# What's a well known (at least fairly well known) type of food or style of cuisine you've never, or only recently, tried? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [January 17, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931 "2022-01-17T14:45:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/121 "2022-01-18T18:39:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > She was getting crabby today when she asked me to make her some over easy eggs and it looked like there was no suitable bread in the house – but we had a couple of English muffins left, so all was good. I’m not sure how you would eat the goopy part of over easy – or even over medium – eggs without something to consolidate it. Otherwise you just end up with yellow stains all over the plate. I mean, there’s a reason eggs Benedict has an English Muffin as the foundation. To answer the OP, I’ve been edging my way into Korean food for a bit. I’m finding it like Japanese – a local variant of the Chinese mother cuisine. My brother is a big fan of pho but I finally persuaded him to try ramen, saying pho is nice but I prefer the latter. I think he had the impression instant ramen was what the real stuff was like. We ate at a restaurant that had six different types and he could see my point. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/122 "2022-01-18T18:57:29Z")
One of my favorite breakfasts is a sandwich with toasted English muffin, over-easy egg (salt and pepper), bacon, mayo and sriracha. Wonderfully messy and delicious. As for a dish I hadn’t tried or even heard of until recently, I’ll nominate _birria_, a Mexican stew made of meat and chili peppers. It’s supposed to be made from goat, but I made mine with beef short ribs. It’s a dish that has apparently been “discovered” and is now the darling of the food cart world. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/123 "2022-01-18T19:06:16Z")
And I really don’t understand the thought process behind “respecting” a tomato allergy by substituting ketchup. At least it’s not as bad as someone offering chicken, as in whole solid chunks of bird muscle, as a “vegetarian option”. I’ve seen that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/124 "2022-01-18T19:17:56Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > > [@bordelond](#): > > > > Sounds like you could do Tandoori chicken (chicken marinated in yoghurt then roasted in a tandoor, not spicy) with sides of _saag paneer_ or _palak paneer_ (basically creamed spinach with hunks of paneer cheese, not spicy) and basmati rice. The flatbread _naan_ is a nice accompaniment, too. > > Sounds delicious. Here’s my decision tree: > > Hmmm… yogurt is OK, as is the chicken. Oh, wait, it’s marinated in this thing called “masala tandoori” - does that mixture have any tomato, lentil, or peas? If I ask the restaurant staff will they know for sure or not? You could make tandoori chicken yourself. I’ve done so, more than once, and I’m a complete idiot. I’ve started with something like Sharwood’s prepared spice mix (a dry mixture of spices) but you could certainly work entirely from scratch. As I remember, you mix the dry spices with yogurt and lemon juice, marinate skinned chicken legs and then roast them. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/125 "2022-01-18T19:51:28Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Hmmm… yogurt is OK, as is the chicken. Oh, wait, it’s marinated in this thing called “masala tandoori” - does that mixture have any tomato, lentil, or peas? If I ask the restaurant staff will they know for sure or not? > > Palak paneer - oh, spinach and cheese, one of my favorites… oh, wait, all these recipes for it have tomatoes. Sure, I can leave that out if I cook it, but if I go to a restaurant can I ask them to leave it out? Will they? Is this all made up in advance so it’s all mixed together, or do they mix it up for each individual order? Hm… might be safest to pass on this. > > The rice side - is it JUST rice, or is there something else in it? If there is something else, what is it? Inspect very, very closely . In your situation, you just can’t risk it. I can only offer the following: - The tandoori masala spice mixture used for various Indian chicken dishes is invariably, every time, a _dry_ mix of known spices absent of any kind of vegetable whatsoever. What you could, conceivably, run into is a chef having a boutique recipe for the marinade that adds tomato puree to the marinade itself – so instead of yoghurt + dry spice mix, the hypothetical marinade would be yoghurt + _tomato puree_ + dry spice mix. I’ve never heard of it or tasted it that way … but I could never say “never”. It would be surprising and unusual, but again, could never say “never”. - I did a little research about “palak paneer” and “saag paneer” after your posts, because I didn’t actually know that tomato (puree) is a common ingredient in palak paneer. In the saag paneer recipes I looked at, tomato puree shows up in a decided minority of recipes – but that would be too common for you to take a chance at in a restaurant setting. - Plain basmati rice in a restaurant will come in one of two ways: either totally, honestly PLAIN – just water and rice … or else the rice will have a few crushed cardamom pods in it. Unless a chef was going way outside the typical, you’d never see mystery flecks in it or see anything shaken on top of it. There’s some more that you could eat at an Indian restaurant safely. Mint and coconut chutneys to dip naan into. The sweet rice pudding _kheer_, a popular dessert, is totally safe (if raisins are OK). There is a type of stewed dish called “korma” – chicken korma is a popular one in Indian restaurants. Korma sauce is traditionally made with ground cashews, yogurt, and spices and is a pale creamy color or sometimes yellow depending on the spices used. Some chefs will add tomato (assumedly puree) to their korma, but when they do this it’s obvious – the color changes to a vibrant orange-red. If someone ever offers you a korma dish, pass on it if you see even the faintest hint of orange. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/126 "2022-01-18T20:12:22Z")
