Are there any foods you just cannot bear eating any way except straight up and delicious?

[Caroline1]

I know I'm a bit freaky, but there are a few things I just cannot tolerate to see chefs mix up or fry or use as a garnish. For me that's sacrilege.

One is beluga caviar. I don't care what people do with salmon roe or blackfish caviar, but if it's the "real" stuff -- prime beluga -- I don't want it sprinkled with chopped eggs or chopped onions, I don't want it plopped on top of sour cream on blinis, I don't want it atop an hors d'ouvre or garnishing something else. I want it on a plate or in a bowl all by itself with a nice mother of pearl spoon and maybe a flute of champagne on the side.

The other is sea urchin roe. I feel the same as I do about beluga. Anything you add to sea urchin roe diminishes it. And so does cooking it! And I don't want it to be more than two hours out of the ocean or the flavor will be off. Consequently I don't eat it in sushi bars unless the chef is still in his wet suit with his air tank strapped to his back..

Do any of you have foods that you cannot handle eating any other way than pristine with total solo flavor? I'm curious what they might be.

[missmadeleine]

Lobster must be absolutely unadulterated, and that means no butter, nothing! Same with oysters. I just want to taste the salt water...the aroma and flavour remind me of my grandmother's house.

[yttri]

bacon and apples are good by themselves

[danhole]

A good ripe avocado! Just give me a spoon. Nothing else needed. Sometimes I add some blue cheese dressing but it's not required.

Grape tomatoes. Eat like grapes. Any fresh tomato for that matter.

[bdachow]

Oysters for sure. Normally I'd say uni (there's nothing better than watching the sushi chef crack open the spiny critter and scoop it out in front of you) as well but I recently had an uni shooter where it was paired with purple mountain potatoes(?) and something else and it was absolutely divine. Whatever else was in it (currently eludes my memory) made the uni so much sweeter tasting and enhanced the creamy texture of the uni. Thinking about it makes me drool and want to get on a flight back to Vancouver. *sigh*...
And of course, any perfectly ripe fresh from the tree fruit is so good. Don't mess with it.
Sugar snap peas do it for me as well. They're sweet and crunchy, could eat bags of them.

[pikawicca]

The first heirloom tomato of summer.

[alwayscooking]

oh perfect answer!!!!

I put in the seeds today - sigh

[cimui]

Perfect, ripe, fresh fruit of almost any sort. No adulteration, please!

Buttery, fresh yellowtail sashimi only needs the tiniest hint of soy sauce or wee sprinkle of sea salt.

Very fresh fish is best grilled with only a bit of salt. As much as I love frying a fish in bacon grease, I think a truly fresh fish is even better, plain, picked off the bone with your fingers. :)

[alwayscooking]

Your beluga statement reminds me of when I walked in on my Russian SIL eating directly from a 3lb can of beluga while standing in front of the open frige. I asked if she wanted me to make bilinis for her and she simply rolled her eyes at my plebeian offering. Never come between an addict and their drug.

Me - I'm all for adulteration (or 'enhancement' as I prefer) since I love contrasting textures while eating as well as complementary flavors. But when she offered me a spoon, I readily accepted.

[Caroline1]

Oooooh! Will you introduce me to your SIL? '-)

[alwayscooking]

I'm not saying anything but . . . .

Her parents visit 3-4 times a year and she goes to Russia at least once and somehow, someway, there seems to be a 3lb caviar souvenir. I time my visits appropriately.

[Caroline1]

<sigh>

[limster]

I've had uni sashimi before and enjoyed it, but I do prefer it in sushi, where it is balanced with the rice and nori and just the right whisper of wasabi.

I love fresh figs on their own. And mangos (although a squeeze of kalamansi lime can do wonders for many tropical fruits).

I remember sticking my nose into empty glasses that were just emptied of lovely wines with a good amount of age. The aroma that haunts the glass were more than enough to stand alone, there was no need to have anything with it, and not even necessary to drink the wine (especially in one case where the wine itself was no longer in its prime, even though the layers of complex odours were fantastic).

[limster]

I have to add: pregnant prawns - boiled simply - first tastes the flavours of the wet shell from the unplucked prawn, savour all the roe, then the sweet tail, and finally the rich juices from the crushed head.

