I have never tried globe or Jerusalem artichokes - no idea how to prepare or eat them.
I wonder if that’s a regional variation or something. Having a hot pot with all the ingredients seems to take away the point of the hot pot. Plus wouldn’t your meat severely overcook this way? Heck, wouldn’t everything overcook this way, if it’s all in there from the beginning on a constant boil? I mean, you generally just dip your thinly sliced beef in there for maybe thirty seconds or so. And if you’re into stuff like tripe, we’re talking 10-15 seconds. On the other hand, egg will depend on how done you want it; root veggies will take awhile; shrimp maybe a minute or two, bigger dumplings and starchy vegetables could be five to ten minutes,etc. Everything cooks at varying paces. It just doesn’t seem like having all the ingredients in there and keeping them at a constant boil would work out ideally.
When they brought it to the table, the egg cracked on top of the pot was quite definitely still raw. After I’d been eating for a few minutes and it’d cooked through, the waiter came back to my table and turned the flame on the burner down to a simmer.
It looked something like this when it was brought out.
Same here. The first time I brought one home as a kid, my now 91-year-old grandmother referred to it in Yiddish as a ‘Kay und spay’- a chew and spit.
Lobster
I have no idea how to eat one or if I’d like them.
NO!
It was more like, this was the dish that had the most bizarre manner of eating I have ever heard of, and I couldn’t believe people ever did it, and it’s so rare that most people would never have even heard of it.
I think the people that partake of this dish are bereft of character.
Kiwi fruit. I like kiwi when it’s included in smoothies, but never bought one to eat.
For both kiwis and edamame, I ate the entire thing (minus the top part on the kiwi) the first time. I still eat kiwis that way, but that bowl of edamame was a tough slog; I think I had my fibre requirement for the month after that. Once my wife pointed out to me (much later) that the people at the sushi restaurant were stripping the pods and eating the beans, they became one of my favorite dishes.
I was the same with soft shell crab until someone I was with on a trip to New Orleans ordered a soft shell Poboy and told me how it’s done. Yummy!
The first time I ordered a whole, grilled fish (snapper, IIRC) I remember having no idea how to eat it. Knowing basic fish anatomy, I began eating. I finished side A and turned the fish over. When I was done, I had a fish head and skeleton on my plate.
Jackfruit.
An Asian market in town sometimes offers samples of some of the more exotic fruits (well, exotic to me). One day there were four fruits that were being sampled, and my son and I agreed that Jackfruit was the best of the four. There were a number of fresh Jackfruits in sturdy boxes on the floor - reason, they are the largest of the tree-bearing fruits - think watermelon size or even larger. They look like something from the Mesozoic era, with their thick, scaly skin. I would have never purchased one, since I had no idea how to extract the tasty fruit bits, but fortunately, the store is smart and sells quarters and halves of these monsters, but even then, no idea how to get the edible parts.
Fortunately, my daughter has an Asian friend who is well-familiar with Jackfruit, and after hearing our report on the tasty fruit, bought a quarter, brought it home to me, and she showed us how to get the fruit. Lots of elbow grease, I might add, and a lot of throw-away pulp and rind, but a nice tropical treat. Good in smoothies. I understand the seeds can be roasted and spiced, but have not tried that yet…
I would like to try more root vegetables, like rutabaga and parsnip, but not sure how to add those to the menu. Ideas?
I just treat parsnips like carrots: peel, cut into chunks, toss into soup or stews or whatever.
General rule with root vegetables: whatever vegetable it resembles that you are familiar with, use it the same way.
We use rutabagas in mashed potatoes. Peel and cube 3 Idaho potatoes and one rutabaga. Proceed as you normally do to make mashed potatoes.
Or prep carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, beets, brussel sprouts, onions, etc. Toss in some vinaigrette then roast
I’ve never ordered soft shell crabs because I thought I’d be eating the eyes and guts. So those get removed?
Lychees took a little practice for me to peel and pit gracefully. I love them, but they are a bit of a slippery inhalation choke hazard.
Roast them in the oven.
The basic recipe is preheat your oven to 475 degrees. Cut your vegetables into chunks and toss them in some Italian vinaigrette dressing and a little salt. Spread them out on a baking sheet and cook them for thirty or forty minutes. This works for a wide variety of vegetables.
Yes. It’s not for the squeamish, though.
They use scissors to cut off the eyes and mouth, then the underside is peeled back and the gills are ripped out and the rest gets a quick rinse out. The crab is alive during this process (or starts out alive, at least).
Okay, so soft shell crabs are not happening.
ETA: Yikes, why is the spoiler box showing? Apologies for lost appetites.
I ate the tails of fried shrimp until my horrified mom taught me differently.
The whole thing is battered and fried. Didn’t occur to me the tail isn’t edible.
Shrimp tails are perfectly edible and routinely eaten in stuff like salt & pepper shrimp. Most people just don’t like the texture of shells and tail.