We often cook from “an invitation to Indian cooking”, by Madhur Jaffrey. I recommend it highly. The recipes are described clearly and the intructions are clear. She gives alternate ingredients when something is hard to get in the US. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/127 "2022-01-18T20:36:26Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Lumpia isn’t snack food for me. When I make it, it’s dinner. Dipped in a sweet/hot chili sauce. . .to die for. I make them with pork and shrimp and have likely made 5,000 since learning how about 45 years ago, since they are a great dish to bring to parties. They’re not that difficult, just a bit time consuming, and once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. Yeah, I didn’t mean to imply lumpia were difficult to make…they’re just very _tedious_ to make. All that julienning of the veggies. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/128 "2022-01-18T20:39:41Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Ceviche is Peruvian - its national dish, in fact Ceviche and beef heart are _the_ dishes at the Peruvian restaurant I go to most often. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I like Japanese when I want to feel like I’m eating something “clean” and not terribly heavy. Me, too! And I adore _ton katsu_ – I love the sauce. Japanese curry is my second favorite in my hierarchy of curries: Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Burmese, Indian. Not a huge fan of Indian food. It’s o.k. but a lot of the sauces have a muddiness to them…again, I like clean flavors like in Japanese food. Man, I’d curl up and die if I couldn’t eat Japanese food anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/129 "2022-01-18T21:08:06Z")
Does anyone else make escargots at home? Or am I a weirdo? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/130 "2022-01-18T21:10:31Z")
The two are not mutually exclusive, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/131 "2022-01-18T21:19:30Z")
😛 Happy to deliver the straight line. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/132 "2022-01-18T21:21:39Z")
I’m not a big fan of escargot. They’re OK, but not something I go out of my way for. When in France my host family’s father raised his own snails. He did them with a simple butter-garlic-parsley topping in the oven, served with crispy-crusted baguettes. It was great but, honestly, to me snails don’t taste much different than molluscs/clams/other things of that sort. Not something I would seek out… … BUT if I was a great fan of them I would most certainly cook them at home. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/133 "2022-01-18T21:55:24Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Me, too! And I adore _ton katsu_ – I love the sauce. That would be [Bull-Dog sauce](https://www.amazon.com/Tonkatsu-Sauce-Vegetable-Fruit-Bull-Dog/dp/B00886H87Q/ref=pd_lpo_2?pd_rd_i=B00886H87Q&psc=1). I bought a bottle to brighten up the Tyson breaded chicken patties I get from CostCo. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/134 "2022-01-18T22:02:06Z")
Well, that’s one kind. I use [Kikkoman katsu sauce](https://www.amazon.com/Kikkoman-Tonkatsu-Sauce-Glass-Bottles/dp/B001R6G47E/ref=sr_1_13?crid=TVRJJD5E7OKI&keywords=katsu+sauce&qid=1642543168&s=digital-text&sprefix=katsu+sauce%2Cdigital-text%2C68&sr=1-13-catcorr), as that’s what I find at the grocery around here. No idea what the Japanese places use, or if they make their own (usually something like ketchup, worcestershire, mirin, sugar, soy sauce.) That Bull-Dog Sauce looks particularly good – I’ll have to put it in my cart. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/135 "2022-01-18T22:21:55Z")
Japanese places around here do not universally use Kikkoman, but a lot of them do so. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/136 "2022-01-18T22:28:20Z")
[Kikkoman, made in Wisconsin!](https://artfulliving.com/kikkoman-soy-sauce-walworth-wisconsin-plant/) I love their products ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/137 "2022-01-18T22:35:34Z")
There’s actually a Kikkoman plant in my town in Northern California as well. I’m sure they’re big enough to have multiple plants around the US now. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/138 "2022-01-18T22:36:51Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I’m sure they’re big enough to have multiple plants around the US now. They are, but they came to WI first. To be near the right soybeans! ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/139 "2022-01-18T22:42:04Z")
If I understand correctly they came here at least partly because of the quality of our water, fed by Sierra Nevada snow melt. Although now given the current drought, coming to California for the water arguably seems like it might have been a bit shortsighted. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931/140 "2022-01-18T22:44:56Z")
Isn’t that the reason people go to Casablanca? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-well-known-at-least-fairly-well-known-type-of-food-or-style-of-cuisine-youve-never-or-only-recently-tried/957931.md?page=8)