One of my favorite things is learning about other people’s quirks. We all have them - those little unique preferences, proclivities, and oddities that make us, us.
My guess is that most of us have at least one quirk when it comes to food (and I suspect some of you have many!)
So, this week’s question: What food do you love that everyone else hates? Or, what food do you hate that everyone else loves?
Tinned anchovies! I love them but don’t know anyone else that does. My mother-in-law only likes them on a pizza but won’t order it because her partner won’t eat it. Last time I visited we ordered a pizza with anchovies and split it.
I love using them in pasta. One of the BEST pastas I’ve ever made uses them, but I can only make it when my family is away because they don’t like fish.
Yes, in pasta! We can be sisters now, lol! There is an old Marcella Hazan pasta sauce that melts them in and no one can tell...except my family. They are not anchovy fans.
One of my favourite lunches is toast with tuna salad and then an entire tin of anchovies on top. My colleagues always give me weird looks for that one.
Seafood is my area of expertise and I feel very much that I *should* love anchovies but I just haven't gotten there yet. I will never eat them straight from the tin, but totally understand the value a bit can add to countless recipes. It was the theme of one of my newsletters earlier this year. I was feeling like all the cool kids love anchovies and know I'm missing out.
Hmm we use them a lot cos they really punch up sauces and dressings. But we haven't tried em straight out of the tin, unless you count blending them with a bit of butter and slathering that over toast...
I really like the fresh ones in oil in a little container but I haven't really seen them here in the UK yet, just those dark salted ones. Once and super expensive, in Belgium a little pot costs €3 or so, great snack or appetiser.
No, not me. I'm perfectly normal when it comes to food. No quirks here. I like spaghetti noodles with cheese (no sauce, just cheese); I like salted crackers with chocolate and I eat my cereal without milk. Perfectly normal.
At the moment we only have an outdoor kitchen (still building the indoor one), and we've said this to each other so many times. It's actually kind of nice to only cook outdoors and not have food smells inside. I'm thinking I might keep that up and only cook non smelly things inside, if the kitchen ever gets finished.
I don't take cereal with milk either. I want the crunch and the milk turns em soggy, which doesn't make sense to me. We found a place that sells no-sugar-added cornflakes and snack on em like chips.
Cilantro! This is a polarizing herb. But I love it. I even finely mince the stems and put it in soups and curries. They do not know what they are missing.
Many years ago we had some friends over for dinner. I subscribed to food and wine magazine and there was a spread about South American cooking in one of my recent issues and I wanted to make everything in it. Since our friends were coming over, I used the visit as an excuse to make 4 or 5 of the recipes. Before dinner, we got into a discussion about foods we don't like. They said, "We like everything except cilantro." I put my head in my hands - there was cilantro in every single thing I'd made that night. 😂 That experience taught me to ask people before they come over if there's anything they don't like. My husband and I love cilantro too, by the way, and I do as you do and add it to many things - stem and all!
Oops! Yeah we toss it in everything, but then we found out that some people have olfactory-receptor genes that make it taste like soap to them (ugh), so now we check too when we have guests for dinner.
Supposedly it is genetic to taste soap when you eat cilantro. I love cilantro but I know two people that won’t eat anything with cilantro as all they taste is soap.
In the past year, I have really learned to use the stems - especially finely minces and put into a Thai style curry. Then I can garnish with the gorgeous leaves at the end.
Oh yes, the stems are lovely minced up - we sprinkle them like little jewels over soups, salads, pastas, just before serving. For curries and stews, we use the roots, which really amp up the flavour.
I absolutely hate ice cream with bits in, that everyone I know goes ooh for. The Ben & Jerry's & Haagen Daz of the world. I'll go as far as a classic ripple, or one with pieces of real fruit, but ice cream with chunks of biscuits, toffee etc loses all the purity of a classic ice cream. It's usually far too sweet too. Give me a classic gelato anytime.
Oh even before I turned lactose-intolerant, I avoided Ben & Jerry's like the plague. Like you, I preferred my ice cream "on the rocks" - you get the full hit of the rich cream.
