One food you have never had... but are curious

I'll go first.

Haggis.

Just for fun, Rocky Mountain oysters

Been there... tastes like fried anything. Ha!

Here in Germany, they have something called Mett. It is some sort of cured ground beef but you would honestly think its raw. They serve it on bread with onions.

Igitt wie Sau!

I'd give it a go. I love a nice beef tartar, not sure how similar it is.

I want morels. Never had them. All the foodie blogs are talking about how it's hunting time.

CreamyGoodness said:

I'd give it a go. I love a nice beef tartar, not sure how similar it is.

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I thought the same thing and almost spit it out.

Other than that, don't know if there is anything else I would specifically seek out to try, but I'm not too picky.

I've had em at a restaurant years ago but never in my kitchen. The ole wallet wont allow for it these days.

Haggis for me too - authentic Haggis!

Revvy said:

I want morels. Never had them. All the foodie blogs are talking about how it's hunting time.

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I found morels one time...need to find time to go hunting them!

Grandson of Scottish Louisiana bayou folk, I gorontee, with several St. Andrews feasts, a couple North Dakota branding weekends, and Army brat in German: I can check off haggis and fried Semintal testacles, mett, beef tartar and morels.

Most recent new food: moved to a new house with a loquat tree, first harvest, yum, but a ***** to peel.

Ah, I've got it. We just planted a couple of paw paw trees. I would like to taste paw paws.
Also, Pliny the Elder.

DromJohn said:

Grandson of Scottish Louisiana bayou folk, I gorontee, with several St. Andrews feasts, a couple North Dakota branding weekends, and Army brat in German: I can check off haggis and fried Semintal testacles, mett, beef tartar and morels.

Most recent new food: moved to a new house with a loquat tree, first harvest, yum, but a ***** to peel.

Ah, I've got it. We just planted a couple of paw paw trees. I would like to taste paw paws.
Also, Pliny the Elder.

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Did you like the Mett?

Guess I've been lucky, I've had both mettwurst and morels, but not at the same time. Both are delicious. The mettwurst is cured and has a pleasant onion and slight smoke flavor and is typically eaten on light rye bread. The morels were pan fried in butter, salt, and pepper while camping in Oregon as a kid. I've also had them in Germany in a cream sauce with rabbit. The mushrooms were good but I didn't care for the rabbit. I've never had beluga caviar or real truffles…one day maybe…one day.

JayDubWill said:

Guess I've been lucky, I've had both mettwurst and morels, but not at the same time. Both are delicious. The mettwurst is cured and has a pleasant onion and slight smoke flavor and is typically eaten on light rye bread. The morels were pan fried in butter, salt, and pepper while camping in Oregon as a kid. I've also had them in Germany in a cream sauce with rabbit. The mushrooms were good but I didn't care for the rabbit. I've never had beluga caviar or real truffles…one day maybe…one day.

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You lucky... I would have taken the choice of mettwurst over straight up Mett any day

So I just discovered that buluga sturgeon are actually pretty endangered so I should probably change my answer to just cavier. The American black cavier sounds interesting.

I like caviar. I also like tobiko, flying fish roe, as well as its common substitute at sushi joints, smelt roe. Black caviar is definitely stronger in flavor. If you have never had fish eggs of any sort, Id suggest heading to a sushi restaurant and getting a piece of tobiko sushi.

You know, I didn't think that I'm really that adventurous but I really can't think of anything common that I haven't tried.

There was a thing on facebook a while back about "how many of these 100 foods have you had?" or something like that and I had tried all but a few of them.

Things like morels are common here (morel risotto is a specialty of a good friend's) but it's hard to get other rare foods here. We're landlocked, and mostly white Scandinavians so you don't see sushi, other Asian foods, fresh seafood or oysters, etc, around here.

Of course, it's easy to get lutefisk, if I was so inclined.

Since I've traveled alot in my life, I've had a chance to try most things I've heard of.

Not a fan of Haggis or menudo, but I will eat both dishes if that is what my host has made.

Yoop, maybe I'm erroneously attributing things to the UP I have seen elsewhere in Michigan, but how do you feel about the polish sausage culture in the polish and german neighborhoods? Some of the best (and most exotic) sausages I have had were in Roger City.

I've always wanted to try Kobe beef.

I'm curious about Durian. Kobe beef is good, but expensive, and I'm not sure it's worth the expense. But, i think i can make most steaks taste good.

Balut. Curious, just not curious enough to actually try it.



Century egg. See above.



Birds nest. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.



I have had the Kopi Luwak tho'. Earthy.

I've always wondered what people taste like...

CreamyGoodness said:

Yoop, maybe I'm erroneously attributing things to the UP I have seen elsewhere in Michigan, but how do you feel about the polish sausage culture in the polish and german neighborhoods? Some of the best (and most exotic) sausages I have had were in Roger City.

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We don't have much in the way of ethnic foods or things, except for pasties (everywhere) and Swedish things at church dinners.

There are a few Poles, but not that many and they always were sort of just put in place with the French and a few other Europeans. There were the Nordic people (Swedes, and Finns for the most part) and a few other ethnic groups. There a few Italian villages, but not that many. There are few Italian restaurants, let alone good ones, in the whole UP. I've never had a good sausage in the UP, but they have lots of things like smoked whitefish everywhere.

There are great sausages south of us, in Central and Southern Wisconsin, which was predominantly German at one time.

There isn't very much ethnic diversity at all, although in the last 20 years it's been changing a bit. The three "college towns" have more diversity than throughout the rest of the UP. But still, it isn't that much. We have a whole lot of blue eyed white Scandinavians running around!

