Think Sheldon Cooper’s spaghetti with little hot dogs cut up in it - that’s real I-talian!
Back in the early 80s, I was stationed at the Pentagon and when I wasn’t motivated enough to pack my lunch, I’d find something at one of the various food vendors in the building. One day, I decided to try the lasagna - at least that’s what they called it. What I was given was a square consisting of a stack of 6 or 7 noodles with sauce poured over top, garnished with a sprinkle of parmesan.
Not believing it, the next time lasagna was offered, I tried it again. Same deal.
Seriously, how hard is it to find and follow a recipe for lasagna? Especially for a food service company…
Fairly recently, I was surfing thru a recipe website looking for a teriyaki marinade. I have a recipe I really like, but I thought there might be a variation I’d like to try. I came across one that consisted of soy sauce and mayonnaise. That’s all - no vinegar or seasonings of any kind. No, I didn’t try it, and I’ve been unable to erase it from my memory.
Share your encounters with “interesting” variations on food that you previously considered to be straightforward and ordinary.
I grew up in Ohio but came to Texas for college. A week or so into the school year the cafeteria served up cornbread. I remember my utter disbelief at finding that my cornbread had jalapenos(!) in it. For my whole life up to that point, cornbread had always been so… trustworthy.
I came to understand that this was just how it was done here, and so I guess it’s not unique, just more of a regional preference. But it sure as hell was unique when I first encountered it.
I like cornbread and I like jalapenos, but to this day I think they’re terrible together.
The oddest interpretation I’ve had was “enchiladas” purchased at a backpacker-focused rooftop cafe in Jaisalmer, India.
The tortillas was not a tortilla, but not like an Indian flatbread, either. It was somewhat stuff and chalky, but not bad tasting. The beans were puréed with Indian spices, and the sauce and salsa fresca were also distinctively Indian, without being actual Indian sauces.
It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t like any other dish that exists in the world. I’ve eaten a lot of global approximations, but this one was the most unusual.
Another dish I used to get in the “Western” restaurant in the small Chinese town I lived in was rice topped with meaty marinara sauce and cheese. It was delicious and hit the spot when I craved western food, but wasn’t an actual dish that’s eaten in the west.
In Budapest in the late 90s, there was a place near my apartment called “Chicago Style Wraps” (yes, in English.) Being from Chicago, I was curious as to what this could possibly be. Wraps are something I associate with California or possibly the Southwest or something like that. Im familiar with them being stuffed with ingredients like meat and crispy vegetables like lettuce, tomato, avocado, something of that sort.) What I got was a wrap all right–stuffed with beef and mashed potatoes. I have no idea where anyone got this idea, but Chicago is a meat-and-potatoes town (or at least, was), so I guess I can kinda sorta see where they were coming from.
This sounds like something my mother came up with on a “clean out the refrigerator” day. She served leftover spaghetti sauce over leftover rice. We liked it so much, we asked her to make it on occasion. So for us, it was an ordinary meal, but I can see it being unexpected for others.
Oh, also, same city, there was an American style diner decked out with all sorts of 50s style kitsch, going for that Grease/Happy Days kind of vibe, and when I ordered the hamburger, I got an open-faced hamburger sandwich. This one was especially puzzling, as there are plenty of fast food places there that made normal hamburger sandwiches. I mean, yes, in pockets of the U.S. there is a dish similar to this, but everything about the diner and menu pointed to the expectation that a hamburger would be the usual hamburger you’d find in the US.
My gf’s mother made the family something she called “Spaghetti Chicken” back in the day. It was spaghetti, and it was chicken, and it was in the same pan as a casserole.
My gf made it for me as a trip down her memory lane. It was actually good.
For a few days every spring the Hale & Hearty Soup chain serves an incredible soup that I’ve learned to approximate at home. It’s a simple vegetarian green pea soup… pureed with fresh mint, and served ice cold.
My mother used to make a dish she called ravioli. I think she got it from an old Pillsbury Bake Off recipe book. It was spaghetti sauce and ground beef stuffed into crescent roll dough and topped with American cheese slices. I adored it as a kid and didn’t realize what real ravioli was for a number of years. I still make it once in a while when I’m in a nostalgic mood or crave comfort food.
In Siena I bought an open sandwich, white bread with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and slices of boiled egg, kept in place with a thin gelatinous layer of something or other. Its name Londra (London), gave a clue as to it’s provenance. This was a version of the egg salad sandwich, ubiquitous in Britain. It was delicious so I bought another
A friend of mine ate the blandest food in the world. Her idea of way-out-on-the-fringe exotic cuisine was Pizza Hut (plain cheese, nothing crazy like pepperoni). So I was surprised when she told me that her family made tacos when she was a kid.
I was less surprised when she told me the family recipe. They took some ground beef and fried it up in a pan. Then they put it in a taco shell and ate it. No spices (including pepper), no sauce, no cheese, no vegetables (not even lettuce).
This past November, we went to my father-in-law’s for Thanksgiving - mainly because we couldn’t figure a tactful way to get out of it. I offered to cook and bring, but no, no, just bring a side, maybe some dessert. So I made a broccoli casserole and some apple bars and some fudge, and girded myself…
FIL had made a ham on the rotisserie. It was all right - tasty, but chewy. Husband’s stepmom had made the rest of the sides: canned corn, Pepperidge Farm garlic bread, etc. There were a couple of pies from the grocery store. And a green bean casserole. With cinnamon. Because my step-MIL thought the recipe needed something fancy.
Cinnamon. On a green bean casserole. Oy.
On a more positive note, I recently visited an old friend’s restaurant in Atlanta. The specialty of the house is corn dogs, and Boy 2.0 and I both enjoyed ours, but my husband ordered the burger. Rather than beef, it was made with ground pork, and Tony declared it the best burger he’d ever eaten. I’m waiting for the next gift-giving occasion to receive a meat grinder, so that I can try to replicate - I only got one nibble, but it really was delicious!
Pork burgers are available around here being a big pork producing state. My daughter’s boyfriend works in the summers for a place that has them and I’m always thrilled when he brings me a batch. They really are good on the grill in the summer.
When my maternal grandfather retired, he decided he wanted to take over kitchen duty.
[ul][li]He would get on a spice kick. For a few weeks in a row, everything had rosemary in it.[/li]
[li]He didn’t like putting his teeth in, so most meats ended up being pastes.[/li]
[li]He liked pizza. He liked pickled herring. He did admit that the two didn’t go as well together as he’d hoped.[/li][/ul]My grandmother was a saint. She never said a word…
For a long time, the only was I ate knishes was the way my Mom makes them - split in half and filled with cream cheese and optional mustard. I didn’t realize cream cheese wasn’t a usual topping until I asked for it at an NYC food cart and got a Look.
At a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, we ordered Quesadillas. Now, to this gringo (gringa? what’s a girl gringo?) Quesadillas are essentially grilled cheese sandwiches, with flour tortillas instead of bread and white cheese instead of American, pan fried in butter or oil. If there’s anything but cheese, the name must be modified, as in, “chicken quesadillas”. But it will still be modifier, cheese and fried between two flour tortillas.
They brought out a 10 inch cast iron skillet filled an inch deep with sizzling melted chihuahua cheese and sprinkles of chorizo and a basket of steamed flour tortillas.
OMG, it was so delicious. Some assembly required, but SO delicious!
I did not personally encounter this, nor would I have eaten it if I had. But my late husband, who was a native New Zealander, shared the story of some young Americans who were traveling through his little backwater town at the top of the South Island in the 70s. They stopped in at the local pub where my husband happened to be and asked the proprietor if they could have pizza. Not being familiar with the dish, the proprietor asked for a description.
“You know, it’s like… a flat piece of bread with tomato sauce on it, and other Italian stuff,” one of the American fellows explained.
The proprietor thought for a bit and then allowed that he might be able to create such a dish.
He served them a piece of toast with Chef Boyardee Spaghettios poured over it.
