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

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
podz said:
I (and nearly 10 million Greeks) eat them quite regularly during the summer. I just pull them straight out of my yard while doing yard work, throw them into a pile, and my wife cleans them. You need a great big pile of cleaned leaves to make one batch.

They are bitter as all hell if you don't cook them properly. First, throw them into a pot without any water and cook them slowly until they release all of their own water. Pour the water out, add fresh water and boil them again. Drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water, drain thoroughly again - repeat this process twice. They will still be bitter. Put them into a big bowl and pour in equal amounts of olive oil and lemon juice, enough to make them all shiny and easy to stir around, don't be stingy. A little bit of sea salt don't hurt, either.. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 days - then it's ready to eat. You eat it cold or at room temperature, not warm.

The Greeks call it "horta", and it goes well as a side dish with anything.
Click to expand...

Cool explanation, thanks. I hadn't heard that preparation before. I have had dandelion wine, though. I'm not sure how popular it is, but mutt father liked it a lot, and I got a chance to try it at a farm that makes a lot of different fruit wines. Not my cup of tea, err I mean wine.
 
Never had moose or elk, though a lot of people around here hunt them. I have eaten plenty of reindeer, though - fantastic!
 
roastquake said:
I read somewhere that dandelion leaves make a good bitter salad green. I plan on trying this, and hopefully getting into more foraged food. Anybody have any links for that?
Click to expand...

I don't know about links but you should be able to get the old Foxfire books from the library. Books 1-6 have great information about foraging.

When I was little my Mom used to take us out to forage to supplement our groceries. I had no idea at the time that it was financially necessary.
 
bleme said:
I don't know about links but you should be able to get the old Foxfire books from the library. Books 1-6 have great information about foraging.

When I was little my Mom used to take us out to forage to supplement our groceries. I had no idea at the time that it was financially necessary.
Click to expand...

Good experience to have, imo
 
bleme said:
When I was little my Mom used to take us out to forage to supplement our groceries. I had no idea at the time that it was financially necessary.
Click to expand...


That, and there are also plenty of things which are just not sold in stores.

Stinging nettles are also a very good source of greens. You need gloves to pick them, but after they've been boiled they are highly edible and tasty!

I'm thinking that maybe we should start a foraging thread.
 
Durains. Stinky Fruit. My wife got one to try, cut it open and I caught a wiff..... tossed my cookies within seconds and ran for outside as it was that bad. Didn't come back inside for hours. Had to air the house out and I refused to move the garbage can to the curb on trash day, it was that bad. Why so many people love it I have no clue.
 
OkashiiBrew said:
Durains. Stinky Fruit. My wife got one to try, cut it open and I caught a wiff..... tossed my cookies within seconds and ran for outside as it was that bad. Didn't come back inside for hours. Had to air the house out and I refused to move the garbage can to the curb on trash day, it was that bad. Why so many people love it I have no clue.
Click to expand...

I think people like it because it tastes good. But yes it does stink terribly. I think it smells like garbage juice and rotting flesh. But it tastes like vanilla custard.
 
roastquake said:
I read somewhere that dandelion leaves make a good bitter salad green. I plan on trying this, and hopefully getting into more foraged food. Anybody have any links for that?
Click to expand...

Very good, pick younger leaves, rinse well. We cook them up like most kinds of greens or have them fresh in salads with olive oil and vinegar.

Hello said:
Deer. Never had it before.
Click to expand...

mmmmmmm Venison!

podz said:
Never had moose or elk, though a lot of people around here hunt them. I have eaten plenty of reindeer, though - fantastic!
Click to expand...

mmmmmmm larger Venison! We get Reindeer (domestic) and Caribou (wild) and I would have a hard time choosing between the two. Also love Elk! Moose and Elk may be my favorites.

BeerGrylls said:
I could've done without eating bear, though. Tastes like old tough steak marinated in used motor oil.
Click to expand...

I have had bad bear but that was more due to time of year and bad preparation. Up here you don't want to eat coastal bear that's been on the salmon in the fall - nasty. I like sppring black bear or interior bear that's been on the berries!

podz said:
That, and there are also plenty of things which are just not sold in stores.

Stinging nettles are also a very good source of greens. You need gloves to pick them, but after they've been boiled they are highly edible and tasty!

I'm thinking that maybe we should start a foraging thread.
Click to expand...

I remember Nettles from when we lived in the States, they were good.

I'll bet there are quite few foragers around here that would participate and those who would be curious to know what's growing and edible in their neck of the woods!
 
Dandelions? Dents des lion's or teeth of the lion, pis en lit. GF and Subsailor are right, if you can get the root along with the leaves, we soak and rinse thoroughly, seperate young leaves ( preferably spring or fall) discard or make veg broth with old leaves, rerinse root, chop up, roast in oven until desired roast, grind in coffee grinder and percolate. An amazing decaf cafe that is really good for u (liver! !!!)

Oh and those coyotes are getting bolder come dark season, getting my old school Browning Cobra on target instinctvily, yip yip again and its on.......
 
