I Like it RAW! (or not). RAW vs. COOKED

[alkapal]

There are some things I like raw, but not cooked, or vice versa.

I like mushrooms cooked (sauteed in butter is best for me), but raw, nah!

I like cooked broccoli, but always leave it to the very last to eat on any salad plate (where i've put it out of a sense of dietary duty).

Carrots? hmmm, i think I like them equally raw or cooked.

Spinach? I''m a spinach freak, so I love it either raw or cooked.

~~~
What about you?

[hotteacher1976]

I prefer:

Raw over Cooked:
Salmon sashimi
Oysters

Cooked over Raw
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Spinach
Carrots
Tuna

Take either way:
Onions
Garlic

[tracylee]

Fish - can't stand it cooked, love most of it raw. My Dad cooks fish until it's dry as a bone and always has. Now, when he does Ahi tuna, he knows to just leave mine uncooked.

[16crab]

Funny, seems that there's very little middle of the road on this topic. A large percentage of people fall on one side of the extreme or the other. Me, I vote cook the heck out of my veggies, my hubby likes them raw or if cooked, very al dente. We never ate raw veggies growing up, with the exception of tomatoes/cukes in a salad, shredded in cole slaw. I still hate raw carrots and anything else raw in my salad that isn't a tomato or cuke, I eat first to get it out of the way, also out a sense of dietary duty.

I would be curious to know if there's a clear regional division between the raw-lovers and the raw-loathers. I grew up down south, where it quite common to slow cook a vegetable like green beans all day - with fatback :) Or put them in a creamy au gratin or casserole and bake til tender and bubbly. I didn't know people ate broccoli in any way other than in a casserole until I was in my 20's.

[danieljdwyer]

I don't know if there is a US regional divide on this - there is definitely an international geographic divide - but there has always seemed to me to be a US generational divide on this. This could be a case of personal observation proving to be misleading, but most baby boomers I know like their vegetables cooked to the point of being quite soft (and the ones who say they like their vegetables less well done mean soft but not mush). People I know in my generation, the children of baby boomers, seem to prefer vegetables raw or just barely cooked. A lot of my friends actually thought they hated certain vegetables - cabbage, rutabaga, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, et cetera - but really it was just that their parents cooked these things to bitter mush. Once I served them these things just barely cooked, they became huge fans. This is also reflected in cookbooks from various eras, as well as big name chefs representative of those eras. I find that for any cookbook I have that was written prior to the Nineties, I cook the vegetables for half the suggested time or less.

[roro1831]

I'm from the south as well, and my grandparents cooked everything till it was soft. Green beans cooked with ham and potatoes till the beans were falling apart. Broccoli cooked to a point that you could mash it with a fork. I always liked it that way but now I find that I tend to like a little snap or crunch in my veggies. Although I must admit that i still cook green beans like my grandmother

[Avalondaughter]

I love love love raw carrots, but can't abide by them cooked. I will eat them in a soup or stew perhaps, but don't serve me cooked carrots on their own.

I have hated mushy veggies all of my life. I generally like most of them raw, or just barely cooked. The only exception to that would be mushrooms, onions, and zucchini. (I don't mind the taste of raw onions, but hate they way they linger on my breath).

I'm cool with cooked fruits. I like fruit pies and raw fruits equally.

Although not "cooked", some fruits I prefer fresh to dried. Love grapes, hate raisins. Love plums, hate prunes. Love fresh figs, hate dried ones. I don't care for apricots, but I like them dried. Go figure.

[Emme]

funny... i like a lot of veggies raw, but then if they're cooked, i want them *really* cooked... not an al dente fan at all... go figure.

[cheesecake17]

only cooked, never raw- onions and fish

mushrooms- either way but I prefer cooked

broccoli- florets eithonly cooked- but stems either way

[Aramek]

I tend to love most foods both ways. Tomatos, for example, are one way in which I cannot stand raw. I like them fried, stewed, seared, anything, just not raw.

Although, I tend to like Raw Salmon better than cooked, both are good.

