It's amazing what a little hot sauce can do to an otherwise bland meal.

Wow, just WOW! I didn't read everyone of the 600+ posts in this 46 page thread (so far) but is there not one of you who finds all this very strange?

I mean so many specific like and dislikes and whims, mostly whims and dislikes. How come?

Does this have to do with the other thread where someone asked what your mother's most loathed dish was?

I have to think really, really hard and I still can't come up with a single one of these "rules". I mean, yes, I am allergic to some things and thus normally avoid those. And even those things I actually like and will sometimes just deal with the consequences or take medicine so that I can eat these things.

There are things that I am not particularly fond of like caviar or things that I would find gross like testicles or eyes but stuff like having absolutely nothing on a burger except the meat and the bacon or eating food at room temperature, nope.

You guys are strange. ;) But I guess I might be the strange one because the strange guys seem to be in the majority. LOL!

Till

Oooh I keep coming back to this thread http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...ile_tongue.gif

Word up, it's all about the texture ^

I think it works better as a coaster for your beverage.

We are almost polar opposites

Agree but Stilton & Swiss are right behind

I won't even want to eat with them. I avoid Texas.

Perhaps a rare occurrence? I ask only because I have the smoked salmon often on planes, figuring that it's safer than most fish, having been cured etc. Now I wonder.

So many people do this--most are breaking the law, and it's a law with a good purpose.

I hate surimi, and I don't like snails (except small sea-snails).

Hmmm, I wonder about the 'good purpose'. If I want really good cheese, I will sometimes buy it in Europe and bring it back with me (entirely allowed). However, I can only bring $20 worth. Now I suspect this is to prevent trade - but really, I could easily bring back 10 times that for my personal consumption (given cheese doesn't have an especially short shelf life). I think it should have the same sorts of rules as in the EU 'personal consumption quantitles' - and I could easily explain $200 (especially if I can also include French butter!)

I am also not sure confiscating an airplane cheese sandwich (when the beagle has once again ascertained that my airline lunch went into my bag unopened rather than consumed) has any good reason behind it.

Great thread. I don't have many but the oneS I have are weird.

1) Nothing that has or had a pit. Except guacamole.

2) "Sundried" tomatoes? No.

3) Nothing made of soy, except soy sauce or tofu. I will not eat pizza from a restaurant that promotes its use of soy "cheese". (If they merely serve soy cheese plus cheese cheese, it's fine. If they brag about it, no thanks.) Soy beans are not mammals and do not otherwise have nipples. Accordingly, I object to "soy milk" (and its cousin "rice") as misleading marketing. I guess "soy juice" wouldn't sell as well, but I object.

4) Thanksgiving leftovers are best enjoyed as a single combined open-faced creation in particular order: bread, mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, dollop of cranberry sauce. The layers of starch are very thin. There should be more turkey than the other things combined. Gravy is repulsive. Mashed potatoes should be simple: butter, milk, salt, and pepper. They should be whipped enough to be light but not "fluffy".

5) When making s'mores, never use a microwave and only heat the marshmallow.

6) Don't mix things into my ice cream. If it comes that way, fine. If the rocky part of the rocky road or chunky monkey or cookie dough has made the journey with the ice cream from factory, on the truck, to the store, to the table, great. They belong together. But if it's not in the carton, I am not interested. I like chocolate ice cream enough as it is. Hold the kit kat. No sherbet except rainbow should be eaten unless they are out of rainbow. (Sherbet should always be incorrectly pronounced, as though it includes a second r. For similar reasons, it's ok to use "literally" when you mean exactly not literally. And I am ok if you want to call whales and dolphins fish. Throw the ignorant a bone or two. It's hard being ignorant. And no matter what anyone says, a tomato is not a freaking fruit. I love scientists, but they're not the boss of me. Pluto isn't a planet, though. Sorry.)

7) Whomever had the bright idea to put raisins in bread pudding should get the fourth circle of hell, but not the fifth, which is reserved for the one who put nuts in chocolate chip cookies and brownies.

8) Mayonaise and merengue are disgusting and not fit for consumption by any creatures with internal skeletal systems.

The plain English and culinary distinction of fruit vs. vegetable vs. starch is different from the botanical distinction of leaf vs. root vs. fruit (etc.)

Knowing when to use plain English vs. terms of art is something pretty much any scientist learns very early; correcting people is the sign of an amateur or know-it-all rather than a professional.

