Chevre. Something about the taste of it makes my stomach heave, and I have to spit it out immediately or else some violent, volcanic action erupting gracelessly from below will ensue. I have a relative who claims she loves chevre made in France, but not American. I don’t know if there’s something sufficiently different in the French pastures, or if she is just a snob. I haven’t dared to experiment. I can’t drink goat’s milk, either.
But I love truffle salt – tastier than truffle oil, I think, which is often artifically flavored. I can taste morels, but they are not my favorite mushrooms. I love chantrelles, and lion’s mane and old man’s beard, which taste like crab sauteed in butter.
Re: lobster. Loved it until I moved to the PNW and had Dungeness and King crab. Moved back east, and now lobster tastes too bland in comparison. Perhaps it is too often frozen these days?
This is correct. Read the labels. Truffle oil is usually a neutral oil flavored with “natural flavors” or something of that nature. They do sell oil infused with real truffles, but even those are often spiked with natural or synthetic truffle flavoring.
Agree with the lobster; it’s my least favorite of the edible crustaceans. Once in a while I’ll order it thinking this time will be worth the money and hype but nope. Never is. I suppose next time I’ll wait until I’m visiting Maine or something just so I can get the maximum optimal lobster experience.
I’ve had escargot several times from several locations and never thought it was much better than buttery bits of garden hose. Anyone who insists I just had it wrong each time is welcome to come take me out for some proper escargot to prove their point because I’m unconvinced.
Add me to this - I love shrimp, crab, scallops…but not lobster. I even tried it in Nova Scotia, where they pull it directly off the boat and steam it for you and you eat it looking out over the Bay of Fundy.
/hijack Those of you who loved lobster and then didn’t: try making it yourself and dipping it in melted whole butter. I find that in restaurants etc they tend to provide clarified butter, which somehow destroys the experience. Something in those butter solids is necessary to bring out the full flavor. I’ve tried using clarified butter and adding salt, but that doesn’t fix the problem.
Also find out how long it’s been in the tank. A starved lobster is a bland lobster. \end hijack
Flan. I love custard in any form - especially with a dark caramel sauce over it - but not with razor shards of frozen sugar mixed throughout. It’s like the worst part of eating a lollipop.
That may well be true. Is flna the one where the caramel is warm? And brulee where it’s cold and hard and you have to “crack” it? It’s the crackly kind I mean to complain about. . .
In many cases this is sadly true. However, I have had a couple of times that were so mouthwateringly sense-overload delicious that 10 years later it still provokes and instant drool response. The quality of the duck preparation was key.
Flan is a custard with caramel sauce. Brulee has had sugar sprinkled on top, and then the sugar is scorched (not the right word, but I’m experiencing a brain fart here) briefly, sometimes with a kitchen blow torch, to form a hard crystalline topping. Personally, I love both.
Fugu and abalone. 120 million Japanese people absolutely can be wrong. Fugu is just a stunt, the fish doesn’t have any special taste, and you’ll never get enough to enjoy it if somehow you find you do detect/like a distinct taste.
Abalone is about as chewy as jellyfish and with no more flavor.
I never cared for caviar until I was actually given a 6 oz jar of it, caught locally by a sturgeon spearer on Lake Winnebago, and processed in his kitchen.
Having been deeply disappointed by all other caviers I’d ever tried, I thought “meh”, took a bit, put it on a piece of cracker with some cream cheese and ate it.
And was unexpectedly and suddenly mystically transported to food heaven!
I’ve not been able to get my hands on fresh, locally produced caviar since, and mourn that loss.
I had the exact same reaction. So did my companion.
I was in PIT on business with the general manager of my business… who, incidentally, spent over a decade as a chef or manager in various restaurants.
Lots of bad dining to be had in that town. I’m sure there’s something decent downtown somewhere, of course.
When I order flan at any of the Mexican/TexMex restaurants around here, I get served something that looks like this. It might be a regional difference. I’ve never had any flan appear with any fruit on it, other than an occasional maraschino cherry.