[Jetgirly]

As a child, I hated raw vegetables. HATED THEM. ALL OF THEM. Unfortunately, I also hated meat, but I still ate white meat when it was served to me. When I was twenty, I moved to Barcelona and went for lunch at a restaurant called Organic. Everyone was having salad, and I didn't want to look like a loser, so I had some. The dressing at Organic was INSANE and I was a sudden, overnight salad convert and within a week had given up meat. My five-year vegetarian anniversary passed about a week ago.

Today, I will eat just about any vegetable raw, but from a texture perspective I like "firm" vegetables like carrots and beets to be grated first. The exceptions are cauliflower and broccoli- raw makes me want to puke.

I also prefer raw nuts and seeds, both for snacking and for mixing into salads.

Given the choice, I would rather eat most leafy greens (spinach, kale, chard, etc.) sauteed or even steamed, rather than raw. However, it's more of a "comfort food" thing than a flavour thing.

I hate celery and mushrooms no matter how they're cooked, so they don't count.

[alkapal]

jetgirly, can you share the "organic" restaurant's dressing recipe ('cause i'm sure that you've cloned it)?

you should catch the eric ripert show on createtv. he has such a reverence and appreciation for the fresh, local produce. it's a joy to watch.

[Jetgirly]

I couldn't tell you- at the time I was living in a hotel room while I apartment-hunted, then I took off on a little holiday, and I ended up moving to Italy, where I lived in another hotel until I found an apartment. I'd say there were six or eight weeks and two countries between eating at Organic and having access to a kitchen! What I do recall is that it was VERY thick and the color of cornmeal, with a lot of garlic (but lots of other flavours too).

Here's the restaurant - http://www.antoniaorganickitchen.com/...

[alkapal]

looking at their site, and the "boqueria market," there are many dishes labeled "orgasmic." (LOL). i won't ask if you'd agree! tee hee.

the dishes *do* look good -- and i think i saw your yellow dressing on the salad bar (next to the shredded carrots.). maybe you could "contacto" them and ask for the recipe. ;-).

[danieljdwyer]

It sounds like it was probably allioli. Salad dressing the way we think of it in the US is rare in Catalunya. They do use their traditional sauces on salad, or will season them with separate components, much like a salad in Occitania or Northwestern Italy.

[Jetgirly]

I do think it is that yellow dressing beside the shredded carrots! Is there such a thing as RSI (Restaurant Scene Investigation)? Could they look at the photo and magically know what the ingredients are?

[alkapal]

daniel, well, maybe it was aioli plus paprika (or roasted red pepper?) and saffron, because it is a much deeper color than any aioli i've seen. have a look at the salad bar photo in jetgirly's link to the restaurant. look next to the grated carrots. what do you think it is from its appearance? i wonder if there is some catalonian specialty like aioli, but with other things?

hey, what if a sofrito was pureed and then added to aioli? that'd be delicious!
http://www.barcelona-on-line.es/eng/reserves/Any_Gastronomia.htm

this is interesting regarding catalonian cooking:>>>"""Its main dishes rely on four basic sauces: sofrito, samfaina, picada and ali-oli, and of the four, special mention must be made of the second, because it is strictly Catalan and used with a wide variety of dishess. It is a half-cooked mixture of tomato, pepper and aubergine. Sofrito, on the other hand, is rather widespread in Spanish cooking. It is a fried sauce made with garlic, onion, tomato and parsley. Picada has the special Catalan touch and is added to the simplest dishes so that they never become monotonous routine. It contains garlic, parsley, toasted almonds and chopped pine seeds. Ali-oli is an admirable dressing which probably dates from the times of the Romans and is made with olive oil and garlic, which are mixed very patiently in a mortar until they turn into a creamy paste which is ideal for meat and fish. """<<<< http://www.gospain.org/cooking/catala...

[danieljdwyer]

From the picture, I'd bet the farm on that being allioli. That is actually not as rich yellow in color as allioli which contains no egg. The green sauce on the end is probably picada.
Allioli - all (garlic) i (and) oli (oil) - is typically quite different from aioli. At home or when prepared fresh in a restaurant, allioli uses absolutely no egg. Just salt, garlic, and high quality olive oil. A restaurant that does all its prep before service, as I would assume this one does for its salad bar, will add a small amount of egg yolk, only a fraction of what would be used in aioli.