[cimui]

Wow... that sounds so barbaric... and delicious. Crushed head! =D

I love fresh figs right off the tree. My grandmother has apricot and fig trees in her backyard. I used to climb them and spending hours up there in the branches stuffing my face. Sadly, I've never found anything quite as good from a market, since.

[limster]

Tearing through crustaceans can be quite barbaric indeed, I usually have the prawn's head face outwards, then crunch through it so that the rich juices are squeezed out from where the neck used to be. For a more civilised affair, getting the fried heads (e.g. when one gets ama-ebi in 2 parts) might be better, as one gets to nibble through the entire head (the antennae are my favourite parts) without leaving behind a carcass.

[vtnewbie]

Black raspberries.
Porterhouse steak.
Asparagus
Gravelled 'taters
Actually, that sounds like a very nice dinner.

[billieboy]

You're gonna hate me for this...........LETTUCE !!!!! HA HA

[Caroline1]

HA HA HA right back at ya, Billie Boy. Google "braised lettuce" and "braised endive" and any other type of lettuce you'd care to check out and you have a lovely surprise in store for you! It's really good stuff!

[billieboy]

Learn something new every day. I bow to my elder's superior culinary knowledge :-)

[Caroline1]

``LOL! Seriously, try it. It's quite good. Well, depending on the recipe, of course. About forty years ago I created a recipe in my very favorite Mexican olla (shaped like a nesting hen) for beef short ribs. The bottom of the olla gets covered with sliced iceberg lettuce, then the ribs and topped with a whole bunch of veggies such as tomatoes and onions, then lots of sesame seeds. It's delicious, but not as delicious if it's not made in a clay pot. And it appears the movers ate my clay pot! <sigh>

[phantomdoc]

Grilled escarole, garlic and oil, in that order.

[jlbwendt]

Not to mention grilled romaine and radicchio!

[Sharuf]

Isn't lettuce traditionally steamed with petit pois?

[Caroline1]

Yes, sometimes with bacon added too. And if you ever need to heat up some leftover roast beef and don't want to dry it out,wrap it in lettuce, then nuke it just barely long enough to heat it through without additional cooking. Or you can also use a small frying pan, add a teaspoon or so of stock, then cover with lettuce leaves, lay on the beef, cover and simmer until just warm. The beef turns out moist, tender and delicious. Well, that is assuming it was tender to start with! '-)

[limster]

Sliced lettuce, cut into bite size piece, can often be very lightly cooked by adding them to a hot bowl of fish soup in Cantonese cooking. The lettuce is just barely wilted, and still has a refreshing crispness that contrasts the fish very well.

Or stir-fried lettuce with oyster sauce. Sometimes with dried oysters and fa3 cai4/"hair vegetable" -- a sea moss in Chinese cooking.

[billieboy]

Just an aside to this thread, but still in context, what vegetable is NEVER processed in any way shape or form. Not cooked, frozen, canned or anything.... Never...just eaten as is.
If no one can guess, I'll come back with the answer.

[Caroline1]

We're waaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiting!

[Sharuf]

OK. I'll take a stab at it.

Jicama?

[Caroline1]

If you're ever making something that calls for water chestnuts and you don't have any, jicama is a great substitute!

[limster]

The flavours between jicama and water chestnut are quite different. It makes for a reasonable textural substitute in some cases when used sparingly, but I wouldn't want water chestnut in my rojak (a Singaporean/Malaysian salad) or jicama in my water chestnut cake (ma3 ti2 gao1), sometimes seen at dim sum places.

[Sharuf]

And daikon (Japanese white radish root) can do the same job as jicama. It's mild enough. Either one of them should be on every veggies and dips tray. Raw broccoli should be on NO veggies and dips trays.

[umbushi plum]

i agree with the people who said salmon (i can only eat it raw or smoked never cooked and with nothing added) cherries deffinetly raw and straight up delicious and i was going to say artichockes but then i remembered my grandmas artichoke omlet that my mum would cook just for her and i when the men were out mmmm it is still a favourite comfort food

[alixium]

cherries! i can eat and eat and eat them when they are in season in season. forget pies or cobblers... alone is the only way!

[neverlate]

Fresh squeezed orange juice, a tall glassful, is a delight. Has to be fresh, though. Don't buy the bottled stuff in refrigerators. Also white corn in season--raw, cooked, hot, cold, no butter, no salt, eat all day long.