I'm with you, why would you want to improve on it? I like the flavours in the Cherry Garcia (Ben and Jerry's) but real cherries and dark chocolate shavings in a vanilla ice cream
I am the world's leading expert on cars (according to me) and I have never come across an automobile by that name. If I ever do I would have to hold my nose on the test drive
They are cooked Small black snails in a shell. We would take a sharp pin to extract the snail from the shell. I’m not sure if I could eat them now. But they were a real treat to have on the car journey home from the seaside.
I agree with you 1000%! Our youngest daughter loves them and I’ve witnessed her snarfing down an obscene amount of them and I’m just like, “how are you eating those?” 😂
I feel the same way about amaebi (Japanese sweet shrimp). When they're in season, all the sushi bars run out of em within hours, but I steer clear, even though I prefer raw seafood to cooked.
Not a fan either, and they're definitely outside our budget these days. I did take Guernsey oysters back when we could afford them. The family favourite was blood clams, dipped in chilli and lime.
Oooh!! Such a fun topic!! Hmm, my strongest unpopular opinion is that kosher salt is inferior to sea salt; it's just another processed food. I'll take salt from the sea gathered in salt pools naturally the same way for thousands of years over (industrially manufactured) diamond crystals any day.
Ha!! Yes I know. It's a mind blow. Happened to me living in France about 20 years ago, after culinary school and three years in restaurants with the holy grail of Kosher salt.
We don't like over-sweet sweets either, but we do love chocolate, so we usually bake our brownies with dark chocolate that is at least 70% cocoa.
We actually like to use 90%, but only when we're baking for ourselves. It's a bit much for many people - not because it's bitter (even 99% isn't bitter if it's processed properly), but it can be quite potent.
I don’t really like cooked cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, but I do keep buying and cooking them from time to time, it’s like I won’t give up on them as they are so good for us. My dog has always eaten vegetables with at least 50% of his meals consisting of veggies. He eats everything but draws the line at Brussels sprouts.
I used to hate Brussel sprouts too. Until I learned (from Nigel Slater) to roast them with spices and fat (eg. olive oil, butter, bacon) and that changed everything!
Yup, Nigel Slater rarely steers you wrong. We also separate the Brussel sprouts into individual leaves, then flash-fry them in a wok with miso and chilli.
Oh you must try Double Skin Milk (雙皮奶 Shuang Pi Nai) if you're in Hong Kong, Macao or Guangdong. It's a classic steamed egg-white custard that's very popular in southern China. My mum's favourite version had lashings of ginger syrup as well.
If you're tempted to give it a whirl, here's a rough translation:
Ingredients for 2 portions:
* 400ml full-fat milk
* 4 egg whites
* 3 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
- Heat the milk till it reaches 95C (not quite boiling).
- Pour into 2 large rice bowls. Leave to cool for 30 min, till a film forms on top of the milk.
- Meanwhile, separate 4 large eggs. (Save the yolks for fried rice.)
- Beat the egg whites with a fork, but without lifting it upwards, otherwise too many bubbles will form.
- Check the milk in the 2 rice bowls to see if the skin has formed yet.
- Gently poke a tiny hole in the skin at one edge of one bowl, then another at the opposite edge.
- Carefully pour out the milk into a large mixing bowl. Leave enough milk in the rice bowl to prevent the skin from sticking to the bottom.
- Repeat with the other rice bowl.
- Add the sugar to the milk and blend with a spoon till the sugar has dissolved. Then add the egg whites and blend again. Avoid frothing.
- Using a sieve, gently pour the mixture back into the 2 rice bowls. Let it slide down the side of the bowl, so it doesn't break up the milk skin formed earlier. Cover each bowl with clingfilm.
- Steam over medium heat for 6 min. Then turn off the heat, but keep the lid on. Leave for 5 min before removing.
- classic German breakfast roll (Brötchen) with a chocolate marshmallow inside
- the classic Kölsche Halve Hahn with lots of mustard (what out for my upcoming article if you do not know what the Halve Hahn is, I will bake the main ingredient later today, so expect it by late today)
Several of us are allergic to alcohol, so we can only have Halve Hahn sans Kolsche 😝. Also lactose-intolerant, so we use a very aged Gouda rather than the younger ones.
I completely agree—enjoying a Halve Hahn doesn’t have to include Kölsch! The beauty of regional dishes like this one is that they can be adapted to suit your preferences and dietary needs. Using a very aged Gouda sounds like a delicious alternative. I’m all for experimenting and finding what works best for you—whether it’s lactose-free, alcohol-free, or just your personal twist. Cheers to making tradition your own! 🧀😊"
I usually prefer to leave cakes "naked" or just lightly dusted with icing sugar. When they're heavily draped in butter cream, you can't taste the cake itself. Love ganache, but umm, I like to eat it by the spoonful rather than on something 😂
There was and perhaps still is a trend for naked cakes. The birthday cake I made recently was covered in fondant which we didn't eat. It was purely for decoration. The cake however was delicious and flavoured with homemade Vanilla extract that had been brewing for well over a year.
In addition to cereal with yogurt/muesli, I like adding hummus to fried rice or pasta (I mean, chickpeas on pasta and chickpea pasta exist, so why can’t I use hummus as a sauce?).
Love chickpeas in any form. We haven't tried hummus on pasta yet - great recommendation, thanks! We have "sauced" roast chicken with it and used it to bake savoury buns.
I grew up loving all licorice incl black - twizzlers is the brand we have everywhere. I accidentally discovered Panda a few years back which is from Finland. It is much stronger in anise flavour and not very sweet but also quite soft and less chewy. I buy it in health-food stores or in the natural section of grocery stores / whole foods etc. There are also some ‘natural’ black licorice brands out of Australia that are pretty good and made in the Scandinavian tradition.
If your husband likes black licorice, next time you see a health food store or section pop in - ask for Panda - it is a game changer I think he will love it!
I really hope he likes it 🤞🏻… please let me know. After I sent you the reply I actually went to the store to get some for later 😉! It is my favourite indulgence.
I'm thinking pickled herring is probably not a super popular one, that and if I'm really waving the Belgian food flag, preparé, a sandwich spread made from raw meat with mayonaise and seasoning, similar to the French/Belgian filet Américain/steak tartare, chopped raw meat with egg yolks, gherkins and capers. Not a fan of that version but the spread is quite nice.
Technically, I think the herring is sort of raw too, it's salted first but it's just cooked because of the brine. I've got a recipe but it uses salted matjes herring which is probably about as easy to find as pickled herring in a lot of places, haha. Meat-wise, it looks like this which might make it a little less intimidating
Oh yes, it's great on rye! We also do a sort of wrap with bitter greens like radicchio or endives, even herbs like shiso cos the leaves are pretty wide.
Great question. I don’t like bacon and am always surprised at the number of classic dishes that include it, like beef bourgignon , quiche Lorraine and BLTs, of course!
Do you like the smell of bacon? I feel that it's one of those things that most people like the smell of even if they don't like to eat it. Coffee is that way too I think.
No, I’m afraid I don’t like the smell of bacon either, but I do love the smell—and taste— of coffee. I don’t know much about the science behind smell and taste, but I believe they’re intricately linked, so it would be unusual to like the smell without liking the taste, especially with food and drink that are so distinctive as bacon and coffee. I wonder if others love the smell of something but don’t like the taste.
My husband hates coffee but loves the smell. I’ve heard other people say the same thing so I was curious if it applied to you with bacon. I think you’re right though, in general if we don’t like the taste of something, we also don’t like the smell.
I love the smell of beer for some reason, but can't stand the taste (except when braised with pork).
When I was a kid, my jokester uncle thought it would be funny to give me some from his bottle since I said it smelled nice (mum was in the kitchen, otherwise she would have smacked him). It was so foul that I spat it out, right in his face - mum said it served him right 😝.
There's a point at which I can't eat a banana and that's when it's a little too ripe. Hence using them in recipes such as Banana Cake. They are said to be high in Potassium and their skins Although a little unsightly, are also said to be good when scattered around rose bushes.
I hate mayonnaise! And I once met someone who buttered her toast--with butter, and then with peanut butter. A classmate in elementary school put ketchup on his pizza. Those quirks have stuck in my memory over decades.
I really really dislike fresh ginger. I can enjoy it in small portions, but I find the flavor quite overwhelming. It's one of my only food dislikes! Give me sweetbreads, sardines, or chopped liver... but hunks of fresh ginger send me over the edge!
Years ago, a neighbour of ours, used to make Ginger Beer and would give us the odd bottle. It was delicious. They told us that occasionally the bottles would pop and explode while stored in their basement, during fermentation.
I eat yogurt with Ritz crackers. When I was a kid, as a treat when grocery shopping my mom would buy us Dannon yogurt cups with fruit on the bottom. I loved yogurt but the texture would make me gag. So I developed a coping mechanism by eating my yogurt by using Ritz crackers to scoop it out. It's actually quite delicious!
Generally, I don't like chocolate. There are some specific chocolates I eat, but I wouldn't go out of my way for any of it. People are very often taken aback by this revelation.
I also don't like coffee or beer. Turns out I'm a super-taster, which means bitter flavors are intensified, so it makes sense. But I do love spicy food, which many super-tasters also have aversions to.
Tinned anchovies! I love them but don’t know anyone else that does. My mother-in-law only likes them on a pizza but won’t order it because her partner won’t eat it. Last time I visited we ordered a pizza with anchovies and split it.
I add them to things all the time but have honestly never tried eating one straight from the tin. Not very adventurous of me. 😂
I mean, you travel the continent in an RV - I would say you are very adventurous! 😂
Haha! Perhaps.
I can't say that I have ever cooked or eaten them.
They are salty (which I think is why so many people don’t like them), but so so delish!
I love using them in pasta. One of the BEST pastas I’ve ever made uses them, but I can only make it when my family is away because they don’t like fish.
Yes, in pasta! We can be sisters now, lol! There is an old Marcella Hazan pasta sauce that melts them in and no one can tell...except my family. They are not anchovy fans.
Yes it just melts away. SO GOOD. I used to wish my family would at least try it but now I think: more for me. :)
Ha ha ha!
LOVE them.
I eat an entire tin of anchovies as a snack. It's so delicious. My mum's the same!
I’m glad I’m not the only one!
One of my favourite lunches is toast with tuna salad and then an entire tin of anchovies on top. My colleagues always give me weird looks for that one.
Seafood is my area of expertise and I feel very much that I *should* love anchovies but I just haven't gotten there yet. I will never eat them straight from the tin, but totally understand the value a bit can add to countless recipes. It was the theme of one of my newsletters earlier this year. I was feeling like all the cool kids love anchovies and know I'm missing out.
Hmm we use them a lot cos they really punch up sauces and dressings. But we haven't tried em straight out of the tin, unless you count blending them with a bit of butter and slathering that over toast...
I have not made an anchovy butter - now I must! That sounds delicious 😋
Oh you must try it! I'm lactose-intolerant, so I have to go easy on the butter, but even a small amount really transforms the taste.
I really like the fresh ones in oil in a little container but I haven't really seen them here in the UK yet, just those dark salted ones. Once and super expensive, in Belgium a little pot costs €3 or so, great snack or appetiser.
I don’t eat them out of the tin but I cook with them all the time. Perfect hit of umami!
Yes, I agree! I like them in pasta sauce for umami!
No, not me. I'm perfectly normal when it comes to food. No quirks here. I like spaghetti noodles with cheese (no sauce, just cheese); I like salted crackers with chocolate and I eat my cereal without milk. Perfectly normal.
I like most foods, but some leave too much of a lingering smell in the kitchen, such as fish, cauliflower and sprouts.
At the moment we only have an outdoor kitchen (still building the indoor one), and we've said this to each other so many times. It's actually kind of nice to only cook outdoors and not have food smells inside. I'm thinking I might keep that up and only cook non smelly things inside, if the kitchen ever gets finished.
My mum refused to live in an apartment for years cos she had to have "dual" kitchens - she did all her charcoal cooking outdoors.
I am 100% on board with salted crackers and chocolate. Also, have you tried dipping potato chips in melted chocolate? Heaven.
Oh that does sound yum!
Hey I did that too (before I got lactose-intolerant). But I didn't mix em together cos I can't stand mushy cereal, I just dipped it in the yogurt.
I don't take cereal with milk either. I want the crunch and the milk turns em soggy, which doesn't make sense to me. We found a place that sells no-sugar-added cornflakes and snack on em like chips.
I eat cereal with Greek yogurt and kefir! Even the cold crunchy kind and not oats/muesli.
Yay glad I'm not alone 😁
Cilantro! This is a polarizing herb. But I love it. I even finely mince the stems and put it in soups and curries. They do not know what they are missing.
Many years ago we had some friends over for dinner. I subscribed to food and wine magazine and there was a spread about South American cooking in one of my recent issues and I wanted to make everything in it. Since our friends were coming over, I used the visit as an excuse to make 4 or 5 of the recipes. Before dinner, we got into a discussion about foods we don't like. They said, "We like everything except cilantro." I put my head in my hands - there was cilantro in every single thing I'd made that night. 😂 That experience taught me to ask people before they come over if there's anything they don't like. My husband and I love cilantro too, by the way, and I do as you do and add it to many things - stem and all!
Oops! Yeah we toss it in everything, but then we found out that some people have olfactory-receptor genes that make it taste like soap to them (ugh), so now we check too when we have guests for dinner.
I feel badly for them. If something tastes like soap, it's a pity.
Always a good idea!
Supposedly it is genetic to taste soap when you eat cilantro. I love cilantro but I know two people that won’t eat anything with cilantro as all they taste is soap.
There is a genetic mutation which us found in people who like cilantro! The cilantro “tastes like soap” people are the non-mutants!
I tend to place fresh cut-up cilantro AND either basil or parsley in seperate vessels for people to garnish their dish.
Excellent idea 😊
The roots pack a real punch, so we always save those and toss em in soups and stews.
In the past year, I have really learned to use the stems - especially finely minces and put into a Thai style curry. Then I can garnish with the gorgeous leaves at the end.
Oh yes, the stems are lovely minced up - we sprinkle them like little jewels over soups, salads, pastas, just before serving. For curries and stews, we use the roots, which really amp up the flavour.
I absolutely hate ice cream with bits in, that everyone I know goes ooh for. The Ben & Jerry's & Haagen Daz of the world. I'll go as far as a classic ripple, or one with pieces of real fruit, but ice cream with chunks of biscuits, toffee etc loses all the purity of a classic ice cream. It's usually far too sweet too. Give me a classic gelato anytime.
I wouldn't say I hate ice cream with toppings mixed in, but I'm with you on classic gelato reigning supreme.
Oh even before I turned lactose-intolerant, I avoided Ben & Jerry's like the plague. Like you, I preferred my ice cream "on the rocks" - you get the full hit of the rich cream.
I'm with you, why would you want to improve on it? I like the flavours in the Cherry Garcia (Ben and Jerry's) but real cherries and dark chocolate shavings in a vanilla ice cream
EVERYBODY in my family loves rudabega, I think it is absolute rubbish. Any food name that starts with rude....well you know.
😂 I will never think of the word rutabaga the same again.
At least you spelled it correctly (I think)
😂
We call them Swede here in the Uk. Isn't a Rudabega also a car?
I am the world's leading expert on cars (according to me) and I have never come across an automobile by that name. If I ever do I would have to hold my nose on the test drive
😂
Can’t believe anyone hasn’t said raw oysters yet! I do NOT get the hype 😅
Both the taste at the texture seem nasty to me, yet people line up and pay for it.
I’ve never had an ouster but I used to eat Periwinkles as a kid when returning from a seaside trip.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Periwinkles. What are they?
They are cooked Small black snails in a shell. We would take a sharp pin to extract the snail from the shell. I’m not sure if I could eat them now. But they were a real treat to have on the car journey home from the seaside.
Hmm never had em fresh, only pickled. We tossed em in fiery curries and Manhattan-style chowders.
I agree with you 1000%! Our youngest daughter loves them and I’ve witnessed her snarfing down an obscene amount of them and I’m just like, “how are you eating those?” 😂
I feel the same way about amaebi (Japanese sweet shrimp). When they're in season, all the sushi bars run out of em within hours, but I steer clear, even though I prefer raw seafood to cooked.
Not a fan either, and they're definitely outside our budget these days. I did take Guernsey oysters back when we could afford them. The family favourite was blood clams, dipped in chilli and lime.
Oooh!! Such a fun topic!! Hmm, my strongest unpopular opinion is that kosher salt is inferior to sea salt; it's just another processed food. I'll take salt from the sea gathered in salt pools naturally the same way for thousands of years over (industrially manufactured) diamond crystals any day.
I’m a fan of sea salt.
Ok. So I haven’t thought of kosher salt as a processed food. Rethinking my entire life over here.
Ha!! Yes I know. It's a mind blow. Happened to me living in France about 20 years ago, after culinary school and three years in restaurants with the holy grail of Kosher salt.
Sea salt for the win for me !
I only buy sea salt where the ingredient list is just ‘Sea salt’.
I don't like chocolate brownies: too sweet. In fact I wouldn't choose most chocolate cakes or chocolate-flavoured desserts.
We don't like over-sweet sweets either, but we do love chocolate, so we usually bake our brownies with dark chocolate that is at least 70% cocoa.
We actually like to use 90%, but only when we're baking for ourselves. It's a bit much for many people - not because it's bitter (even 99% isn't bitter if it's processed properly), but it can be quite potent.
Do you like plain chocolate?
I don’t really like cooked cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, but I do keep buying and cooking them from time to time, it’s like I won’t give up on them as they are so good for us. My dog has always eaten vegetables with at least 50% of his meals consisting of veggies. He eats everything but draws the line at Brussels sprouts.
I love both of these, but not the lingering smell afterwards in the kitchen.
I used to hate Brussel sprouts too. Until I learned (from Nigel Slater) to roast them with spices and fat (eg. olive oil, butter, bacon) and that changed everything!
That sounds nice. I might try that.
Yup, Nigel Slater rarely steers you wrong. We also separate the Brussel sprouts into individual leaves, then flash-fry them in a wok with miso and chilli.
I like the sound of this, I’ll try it.
Oh our furkids loved veggies too. Cauliflower was fine, even kale and bittergourd. But not broccoli or celery.
I hate garlic! I find it overpowers everything else and it is all that I can taste. So I never cook with it but it can make eating out tricky!!!
But I love the skin on custard or other sauces whilst other people cringe!!!! We're all different 🤣
Haha! I've never heard of anyone liking the skin on custard. 😂
Oh I love the skin on custard! But I also adore garlic in all its glorious forms and have since infancy!!
Oh you must try Double Skin Milk (雙皮奶 Shuang Pi Nai) if you're in Hong Kong, Macao or Guangdong. It's a classic steamed egg-white custard that's very popular in southern China. My mum's favourite version had lashings of ginger syrup as well.
Here's the go-to place in HK:
https://youtu.be/GYSLrTMRk2U?feature=shared
Garlic can be a littler over powering at times. I use it sparingly and often ready pureed from a tube.
I eat a ton of garlic. Whenever we’re outside in the summer the mosquitoes leave me alone haha.
Haha! I also eat a ton of garlic and don’t seem to have much trouble with mosquitos. 🤔
If you're tempted to give it a whirl, here's a rough translation:
Ingredients for 2 portions:
* 400ml full-fat milk
* 4 egg whites
* 3 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
- Heat the milk till it reaches 95C (not quite boiling).
- Pour into 2 large rice bowls. Leave to cool for 30 min, till a film forms on top of the milk.
- Meanwhile, separate 4 large eggs. (Save the yolks for fried rice.)
- Beat the egg whites with a fork, but without lifting it upwards, otherwise too many bubbles will form.
- Check the milk in the 2 rice bowls to see if the skin has formed yet.
- Gently poke a tiny hole in the skin at one edge of one bowl, then another at the opposite edge.
- Carefully pour out the milk into a large mixing bowl. Leave enough milk in the rice bowl to prevent the skin from sticking to the bottom.
- Repeat with the other rice bowl.
- Add the sugar to the milk and blend with a spoon till the sugar has dissolved. Then add the egg whites and blend again. Avoid frothing.
- Using a sieve, gently pour the mixture back into the 2 rice bowls. Let it slide down the side of the bowl, so it doesn't break up the milk skin formed earlier. Cover each bowl with clingfilm.
- Steam over medium heat for 6 min. Then turn off the heat, but keep the lid on. Leave for 5 min before removing.
Ahh if you love the skin on custard, you'll probably enjoy this Cantonese classic: Double Skin Milk (雙皮奶 Shuang Pi Nai).
This is the most authentic video we've seen on YT: https://youtu.be/AtrP3LoySQA?feature=shared
Unfortunately there are no English subtitles. The process is quite clearly set out though.
What came into my mind immediately:
I like these combinations
- mixed wheat bread with Nutella and Banana
- Maccaroni with butter and sugar
- classic German breakfast roll (Brötchen) with a chocolate marshmallow inside
- the classic Kölsche Halve Hahn with lots of mustard (what out for my upcoming article if you do not know what the Halve Hahn is, I will bake the main ingredient later today, so expect it by late today)
Several of us are allergic to alcohol, so we can only have Halve Hahn sans Kolsche 😝. Also lactose-intolerant, so we use a very aged Gouda rather than the younger ones.
I completely agree—enjoying a Halve Hahn doesn’t have to include Kölsch! The beauty of regional dishes like this one is that they can be adapted to suit your preferences and dietary needs. Using a very aged Gouda sounds like a delicious alternative. I’m all for experimenting and finding what works best for you—whether it’s lactose-free, alcohol-free, or just your personal twist. Cheers to making tradition your own! 🧀😊"
Thanks! Looking forward to your post today ☺️
I hate* when desserts (cakes, cookies, brownies, cupcakes) are covered in buttercream.
*With many exceptions. Cream cheese frosting, whipped cream frosting, and ganache don't count. I love those.
I have some buttercream languishing in the freezer, after making a birthday cake.
I usually prefer to leave cakes "naked" or just lightly dusted with icing sugar. When they're heavily draped in butter cream, you can't taste the cake itself. Love ganache, but umm, I like to eat it by the spoonful rather than on something 😂
There was and perhaps still is a trend for naked cakes. The birthday cake I made recently was covered in fondant which we didn't eat. It was purely for decoration. The cake however was delicious and flavoured with homemade Vanilla extract that had been brewing for well over a year.
Sounds lovely. We make our own extract too ☺️. Storebought ones are so expensive these days and often watered down. Do you do yours in vodka?
In addition to cereal with yogurt/muesli, I like adding hummus to fried rice or pasta (I mean, chickpeas on pasta and chickpea pasta exist, so why can’t I use hummus as a sauce?).
Love chickpeas in any form. We haven't tried hummus on pasta yet - great recommendation, thanks! We have "sauced" roast chicken with it and used it to bake savoury buns.
Ok. This is a very good idea. I’m going to try it.
I love black Scandinavian licorice. I am in the minority on this one I am sure - but I could eat it daily.
My husband is a black licorice fan while I can’t stand the stuff. Is Scandinavian licorice different from what we might have had in the states?
We would eat liquorice root as children. It made our tongues black.
I haven’t seen licorice root in years! I too enjoyed chewing on it as a youngster. I assume this is why I have just a fondness for the flavour.
I grew up loving all licorice incl black - twizzlers is the brand we have everywhere. I accidentally discovered Panda a few years back which is from Finland. It is much stronger in anise flavour and not very sweet but also quite soft and less chewy. I buy it in health-food stores or in the natural section of grocery stores / whole foods etc. There are also some ‘natural’ black licorice brands out of Australia that are pretty good and made in the Scandinavian tradition.
If your husband likes black licorice, next time you see a health food store or section pop in - ask for Panda - it is a game changer I think he will love it!
Ok! This is good advice! I'm going to seek some out for him. He will be thrilled because I NEVER buy it. 😂
I found some on Amazon and just ordered it! He doesn't know it yet, but future Steve says "thanks!"
Yay!
I really hope he likes it 🤞🏻… please let me know. After I sent you the reply I actually went to the store to get some for later 😉! It is my favourite indulgence.
I'm thinking pickled herring is probably not a super popular one, that and if I'm really waving the Belgian food flag, preparé, a sandwich spread made from raw meat with mayonaise and seasoning, similar to the French/Belgian filet Américain/steak tartare, chopped raw meat with egg yolks, gherkins and capers. Not a fan of that version but the spread is quite nice.
I have never tried pickled herring but I love pickled everything else, so I think I'd probably like it. Not sure I could do the raw meat though...
I could eat a pickled onion right now. They would go very nice with the cheese and walnut wreath I’ve just made.
We almost always have pickled red onions on hand. Though I take onions just raw too - love the kick.