Subsailor said:
I remember Nettles from when we lived in the States, they were good.
Click to expand...

some people are (understandably) afraid of them but they are really very good. and here they are horridly abundant, on the edges of woods and along streams. any recipe with cooked spinach or greens, try subbing in nettles. just don some dishwashing gloves, pick the young leaves and get rid of any older stems as they are fibrous, and avoid the tops that have flowered. the taste is not that close to spinach but they work in the same way. a simple nettle, onion and potato soup blended with cream is excellent. and (at least here) you can pick them in the spring and again in the autumn when they often make a new bit of vegetative growth. big nettles fan!
 
podz said:
I'm thinking that maybe we should start a foraging thread.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Maybe, I remember a thread about mushrooms and not sure where that went but I now have Turkey tail, reshie, maitake, and shiitake started. We've been picking white chaneterelles all fall. I'd love to see our hb talk collective knowledge!

ForumRunner_20131116_100415.png
 
BeerGrylls said:
I could've done without eating bear, though. Tastes like old tough steak marinated in used motor oil.
Click to expand...

Well who ever cooked it did a horrible job. Or someone didn't take care of the meat. With all that fur, you need to get it dressed out quick!!

Its not my favorite but its not horrible.
 
My mom has been talking about making Nettle Beer since before I even started brewing. I don't know the exact recipe, but you fill a bucket with nettles, add sugar and cover with water. Float a piece of bread on top. I think you put some bread yeast on that bread, but I'm not sure.
 
bleme said:
My mom has been talking about making Nettle Beer since before I even started brewing. I don't know the exact recipe, but you fill a bucket with nettles, add sugar and cover with water. Float a piece of bread on top. I think you put some bread yeast on that bread, but I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

i remember reading this recipe for nettle 'wine', the guy has some interesting ones (also some seriously outdated homebrew advice) but i have never made/tried one
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/allotment/2012/mar/09/allotments-gardens
(the guardian, uk)
Nettle wine
1 carrier bag of nettles
1.5 kg sugar
4 litres water
1 orange
1 lemon
Half a cup cold black tea
1 tsp wine nutrient
White wine yeast

Wash the nettles and place inside a fermentation bin with the sugar, tea, nutrient and the juice and rind of the citrus fruits. Allow to cool to room temperature then add the white wine yeast. Stand the bin for five days in an area that is consistently warm (no more than 21°c). After about five days strain into a demijohn, attaching an airlock and bung.

Rack once during fermentation. Bottle when fermentation has ceased, this should be in about 3 months depending how warm you keep it.

Nettle wine does not benefit from laying down, so drink immediately and enjoy.
 
aiptasia said:
The French Ortolan, in the traditionally prepared way.
Click to expand...

wow.... i had to look it up, here are some excerpts from the wikipedia page in case it is blocked in your country by the bird protection lobby or chinese government.

For centuries, a rite of passage for French gourmets has been the eating of the Ortolan. These tiny birds—captured alive, force-fed, then drowned in Armagnac—were roasted whole and eaten that way, bones and all, while the diner draped his head with a linen napkin to preserve the precious aromas and, some believe, to hide from God.

The ortolan is force-fed by being placed in a dark box with millet, where as a reaction to darkness it proceeds to eat continuously. One way French diners ate ortolans was to cover their heads and face with a large napkin for the gourmet's aesthetic desire to absorb the maximum odour with the flavor.
 
Subsailor said:
I just saw where somebody made a comment in this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/whats-your-favorite-snack-while-brewing-443333/
about: Whale Blubber...Yum

I've eaten muktaq (whale blubber) and I gotta say, the only type I kind of liked was the Beluga Whale blubber. Didn't really care for the Gray or Right Whale blubbers and definitely do not like Seal or Walrus blubber.
Click to expand...

"She said she'd eat whale blubber for me!"

"She will, as soon as I 'Free Willy'!"

-Me, Myself, and Irene
 
dinnerstick said:
wow.... i had to look it up, here are some excerpts from the wikipedia page in case it is blocked in your country by the bird protection lobby or chinese government.

For centuries, a rite of passage for French gourmets has been the eating of the Ortolan. These tiny birds—captured alive, force-fed, then drowned in Armagnac—were roasted whole and eaten that way, bones and all, while the diner draped his head with a linen napkin to preserve the precious aromas and, some believe, to hide from God.

The ortolan is force-fed by being placed in a dark box with millet, where as a reaction to darkness it proceeds to eat continuously. One way French diners ate ortolans was to cover their heads and face with a large napkin for the gourmet's aesthetic desire to absorb the maximum odour with the flavor.
Click to expand...

My favorite culinary and travel guru describes the process and the very private consumption of ortolan in his book, Medium Raw. He leaves in all of the gruesome details and spares no expense to the reader in describing the very private French ceremony he was allowed to participate in, presumably with his French chef partner-in-crime Eric Ripert. Flown to Paris under the cloak of secrecy, blindfolded and driven to a remote location, served in complete darkness by masked chefs.