[filth]

Water.

When people dumb it down with Kool Aid, Crystal Light, etc. It makes my freakin' sick.

What about some good ole, simple Bling H2o or kona nigari?

[lindsley]

raisins alone, out of the box, are perfect - raisins in anything - bleccchhh.

[Scargod]

TOMATOES! Of course I use them many ways in cooking, but TOMATOES RAW!
Raw, ripe and warm from the garden! Those beautiful, ripe, firm, big and bouncy things! Come on! Those are the best. Salt not needed.

[kimmer1850]

Thank you for bringing back a wonderful memory!!

For many years my dad had a salad garden with the biggest, juiciest tomatoes. As a little kid I remember my dad getting up really early in the morning before work to "talk to the plants" and I'd oftern join him for a tomato right off the plant. A quick rinse under the hose and YUM.

Now my fiancee is wondering why I'm sniffling. Dad passed 10 years ago and right now I want nothing more than to sit at our picnin table and eat a tomato with him.

[Bigley9]

I'm with you there - but late enough in the morning that the tomato was warm from the sun, splashed with cold hose water, and eaten amongst the plants so your nose was filled with tomato plant smell...

[Caroline1]

Did you know that if you feed a cow a bucket of tomatoes they will give pink milk the next day? I found that out as a kid all by myself -- well, actually with another kid, but I was the one who got in BIG trouble the next day! '-)

[krisrishere]

Lobster and Clams. Good, sweet, fresh lobster doesn't need butter. Steamed clams only need to be dunked in the juices they were cooked in.

[Soop]

Tell you what actually, marinaded roast artichoke hearts are good by themselves

[srr]

I was going to say artichokes, steamed plain with a little mayo on the side. I don't want them stuffed, fried, marinated, blah blah blah

[operagirl]

Yes! Steamed globe artichokes with Best Foods mayonnaise were a staple of my childhood here in California. I guess mayo disqualifies this as being an example of "straight up" but it sure is delicious.

[Cinemaverite1]

Countless times I've bought cases of blueberries with the intentions to make muffins and cakes, but I cannot help eating them fresh. I always have to then resort to dried ones for the muffins.

[Soop]

My girlfriend does that. With cherry tomatoes too.

[thew]

i admit, i had to open the previous comment, because my imagination was on overdrive w/out the referent

[gafferx]

That's what I call healthy honesty in this world we are given. Bon appetite!

[Passadumkeg]

One of my favorite parenthood memories is going for a hike up the mountain near our cabin on Tunk Lk. My eldest son had just graduate from an "elite" school and was about to leave for his first job overseas. We got to the top of Caribou Mt and he spied an big blueberry patch and decalred. "No more hiking." plopped himself down an prpceeded to gorge on blueberries foe the next hour or so. The blueberry patch behind our house never makes it inside; the raspberry one too.

[Caroline1]

Simple pleasures are often the very best. You can't get things like that at The French Laundry! '-)

[Passadumkeg]

Raw jalapenos & beer.

[Soop]

That sounds like something Wolverine would eat :D

[Sharuf]

Cherries! Grapes! And let us not forget pears accompanied by a nice cheese.

Also, back home (Portland OR Area) the men would go smelt dipping during the too short season. We'd clean them, flour them and fry them. Marvelous. Also, razor clams would get cleaned and dipped in crumbs or flour-egg-flour and simply pan fried.

[jujuthomas]

a good steak. a little salt and pepper, nothing more. grilled please!
most veggies - asparagus, corn on the cob, broccoli, spinach - all just cooked, butter, a little salt, maybe pepper.
I like my salmon raw and fresh, just a touch of soy sauce

[thew]

chocolate does not need nuts.

chocolate ice cream does not need nuts, chips, or chunks of any sort that interrupt the smooth goodness

[lcool]

I forgot one,TUNA all 5 members of the family.I DO NOT EAT canned,cooked,whatever trendy blackened,crusted or sous vide tuna.Can consume it until I am nearly ill,fresh sliced RAW.loathe it one way,am a glutton another

[Soop]

hmm. noope.. cant think of anything. even fresh bread needs olive oil, tomatoes need salt, cheese needs bread, and anchovies need to be marinaded.

