There are so many food I have never tried because I don’t know how to eat it or if parts are edible. Soft shell blue crabs are one, I see them on a buffet at the chinese food place and they are deep fried but the shell is still on, eat the whole thing or certain parts? (same with a salt crusted shrimp shell is still on) Mexican tamale or any thing wrapped in corn husk I know now you dont eat the corn husk but for years I stayed away from trying them.
Thanks to a nice waitress we discovered 'HotPot" and you treat it like a soup not a fondue. We are such noobs
(once watched some people eat steamer clams without taking the part off the neck before eating… ick… I did interrupt and tell them to peel that part off, they wondered why they were so chewy)
Count me in!
Certain foods I have avoided for the same reason (soft shell crabs). I need just a little guidance from an experienced eater. It’ll only take once, and I’ll be good.
I had the same problem a million years ago the first time someone handed me a bong. I didn’t understand exactly how I was supposed to attach my mouth, being the first one at the party to have it handed to me. I should have been smarter and said, “You first”. So I could observe. Instead in my youthful insecurity and confusion I wrapped my lips around the outer rim. Needless to say, I was not invited back.
We went to a local, short-lived Vietnamese restaurant. There weren’t many patrons and there was nothing on the menu to instruct us n00bs. I tried asking one of the waiters a question, but I couldn’t understand his reply. I have no idea what the bowl of clear liquid was that they gave me.
I do know that the place didn’t last 6 months. I have to wonder if a short tutorial page with the menu might have helped…
Prepared soft shell crabs are consumed entirely. If the shell is a bit more hard then ‘soft’ you will know it and while you can still eat it you would prefer not to.
Bought soft shell crab has to be prepared by removing part, some stores will offer this service, then it can be fried and eaten.
Shrimp in shell also can be eaten that way, but usually not the tail. Normally it’s just labor saving, not the best way to do it.
I’ve never eaten a tamale because I wasn’t sure what you’re supposed to do with the corn husk.
You just unwrap and eat the inside. Leave the corn husk (sometimes banana leaves) on the side of your plate.
Quinoa
I get that it’s like rice, lots of ways to make it, can’t go wrong. But never having eaten it I’m entirely unsure I’ll be able to tell if I’ve even prepared it properly to begin with.
For whatever reason, Vietnamese food seems to require an unusual amount of labor by its eaters, whether it’s wetting rice paper and assembling your own wraps, flavoring noodle soup, or cooking your own food in a hot pot. I’m guessing the bowl of clear liquid was fish sauce. It’s a little sour and can be used to flavor almost anything – spring rolls, soup, steak, etc. It’s an acquired taste for many people.
Pomegranates. The juicy red seeds. Eat them whole? Chew the berries and spit out the seeds? I have never gotten a clear answer. I like the taste, I like the juice, and I would like to buy one now and then, but…?
And whole crabs, I guess if you go to a crab pickin’, they will give you implements to open the little legs = but there is nothing inside the body of the crab, correct?
Lobster, crabs, a lot of seafood.
Ribs
Inside the body is the best part. And the worst part (aka, “guacamole”). Crab claws, like lobster claws are considered the lesser meat. The other legs are, I think, somewhere in between, but with those huge Alaska crabs, the legs might be the best part. For lobsters, the primo stuff is the tail.
Generally, boil like rice, but I usually boil it in chicken stock. The quinoa has a little white tail thing (germ) that separates and wraps around it, which is what I use as the “done” indicator. Generally takes 15-20 minutes tops. Let stand for a few minutes after removing from heat, then fluff and serve.
Oh, and rinse it before cooking, it will taste better- it has a coating on it that tastes soapy that the rinse removes.
This thread could prove quite educational.
You eat them whole - the seeds are tiny. Delicious in middle eastern/moroccan cuisine - sprinkled on salads, tagines and so on.
Getting the seeds out is the tough part. easiest way is to cut them in half, cup the half, open side down, and bash the top with a rolling pin. The seeds will all fall out (eventually).
Inside the body is the brown meat, which is more flavoursome than the white meat. A dressed crab is where the brown and white meat is served up in the body shell.
I’m never sure what to do with the outside parts after I peel my m&ms…
Why not eat the tails? If it’s fried shrimps, the tails are perfectly good to eat. A Vietnamese restaurant served shrimp-onna-stick that had the tails and heads on, but the shell removed from the meat part of the tails. I’d eat the heads first (much, for some reason, to the disgust of my coworker), then the tails (fins), and then the meat.
They make a colorful layer on a gravel path.
Hey, I had that exact thing for dinner tonight (in Vietnam!), it was delicious! The shrimp was fresh from the sea, and it cost $6.
(However, I did not eat the heads. Count me on the ‘Ick!’ Team!)
I finally learned how to peel a mango, now I love them.
You can eat pomegranate either way.
Whole crabs have good meat in the shell. You need to take off the top of the shell and discard the gills and the meat inside is really good.
I never knew that about crab. I had a soft shell fried crab sandwich and it seemed mostly crunchy coating! I’ve had crab salad and king crab legs and snow crab legs, but never dealt with a whole small crab, like a blue or dungeness.