with a pumpkin slice, slice of cherry pie from the cherry hut, a chocolate croissant from patisserie claude.

i could go on and on.

[welle]

It's a little bit OT, but your last meal reminds me of it. There was this short story by Jaroslav Gashek (czech writer of early 20th century), in it a death row inmate orders a feast (something close to your list, I don't remember details I read the novel years ago, but same idea) for his last meal and then gets sick. They postpone the execution and treat him in a jail hospital for like a week and then execute the guy...

[Katie Nell]

There was also an episode (I think of CSI Miami) where the inmate requests peanut butter and jelly as his last meal; he was allergic to peanuts and died minutes before they were going to execute him.

[marlie202]

mojitos
broiled lobster
corn fritters with maple syrup
zuppa englese
pig out and bye bye

[Heatherb]

Thin-crust, Trenton-style pizza

Mushroom chicken casserole over rice (made with Campbell's condensed mushroom soup)with a side of cranberry sauce, which was the comfort food of my childhood. My best friend actually did request this when she was dying.

Filet mignon with mashed potatoes and haricot vert

A selection of gourmet chocolate truffles and goodies from Michel Cluizel and Godiva for dessert.

And all of this accompanied by a good bottle of pinot noir.

[frenetica]

I think this topic has been covered - by actual inmates.

http://www.thememoryhole.org/deaths/t...

[Johnresa]

Crab legs with butter
Assorted sushi
Brocolli with butter
Bacon(odd but necessary...lol)

[cayjohan]

Wow.

I think I will never think of my last meal again. That link really brought a lot home.

A lot of it poignant. Well, all of it was poignant, despite the convictions.

My favorite was for grace, love, truth, peace and freedom. We should all hunger for those things, I guess.

[Katie Nell]

I wonder what significance 2/23/90 held for Miguel Richardson??

[LindaWhit]

With 7 pink candles also on his list, maybe his daughter's birthday?

[KellBell]

Wow...that is an interesting site.

[monkeyrotica]

There was a last meals site for convicts in Texas. The most popular last meal was scotch eggs.

[frenetica]

That -is- the last meals for convicts in Texas site. What are you talking about?

In fact this whole thread is just morbid and upsetting. Way to go, Chowhound censors.

[C70]

funny comment seeing as you provided the link in the first place.

[prunefeet]

Yeah, what's up with that?

[frenetica]

I posted the link to suggest that this "hypothetical" question had already been considered by some for whom the situation wasn't very hypothetical at all, and that it probably wasn't in the best taste. Unfortunately I failed to get this across the first time.

[therealbigtasty]

That's funny because I work in restaurants and someone had posted a comment commending my manager for doing a good job in a hairy situation. It was pulled.

I'll have to go over the chowhound criterea.

Although this thread is really a "if you could have a four course meal and that was it" thread...not really focusing on the Death row aspect.

It could also read, if you stuck on a desert island and could only have four foods...

[frenetica]

I think I prefer the desert island treatment of the theme. Made me think of Heston Blumenthal's "desert island dish" I read about in the Observer a few years ago: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmo...
That guy is so over the top!

[tuqueboy]

actually, that was cut and pasted from the official site which the texas dept. of corrections used to have. they took it down because of a public outcry.

[therealbigtasty]

It looked like fried chicken to me.

I saw that site quite a few years ago, it was too weird.

[Will Owen]

Little skinny French green beans, cooked just al dente, doused in butter.

Skate with black butter and capers.

Choucroute garni, with pommes de terre Alsacienne - that's boiled spuds doused in a sauce of chopped onions cooked in butter then blended with sour cream.

...and finally, breaking from the butter, a sticky toffee cake, drowned in whipped cream!

With any luck at all, I'd have that heart attack before they came for me...

[chef chicklet]

blowfish sushi, you only live once, or so they say!

[cayjohan]

You bet - fugu with the liver and all. Cheat the hangman while having a foodie experience.

[chef chicklet]

Thanks for reminding me the correct name!! But you got the drift!

[pescatarian]

I'm cheating a bit here because the courses include a number of things, but:

good smoked salmon with capers and red onion and maybe a little drizzle of good evoo and a squirt of lemon

freshly made dip/chutney multi-ethnic platter - hummos, guacomole, pickled beets, fried eggplant, chana masala with tamarind chutney with warm freshly made pita or naan

brisket (that melts in your mouth) with pan gravy and well-made frites with mayo and ketchup together

warm cinnamony apple crumble with real vanilla ice cream

[Fog City Kid]

Unicorn...

[abu applesauce]

hot dogs
skirt steak
lamb kebab
fresh corn

I'm a simple man

[Infomaniac]

liver & onions, preferably the Judges.
ribs, preferably the Wardens.
and a good pizza pie and some french fries.