I do like whole coffee beans, but I don't eat them often. And if you can get them coated in chocolate...

[Passadumkeg]

Fresh anchovies grilled.

[gafferx]

Tuna is the ultimate fish and so is salmon which swims up the rivers. Both are blessed by God and will bring you wisdom if you eat them

"A wise man eats fish"

[gafferx]

You are definitely on the right track
It is ridiculous to dilute rare and hard to get foods in some kind of mish mash
You want to get the essence from this food

Eat your heart out--->>
We were camping at Mt Desert
I waded out in the ocean and there were sea urchins down there
Got three of them and cracked them open and ate them immediately -- the roe part
My big regret is not having soy sauce with me because you really need some salt to bring out the full flavor. And I kid you not but this regret comes to mind a few times a year

[Passadumkeg]

I hope the urchins weren't down stream (hill) from any of the campgrounds, The waters are often closed due to septic run off.

[gafferx]

Wuz far away from them. I've gathered and cooked and eaten at least a billion mussels from there too and I'm still alive
And apropo of nothing in particular I see your little avatar there. That cutesy poo sign post stolen from a Maine postcard pointing the wrong way to ten different destinations. If you can call China, Maine a destination

[Passadumkeg]

The sign is not too far from Disgusta. What part of MDI do you frequent?
Mr Ol' Cutsey Poo Hiself

[gafferx]

Southwest Harbor National Park campgrounds in the 1990s. I am presently exiled in FL due to family reasons

[Passadumkeg]

The boys and I used to bike to the Seawall picnic area (which used to be the campground in the 60's) on my birthday in June and and my wife would drive with the clams, lobster, beer etc. We cross country ski through the campground in winter. Southwest harbor is where we raised our kids, A very special place "in the old days". It was in the Pemetic Elementary School cafeteria that that I was served lobster stew in 1990 and the kids were dumping it!

[Kinnexa]

Asparagus! No matter how appealing the recipe, I can't stand to 'ruin' asparagus with anything more than a brief steaming or roasting with olive oil and garlic. Mmm!

[shanagain]

I am clearly a better purist than you. I see garlic, olive oil and asparagus and think... sacrilege!

Kidding. (Sort of.)

[babette feasts]

But asparagus is such a good excuse to eat hollandaise!

[Passadumkeg]

Raw! Right out in the garden.

[Gio]

Or steamed till just a smidge beyond al dente. No seasoning....

[Passadumkeg]

Or slowly sauteed in a little butter.

[Scargod]

Or steamed with a sprinkle of white pepper and then some Evoooooo

[al b. darned]

HERE, HERE!! I don't understand why anyone would ruin asparagus with hollandaise or cheese or anything else except (real) butter and maybe a bit of sea salt.

[c oliver]

My husband's a mayo gut but I'm with you on the butter. Although if it's cold, I prefer mayo.

[rHairing]

ok..When I was a kid and we had real Saturday morning cartoons...there used to be this short...like Schoolhouse Rock..but it was about food...and I remember the song, "Don't drown your food.." For me..oysters,asperagus, homegrown tomatoes, and ice cream....leave them pure!

[shanagain]

...and, now I want pickle-pops. (Don't even joke, you know you remember those along with the don't drown your food PSA!)

[kimmer1850]

I hanker for a hunk of...

a sliver, slice or chunk of...

I hanker for a hunk of ...

CHEESE!!!

Good Vermont Cheddar and an apple. Nuthin' else.

[Vetter]

Dungeness crab and melon (all sorts).

[Passadumkeg]

Chile, no beans, eeeeuuuu!

[Scargod]

Chili (with an "i"), can't count! It's made from too much stuff! Usually has tomato in it, and meat and all kinds of seasonings.

OK! Chili, but no damn beans, or cheese, or onions, or sour cream, or cilantro or chopped jalapenos. I must be crazy

[Passadumkeg]

La Rasa del chile puro, esse!

[Scargod]

Correctomundo! I was thinking chili and you were talkin' chile. Sorry, pard.

[Gio]

You corrected him!! I was too scared to do it when I saw that "e".

I'm on my way to make a heap o'chili with guajillo, ancho and serrano....

[Soop]

hahah, we're all sticking to it! It's ingrained in me now!

But come on, chili with plain boiled rice is great, but sometimes... the lure of grated gruyere is too much.

