I was just reading Fenris’ rant in the pit on Emeril and his less than classic method of cooking. It reminded me of what I still consider the most vile thing I have ever seen prepared on any cooking show. The Two Fat Ladies (gotta love em) were cooking for an embassy cocktail party. The show consisted entirely of appetizers. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but “appetizers” are supposed to whet the appetite. Allow me to describe for you the little tidbit they called Devils on Horseback.
Ya take a nice big prune and pit it. Hold the cavity open and stuff in a nice hunk of chicken liver. Now, wrap that little rascal up in bacon, shove a toothpick through it, and deepfry. Mmmmmmm…doesnt that sound scrumptious? Yes, I admit it, I have never eaten one of these, so perhaps it is wrong of me to condone it. But good lord, who in the world came up with this idea? It rivals some of the “unique” ice creams made on the Iron Chef.
What recipe you have either seen made, heard of, or even attempted yourself, is about the vilest concotion you can imagine?
I’ve had “Devils on Horseback” and they’re not nearly as bad as they sound.
I’d say the two worst items I’ve ever seen are the vanilla-garlic-mustard lobster-potato salad on vanilla greased lettuce mess that I was ranting about,
Or, on Iron Chef, one of the Iron Chefs (Saki? Morimoto? It wasn’t Chen) made a <gag, retch, barf> Fish Sperm Ice Cream (they use the term “soft roe” but since it came from a male fish, it was fish-sperm.) I think the bimbo-du-jour refused to try it (which is a rarity for Iron Chef)
Well if she balked at eating soft roe ice cream, she would have ralphed if presented with a certain Icelandic dish.
My friend Joe related once how, when he was visiting family in Iceland, one night’s dinner was nothing but milk, crackers, and slices of a loaf of white ellipsoids in gelatin.
Yep. Sheep testicle loaf.
I’m sure it has an icelandic name, and regardless of how it is spelled, when Americans say it, it sounds like “bluargghaaaah!”
I’ll second Fenris here and say that they’re not entirely repulsive. Not bad, just not exactly my cup of tea. What I prefer is Angels on Horseback, where an oyster is substituted for the prune. Excellent with champagne.
If we’re on a chicken liver kick, try Rumaki instead. Chicken livers with a water chestnut in the middle, wrapped in bacon, treated to Teriyaki and broiled. Good party food.
I have to say I have an adventurous palate, but the only thing I’ve balked at was the sheep eyes that were served at a Moroccan dinner I went to. Served, of course, in the whole roasted heads of the sheep on rice. Wasn’t actually half bad. Sort of like a cross between sweetbreads and an olive texture wise. Taste-wise, it just tasted of lamb and the roasting spices.
What else? Whale sushi in Iceland, because when the hell am I going to be in Iceland again, tacos de cabeza in Tijuana and rollmops on the streets in Amsterdam (raw herring with onions).
However, I cannot STAND pineapple on pizza. I’d actually rather have more of the sheep eyes than that.
This is a slight hijack, but isn’t soft roe actually the fish testicles? That’s sure what it’s looked like to me on other Iron Chef episodes. Though I dearly love that show, I have no idea how well I’d handle being on the panel. Some of those creations… oy.
Was that the ice cream where the psychic lady actually said “this is dreadful”? It isn’t something you hear too often on the show, so it sticks out in my mind. And I remember specifically it was for one of the ice creams.
[/hijack] I saw the ads for the Iron Chef rematch with Bobby Flay actually going to Japan this time. Did I miss it, or has it not happened yet? And a second note…Has anyone ever had that Mishima beef they did the one Iron Chef on? I would like to know if it is really so much better than regular old beef that it is worth that much money. [hijack/]
The Frugal Gourmet (Jeff Smith) disappeared from view after being sued by some former employees who accused him of sexual abuse.
Yes, Bobby Flay did have his rematch on the Iron Chef. I saw it just the other night. I won’t tell you who won, but it was great fun.
And now back to the OP. I’ve mercifully forgotten most of the weird concoctions I’ve heard about, but the worst thing I’ve ever actually tasted, and I’ve tasted a lot of stuff, is lutefisk. Lutefisk is Norwegian for “a block of salt roughly in the shape of a piece of fish”. There is no way to cook lutefisk to make it edible. I tried to eat a goat’s kidney once, and it wasn’t as bad as this. Although the idea of putting mustard on lobster comes pretty close.