Allioli has more salt added to it than aioli, but still not enough that it tastes salty. The extra salt brings out flavors from the garlic and olive oil that one might not expect. This is typical of Spanish cuisine, which is very focused on bringing out complex flavors from incredibly simple preparations. This is made easier in Spain by the abundance of inexpensive, incredibly flavorful olive oil.
It is possible that there is a small amount of mustard added to the allioli, though this is unusual in Catalunya and more typical in Occitan. Combining sofrito and allioli would run very counter to the style of Spanish cooking generally and Catalan cooking especially. They simply don't like anything to be that complicated. I'm not saying it is impossible, just that it is well outside the bounds of even the most modern Spanish cuisine. Sofrito is used pretty much exclusively the way mirepoix is used: as a flavorful start to a cooked dish. This combination would also yield a darker, thinner sauce. Allioli is, again, often darker in color than the sauce in that picture, though that is a typical color for an allioli made with a small amount of egg. In the picture, the way you can see that the ladle has left an imprint on the surface of the sauce, it is clear that this is a thick, creamy sauce, which allioli should always be.

[Jetgirly]

Also, I went back to Barcelona a year or so later, and my mom came to visit me while I was there. We went to lunch at Organic and on the way out my mom said EXTREMELY loudly to the cashier, "I TRIED FOR YEARS TO GET MY DAUGHTER TO EAT SALAD BUT SHE WOULDN'T EAT IT UNTIL SHE TRIED YOUR SALAD DRESSING! IT TOOK HER TWENTY YEARS TO LEARN TO LIKE SALAD! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" I think the whole restaurant heard. I was mortified!

[Vetter]

I strongly prefer fruit roasted, baked or poached. It's not so much about the texture change as it is the toned down acidity.

It chaps my hide to be served undercooked green beans. That is a trend that went too far IMHO.

[Emme]

bah humbug on al dente for me thank you. cook my stuff well. take out the nutrients, if you must, but i love overcooked veggies that get browned and flavored.

[Azizeh]

Salmon.

I love sashimi and sushi, but cannot touch the stuff if it's cooked at all. That includes smoked salmon/lox. It's beyond fishy to me. Raw, it's got a creamy and mild flavor.

[Emme]

Here are my lists...

Cooked over Raw
Cauliflower (i'll eat it raw if that's all there is to eat...)
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Green Beans
Asparagus
Sunchokes
Spinach - will eat it raw in a salad
Onion
Squash, Zucchini - will eat raw and shredded in a salad if it's there

Raw over Cooked
Tomatoes
Tuna
Cucumber
Apples, Persimmons, Pears, Apricots, Plums, etc.

Either Way
Carrots - slight preference to cooked unless really sweet, then raw is just as good
Celery - love it cooked and sweet tho will eat it raw like string cheese

[LauraGrace]

Oh geez, I HATE raw cauliflower. It's like chewing sand and it never goes away in your mouth. UGH. I feel very much the same as you do about onion, squash, zukes.

I have texture "issues" (much reviled on a recent thread, lol), so raw fish is a no-go. Notable exceptions are tuna tartare, which tends to be highly seasoned, and chemically-cooked stuff like ceviche.

[amyzan]

Isn't there a reason not to eat mushrooms raw? I can't recall it at the moment, but I swear I've read something warning against it. s to the general topic, there are foods I prefer cooked to raw, but I will eat both. The only veggie I've had raw that I just didn't care for was a pureed raw butternut squash soup. No thanks.

[bushwickgirl]

The raw and the cooked, all of them! Everything either way!

[bigbaldhead]

Salmon...nothing like a beautiful buttery piece of sashimi...so much better than the mediocre cooked preparations you find in most restaurants.

[vtnewbie]

Love raw turnips, cooked, meh. But good in a curry.
Absolutely love pickled beets, and like raw beets shredded in salads.
Like raw carrots, hate them cooked.
Love all fruit equally cooked or raw, especially in a pie :-)

[chowser]

I like most fruits raw, most vegetables cooked. Meat cooked, fish both. Cookie dough, both. Cake and brownie batter cooked.

[danieljdwyer]

I'm a bit odd in that there are a number of fruits I only like cooked. I love grilled peaches, pineapple, and watermelon, but don't see the appeal of any of those raw. The same is true or a number of other fruits I'm having trouble thinking of right now. Kiwi is another one.

[cheesemaestro]

I won't eat raw celery or raw carrots, but don't mind them cooked. Stir frying isn't enough. They have to be thoroughly cooked. With celery, it's not just the taste, but also the stringy texture that turns me off.

Conversely, I love raw pineapple, but can't abide it cooked. Sweet and sour dishes with bits of slimy, cooked pineapple--ugh. Ditto for bananas, which I'll happily consume raw, but don't like in baked goods, like banana bread. And although I enjoy both plain peanuts and peanut butter, I despise peanut butter added to cookies, pies, etc.

[DreamCyn]

I really like most of my veggies raw. I like mushrooms cooked when done right, as well as some greens, but I can't stand cooked broccoli or carrots.
Fruits I prefer raw as well. A grilled peach I can go for, but the only part of fruit pies I ever really eat is the crust...
For the seafoods, I like raw oysters now and then, but also like them cooked (i'm a sucker for a can of smoked oysters or oyster stew), and I really really looove most sashimi.

[gordeaux]

tee hee - I can't stand the apples or cherries in a pie, but I'd LOVE to just scoop out the innards, and eat the whole bottom crust that's been soaked with juices, and sugar.

[janethepain]

Same here - not a big fan of pie innards, but love the crust

Raw fish over cooked fish - I've tried and tried to love cooked fish, but it's rare

I like raw carrots as is, but I love them cooked

Raw mushrooms are a go - for those regular button mushrooms, I much prefer them raw; cooking them gives off this strange smell

Cooked celery over raw celery

Hate raw broccoli (and probably cauliflower too) - loooove them cooked

Pure, cool raw fruit - don't want mah frootz adulterated in any way. But don't mind them in baked goods, of course

I think I prefer all meats/animal proteins raw or closer to raw (at least very rare)

Aren't a lot of the foods listed (mostly veggies) served only cooked anyway? I ate raw squash(es) once at a rawvegan restaurant and had stomach pains :(. I can't think of a dish that uses uncooked mushrooms (though I like them uncooked).

[kubasd]

tomatoes? raw
broccoli? both
Cauliflower? both (but prefer roasted)
celery? if it is the tender (nearly stringless) hearts, raw, but otherwise only cooked
fish? raw unless its a white fish, but do love some sesame crusted seared tuna
carrots? really good baby carrots (love bolthouse farms), raw otherwise only cooked, roasted til carmelized
spinach? both
squash and zucchini? prefer cooked, but will eat raw if cut in batons with a good dip, or shaved thin in a salad
mushrooms? ONLY cooked
beef? med-rare or less.... any more and i won't even eat it

[Ima Wurdibitsch]

I love oysters raw and enjoy them smoked but don't care for them cooked.

Carrots are great raw but I only care for them cooked when done with a pot roast or in a soup or stew.

Beets are not appealing to me unless they're in borscht (which I love). I can't eat pickled beets even under threat of Emily Post's ghost haunting me. I do well to just stay in the same room where they are.

I prefer cooked broccoli but will eat it raw.

Spinach is good however I can get it.

[gordeaux]

Was just discussing this with a friend before bird day last week when discussing pies.
I can't stand most (sweet) fruit cooked. I can do peach cobbler, blueberry pie, or blackberry pie, but for the most part, apples, cherries, pears, strawberries - once you cook them, I think they are ruined.

Carrots. Can't STAND them when they are cooked. They have some sort "nose" that irks me beyond belief. Hate thme when they are cooked. I'll eat them by the pound raw, however.

Raisins. Once you bake them or heat them up, I want nothing to do with them at ALL. Love em before that, tho.

Really not a big fan of ama ebi - prefer them cooked.

I also prefer cooked oysters to raw ones.

Conversely, I usually enjoy most sashimi to its cooked counterpart.

[Humbucker]

I'm the exact opposite. I really like cooked fruits, including raisins, which I think are immensely improved by cooking. I eat raw fruit only on occasion.

I hate raw carrots unless they're pickled or hidden in coleslaw, but I'm fine with cooked carrots.

[roro1831]

I prefer oysters raw, but I will eat them if they are fried or cooked in something.

I like most vegetables raw, and if they are cooked they need to be barely cooked so they still have crunch.