Bizarre dishes or cooking methods

[egbluesuede]

I love to try unique dishes or unorthodox methods of cooking. What may be odd to me, may not be to others, so no offense to anyone. Sometimes I look at things at the market like ox tails, or pig ears, and just wonder if people out there are cooing these things? I thought it would be neat to hear from other 'hounds some of the most unusual dishes or cooking methods that they have tried, and how they worked out?

[thegolferbitch]

I have made hogshead cheese out of pigs' ears, snout, tails, and feet, black and red peppers, onions and vinegar. I slow cook the meat and onions, add the spice, drain in a cheese cloth, refrigerate and enjoy. That's about as exotic as I go, though. I do enjoy boudin (blood pudding/blood sausage) but always rely on my butchershop to make that.

[Sam Fujisaka]

tgb, we prepare and love all kinds of funny-bits foods. The hogshead cheese sounds heavenly. Although your description is probably enough, would you please provide any additional details you think might be important? I love blutwurst as well.

[xnyorkr]

In another thread, some people taked about drying salad greens in the spin cycle of a washing machine. One guy said he tried it and the salad tasted like fabric softener!

[Scrapironchef]

I've always thought that future archeologists will determine that freezing food for a long period was an essential part of any recipe.

[JungMann]

I am a huge fan of oxtails and pig ears, though I haven't made orejas on my own. Among the more exotic cooking methods I've been known to use, probably most palatable is using liver spread as a thickener in stew. Also bread crumbs. Blood also has the same properties, but just because I have been known to make blood stew doesn't mean I'm going to be dropping pints into my hotpot when I'm out of cornstarch. My father was partial to making cow feet (paya) curry.

[Jimmy Buffet]

Sushi-loving friends of mine often try to convince me to try sushi by mentioning that the fish is "cooked" by the acidity of the lime juice, etc.

While I can see that the lime juice affects the food in some way, it seems a stretch to call it "cooking".

[Sam Fujisaka]

Sushi = vinagared rice, possibly with fish, traditionally other things
Ceviche = raw fish with a lime juice marinade; the acid does "cook" the fish.
Sashimi = raw fish or seafood, no lime juice, traditionally eaten w/ hot rice

[giveittomikey]

Ox tails are wonderful, they make a delicious stew with root vegetables and onions, lots of gravy and dumplings cooked on top, just remember to fast all day before you eat it. One other thing I remember is my mother cutting up beef tripe to put in a beef stew, it acted as a natural thickener and it tasted pretty good as well.

[chowser]

Anyone involved with scouts at any point has probably made a solar oven out of a pizza box and a regular oven by lining the inside of a box w/ aluminum foil and dumping hot coal in it. Neither chowhoundish, though.

[amopdx]

in the outdoor school program (for 6th graders in portland public schools) all the kids have to make a grill out of a coffee can and a homemade candle to cook a hamburger on grill the buns by buttering them and sticking them to the side of the can. very un-chowhoundish :)

[Den]

I haven't tried but I do remember seeing something about cooking/steaming stuff in a dishwasher???

[Jimmy Buffet]

I was in college with a guy who liked to do that. He used fish. I used to ask him, "WHY? We have an oven five feet to the left of the dishwasher!"

He also used to wrap things in foil and place them on the manifold of his car engine...

[Candy]

There is a cook book floating around out there called Manifold Destiny. All about cooking on your cars manifold.

[Katie Nell]

Ming Tsai helped the guys on "Car Talk" make burritos on their manifold- it was pretty funny! http://www.cartalk.com/content/featur...