…so I understand that the Frugal Gourmet, aka Jeff Smith, was sued by seven former employees for sexual harrassment!
But anyway, lutefisk has got to be the worst thing that people actually eat, although I understand it’s not quite as bad as goat kidneys. And would you believe it, some folks put mustard on their lobster.
She’s actually said “This is dreadful” or words to that effect several times. She’s fairly brutal. She hated one of Chen’s dishes once and said something like “This is the worst thing I’ve ever eaten”.
Chen, God of Cool, responded in a sly voice “I’ll never make it again”, which got a laugh out of Kaga.
[/hijack] I saw the ads for the Iron Chef rematch with Bobby Flay actually going to Japan this time. Did I miss it, or has it not happened yet? And a second note…Has anyone ever had that Mishima beef they did the one Iron Chef on? I would like to know if it is really so much better than regular old beef that it is worth that much money. [hijack/]
I’ve heard on alt.fan.iron-chef that indeed, Mishima Beef is far better than regular beef, but I’ve never tried it, so I dunno.
The Flay rematch was on, I found it disappointing: there’s a new format where you don’t examine the complete menu of finished dishes before judgement, there were 5 judges, one of whom was apparently hand picked by Flay (who whined that the last battle “wasn’t faaaair”) and while there’s usually a disconnect between what the judges say and how they vote (the Fortune Teller is notorious for savaging an Iron Chef’s menu, then giving the IC a 20), these scores (I’m not saying who won) were just bizarre. It’s like the judges picked numbers out of a hat. And the disparity in points was insane…usually IC and Competitor are only sepearated by a point or two. There were spans of 4 or 5 points. Regardless of your opinion of either chef, that doesn’t make sense.
It’s worth watching, but I thought the first one (except for Gordon “Won’t somebody gag him” Elliot) was better.
And similar to Rumaki, is a concoction that substitues shrimp for the chicken liver in rumaki that’s really good.
I’ve tried a variety of different meats; Antelope is gamey and stringy (but good if crock-potted or stewed), Elk is wonderful…stronger flavor than deer and with a better texture. Alligator is delicious! The texture is just like chicken, but the flavor is very close to fresh shrimp. It’s wonderful. Kangaroo (had it one time) is very much like Antelope. I’ve never had bear, but apparently it’s like pork. For me, wild boar tastes close enough to pork as to make no real differenc.
<shameless promotion>
By the way, since there seem to be some Iron Chef fans hanging out here in Tornado Siren’s thread, I’m not too modest to ask you join us over here for the third SDMB Iron Chef competition! It’s just starting.
</shameless promotion>
I second you on alligator, especially if it’s prepared by simeone who knows what he’s doing. However bear=pork holds only for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. The only real similarity is that they’re both rather fatty.
Actually, I think I’d scarf down a big old dish of fish sperm ice cream before I ate something else I saw on Iron Chef once: Chen Kenichi made turkey sashimi. That’s right, thin slices of raw turkey breast. ::shiver::
I am the proud owner of a Sunset cookbook from the 1960s, which contains a recipe for foolproof steak. You take your lovely piece of red meat and put it in a 200 degree oven for 20 minutes, and it’ll be “perfectly medium rare every time!”
Wha? In the first place, it’s not all that hard to cook steak properly; and in the second place, GROSS!
Can you compare it to anything? It’s the one meat I’ve always wanted to taste, and I’m really curious.
(BTW: Moose is good too, richer than elk, but similar at least the ground stuff is. I’ve never had a mooose steak. But mooseburgers with a dash of teriyaki sauce…mmm-mmm-good! (I grossed my mom out by calling them “Bullwinkle Burgers” :D) )
Hey, I don’t think you have to turn to strange foreign dishes to find something really disgusting. America has produced it’s own, very native horrors. How 'bout:
a recipe from a cookbook called “The Heart of Iowa”. A heart whose health I am concerned for.
And if you search for “recipes of the damned” you’ll get the final installment of that web site and a recipe for
“Fruit cocktail-Spam Buffet Party Loaf”
It also contains Miracle Whip.
Sorry to hear about the Frugal Gourmet. He seemed so nice. Although I can see how being sexually harassed by him whould be particularly alarming.