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I've been hitting a lot of Irish places here in the States, but I'd like to go straight to the source...

beast_gts wrote:
it was a rabbit burger

Since I heard the Romans introduced rabbits everywhere they went as a source of food, I'd go for that if I saw it offered. I assume local recipes were common, but would be available anywhere.

 Skinnereal wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
it was a rabbit burger

Since I heard the Romans introduced rabbits everywhere they went as a source of food, I'd go for that if I saw it offered. I assume local recipes were common, but would be available anywhere.

Rabbit is a funny one here (NE UK) - it's rare to see it on restaurant menus and in butchers, but it turns up a lot in home cooking (pies & burgers being the ones I encounter most). I guess because it's not commercially farmed that much?


Another uncle lives in France, and used to live near an amazing meal du jour place (no menu or choice, you have what they cooked for that day), but they got annoyed if you asked what you were actually eating...

Wait, is rabbit actually not something you normally eat in the UK? I thought the burger story was someone being fussy about eating a cute bunny.

People don't do that much anymore, but in the countryside almost everyone would raise some rabbits. They breed famously fast, don't take much space and you can feed them whatever bits of vegetables you don't want for yourself. Kinda like chicken. That means there's plenty of recipes for rabbit in home cooking.

The meat has plenty of tiny bones that make eating it messy and annoying, that may be why restaurants don't serve rabbit too often. Or maybe it's considered too "plain" for restaurant food.

Yep, no rabbit on the normal restaurant menus in the UK.
We know about it, and rabbit stew gets the occasional mention, but rabbit, horse and a few others, nope.

 SkavenLord wrote:
I’ve always had a soft spot for Italian cooking, but never actually had the material to give it a shot. Possibly something that doesn’t involve pasta would be good.

So, pizza? .

Anyway, I've been trying my hand at making for myself all kinds of food but also the dishes from where I grew up - Limburg, colloquially called the Bourgondia of the Netherlands. Hunter's stew is my favourite not-very-well-known food so far.
We also have the best fruit pies is the world, the Limburgse vlaai - and that's not a boast.

I also would like to get to Louisiana and eat my way through creole and cajun cuisine. I've had a few pretty good takes on, more since I moved to the south, but I want the real thing.

Here's the thing with regional cuisine: it's tough to get right outside of the region, unless there are enough people to support distribution of all the ingredients. Even then, some dishes are changed to suit local tastes. My personal example is lebanese food. I grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, which has a huge lebanese population. I struggle with Hummus or shwarma from most places I eat at now. Even if what I grew up with was itself an evolution, its what I love!

beast_gts wrote:

 Skinnereal wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
it was a rabbit burger

Since I heard the Romans introduced rabbits everywhere they went as a source of food, I'd go for that if I saw it offered. I assume local recipes were common, but would be available anywhere.

Rabbit is a funny one here (NE UK) - it's rare to see it on restaurant menus and in butchers, but it turns up a lot in home cooking (pies & burgers being the ones I encounter most). I guess because it's not commercially farmed that much?

Do you mean NE UK or NE England? I've come across rabbit quite a lot on menus in Perth/Aberdeen/Elgin/Inverness. It's standard at a couple central belt places I visit fairly frequently, too. Usually as a starter in sorta lower-high end places. Could be mostly restricted to quite traditional places, though.

nfe wrote:

beast_gts wrote:

 Skinnereal wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
it was a rabbit burger

Since I heard the Romans introduced rabbits everywhere they went as a source of food, I'd go for that if I saw it offered. I assume local recipes were common, but would be available anywhere.

Rabbit is a funny one here (NE UK) - it's rare to see it on restaurant menus and in butchers, but it turns up a lot in home cooking (pies & burgers being the ones I encounter most). I guess because it's not commercially farmed that much?

Do you mean NE UK or NE England? I've come across rabbit quite a lot on menus in Perth/Aberdeen/Elgin/Inverness. It's standard at a couple central belt places I visit fairly frequently, too. Usually as a starter in sorta lower-high end places. Could be mostly restricted to quite traditional places, though.

Sorry, NE England..

 Tiennos wrote:
Wait, is rabbit actually not something you normally eat in the UK? I thought the burger story was someone being fussy about eating a cute bunny.

People don't do that much anymore, but in the countryside almost everyone would raise some rabbits. They breed famously fast, don't take much space and you can feed them whatever bits of vegetables you don't want for yourself. Kinda like chicken. That means there's plenty of recipes for rabbit in home cooking.

The meat has plenty of tiny bones that make eating it messy and annoying, that may be why restaurants don't serve rabbit too often. Or maybe it's considered too "plain" for restaurant food.

I think part of that was due to the myxamtosis virus doing massive damage to UK rabbit population in the mid-1950s with a few further outbreaks down the years that outside of the more rural areas it largely fell off the radar, Ive tried it and wasnt keen I'd rather eat Bambi

Yeah, Rabbit itself is pretty bland.

Venison however? Lovely.

And it’s difficult to find, but proper, over an open fire, spit roast beef is out of this world good. Team it with seasonal, local veg, dripping gravy and Yorkshire Pudding, you’ve got an absolute winner.

nfe wrote:


*Scottish.

This is true of much of Europe. Is it not the case In the US? I've only been to Orlando, New York, and San Antonio, and only been in Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, and Irish places in terms of not 'traditionally' American joints, but all were staffed by people from, or descended from, those places (or at least I assume so in the case of the Mexican places - I wouldn't know the difference between different Spanish dialects or accents).

