I would worry about food etiquette if I were traveling to another country. I’m not much worried about acting like an American in America. I would assume they’ve seen people eat with a fork. Someone mentioned breaking through the barrier of eating raw fish after several tries. That’s not going to happen. I don’t like raw and I don’t like fish. I do enjoy other parts of Japanese cuisine. (I won’t attest to the authenticity of what I’ve had)
NITPICK: The Instrumental form of mustard (gorchitsa) is gorchitsei. (горчи́ца—>горчи́цей).
Which was kind of my point when I said the American version is quite different from the original Russian version. My understanding is that the original Russian version didn’t have sour cream in the sauce, something that Americans would consider necessary for something to be called stroganoff. Putting sour cream in the sauce was an American modification.
I’ve heard the Russians love to put dill in everything, so adding dill would make it more Russian in my book.
A quick look in one of my recipe books shows that dill (ukrop) is used in a lot of dishes, but the herb mentioned most often is parsley (petrushka). Bay leaves are also used in some recipes.
Supermarkets often sell little cellophane-wrapped trays with an assortment of herbs labeled simply zelen (“greens”). If I’m not mistaken, they invariably contain parsley, dill, and basil (basilik).
At open-air markets, of course, you can choose from a wide variety of herbs, including kinza (cilantro/coriander leaves).
Bay leaves are called lavroviye (laurel) list’ya.
I am a big fan of esoteric versions of rice. Many people appreciate delicious Thai and Chinese-American fried versions. Fans of Japanese food and paella like it with fresh fish. It is delicious with Cuban black beans and with any type of (Southern?) Indian food. (Northern Indians sometimes prefer bread, but not always so.)
Fewer have tried delicious centrepiece Persian versions with a crispy shell, or exceptional Colombian rice made painstakingly slowly by caramelizing coconut milk. I myself have never tried the “meal in itself” Georgian versions served with things like chicken and peach slices. But they look great.
Yeah. I had to break through the barrier of thinking raw fish was icky. It took exactly one bite. I ate the rest of my first sushi with pleasure.
But i like rare beef, and cooked fish
Nope. Korea and China do better noodles. Kobe beef is dog food. Tempura is originally Portuguese. Teriyaki…OK, I’ll give you that one.
Eh, it’s one country. There are 194 others out there with better food.
Hmm. There are lots of places that do excellent noodles. I’ve had really excellent Japanese noodles.
Me as well. I didn’t think I’d like sushi (and still stay away from eel-based sushi for some reason. Have never tried it, probably never will) The first time, I liquored up on good Japanese beer first, which made it easier. Sushi night is now one of my favorites.
Exactly. It’s not really about etiquette and barriers but making things easier for yourself (about things that ultimately aren’t such a big deal).
I have had sushi with cooked crab. (I am a big fan of most shellfish) I didn’t like it. I don’t see how introducing raw fish would make a difference.
Yeah, if that’s not your thing, it’s not your thing. Fwiw, while i enjoy the rice and seaweed, it’s the flavor and texture of the fish that seduced me. Raw tuna is a magnificent, wonderful thing.
I also thought at one time sushi would be gross and fishy tasting. It wasn’t until I was 21 that I dated a girl who introduced me to sushi, and I was surprised at how mild and sublime, and not fishy at all it was. The closest that comes to what I imagined sushi would taste like is mackerel nigiri, and I love that too. I even love uni (sea urchin), the texture of which puts a lot of people off,
They showed eel pie on the Great British Baking show, and I think I’d have to get pretty liquored up to try that.
I’ve had eel sushi though, and it was fine .
That’s the funny part. Eel is just another fish, and probably tasty. I’m just not going there. So, I get people who avoid sushi generally. I won’t eat brain, headcheese, liver, or tripe, despite the fact many people enjoy those things and for all I know, I might too. There a plenty of things I do like to eat, having a few dozen on my no fly list isn’t a big problem.
Yeah, eel nigiri is one of the safe “starter” picks for people who haven’t had sushi before and are afraid of raw things, being one of the few cooked varieties of sushi. Its taste is kind of ‘meaty’ and its texture is like any piece of cooked fish.
I found the Elena Molokhovets Stroganoff recipe online. It’s very simple. Think I will make this for dinner tomorrow. I’ll report how it turned out in case anyone’s interested.
So I made this for an early Sunday supper. The only deviation I made from the recipe was to add chopped up red bell pepper because I didn’t feel like making a side veg.
I was a bit skeptical of how the allspice and mustard would work in the mix, but it turned out really great! I definitely would make this again, maybe next time keeping the allspice and mustard and adding back mushrooms and onions like a more modern Stroganoff.
Tom Scud grew up eating Indian food (his mom was born in India and his parents met there in the 3rd grade at a boarding school for missionary kids). I…did not. My mother is a good cook, but not a particularly adventurous one, and has probably literally never purchased a chile in her life. But we cook and eat a lot of Indian food now. If you want to start out small and easy to make, you could do a lot worse than this book. We bought it years ago and use it fairly frequently, although we now have half a dozen Indian cookbooks. I even gave a copy as a wedding gift to an Indian friend who married a non-Indian, and he says that some of the recipes are now among his favorites. And if you just want to dip your toe in without buying the book, the author also has a website with recipes.