(If you feel like one-upping them instead, you can point out that not only is a tomato a fruit, it's a berry -- while a strawberry is in fact NOT a berry, but rather an "aggregate accessory fruit".)

I wish there was a guacamole fruit...

I'm mostly in agreement with you on the mayonnaise bit though, thanks to East Asia. It's used on too many things over there, particularly in bread and on fruit. I still like to use a bit of it on a blt though. Anything to make that sandwich even less healthy...

At home:
1) Garlic, onions, shallots, chives and other stinkies have their own chopping board and may not ever be cut on any other board even if their dedicated board is in the dishwasher. Only stinkies may be cut on the stinkies cutting board. Nothing ruins a homemade passionfruit pavlova or strawberry shortcake quicker than getting that tang of garlic from flavour cross contamination. :td:
2) There is a cheese tupperware in the fridge and all cheese goes in there to prevent the fridge and its other contents from smelling like cheese. Maytag Blue-scented mango moussecake and St. Albans-scented chocolate-coconut squares are gross. :td:

On the road:
1) Drink water
2) Buy water as soon as possible when landed.
3) Drink water
4) Make sure there is enough drinking water the night before for the next day.
5) Drink water

Reminding myself to drink water constantly has helped prevent getting ill on the road. I have a Platypus water bottle tucked into each travel bag and one in my tote ready to be filled from a larger bottle I buy at a convenience store (or from the plane's refreshment trolley). You can never have too many Platys (though I dislike Vapur) :p I find that once I get dehydrated on the road, it's almost guaranteed that I will fall ill. :(

It's funny, this thread has very little to do with travel but it screams "FLYERTALK" more than any other I've read. Never change FTers!

When eating at a Chinese restaurant for the first time, order a shrimp dish.

Chefs can't make anything look like shrimp except shrimp.

I have an aversion to egg whites. I can eat eggs whites in scrambled eggs, especially if the eggs are scrambled "dry", but never on their own (either fried or boiled).

An ancillary rule: Eat at barbecue places whose sign shows a pig in an unpiglike act. Especially a pig in a chef's hat cooking up what is presumably pig.

- No meat ever, unless I can't see it (e.g. chicken broth, Cesar salad dressing) and there is nothing else appealing on the menu.
- Mayonnaise is only good with canned tuna fish. Therefore, I do not eat mayonnaise.
- Whipped cream should be avoided since ice cream is so much better.
- Vegetables should never be allowed in desserts.
- Lettuce should never be shredded.
- Grape juice and wine are good, grape candy and grape jelly are gross. Raisins are the worst.

1) I might be the only person in the world who loathes chives. I always feel like a pathetically fussy person when I tell the waiter not to put chives on my food (and I always have to mention it because restaurants think chives are so innocuous they never mention in them in menus).

2) Leftover pizza is best eaten just slightly warmer than refrigerated (about 10 seconds in the microwave is about right).

Other people's rules:

1) It drives me batty that my in-laws insist that salad can only be eaten after the main course is finished. But I want salad with my main course (and sometimes the only vegetable is a salad), and my MIL leaves me feeling like I'm uncouth.

2) Another MIL rule: champagne for the Christmas toast must be served in those old-style glasses that have a hollow stem and wide shallow bowl (which results in the bubbles disappearing too quicky). The glasses were stylish 50 years ago. They're not functional. Get over it.

I grew up loathing them. I'm not sure what changed in particular, and I don't think I'll ever LIKE them but they're part of a (pretty broad) group of vegetables that I realized in my mid-20s that I no longer cared about one way or the other.

One of my coworkers still hates chives/green onion -- and any other kind of onion; also cilantro -- AFAIK the two aren't related, but because they (or something close enough to cilantro to not matter) go into the Pho most places, hearing him ask for it without either brings them to mind together.

Oh right, another of my rules- don't eat local fare when in Hong Kong, unless there is a place only selling har gow.

There was a small discussion about tomatoes and whether or not they are to be considered a vegetable. Whatever you consider them, they're a fruit to me, and to the Chinese as well- over in the mainland, they are frequently served at the end of a meal with other fruit, or sliced and topped with granulated sugar.

Wow, I just found this thread, terrific stuff. While I’ve only read about 100 of the 697 posts I can say that it is highly entertaining.
(Disturbing, but very interesting nonetheless. :D )

There are a few things which I didn’t see mentioned:

- No squash or zucchini :td: ; cooked, raw, fried, whatever, they just FEEL weird in your mouth.