Probably turducken for me

Rabbit. I was a teenager first time I saw it cooked and something about it intrigued me. Sadly I could not come to eating my pet rabbit when he was killed by a neighbors dog in order to find out.

Yooper said:

Of course, it's easy to get lutefisk, if I was so inclined.

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Skip the lutefisk and go right for the Surströmming.

PseudoChef said:

Skip the lutefisk and go right for the Surströmming.

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Seriously, that is GOOD stuff. Great stuff, but expensive.

Revvy said:

I want morels. Never had them. All the foodie blogs are talking about how it's hunting time.

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You can buy them in the grocery stores here, or at the farmers' markets. If you want to pick your own, look for them in forested areas, especially the ones that were burned a year or 2 ago. You should get a field guide with color photos & carry it with you to help positively ID your mushrooms, as there is a false morel that is toxic. This might help:
http://www.michiganmorels.com/morels2.shtml

Revvy, if you can't get any morels, PM me.
Regards, GF.

snake

There was a local place here that served lion once. They caught holy hell for that and will never do it again. Apparently, there is a lion farm somewhere that raises them for food. They regularly serve stuff like snake and moose and other odd stuff.

I'd like to try the world famous Russian Beluga caviar, though I don't think I'd like it due to the salt content, maybe if they had a sale on a low sodium variety. Creamy, if you like fish roe, you should try ikura next time you go for sushi. It's salmon roe & it's sooooo tasty! I could eat a whole bowl of it with a spoon.

I'd like to try the surstromming. Though any food that has laws passed against eating them indoors must be approached with a little caution. I'd like to try some of the exotic meats like kangaroo, ostrich, iguana, etc...
I'd feel a little weird eating dog, but I like to think I'd be able to get past that & try it.

I'd like to try abalone, sea urchin & sea cucumber, but the sushi places in Missoula never have any of them. I'm pretty sure I'll have to go to Seattle for those.
Regards, GF.

Geoduck

I saw a show a few years ago (maybe Dirty Jobs???) where they were harvesting them somewhere out west. I love clams and am intrigued.

Not even that odd I guess, but I've always wanted to try alligator. And now that passedpawn mentions it, I'd try snake too.

I love ikura takes a little more getting used to than tobiko, but tasty stuff nonetheless. I am actually a little frightened of surstromming, but Im told that when you eat it with flatbread and potatoes as is typical its actually quite nice. Needless to say I would give it a go.

I've had ostrich which is rather nice. Ive had abalone (I didnt think it was worth the price or the hype) and sea urchin (uni is definitely an acquired taste. I personally love it. My wife cant stand it), but never sea cucumber. Its on my list, but I get the feeling I wouldnt like it.

I want to try seal, kangaroo, and way too many others to list. can't really think of many things I would not try. I tried porcupine one time, was pretty good.

Revvy, I'd like to say I'll pick you some morels and mail them out (dried), but honestly, I can never find enough for myself! They are awesome. I grew up eating them. We used to pick them at a relatives property (where we used to shoot guns in their sand pit too). Once time dad and I went fishing in a nearby stream and caught a few trout, and one the way back to the truck we came across a mess of morels. One of the best meals I have ever had.

For myself, I have not had a LOT of things. I can't think of any one thing I'd really like to try, but I'm willing to try whatever is out there. Haggis sounds interesting, but I'm not going out of my way to try it. Never had caviar, but I have had fried Pike Eggs. (They are very small and hard to chew. They just kind of squeeze out between your teeth...)

I guess I'm not interested in eating anything that is going to try and crawl back out of my mouth.

If I ever went to a big city I'd like to try some cart food. Maybe something from a real deli.

I've had Rabbit, Squirrel, Possum, Beaver, Deer (of course), etc. Pretty much anything that's on the Michigan hunting guide and then some. I wouldn't say any of it was 'bad', but rabbit was WAY better than squirrel. Really tastes just like chicken!

Ostrich is pretty lean and can dry out pretty easily when cooked. Kangaroo is somewhat the same, although I only had a sample. Alligator is great - really almost like dark chicken with more of that "gamey"ness to it. I haven't had snake, but hopefully that will change this summer - my girlfriend's dad gets rattlesnake meat.

I, too, like Urchin, but Cucumber is pretty putrid.

I actually haven't had Surstomming, but as a pseudo-Swede, I'd try if offered. Seems the smell is worse than the taste.

Foie Gras. I never had the budget to try it, and now it's too late as I live in CA and think of the poor animals :cross:

Ostrich, cooked in my sous-vide, and then browned, with a Mexican Coke/Michigan spice cherry wine glace.

chocotaco said:

Foie Gras. I never had the budget to try it, and now it's too late as I live in CA and think of the poor animals :cross:

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There is an amazing farmer in I think its Columbia who does a cruelty-free froi that I would love to try. Basically the geese will gorge themselves during a certain time of year even if there is no gavage, so he has crops available to them that they not only can eat massive amounts of, but are chosen specifically to flavor the liver. For example, he plants mustard plants and pepper corns as well as leaving out rock salt. The liver comes out tasting like salt, pepper, and mustard. There was a whole TED Talk piece on him a couple years ago.

CreamyGoodness said:

There is an amazing farmer in I think its Columbia who does a cruelty-free froi that I would love to try. Basically the geese will gorge themselves during a certain time of year even if there is no gavage.

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I saw that presentation as well. But I have also read that the animals don't really mind the gavage; to them it feels about as invasive as the doctor putting a thermometer under your tongue (these are animals who swallow whole fish!). Either way, I wish I could have tasted some Foie before it was banned by my (nanny-)state government.