[Gio]

We usually serve it with store bought corn tortillas and sometimes with Green Mt. Gringo tortilla chips. I love gruyere. Must try that. Don't tell you-know-who.

[Soop]

The last time I made it, we had it first with corn tortillas, and then the rest with boiled rice - I was surprised at how much better the rice tasted tbh. It may be because the chili was intensified by several hours in the pot, but the rice seemed to really suit it - it added a great texture and mouthfeel, and let the meaty flavour shine through.

[Passadumkeg]

Goll durn easterners. My Hatch chile packages say chile on 'em, so I make chile. But you easternn dudes & dudettes, need to gussey it up w/ all these fancy ingredients and spellin' it all high falluting like puttin' on airs. Next thing ya know you'll be puttin' that thar fish egg stuff, whatty call it, caviar, on to top. And gussytin' it up with fancy cheeses like gooyair. Next thing ya know ya'll be makin' it with them gold plated Kobe Bryant steaks. Come on Trigger, lets mosey on back to the bunk house for a little Red Eye and drown our sorrows.

[billieboy]

Thanks for the smile. I needed that today. :-)

[BerkshireTsarina]

Yes, oysters (I forgot about them).
But what I thought of first was corn on the cob. Even eaten day after day, it hurts too much to do anything to it but bring it to the boil, cover it, and then eat it with butter and salt. And preferably, nothing else. Just lots of corn. Lots.
Then there's asparagus in springtime. Day after day, just asparagus.
Ah, the deliciousness of austerity!

[c oliver]

Oh yes, corn and asparagus in season. We are lucky enough to have local asparagus for the precious weeks in spring. Although, we'll occasionally fix it at other times during the year - like last night roasted and then put in risotto - it's just not the same. Two of us will eat 2# easily every week for all the weeks. Big fat spears.

[Sooeygun]

I agree with corn on the cob. Boil, butter, salt.

I feel the same way about beets too. Boiled or steamed, salt. Don't want them pickled or Harvard-ized. Just want to taste the pure beet flavour.

[Gio]

Try roasting foil wrapped beets then slicing. No salt, butter or anything else. Especially if they're right out of the garden or farm fresh.

[Passadumkeg]

Roasted beets ..... so sweet.

Are you aware of the Finnish tradition of fabric arts?

[Bigley9]

Oh the 4 to 6 weeks of asparagus season here in Eastern PA

[Passadumkeg]

Does Rodale's grow asparagus?

[roro1831]

Corn on the cob raw, not even boiled. If it is fresh, to me that's the best way to eat it.

[KaimukiMan]

yes. on the way to go camping once we stopped at a stand where they were selling it right out of the field, picked less than an hour before. 6 of us ate an entire box of it before we got more than a few miles down the highway. Went back for two more boxes - another to eat in the car, and one for dinner that night. I had never had fresh corn before... I mean REALLY fresh. What an eye opening experience.

[jujuthomas]

my grandfather use to tell my grandmother to put the water on to boil, then he'd walk to the garden and pick it. MMMM. the absolute best.

[c oliver]

I had corn in my garden a couple of years. One summer night when the kids were visiting we had corn from the garden - one ear each. It was so good that Amanda and I went out with a flashlight and cut four more ears while Dad got the water boiling again. I know the corn tasted great and some of it was the company and also the memory we were creating :) Hadn't thought of that in a while.

[Scargod]

Especially if you steal it out of the farmer's field like I/we did when I was 14, in 1960 and half of North Dallas was fields...

[Boccone Dolce]

That was the first thing I thought of- fresh corn. Sweet with maybe a little salt. I cringe when there is loose corn floating in my food. It gives me the heebies.....

[Scargod]

Why? It's not like you're lookin at your poop!
I cut it off the cob all the time and incorporate it into dishes or do like the Bolivians and Colombians do and put chunks into a dish, at the end. I never boil corn, since I have a microwave oven.

[c oliver]

I actually read that you shouldn't "cook" corn but just warm it. Bring the pot to a boil, put the corn in, turn off the heat, remove and eat in three or so minutes. I think that's perfect.

[Boccone Dolce]

And if I was lucky enough to be served a Corn-riddled Scargod Masterpiece, you can be certain I'd keep my heebies (and jeebies) to myself.

