Why didn't I think of this sooner?
It's become my summer of chef competitions. I am hooked on all three of them--Top Chef on Bravo, Next Food Network Star, and, best of all, Hell's Kitchen on Fox. I'm a little bit in love with Gordon Ramsay, I have to say. I have a weakness for funny looking angry guys. Anyway. One of the challenges on HK tonight was about "educating" the cheftestants' "palates." They were blindfolded and had to identify little bits of random foods fed to them. The losers got a lovely plate of tripe, tongue, trotters, and assorted other disgusting bits. Which reminded me of the geoduck from last week's Top Chef, and the totally obvious Friday Fun that I completely missed.
What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?
Ever had something truly weird? Was it any good? Or have you had anything that wasn't off the wall, but still managed to turn your stomach?
In the Azores, we had barnacles. I didn't know you could eat barnacles, but they were...well, they were better for the opportunity to tell people that I ate barnacles. They tasted like vaguely garlicky salt gummy bears. If someone put them in front of me, I would eat them again, but I wouldn't order them if I saw them on a menu. Other than that, I haven't really had anything gross. I like snails, but those aren't really gross, are they? The octopus salad at Black Pine Tree is really damn good, I guess that could be pretty gross depending on your point of view.
Okay, give me your ooky menus. I'm off to make a spreadsheet so I can keep all of these cooking yahoos straight.
4 comments:
This is a great question! But hard to think of an answer. Hm. The first time I ever had unagi I thought it was absolutely disgusting, but now it's one of my favorite foods so I don't think I can count that. Same for the first time I ever had oysters (which, alas, I can't eat anymore), anchovies, and foie gras. (Not that I've ever eaten those things all at once, though, of course, because if I had, it would definitely be the weirdest, grossest thing I've ever eaten.)
Hm. The grossest thing I've ever eaten, in that I made a terrible face and had a really hard time actually getting it down and couldn't eat another bite would have to be a tie between sea urchin roe (it tasted just like gym socks smell), Vegemite, and this duck breast I ordered in a restaurant one time that came to the table with the fat cap completely unrendered, so there was this revolting gelatinous blanket of quivering fat sitting on my plate. That's the only time in my life I've ever sent something back to the kitchen. Oh, and a Manhattan cocktail. Those are disgusting. The one and only time I ever ordered one (because I was curious what they tasted like), I took one sip, made a terrible face, and the fabulously gay bartender swooped right back in, took it away, and said sympathetically, "Yeah, I didn't think so either, honey. Let me make you something pink instead." I normally hate pink cocktails, but the one he made me was actually really tasty. Way better than the Manhattan, anyway, which was vile.
As for something that seemed truly weird at the time but doesn't anymore, last Christmas I was at a party where, for an appetizer, the chef sent out osso bucco ravioli with veal marrow inside the pasta and in the sauce. I was a little nervous since I'd never had marrow before, and I didn't know if it would be gross or spongy or what. I shouldn't have worried; it was amazing, and the mouthfeel was out of this world. I think my eyes rolled back in my head. I ate it in minuscule bites to make it last as long as possible.
-Meg
This question has been racking my brain for a couple days now...I can't think of anything truly beyond the realm of imaginable that I have eaten personally. I mean aside from the usual gross chicken livers. And the deliciousness of caviar, escargot and sushi (live scallop being the best).
I can however share that I have friends who have offered truly disgusting things to me such as cow's tongues, blood sausage, and other oddities of country living. GROSS!
Oh wait I did try something when I was little - my grandfather used to keep a jar of pickled pigs feet and I asked my grandmother to taste one once....MAN KIDS ARE STUPID! That was NASTY.
NJ
Well, I can think of a couple of things.
1) NJ mentioned cow tongue. I had a beef tongue taco once. It was actually pretty good. It was very tender and had a lot of flavor. Of course, it was shredded and therefore looked nothing like a tongue. To be totally honest, if I had been offered a giant tongue in a shell, I may have passed.
2) I ate an ant once on a dare as a kid. Crunchy.
3) I have had oysters twice. The first time, it was ok. Kind of slimy, a little salty, so be it. However, the second (and final) time that I had them was memorable. I failed to completely scrape the oyster from the shell. So, when I tipped the shell into my mouth, the oyster got stuck in the back of my throat and would not part from the shell. I finally got it to go down, but not without a vow to never go near oysters again. Ugh.
-Cmdr. Pop
I'm back, because I just recently found a blog I think you might enjoy reading. http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.com/ is by a lady named Carol (duh) who's cooking her way through The French Laundry Cookbook, one recipe per week, with photos. It's sort of like the Julie/Julia project, except I might like this one better. Julie got to be a little much for me after a while.
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