Quasi-related to the “Things You Want to Eat Wrong” thread.
Inspired by a post in the “worst national cuisine thread.” Someone mentions “curry.” I, because of my background, culinarily and otherwise, think immediately of Japanese curry: thick, chunky, served over steamed white rice.
Doubtlessly very few of you reading this did so too. Most of you, like the person who posted in that other thread, thought of Indian curry: thinner, not as chunky, served with non-white rice.
Any other foods like that that trigger a similar situation for you? The more widespread the “other” version of the dish is, the better!
Well, the classic is barbecue, which definition depends on where you were born. (Of course, anybody born in a place where it doesn’t mean “pork shoulder slow cooked, shredded with one of three holy sauces” got fucked in the genetic lottery and I try not to hold it against you.) I suppose that doesn’t really put any one person in an extreme minority though.
My mom and gramma both used to open a can of corn niblets and mix it into the pancake batter. When I picture pancakes, they have corn in them. So far, I have not met anyone or heard of anyone else who does this.
Dumplings. I grew up with what my mother called “french dumplings”, that are just basically balls of eggy dough dropped in chicken soup, instead of noodles.
I gather most people think of some kind of dough or noodle with filling inside. Apple dumplings, Chinese dumplings, etc. But to me, dumplings are sort of like big chewy noodles.
When I hear “curry” I simultaneously think of Indian, Thai, and Japanese curry and simultaneously want them all.
Because it is how my mother made it, and I stopped eating mammals shortly after moving away from home for college, I’ve only ever had beef stroganoff made with ground beef. I’ve since been informed many times that this is completely wrong, and completely trailer trash, and totally unacceptable.
Also because I grew up relatively poor (ground was essentially the only way beef ever made it into our house) and did give up beef and pork when I was 18 (now 36) my education in various beef and pork dishes is woefully incomplete and it isn’t uncommon for me to learn I was completely wrong about what some dish or cut is. For a very long time I thought mortadella was a mushroom (though when it comes to fancy Italian menus I often am just guessing as to whether some ingredient is meat, mushroom, or pasta).
Most people think of it as a thick slice of bread fried and/or baked in a sweet cream-and-egg batter, sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon, dipped in maple syrup or honey, and served with fresh fruit.
To me, french toast is a thin slice of bread fried in egg, salt, fresh cilantro leaves, and diced onions, and served with green chili peppers and Maggi hot ketchup.
Indians always have white rice with their meals. Brown rice is perceived as something that only poor people have to eat.
When someone mentions “corn” I get a mental image of my SIL the corn freak. Corn at every meal. A million recipes for the stuff. She makes vanilla ice cream with brown sugar and creamed corn.
I’m but a simple country girl. I’d never had curry of any sort until I first came to Japan as a college student. So yep, curry on steamed white rice was my default setting too.
But one thing that still trips me up and breaks my heart regularly here is “corn bread.” I can never seem to remember that corn bread here is not the tasty maize delight of yore, but of boring white bread with corn kernels scattered like buckshot. Not bad, mind you, but bone-crushingly disappointing.
VOMIT!! Creamed corn is an abomination, and thankfully my mother hated it too so she never made me eat it.
I was going to say what obfusciatrist said about curry. I love love love Thai and Indian curry and I think about both of them when I think about curry. Never had Japanese curry before, though.
I’m familiar with both concepts. The dumplings in chicken-and-dumplings, sometimes called biscuit dumplings, don’t have fillings. That’s my regional cuisine. But I think most people would understand filled “dumplings” in other contexts.
Well, a lot of Indian people are poor, of course.
But I suspect that by “non-white” Leaper meant polished rice, possibly basmati, that has been tinted with saffron or turmeric. Not actual brown rice.
Let me know how you like it. I’d be proud to start a culinary trend.
I think it had something to do with my Grandmother’s garden. Typically, she had pretty bountiful harvests and if there were several bushels of corn laying around waiting for preservation (freezing, canning, whatever), I think she’d use everything from the garden she could before it went bad. (Until she got to the preservation part.)
Anyway, I recommend Jolly Green Giant niblets and drain all the liquid out before you dump the niblets in. Cook as usual. Adds a sweet slight crunch to each bite.
True story: When I moved in with my dad and stepmom at 11, I refused to eat my stepmom’s pancakes. I thought she made them wrong because pancakes were supposed to have corn in them. My sister was the same way. She’d set a platter of pancakes down on the table and we’d look at her like :mad: and wouldn’t eat 'em. Finally she got it out of us that we were expecting to see and taste corn in our pancakes. She thought we were nuts, but after she started making them that way, she began to prefer it.
I’ll take corn in my pancakes over blueberries or pecans or chocolate chips any day of the week.
I’ve never had the corn in the pancakes thing but it sounds good. What sounds even better though is pancakes with corn and pecans. I’m going to have to do some experimenting.
I grew up in the Mountain West so when someone says “scones” I have to ask them if they mean fried bread or those English style biscuits. While I do like English scones, they’ve got nothing on a hot fried scone dripping with butter and honey. I loved it when my mom would sacrifice a loaf of bread dough to the deep fryer on bread making days.
Yeah, but my dumplings aren’t chicken-and-dumpling style, either. They’re closer to noodles or spaetzle. Most chicken-and-dumplings I’ve had, the dumplings are light, fluffy, and biscuity.
:mad: and wouldn’t eat 'em. Finally she got it out of us that we were expecting to see and taste corn in our pancakes. She thought we were nuts, but after she started making them that way, she began to prefer it.