If it's fiction, the recounting of the meal was very believable. If it really happened, it was surreal.
 
gratus fermentatio said:
If You're going to eat a critter, the very least you can (and should) do is give said critter a clean & quick death. I have no problem killing & eating something, but there is no reason to torture it or make it otherwise suffer before delivering the coup de grace.
Just my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.
Click to expand...

I'm just going to go ahead and say lobster & steamers - we dunk those those buggers into boiling water while alive, as well as prawns that are skewered while still alive. None of the examples I've given are as perverse as the process outlined for preparing an Ortolan, except maybe at seafood processing plants; although really, any animal processing plant can be bad if not regulated properly.

I'd just like to say I make pate quite often, and i have never once rammed a steel pipe down a water fowls gullet and force fed it corn and fat until it's liver reached six times it's normal size.
 
SPR-GRN said:
I'm just going to go ahead and say lobster & steamers - we dunk those those buggers into boiling water while alive, as well as prawns that are skewered while still alive. None of the examples I've given are as perverse as the process outlined for preparing an Ortolan, except maybe at seafood processing plants; although really, any animal processing plant can be bad if not regulated properly.

I'd just like to say I make pate quite often, and i have never once rammed a steel pipe down a water fowls gullet and force fed it corn and fat until it's liver reached six times it's normal size.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing you; I was just sharing my thoughts on the subject of the link you posted. And I'm glad you shared the link, I'd never heard of a couple of those.

I do the same with live lobster, blue crabs, shellfish of all sorts. I consider it a quick death for them. I'm not going to drop a live chicken into a pot of boiling water, but for the lobster, I think it's humane. Never heard of skewering live shrimp before. Seems like they'd be kinda tough to eat with the shells on though.

I'm not one to tell others what to eat or not eat, not my biz. (except cannibalism, that's unacceptable, period.) But I can & will voice my opinion on all sorts of things. I suppose I'm a bit of a hypocrite though, in the sense that I have no problem putting a live worm on a hook when fishing & my fresh caught fish usually asphyxiate in a cooler of ice...
But I'm not going to do that to a cow.
Regards, GF.
 
SPR-GRN said:
I'm just going to go ahead and say lobster & steamers - we dunk those those buggers into boiling water while alive, as well as prawns that are skewered while still alive. None of the examples I've given are as perverse as the process outlined for preparing an Ortolan, except maybe at seafood processing plants; although really, any animal processing plant can be bad if not regulated properly.

I'd just like to say I make pate quite often, and i have never once rammed a steel pipe down a water fowls gullet and force fed it corn and fat until it's liver reached six times it's normal size.
Click to expand...

gratus fermentatio said:
I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing you; I was just sharing my thoughts on the subject of the link you posted. And I'm glad you shared the link, I'd never heard of a couple of those.

I do the same with live lobster, blue crabs, shellfish of all sorts. I consider it a quick death for them. I'm not going to drop a live chicken into a pot of boiling water, but for the lobster, I think it's humane. Never heard of skewering live shrimp before. Seems like they'd be kinda tough to eat with the shells on though.

I'm not one to tell others what to eat or not eat, not my biz. (except cannibalism, that's unacceptable, period.) But I can & will voice my opinion on all sorts of things. I suppose I'm a bit of a hypocrite though, in the sense that I have no problem putting a live worm on a hook when fishing & my fresh caught fish usually asphyxiate in a cooler of ice...
But I'm not going to do that to a cow.
Regards, GF.
Click to expand...

As far as lobster, crab and other shellfish - I do as you do. However, I once dated a young woman in New England and her family stab a large knife down through the lobster's head to 'kill it humanely before boiling'. I don't know how true it was because the lobsters was still twitching upon entry into the pot.

On another note, I was stationed in Guam in the late 70's and was fishing with a Samoan friend out off one of the coral reefs. We had spent most of our money on beer and were having a great time catching fish but got hungry. He caught a small skipjack and said screw it, split it open with his pocket knife, rinsed it off in the ocean and proceeded to eat chunks of filet right of the still quivering carcass. I was reluctant at first but after about another 1/2 hour, I caught one and did the same as he. To this day, that is still the best sushi I have ever had. it wasw kind of wierd to chew on meat that was still twitching and the head laying right there in water still gasping as the small crabs came for it.
 
Subsailor said:
As far as lobster, crab and other shellfish - I do as you do. However, I once dated a young woman in New England and her family stab a large knife down through the lobster's head to 'kill it humanely before boiling'. I don't know how true it was because the lobsters was still twitching upon entry into the pot.
Click to expand...



Yeah, stabbing through the head works, but it still occaisionally will still move and twitch. It's just reflex. Putting the lobster in the freezer for a bit before stabbing it helps.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Similar threads

slemme
For Sale GA TICKET - RESELLING TIX for SOLD OUT 2024 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival
Replies
0
Views
205
slemme
slemme
Romex2121
Brew calculators
Replies
3
Views
155
Romex2121
Romex2121
N
Underrated Beer List
Replies
28
Views
982
mashdar
mashdar
Tony B
Curious fermentation
Replies
15
Views
827
redrocker652002
R
S
How many of you would roll the dice on this year-old yeast?
Replies
30
Views
1K
odie
odie

Latest posts

Back
Top