I can't stand it. It's like someone was there before me...

I do have an intense love of Corn Nuts, however, and that is kinda loose corn. The delicious, intoxicating fried kind.... Isn't it? ;oP

[AngelSanctuary]

yes! I HATE corn on anything else other than a cob.

[lcool]

Both of your two and coconut;straight from the shell I can eat it until sick.Do ANYTHING with it,to it or use it in anything and I won't eat it.SWEET OR SAVORY

[limster]

Gosh, reminds me of baby coconut -- used to get them at hawker stalls -- the top taken off, a straw for the juice and a long spoon for the delicate white flesh.

[lcool]

that's them,a great offset to spicy street food in Asia

[PAO]

Fresh raspberries. (Although if they're not perfect, I might add a bit of sugar),

[greygarious]

Agreed - berries in general, but especially raspberries! I'm take-it-or-leave-it when it comes to chocolate; my heart sinks whenever I see a dessert menu with the all-too-common combination of berries and chocolate. Why ruin a perfectly good raspberry?

[metaphora]

White peaches. The yellow ones are fine for poaching, baking, whatever, but I think the white ones should only be eaten fresh.

[cyberroo]

Interesting, I was going to say fresh peaches as well, but yellow are my preference. Canned peaches are fine for what they are, and if you really want cobbler/pie/whatever, you might as well use frozen, but fresh, ripe peaches are perfect as they are. At most, silce 'em up and put them on ice cream.

[mordacity]

I love both white and yellow peaches, but white should only ever be eaten fresh. Cooking them destroys that light floral aroma and you end up with bland mush.

[operagirl]

Agreed! We had a white peach tree in the backyard at my house growing up, and they were the most incredible, perfumey stone fruits I've ever eaten. A shame that grocery store white peaches, and even many at farmers' markets, tend to be bland and mushy even before cooking! It's so hard to find one that isn't inbred these days.

[limster]

That reminds of when I used to eat rambutans off the tree in my late grandmother's yard.

[Bigley9]

Unless you pick them, cut them in half and throw them on to a dying barbeque til they barely get grill marks and drizzle with the best balsamic vinegar you have.....oh I miss my peach trees.

[c oliver]

Dungeness crab. Hmm, could this already be a theme developing?

[todao]

Oysters ...

[Gio]

Oh me too! No mignonette, ever.

[Passadumkeg]

Ditto, ditto
Four dozen this Sunday as starters at Wynn's champagne brunch.

[Gio]

Oysters and champagne. A marriage made in .... heaven.

[Passadumkeg]

It is a champagne lunch. Mom used to get pissed at me when I'd tell her I must have been switched at birth because my favorite food are caviar, oysters and champagne. Where are my millionaire real parents?

Lamb chops. No mint jelly or sauce, just the natural rare "juice".

[c oliver]

Oh yes, lamb chops. I've always figured mint jelly was for people who don't really like lamb but are being compelled to eat it at a family dinner. And definitely rare. Only 8a.m. here in Calif. but I could chow down on some nice chops right now.

[Soop]

I have to marinate my chops, and use a slightly excessive amount of salt for the (criss-crossed) fat. And I eat them slightly pink in the middle, but I wouldn't say rare.

[Passadumkeg]

C O, I will some times make lamb chops eggs and fome fries for breakfast if we are feeling special.

[c oliver]

I've been known, if there are any left from the night before, to nuke them just the tiniest bit to get the fat a little warm and eat them for breakfast also. Life is good :) BTW, I had never tasted lamb until I moved to SF in '76. The first time was a beautiful rack of lamb at a restaurant that's since closed. It was love at first bite.

[Passadumkeg]

Lamb & pork are our most eaten commercial meats w/ beef a easy third and chicken a distant fourth (American "Tyson" type chicken tastes off, like antibiotics).

[beccabones]

Yes, definitally oysters.

[AngelSanctuary]

omg yes, nothing better than a fresh oyster

[limster]

I'm a huge fan of sweet kumamoto oysters, but recently had a fantastic scallop sashimi with all the parts separated beautifully: soft rich roe, dense gelatinous parts which I thought were tendon, and sweet succulent flesh -- wonderful range of textures from just one shell that oysters may not be able to match.

[beccabones]

yeah, I was thinking about scallops too. I love fresh scallop sashimi.