- No peppers :td: ; red, green, yellow, whatever, they are an assault on the taste buds.

- Dessert should never include fruit or vegetables or anything else that could even remotely be considered “healthy”. Dessert should have absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever. Invariably desserts with chocolate are vastly superior to all others. ^

- Dinner leftovers, be it pizza or chicken or pasta or whatever, served hot or cold, are generally more appealing as breakfast than the majority of traditional breakfast foods. @:-)


And of course I haven’t read any proper listings of the 5 basic food groups, which SHOULD be:
- Candy and Chocolate
- Ice Cream
- Cake and Cookies
- Salty Crunchy Processed
- Pizza
- Bacon (Cooked medium to medium well, chewy, definitely NOT crispy, if I wanted it crispy I’d eat a piece of charcoal. :eek: )
(Yeah, I know, that’s 6. What’s wrong with 6? ;) )

Your personal food rules.....
 

Anything but fish soup. Yes, some people boil fish bones and drink it as soup. Stinks and tastes bad!!!

No bell peppers (capsicum) either?

Pudding (the american kind) is disgusting, as are ripe bananas. When drinking a soda, admittedly a rare event, the soda can must be pre-chilled and poured into a glass 2/3 full of ice.

You are not. My partner hates them and anything else green (mint ice cream might be the only exception I can think of). :)

Me too. I don't like scrambled eggs, although I do eat egg mayo provided the egg is well mashed up. No objection to omlettes either.

I won't eat mushrooms on their own but I don't mind them as an ingredient provided they're either in big bits I can pull out or tiny pieces that are hard to detect - I like the taste but I can't stand the texture. Ironically frying mushrooms is one of my favourite smells.

well I finally read this whole thread
you are correct, approx 20% of people think cilantro has a soapy taste.

Many have made statements that echo my own, I very much agree with the following: not just from Thailand, no farmed shrimp from anywhere, only farmed seafood I eat (that I know of) are oysters or mussels. only olives that pass my lips is the olive tapenade on a muffuletta sandwichI will also add an additional caveat, if having pizza (thick or thin) in Chicago, that meat shall be Italian Sausage which is what most pizzas in Chicago are ordered with, NOT pepperoni (which is reserved for the rest of the U.S.)

Then there are statements that are downright wrong:
what about frites mit mayo, or sometimes they are so good they don’t need anything added. there’s a number of delicious black items: black beans, mole negro, blood sausage, etc. bagels in Montreal are fantastic. (bolding mine) nonsense, There are amazing Friday Fish Fry in a number of locations, N Wisconsin being one of them. you are one of 3 things: 1) have limited cuisine(s) that you cook 2) a liar (or delusional) 3) an AMAZING chef with quite a bit of #1 thrown in. a quick summer meal is a big salad with some fresh grilled meat put on it. I make a grilled lettuce dish that everyone I’ve made it for loves. you are an In-N-Out fan:), for me a thicker patty cooked no more than a medium rare trumps a thin patty, no matter how many thin patties you have. Oklahoma Joe's in KC certainly is an exception as well as some Puerto Rican place outside Orlando (name escapes me) which made delicious mofongo or even some of the Iowa truckstops that make amazing pork tenderloin sandwiches.


Statement I'm most puzzled by:why avoid onions if you love onion flavor?

The statements I agree with most however are: I'll do so even if this means going against what I normally like, ya never know what will be good. Amen ! another Amen !
--
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I stand by my original statement. And Ketchup means Heinz. :)

Not a big fan of the mayo and I find plain fries boring, as are baked without butter or sour cream and boiled or mashed without gravy (or, at a minimum, lots of butter).

Not who you were responding to, but I find most onions to have a very unpleasant texture when raw or lightly cooked. Cooked to mushiness in french onion soup or spaghetti sauce is fine for me.

OTOH, I like the taste in a lot of things, so getting those thing with the onions and then removing them (or eating around them) is a standard MO of mine.

Actually, I am a fan of the independent (mostly Greek owned) hamburger joints all over the greater Los Angeles area which In-N-Out attempts to copy. Also the remaining independent "Drive In" hamburger joints up and down California's central valley. In-N-Out is good for a chain, and I use the name to describe the basic type of burger I like to people who have not had the fortune of experiencing real California drive in burgers.

