My list. Found at the Very Good Taste Blog via Chocolate and Zuccini.
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denotes those that I have eaten, followed by where I did so.

1. Venison (Homemade Venison Chili Austin TX)
2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros (Cisco’s, Austin TX)
4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile (I forget)
6. Black pudding (Tipperary Inn, SA vs. NZ Rugby, Dallas TX)
7. Cheese fondue (Home, Family. Chandler AZ)
8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari (Everywhere. Sauteed, preferably)
12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich (College, prefer PB&Honey. Austin TX)
14. Aloo gobi (Clay Pit, Austin TX)
15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream (Ben and Jerrys, everywhere)
21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries(Mulberries from the Silkworm tree, Johannesburg SA)
23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans (Again, everywhere. Pork Included. Notably Hoover’s, Austin TX)
25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (All I can say: ENDORPHINS. Austin TX)
27. Dulce de leche (Kitchen food, Clay Pit Austin TX)
28. Oysters (Knysna, SA)
29. Baklava (Homemade for school Dallas TX)
30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas (Snacktime)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi (Clay Pit, Austin TX)
34. Sauerkraut (Notably Fredericksburg TX)
35. Root beer float (Elephant Bar, Chandler AZ)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (Why???)
39. Gumbo (All over, notably homemade via Louisiana in Plano TX)
40. Oxtail (Home, Family, Stewed. South Africa, and Austin TX)
41. Curried goat (Clay Pit, Austin TX. With nutmeg)
42. Whole insects (Bikeriding, Cricket. No chewing)
43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala (Clay Pit, Austin TX)
48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (Lunch Shift, Innumerable restaurants)
50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear (Only the syrup)
52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer (Clay Pit, Austin TX. Nanak Brand)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini (Notably The Keg, Chandler AZ, and Clay Pit, Austin TX)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (Schneider&Sons Aventinus, Dog and Duck Pub, Austin TX)
59. Poutine

60. Carob chips (candida, rather not)
61. S’mores (Notably Grand Canyon, AZ
62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs (Ranch 616, Austin TX. Fried)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (Churros made by the sous, Clay Pit, Austin TX)
68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail (Look at that S-Car-Go!)
79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini (New Year’s Eve Staple)
81. Tom yum (Notably Tiyana’s, Austin TX)
82. Eggs Benedict (At home. Also notably South Congress Cafe, Austin TX)
83. Pocky (Thanks, Ashley!)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare (Shot, dressed, jugged. While building a vineyard, near Fort Worth, TX)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam (Sliced, Fried. Ground. College, Austin TX)
92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish (Fresh Caught, Fried outside. Dallas, TX)
95. Mole poblano (Kitchen Staff, Clay Pit, Austin, TX)
96. Bagel and lox (Katz’s Deli, Austin TX)
97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta (Homemade, Austin TX. Also Stortini, Austin TX)
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake (Rattlesnake. Fort Worth, TX)

Solving Hunger Through Gluttony

(Link to MenuPages Blog :: San Francisco.)

This reminds me of another menu I’ve seen recently. Well, not recently. I’ve not been terribly busy, but my mind has been elsewhere. I expect the frequency of my posts will pick up over the next few weeks. Words have been written. Oh, yes.

I don’t really think that the world is heading for an iceberg. Not since 3am Central, anyway.

Tipping and the Back of the House: Front of House vs. Back of House

Keep in mind, the article is mainly concerned with high end restaurants. On the other hand, it sounds like a dirty commie plot, distribution of wealth and all that… kidding. We all know that doesn’t work.

(Article at Hungry Magazine.)

It’s not that hunger won’t do, but sometimes hunger and an occasion bring food to the fore. If this isn’t universal, then I’m on the wrong planet. The occasion may be as grand as the end of a hunger strike or acquittal on counts of larceny that you did not commit, or something as everyday as a birthday.

Yes, my birthday came and went recently, and so did another excuse to eat, which I did. It was dinner for two. My companion enjoyed three cups of finest chow in a delicate water suspension, dusted with nutritional and delicious brown powdery stuff from a jar. More on my meal in another post. She and I have a routine when she eats. She sits down, shakes hands, we exchange high fives, then she walks completely around me and her dinner before lying down and waiting. She likes me to give her a signal, a nod and a friendly “OK,” before tucking in. I’m not sure anymore why this is necessary. She prefers a utilitarian stainless steel bowl, large but not too large, and heavy, so that it doesn’t slide around too much. Her manners are acceptable, given her species. She doesn’t mind that I anthropomorphize her. She thinks it rather twee, but reserves judgement, even when I use the phrase “rather twee.”

