What do you like in a state other than its "proper" one? Frozen rather than chilled? Stale rather than fresh? etc.

[buttertart]

I recently ate a Temple orange that had inadvertently gotten semi-frozen in my office minifridge of ancient manufacture. It was amazingly delicious, far more exciting to eat in this state (like what an orange popsicle might dream of being) than it would have been if it were just chilled. Since then I've been torturing my oranges in this fashion and they all taste better this way.
I also prefer some candy (notably Twizzlers) stale to their fresh counterparts. I'm sure there are others that I can't bring to mind.
How about you? Anything you find more delicious in a state other than its usual, accepted edible one?

[ricepad]

I like tuna sandwiches where the bread has gotten mushy. It drives Mrs. ricepad nuts.

[amyzan]

My step grandad preferred any commercial baked goods to be stale. We all thought it was seriously weird that he "aged" everything from macaroons to brownies to tea biscuits. That's how he ate them as a child in colonial India, and that's how he preferred them until the day he passed. He also had a taste for soured dairy, like buttermilk, yogurt, etc. and preferred them quite tangy.

[joonjoon]

I like my beef jerky extra dry...I hate when I get a package and it's still kind of moist. :)

[roxlet]

The thin Hersey's chocolate bars that are frozen. Most chocolate frozen. Cold spaghetti and meatballs -- or any cold pasta. Frozen Reeses, frozen cc cookies.

[buttertart]

Frozen is great, I'm freezing my citrus to eat it all the time now.

[lseavey]

Stale twizzlers - yummy! I cut open the package and let the air do it's work until they are nice and chewy.

[buttertart]

Food of the gods.

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

I like overcooked pasta, with butter and salt and pepper.

Stale Twizzlers (the strawberry ones) and marshmallow strawberries.

Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, heated, but undiluted.

I like guava only when it's still crunchy - I think that's regional because that's the standard here.

And I've always like squishing my icecream up into a soft-serve consistency.

Cheap ramen noodles, uncooked, but sprinkled with the flavoured salt package.

[buttertart]

I haven't had a marshmallow strawberry in a milion years (I don't think they're sold in the States) but I know exactly what you mean.

[im_nomad]

I put very little water in with my cream of mushroom soup, and I also like to leave some of the lumps in.

[Will Owen]

I love quiche (and this includes quiche-like things such as that '70s buffet classic the Chile Relleno Casserole), but I like it best leftover and cold. Back when every Yuppie-infested lunch joint had to have quiche on the menu, it would make me crazy that they all served it taken from the cooler and then zapped in the microwave, thus creating a puddle of moisture between the crust and the custard. When it's cold this doesn't happen. I begged and I pleaded, "PLEASE do not nuke it, just PLEASE bring it cold!" but they'd look at me as though I'd ordered raw chicken or something equally gross and insisted this was beyond their power, against instructions, illegal or against health codes. So I just started making my own.

Macaroni and cheese or just about any casserole-ish pasta thing are really enjoyable cold, especially along towards midnight standing at the fridge, using my fingers …

[buttertart]

I like the custardy quichey things cold too. That chile relleno casserole...famed of Sunset Magazine...loved it.

[MinkeyMonkey]

What isn't good some other way than normal?
I like...
frozen grapes, butterflied with a knife then folded back so the skin is on the inside and the squishy fruit is on the outside. Teeth sink in nicely!
cold pizza, straight from the fridge
older leafy greens, cooked or just eaten as is
stale cookies
stale sweat tarts, especially the giant sized ones
cold meat, especially steak or roast
stale gummy bears and stale swedish fish
cold, leftover dressing (stuffing)
cold refried beans with stale corn chips
and, although I'm probably the only ones who like them...stale circus peanuts! I've only happened upon un-stale ones rarely but I still like to open the bag and leave them alone for several days.
oh, and one more...cold soup from a can eaten out of the can

[tatamagouche]

It's not a different physical state, but I definitely appreciate cold leftovers of just about anything, and sometimes even prefer them.

[phofiend]

I like to leave white button mushrooms uncovered for a few days so that they dry out a bit. It concentrates the mushroom flavor, making them more woodsy.

[buttertart]

True. Jacques Pépin recommends buying the ones on the sale rack for that reason.

[jmcarthur8]

I poured a glass of good apple cider once that had been in the really cold part in the back of the fridge. It had partially frozen with crunchy flakey crystals all through.
That was the best apple cider I ever had.

[buttertart]

I can just imagine - sounds divine.

[pine time]

Sounds weird, but leftover cold oatmeal. It gets a nice gummieness that I love.

[mamachef]

Hmmm, let's see:
Soggy leftover salad
Frozen Snickers, Milky Ways, Almond Joys, Bit o Honeys.....
Stale popcorn!
Leftover cold chewy bacon
Cold green bean casserole - and I don't want to hear one word about it!
Once I made a brown butter ice cream that was great frozen, but better melted and served as a sauce over warm gingerbread.....
Cold, extra-rare steak with salt and pepper, eaten out of hand
Stale twizzlers; I'm right there with ya. It's the "chew factor", they have so much more flavor than when they're all tender and gelatinous and fresh.....
Cold chow mein

[calliope_nh]

Frozen cherries. Cold Chinese take out leftovers. Stale peeps. Frozen banannas. Frozen cheesecake & eclairs.

[KansasKate]

Cold pizza. Frozen candy bars. Frozen atole (it's like atole ice cream)

When I was a kid, we could put a piece of Super Bubble in a coke until it was cold and hard. Were we trying to break our teeth?

[KansasKate]

Forgot: cold, well-done sirloin tips left over from dinner the night before at Jim's Steakhouse in southeast Kansas.

[link_930]

Frozen Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

[EllenMM]

Slightly stale mallomars.

[sunshine842]

I suppose to be purely academic, ALL prepared food (steamed, boiled, fried, made into sausage, stewed, etc) is in a state other than that in which it normally exists...

[greygarious]

Dried fruit that has been briefly soaked in water or juice, then drained and chilled until it is evenly hydrated. Not so wet was to be compote-like, just a little soft. Good as is, or spread out on toast, like fruit butter on demand. Would probably work with fruit leather too.

[buttertart]

Man that sounds good. Great idea gg. My mom used to stew dried fruit with large pearl tapioca sometimes, truly wonderful chilled or warm.

[cheesemaestro]

Cold pureed root vegetable soups, like cream of carrot, are quite refreshing.

[buttertart]

Jello Pudding Cups in dulce de leche flavor frozen make a lo-cal ice creamy treat if one is in the market for such a thing.

[sunshine842]

can't believe nobody's said frozen bananas -- especially dipped in a little chocolate Magic Shell.

(frozen bananas are also a great substitute for ice cubes in smoothies -- you get a super cold, super creamy smoothy that doesn't get watery as it melts -- frozen strawberries ditto)

[Bob W]

We have several bananas in the freezer -- they are outstanding in smoothies!

[jlhinwa]

Stale licorice. I do not like fresh, soft chewy licorice at all. It has to be stale and a little hard.

[buttertart]

I like black licorice both ways, but yes, hard and chewy is good.

[jamieeats]

yogurts that have been frozen (not frozen yogurt!!), frozen veggies, and frozen grapes.

pouring milk into my ice cream and turning it into soup.

cookie dough, cake batter, pancake batter, muffin batter... i like almost all "baked" goods in their raw form.

[smartie]

I'm also a salad at room temp person.

cold meatloaf

frosted flakes or cornflakes with hot milk (steaming not warm).

[Betharu]

I have always been partial to stale Oreos - so that they are a bit mushy!

[Jay F]

>cold meatloaf

That's its natural state IMO. Non-fancy-schmancy pate.

[jmcarthur8]

I second the cold meatloaf.

[Bob W]

With ketchup, on challah, please.

[jmcarthur8]

exactly

[gator28]

I prefer cookies, brownies, and chocolate frozen.

[Bob W]

I can't believe I'm the first person to say...Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. Or is frozen their "proper" state? LOL

[virtualguthrie]

I'd have to say frozen is their proper state :)

[buttertart]

That was my understanding. Another great cookie to eat frozen is the OJO brand coconut cookies imported from Taiwan. They sort of disappear in your mouth in a very pleasant way.

[harryharry]

And I forgot my favorite....
I love frozen orange milano cookies (only frozen and only orange) dunked in milk, so that cookies get mushy but the filly is still hard- eaten in either two or three bites each. I can easily eat a whole bag in one sitting and am really trying to kick this habit, even though it's only once a year.

[quof]

Cookies straight from the freezer. My mother never understood how she could do all her Christmas baking, put it in the freezer and go looking for it on December 20 to find only empty containers. Peanut Butter balls, too.

[vegas]

Fig newtons are best stale!

[buttertart]

Hard Werther's candies that have ridden around in the car subject to temperature changes etc get all nice and chewy...

[Quine]

Cold leftover pizza!!!!

[wonderflosity]

Cold pizza is so much better than warm pizza. Mmmm!

[centralpadiner]

I can't believe more people aren't saying this one. It seems the most obvious to me. I would say that at least 50% of the people I know enjoy their pizza just as much or more cold.

I also have to freeze my Reese's PB cups. Loved them this way ever since the neighborhood pool where I grew up froze all candy bars at the concession stand (genius way to avoid messy kids in the hot summer), but truly came to appreciate them in this form as the ultimate hangover cure while in college.

[buttertart]

Hangover cure? Genius.

[Sharuf]

When I was a kid, frozen was the only acceptable way to have a U-No bar. We would sneak them into the movies.

[pikawicca]

Haven't seen a U-No bar in years (much less, their cousin, the Baffle Bar). Are they still made?

[shaebones]

I like to eat my yogurt FROZEN...not FROZEN yogurt. :)

[Jay F]

I know a woman who eats frozen yogurt in a public lunch setting. She's deaf, and she wondered why people would give her dirty looks while she was eating it. Oh, the noise it makes. She worked on it, and found that if she took it out of the freezer a half hour early, she could dig into it with her spoon instead of scraping, scraping, scraping, and still enjoy it frozen. Everyone was happy.

I like frozen grapes, mini-Heath Bars, mini-peanut butter cups, plain M&Ms, mint Girl Scout cookies. Lots of things.

And I am just as likely not to reheat leftover pasta. Depends whether it needs more sauce & parm.

[jlhinwa]

That is the only way to eat yogurt, IMO! It comes from the store and goes right into the freezer. Same thing with pudding (I confess to loving those ready-to-eat Jello puddings, especially the chocolate varieties).

[cleobeach]

Frozen Hershey kisses are far superior to room temp ones!

I also will purposely let Swedish fish go stale, yum!

[buttertart]

Oh yeah! Swedish fish get that sort of sugar coating layer on the outside!

[Eric in NJ]

My grandmother used to make a thick saurekraut soup with roux and ham hocks. When cold it was very gelatinous. I used to love putting it cold on a hotdogs. It drove her crazy. I used to eat her lemon merangue pie in layers too, the merangue, the lemon filling then the crust. I'm amazed she continued to cook for me I tortured her so.

[ashleyrar]

frozen grapes! and cold spaghetti is my favorite

[bekahrose66]

frozen grapes are fantastic! they're my go-to healthy summer snack :)

[vafarmwife]

Love frozen grapes. I also like frozen raspberries in my lemonade.

[tatamagouche]

Actually, I used to like to buy red grapes from the Santa Monica farmer's market when they were overripe, so a little dessicated and super-sweet.

[soytoy]

Frozen blueberries are even better!

[im_nomad]

I think I have mentioned this in other threads, but I like to keep salty snacks like potato chips in the fridge sometimes. When I make a batch of stove top popcorn, I'll also put some aside and let it sit in the fridge overnight before eating.

[Isolda]

I like green salads and fruit salads at room temp. I've actually microwaved the latter in order to hasten the warm up from the fridge.

And I once accidentally thawed a pint of vanilla Haagen Dazs overnight in the fridge. Made it waaay too easy to eat the entire pint. It was so much better than the frozen stuff.

[srsone]

wouldnt it be called a shake then?

[Isolda]

It was more like custard. A shake (or frappe, as they are called here) has milk blended with ice cream and perhaps a flavoring, so the ice cream is more dilute. Just get a pint of HD, melt it, and eat it, and you'll see there is a difference.

[im_nomad]

I do that with my salads occasionally !

[buttertart]

I used to stir up my ice cream until it was soupy too. Hmm, must try it again!

[Whinerdiner]

Totally agree with stale Cheetos, and I love stale Peeps - any color and variety. I'm partial to cold refrigerated red licorice whips as well.

[harryharry]

A friend would only eat stale Peeps... she left them out for a few days until they were kind of crunchy!

[Isolda]

We stale peeps lovers are everywhere! I offered some to a friend a few weeks ago, and she asked how long the box had been perforated (I stab thru the plastic a few times when I first buy a box). I told her, "about a day," and she replied, "not ripe enough."

[Quine]

Exactly!! Stale crunchy Peeps!

[Erika L]

Here in Seattle, nothing ever goes crispy at it ages. We have stale chewy Peeps, which IMHO is the only way to enjoy them!

[EllenMM]

Fresh Peeps aren't worth the trouble. Stale makes them a treat.

[Buckskin2]

My son & I made microwave S'mores with stale Peeps and Chocolate Bunny. We went to the store & bought the last they had cheap! 12 seconds in my MW

[agoodbite]

The only way I'll eat puffy Cheetos is stale. I ate them that way when I was at the beach when I was a kid. They develop an incredible chewiness when exposed to the sea air for an extended amount of time.

[srsone]

freezing charleston chews...than whacking them on the counter to break them into frozen little chunks...then they take forever to eat...

[buttertart]

Any chewy candy, true!

[srsone]

havent tried any other tho...charleston chews r the only one i remember doing it too/with

[Bob W]

+1. Our freezer always had a few CCs in the door back in the day.