Technically, I think the herring is sort of raw too, it's salted first but it's just cooked because of the brine. I've got a recipe but it uses salted matjes herring which is probably about as easy to find as pickled herring in a lot of places, haha. Meat-wise, it looks like this which might make it a little less intimidating
https://www.shutterstock.com/nl/image-photo/typical-belgium-spread-variation-steak-tartare-2203629223 .
We rarely take pickled herring by itself, but it's great added to potatoes or other side dishes.
Well, yeah, not always on its own no but on bread, with potatoes...
Oh yes, it's great on rye! We also do a sort of wrap with bitter greens like radicchio or endives, even herbs like shiso cos the leaves are pretty wide.
Oh we love raw anything - beef, venison, tuna, crab... In Osaka, torisashi or chicken sashimi is a popular classic.
https://zendine.medium.com/raw-chicken-japans-lesser-known-culinary-adventure-a16044a1fc06
Great question. I don’t like bacon and am always surprised at the number of classic dishes that include it, like beef bourgignon , quiche Lorraine and BLTs, of course!
Do you like the smell of bacon? I feel that it's one of those things that most people like the smell of even if they don't like to eat it. Coffee is that way too I think.
No, I’m afraid I don’t like the smell of bacon either, but I do love the smell—and taste— of coffee. I don’t know much about the science behind smell and taste, but I believe they’re intricately linked, so it would be unusual to like the smell without liking the taste, especially with food and drink that are so distinctive as bacon and coffee. I wonder if others love the smell of something but don’t like the taste.
My husband hates coffee but loves the smell. I’ve heard other people say the same thing so I was curious if it applied to you with bacon. I think you’re right though, in general if we don’t like the taste of something, we also don’t like the smell.
I love the smell of beer for some reason, but can't stand the taste (except when braised with pork).
When I was a kid, my jokester uncle thought it would be funny to give me some from his bottle since I said it smelled nice (mum was in the kitchen, otherwise she would have smacked him). It was so foul that I spat it out, right in his face - mum said it served him right 😝.
😂
That’s so interesting. Probably cause for more threads!🤗
My hubby has just had bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning.
Classic combo for a reason ☺️. We like to crumble super-crispy bacon over porridge. Salads too.
I will eat bacon just fine, but the smell of bacon cooking has become nauseating for me in recent years, don't know why.
I detested milk growing up, but my parents insisted that I drink it, so I made it conditional on 1.) nonfat and 2.) three ice-cubes per glass.
Haha! So basically milk tinted water. I love it.
Bananas 🍌 I LOATHE bananas and people want to shive them in everything to make a recipe “healthy”. 🤮
There's a point at which I can't eat a banana and that's when it's a little too ripe. Hence using them in recipes such as Banana Cake. They are said to be high in Potassium and their skins Although a little unsightly, are also said to be good when scattered around rose bushes.
I hate mayonnaise! And I once met someone who buttered her toast--with butter, and then with peanut butter. A classmate in elementary school put ketchup on his pizza. Those quirks have stuck in my memory over decades.
Mayo with chips. Delicious. :-)
I really really dislike fresh ginger. I can enjoy it in small portions, but I find the flavor quite overwhelming. It's one of my only food dislikes! Give me sweetbreads, sardines, or chopped liver... but hunks of fresh ginger send me over the edge!
Years ago, a neighbour of ours, used to make Ginger Beer and would give us the odd bottle. It was delicious. They told us that occasionally the bottles would pop and explode while stored in their basement, during fermentation.
I hate cereal with milk. I go with yoghurt or nothing.
Is it because the milk makes it soggy?
I eat yogurt with Ritz crackers. When I was a kid, as a treat when grocery shopping my mom would buy us Dannon yogurt cups with fruit on the bottom. I loved yogurt but the texture would make me gag. So I developed a coping mechanism by eating my yogurt by using Ritz crackers to scoop it out. It's actually quite delicious!
My friend dips grissini in her yogurt cups. It's good for stirring too.
Generally, I don't like chocolate. There are some specific chocolates I eat, but I wouldn't go out of my way for any of it. People are very often taken aback by this revelation.
I also don't like coffee or beer. Turns out I'm a super-taster, which means bitter flavors are intensified, so it makes sense. But I do love spicy food, which many super-tasters also have aversions to.