62990 Sun Sep 12 18:32:33 -0700 2004 15 2 Los Angeles Area 0 336922 My obsession: spicy,salty, stinky, fermenting & molding foods. From experiencing korean kimchees to vietnamese mam to french cheeses; I am not a virgin. My confession: I'm like a hopeless romantic searching the world over for that quick love affair.My heart races, my skin flushes, my hands water & my breathing becomes interrupted when I'm in the presence of such seductions. My plea:please introduce me to other food forms of such likeness . I'm open to all enthnic origins. I'm willing to travel to any restaurant in LA or OC. Are there others out there in the chowhound world that understand my addiction? Your thoughts of encouragement are appreciated. Sun Sep 12 18:32:33 -0700 2004 0 miss D 1 337019 Wow - seems less love affair, more S&M. Do report back! Mon Sep 13 13:13:46 -0700 2004 336922 0 vidia 1 337020 Wow - seems less love affair, more S&M. Do report back! Mon Sep 13 13:14:07 -0700 2004 336922 0 vidia 1 337095 The ultimate in fermented foods is supposed to be this swedish form of fermented (I guess rotting) herring, eaten with boiled potatoes and out of doors. The can looks like it will explode but it's fine. It's called Surströmming. You can paste it into a google search. I think Olson's deli used to carry it on Pico or could special order it but I don't even know if they're still open. Any scandinavian place should be able to get it for you. Mon Sep 13 18:15:10 -0700 2004 336922 0 Jerome 1 337130 Have you checked out any of the Filipino food places for balut? Mon Sep 13 22:35:28 -0700 2004 336922 0 WLA 2 337154 Balut? Interesting, please describe: is it from the animal, plant or fungi kingdom? Fungi are especially sexy. Tue Sep 14 11:24:14 -0700 2004 337130 0 miss D 3 337155 Will reply on the NAF board with Balut as the suject. GT is over loaded for this type of informational exchange. Tue Sep 14 11:37:38 -0700 2004 337154 0 WLA 3 337176 It's basically a developing bird (duck or chicken) embryo that's been steamed while still in the egg. The result has been described as the most intense two sips of chicken soup you'll ever have followed by a couple of bites of crunchy (the proto-bones), chewy (proto-feathers) goodness. Mainly known as an aphrodisiac. Balut is the Filipino or Vietnamese name. I don't think the experience is supposed to be stinky or moldy, just extravagant since you'd have a whole bird to eat if you'd wait a couple of weeks longer. Wed Sep 15 05:57:20 -0700 2004 337154 0 Jenny 1 337145 stinky,huh? try a search for restaurants that serve natto. then there's the warm bamboo shoot salad at thai nakorn in buena park. a trip to the beverly hills cheese store would be fun. or the shrimp paste at batavia in chinatown. Tue Sep 14 02:10:04 -0700 2004 336922 0 petradish 2 337153 never tried this warm bamboo shoot, but is it stinky because it's fermented or because it has fish sauce in it? Most thai dishes use fish sauce liberally, which creates that fantastic pungent aroma. Some may consider this stinky. Tue Sep 14 11:21:47 -0700 2004 337145 0 miss D 3 337157 definitely not just fish sauce(which i love), it was fermented. the waiter tried to talk me out of ordering the dish for a couple minutes, insisting it would be "too smelly". i thought it was okay, although it made my eyes water a bit from the fumes. it made me think of dredging a muddy riverbank on a steamy day in the jungle, revealing a layer of gritty clay that consisted of decaying plant matter & decomposed catfish(or a portapotty on the shore of the salton sea). on the way home i had a tire blow out on the car. first thing i did was move the leftovers out of the trunk because if the AAA guy got a whiff, he might think i had a body stashed in there, or an old diaper. Tue Sep 14 14:51:23 -0700 2004 337153 0 petradish 4 337159 thanks for the laugh and for your honest discription! Tue Sep 14 16:13:08 -0700 2004 337157 0 miss D 1 337151 In the realm of stinky but tasty: Stinky tofu, a deep-fried fermented tofu product, not to be confused by the jarred fermented tofu that is stinky in a different way. Smells like a third world squat toilet but, oh, so tasty. Durian, tropical fruit that looks like a cross between a porcupine and a 30-sided gaming dice but smells like a giant fart. When frozen, tastes like a multilayered and fruity sweet garlic ice cream. Thousand-year old egg, duck egg that's gone through the pits of limey hell which turns the whites black and the yolk gray and green. Cheese-like in taste and texture. Funny, I'll eat all these things with relish but I won't touch fresh papaya, which I think smells like rotten meat. Other pungent things you can try: huitlacoche (corn smut) and casu marzu, that forbidden cheese that's left to rot in the sun and only eaten when crawling with maggots. Tue Sep 14 10:46:02 -0700 2004 336922 0 Jenny 2 337152 thanks for your suggestions. I've tried all ,except for the deep fried femented tofu. Is it chinese, viet or japanese? I'm still bewildered by your impression of ripe papaya and the comparison with rotten meat. I've closed my eyes to try to imagine any similarities, but it hasn't worked for me. I'll go to the market today to find the ripest papaya I can find so that I may better understand your experiences. Tue Sep 14 11:19:09 -0700 2004 337151 0 Miss D 3 337177 The stinky tofu (that's its name) is Taiwanese but I'm pretty sure you can find it in regular Chinese restaurants too. It's best served with chili sauce and pao tsai, the Chinese version of cabbage kim chee. You might also want to try cubed pig's blood soup or congee, really just a unique texture experience as the taste seems non-stinky to me. Or pig testicle soup, (which I unwittingly ate once... just once) smells as uric as you would assume, kind of like a very ineptly prepared kidney dish. Or braised pig small intestine, cut into chunks with the fat left intact. Some fat is good, big chunks of blobby, chewy fat, not so much. Then there's that old post from the fellow who ate what they thought was poop sausage (andouillette). You'll find references to it in the "funniest post ever" thread. I imagine that's as foul as you'd want to get. The papaya/rotten meat thing might just be an association I have as I see others enjoying the fruit. It's strongest if you just prepare or eat it by itself and less detectable in a salad or smoothie. What did the maggot cheese taste like, btw? Where did you eat it since it's supposed to be illegal everywhere? Wed Sep 15 06:45:17 -0700 2004 337152 0 Jenny 1 337167 Maybe just take your normal lunch along to the Huntington Gardens the next time the Amorphophallus titanum is in bloom? (see link) Link: http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/Titan2002/Titan2002.html Tue Sep 14 19:41:46 -0700 2004 336922 0 WLA