I often get this look.

In the next post, I’ll tell you how I chose to take advantage of my excuse to eat. It’s a fishy tale.

How to Decode PLU Stickers on Produce: PLU Codes User Guide (pdf)

May be good to know.

(Via Serious Eats.)

This started as a happy accident of finding this recipe and having on hand some lemons and grain alcohol, sugar and water. The grain alcohol was a relic, had been transported from apartment to apartment, occasionally making itself useful in lieu of rubbing alcohol, and gathering dust. For the first batch I had about 440ml of the stuff, so I reduced the quantities appropriately. The results are quite good, but very strong.

I have a new batch going now with vodka, but it’s taking much longer to leach the oils out of the peel. I think a smaller amount of grain alcohol could be used (perhaps in a French press just to keep the peel submerged) and the difference in volume made up with plain vodka. Or a mixture of the two could be used. Still tinkering.

As the recipe above says, the magic of making your own limoncello comes when you combine the simple syrup and lemon-oil infused spirits, both of which are translucent but turn opaque as they are combined. The sugar and oil react with each other? I’ve found that it makes any liquid you pour it into somewhat opaque, which may be good to know.

So far, I’ve tried a couple of cocktails with the stuff: a pomegranate and limoncello martini, limoncello poured over orange juice ice-cubes, even a highball of limoncello and cola, which is refreshing if not madcap. I also used it along with some blood orange segments, lemon juice, and basil to build a pan sauce for pork chops, which was delicious.

There is a local product called Paula’s Texas Orange that is similar, they also have a Texas Lemon.

Spice-Starved in Sag Harbor

Sen Spice is doing things the way that, in a perfect world, I’d be doing things. The elements are all there: adapted cuisine matches what I’m learning now: a mix of traditional and contemporary ingredients and recipes, experimentation and implementing the results in practice are what I am trying to do on my own time, and precedence is given to taste, not time and money, which is my biggest beef with the current situation I find myself in.

Not that all is bad. Where I work, sheer volume does not allow for experimentation and such variation. A windsurfer and an oil tanker come to mind when comparisons are made. There are definite advantages to learning in a high volume kitchen. I’ll keep my experimentation at home, for now.

(Via Serious Eats.)

“They rise ARSE up, arse up, arse up high…”

All the Little Angels - Google Answers.

Doesn’t grease float on water?

The last meal for the first class passengers on the Titanic. The meal comprised 10 courses in all, paired with wine and as many after-dinner cigars as you could smoke.

Compare with this macabre list of meals eaten in similar yet entirely different circumstances.

(Titanic link Via kottke.org.)

Well, I was going to continue an exploration of tipping, but who wants to beat a dead cliché? Perversely, I do. But not today.

Instead, I’ll show-and-tell you some venison chili I made this weekend. I was off work for a brief break for music, and withdrawal was setting in. We’re having the wrong sort of weather in my city for this stuff, but a bowl followed by a siesta hits the spot.
A cook friend of mine gave me some deer sausage, cube steak, and stewing meat a few weeks ago, and I had some trimmings from a side of top sirloin I butchered to make biltong. Chipotle, serrano, and dried bird’s-eye peppers provide the heat. No beans. New Belgium’s Fat Tire covers the obligatory (for me) beer element, and also imparts a subtle malt coriander flavor. Trinity provides the base (onions, carrots, and green bells). Lead spice notes are cumin, chili powder, and some secret, work-related spice mix. Tomato paste and canned tomato build body.

By no means traditional, but by no means inferior.
I tried a little trick - after a few hours of cooking I used some white rice flour (made by grinding 1/4 cup of basmati rice in a coffee grinder) to thicken it. The rice instantly thickens the sauce, but it catches fairly easily and should only be added right at the end. Works very well. Sour cream and scallions round out the dish, served with sourdough toast soldiers. Got me through SXSW.
Taste this:

Tea Espresso: “

South African Rooibos (red bush) tea Expresso. Interesting, as rooibos is one of the only teas that doesn’t noticeably change in flavor with reuse and time. The bags can be reused and boiled to extract the last drop of flavor from them. Probably why it can stand up to an expresso process. I wonder if this technique could be used on other varieties of tea, or if you’d want to.

(Via BuzzFeed Latest.)