A thick medium rare patty might be fine eaten separately, but the soft texture of such ruins the hamburger experience completely. IMHO of course.:)

A thick, but not-too-thick medium well patty (diner-style -- 1/4-1/3lb depending on diameter, not over-thick gourmet or chain-restaurant style) is just about perfect.

Medium-rare is for (really good) steaks, not hamburgers IMO, and even for cheaper steaks medium is a better call.

Has anyone here tried grinding their own? I've been wanting to since reading this a few years ago: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/...s-of-beef.html

I have. It's a completely different ballgame. You'll never want to go back.

Hamburgers medium rare? This is the first time I've heard of this. I've never thought you can order burgers to order in this manner.

I do enjoy a good gourmet burger. One I received on Captain Andy's cruise to the Na Pali cost, on the Southern Star in Kauai. Personal chef on board and served a great all beef burger. Ended up having two, even with all of the ocean motion going on.

Best burger in Calgary is at the #3 nationally rated Notables which I happen to be a landlord. IIRC melted provolone or cheddar, on a grilled 60/40 beef/pork patty. Not that big, but melts in my mouth. Better than Smash burger and Five Guys bar none.. the Stockmans restaurant by my house makes their burger with the same beef/pork combination.. and I love the sauteed mushrooms on the burger topped off. But these burgers I don't think you can do medium rare with the beef/pork combination.

Has been normal at diners and nicer restaurants as long as I've been ordering my own food -- since the mid-1980s at least; fast food places and other skinny-patty burgers, not so much.

That sounds tasty... I've had all-pork burgers, and been unimpressed, but never a blend. And yeah, I'd steer clear of medium-rare for pork. :)

You might check out the "Best Burgers" thread even though it technically is entitled "in the US."

I don't know of a fast food chain that will cook a burger to a MR doneness, it is all well done in the essence of food safety. (Because the meat is ground, there is a greater chance for product contamination). There are even townships that have decreed by law that ground meat must be cooked to well done. (In the town next to me, one can't order a MR burger, but in my town, perfectly fine to do so).

However if a restaurant (or market) is purchasing (or making from scratch) high quality ground beef, I have zero concerns about contamination.

A medium rare burger (for me anyways) is what I really crave in a burger.

I just discovered this last trip to L.A. that In-N-Out will cook to medium-rare. It's hard to see in the thin burgers, but there is definitely a pink hue to the center of the patty.

In-N-Out grinds all meat in-house (probably not in each store, but they grind it themselves before sending to each restaurant), so the chances of contamination are greatly reduced.

That said, there are few things in this world better than a thick hamburger patty with good, fresh-ground beef grilled to medium-rare. Mmm! :)

Depending on your definition of "fast food," Nations would as a of a few years ago.

But that would no doubt eliminate the crispy edges which make In-N-Out patties rock.

I was thinking along those lines as well, the crispy/caramelized patty is one of the prime benefits of a thin patty.that is some pretty amazing timing to cook a thin patty w/some pink in it with everything else a grill cook would have going on.:eek: And if this is the case, I stand corrected about a major fast food chain not cooking to a MR.

I think the INO folks hate me when I show up. The latest version of my "perfect INO order" is something like this:

Double Meat (no cheese, aka a 2x0)
Medium-rare (just discovered this!)
No salt
Extra-toasted patty
Animal style
No pickles
Extra whole grilled onion

and a root beer float. Mmm!

(And if I'm in the mood for fries, I order "fries well done." That makes absolutely nothing in my order part of the standard menu. :p)

The blend is a tenderness, and the taste to me is of pure perfection. The burger I received on the Na Pali Souther Star Captain Andy's burger was pure perfection for an all beef burger. But the 60/40 blend is my preference, and drizzled with goat cheese.. Out of this world.

But dining at Notables the #3 rated restaurant in Canada for fine dining, and having a burger there is an abnormal treat. They do it so perfect, and so deep in flavors that it really is the best burger I've ever tasted.

With pork in the mix, I believe that the entire burger would have to be cooked well done.

I'm used to pink hues and I think that's would be normal in a thick patty. I guess I'm surprised you can cook this to order. I'm not used to this, but will definitely keep my eyes open for any possibility of a request when ordering.

I think the shocking thing here is that as much as you eat out, you have never been asked how you want your burger cooked. When I order a hamburger anywhere in the US other than fast-food places, 90+% of the time they ask me how I want it cooked. Even in many other countries this is the norm.

Correct, none of those either. And absolutely no ja-lap-a-nos! In addition to the assault on the taste buds they even assault the sinuses! :eek: