Well, many people here seem to be asserting that it actually makes them nauseous, etc.
I think it probably tastes just like a sweet Hawaiian macaroni salad. I imagine it would be disturbing to watch how one is made in a a restaurant, as well, if you didn’t know ahead of time what actually went into it. That, plus her enormous size, just makes it all a little Fellini-esque. I’m up for trying it, though I don’t actually like macaroni salad after working in a deli in high school. Making 1/32 of the recipe just doesn’t seem feasible. But for a dopefest, I’d do it. And I bet most would enjoy it - as long as they didn’t watch the video.
I don’t eat potato salad or macaroni salad - mixed up things are not my cup o tea.
But I love thousand island dressing. This seems similar, quite similar.
I make plenty of things that hover around that calorie count per recipe. Pecan Pie comes to mind. Or a batch of cookie bars. Or pot roast.
Exactly. Again, does everyone here also gag when they see a Chipotle burrito? While the particular combination of ingredients in this dish might be unusual, dishes with lots of fat and sugar and refined carbs in them are par for the course in American cuisine.
It looked gross to me because she emptied so many whole containers into it. If she’d used the same level of macaroni, but less of everything else, I’d be fine. It’s not that everything does that to me, but, in this case, it does. It’s just too dense of a food.
And, while I’m not as fat as the lady in the video, I’m pretty hefty–I’m probably bigger than most everyone here, if you go by weight alone. But the reason I eat more is because I have trouble feeling full, not because I eat tons of calorie dense foods.
I tend to agree, it is just so over the top on the sauce ingredients, though personally I think that adding the sugar or adding the sweetened condensed milk is too much sweet, it should probably be one or the other, Perhaps if you took a standard macaroni salad recipe that is essentially just mayo on the solid ingredients and added either a couple tablespoons of sugar OR a couple tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk that would be sweet enough.
After seeing the video, I would have serious trouble choking down a spoon of this stuff … if I hadn’t watched it, I would probably have tried a dab of it.
You people have obviously never prepared food for a crowd or in a restaurant. That was not at all a dense food, proportionally. For the amount of macaroni and all other ingredients I would say it was proportionate and quite traditional. Have any of you actually made macaroni or potato salad for a get together or a large group? (BigT-aruqvan?)… You all seem to forget that will serve 12 people or more easily…it is not at all outrageous to add a whole jar of mayonaise and more to large salads- tuna, seafood, pasta, potato, pea, fruit, what have you.
I’m with Gestalt here.
That macaroni salad might not be tops on my list of things to make, but I know for a fact that I’ve eaten many things that can go up against that as far as calories per serving.
The video is sad and off-putting, and leads one to conclude that large portions of that salad might be eaten as a side dish to other high-calorie dishes, but in and of itself it seems like a nutrition-free, high calorie snack, just like a bag of potato chips, candy bars, or a myriad of other things.
And, while I’m sure for some the stomach-turning reaction is sincere (no, really, whenever I see mayonnaise I feel like vomiting), using that kind of hyperbole generally sounds just like a way to say, “I’m such a better person than she is!” without coming out and expressing your superiority directly. Maybe that’s not what you mean, but it’s exactly what it sounds like.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m judging her, too. But there’s something about a beam in my eye that I can’t seem to shake.
I’ve prepared food for potlucks and I know when making a large group-size quantity of a salad, you’ll go through whole containers of ingredients, such as mayonnaise. But the problem with this recipe is that it’s totally off proportionally; there is simply too much sauce to the noodles. The sauce is far sweeter than it ought to be. Macaroni salad is not supposed to taste like a glazed donut, but I’ll bet dollars to donuts this one is as sweet as one, vinegar aside.
This recipe grosses me out mainly for the excessive amount of sugar and fat in it, but watching someone that looks like that make something so excessively sweet and fattening compounds the disgusting aspect of the food. I watched some of her other videos as well and I couldn’t help but snerk a little when she mentioned in the Pasta Pomodoro version that she substituted whole grain pasta as she and her husband are trying to eat healthier, then proceeded to salt the living daylights out of not just the pasta, but the reasonably healthy Pomodoro sauce.
Would it surprise me if that family suffers from multiple diet-related health problems? Not really. Which is precisely why I would be highly unlikely to follow any of Sara’s advice in the kitchen. If that sounds mean, it’s not intended to.
If she had made a beautiful luscious dessert I wouldn’t be grossed out. If she had made a rich cream based pasta dish, I wouldn’t be grossed out. If she made a gorgeous rib roast… well you get the idea.
It’s not that complicated- the mixture of sweetened condensed milk and all that mayo was revolting. I think you’re seeing attitude where none is intended. It is the particular combination of food being made that makes me feel gross.
Actually I have been a professional chef, as well as cooking for feasts in the SCA. I look at the ingredients in proportion, and the combo just really sucks ass, that is enough liquid for 3 to 4 times the amount of macaroni.
I am aware of how damning random ingredient lists look to people normally. My favorite example is in how ancient and medieval recipes are laid out, they are more aide memoire than how our recipes are laid out [they assume the cook is a pro, and just needs reminding of the ingredients and a couple hints of how they process the ingredients.] and excellent example is in comparing a roman recipe or medieval ecipe that lists random ingredients like:
garum, asfoetida, lovage, pepper, basil, wine, small fishes, dried grapes, onions, oil, flour
and think that it sounds nasty. You don’t use equal parts of everything and just toss it in a pan and have at it, if you look at it from a modern perspective you get:
* 500g boiled fillet of small fishes or whole sardelles
* 150g dried raisins (sultanas)
* 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
* 1 tblsp Liebstoeckl
* 1 tblsp oregano
* 2 small diced onions
* 200ml oil
* 50ml Liquamen, or 1/2 tsp salt
* some cornstarch
pound everything except the fish and flour in a mortar and pass through a seive into a saucepan. Simmer the sauce for 15 minutes on medium. Add the flour mixed with a small bit of water and simmer gently to thicken the sauce, add the fish and simmer until they are reheated.
Or think about these ingredients:
tomato puree, distilled vinegar, corn syrup, salt, raisins, oranges, garlic, onion, spices.
A1 sauce. But if you tell someone to turf fruit onto their steak they would probably be offended - sweet and steak don’t go together [in most peoples eyes]