So, oddly, you're a bit mistaken on this point. Many Japanese restaurants (especially sushi spots) in the US are actually run by Koreans. Most pizzerias in the northeast are actually run by Albanians and sometimes Greeks (as are some more upscale Italian restaurants, though these tend to be run by folks who are American born and bred and only speak 10 words of Italian, poorly, and whose families have been here for 3+ generations). Outside of the American southwest, Mexican restaurants aren't usually run by Mexicans (though you usually get other central americans instead). Often, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants are run by Chinese instead (and in some areas Chinese restaurants are run by Thai/Vietnamese as Thai/Vietnamese cuisine tends to be a harder sell to Americans). A lot of restaurants that claim to be Turkish are actually run by Lebanese, and a lot of Lebanese places by Turks. A lot of "American" eateries (i.e. Diners) are run by Greeks (which is why so many of them have Greek dishes on the menu). A lot of Greek restaurants are run by Turks or Macedonias, and sometimes Serbs or other Balkan ethnicities. Almost all of these restaurants have guys from Latin America working in their kitchens (though anyplace where the kitchen is visible to the patrons, such as chinese takeouts and sushi restaurants, they usually keep it people who at least look like they are of the ethnicity in question).

In the UK Bangladesh is a quality source of 'Indian' Restaurant chefs.

A whole host of Asian families run 'Chinese' places.

Best Pizza I get locally is made by a Syrian and an Iranian.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I miss Ethiopian food. As far as I’m concerned, the source I want to tap is Cafe Colucci in Oakland. Southern California problems.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I want to one day eat Blowfish in Japan

That’s almost what the graffiti says.

What does that mean?

It was too easy a joke not to make. It’s like “that.’a what she said” but slightly less played out.


Anyway, concerning ethnicities of chefs vs ethnicities of dishes, I don’t find it to be much of a problem. Yeah, I did raise my eyebrow at the Indian restaurant that served beef curry, but their food was amazing. Tradition isn’t everything; I prefer the experimental fusion restaurants to many of the “authentic” ones.

Rabbit was pretty common when people shopped at the local butcher (often wild caught and supplied to him by a few local folk with ferrets)

but when shopping over here mainly moved over to supermarkets they didn't stock it as it wasn't available in bulk from a few main sources (we never really had farmed rabbit like some European countries seem to have had)




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Italians and Cypriots used to run a lot of the UK's fish and chip shops (and a mighty fine job they did too)

it's a bit more varied now but a lot of the best are still 2nd/3rd generation folk from there

I'd love to gorge on all the Asian street foods you see on movies & TV, looks great (well most of it)

In Italy rabbits are present in any butcher shop and supermarket, even small ones. In my region they're also quite common in restaurants too.

Some of the best pizza I have had here in Southern California is made by a first-generation Asian immigrant family. Not like, the spouse is American or Italian the whole family is Asian. Ethnicity can be an indicator for cooking, but far from a guarantee.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Blackie wrote:
I've always wanted to try alligator meat, but of course I'd need to travel to America first.

You aren't missing much; it really does taste like chicken.

chaos0xomega wrote:

nfe wrote:


*Scottish.

This is true of much of Europe. Is it not the case In the US? I've only been to Orlando, New York, and San Antonio, and only been in Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, and Irish places in terms of not 'traditionally' American joints, but all were staffed by people from, or descended from, those places (or at least I assume so in the case of the Mexican places - I wouldn't know the difference between different Spanish dialects or accents).

So, oddly, you're a bit mistaken on this point.

I'm not sure how 'This is my experience, is it not representative?' can be wrong, but I don't find much of the explanation surprising. I suppose most of my eating in the US has been in fairly expensive places (because it's been at a conference and an Ivy League credit card has been picking it up or just because it was a holiday and we were splurging a bit) which are likely to be a bit more 'authentic' or I've been with people from the same place as the restaurant and they were doing the choosing.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

 Blackie wrote:
I've always wanted to try alligator meat, but of course I'd need to travel to America first.

You aren't missing much; it really does taste like chicken.

I haven't had alligator, but I thought crocodile was pretty much what you would get if a chicken and a fish had a baby.

Yeah. Chicken Fish hybrid = Croc meat.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

 Blackie wrote:
I've always wanted to try alligator meat, but of course I'd need to travel to America first.

You aren't missing much; it really does taste like chicken.

Extremely fatty chicken, but yes.

I cannot speak for crocodile meat, just gator. Though it reminds me of a tip I learned to tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile; pay attention to if the animal sees you later, or in a while.

I'd love to travel back to Kazan once again and get another round of shashliks, samogon, and Tatar food because boy this was delicious!

nfe wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:

nfe wrote:


*Scottish.

This is true of much of Europe. Is it not the case In the US? I've only been to Orlando, New York, and San Antonio, and only been in Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, and Irish places in terms of not 'traditionally' American joints, but all were staffed by people from, or descended from, those places (or at least I assume so in the case of the Mexican places - I wouldn't know the difference between different Spanish dialects or accents).

So, oddly, you're a bit mistaken on this point.

I'm not sure how 'This is my experience, is it not representative?' can be wrong, but I don't find much of the explanation surprising. I suppose most of my eating in the US has been in fairly expensive places (because it's been at a conference and an Ivy League credit card has been picking it up or just because it was a holiday and we were splurging a bit) which are likely to be a bit more 'authentic' or I've been with people from the same place as the restaurant and they were doing the choosing.

'

I didn't say it was "wrong", I was answering your question.

chaos0xomega wrote:

nfe wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:

nfe wrote:


*Scottish.

This is true of much of Europe. Is it not the case In the US? I've only been to Orlando, New York, and San Antonio, and only been in Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, and Irish places in terms of not 'traditionally' American joints, but all were staffed by people from, or descended from, those places (or at least I assume so in the case of the Mexican places - I wouldn't know the difference between different Spanish dialects or accents).

So, oddly, you're a bit mistaken on this point.

I'm not sure how 'This is my experience, is it not representative?' can be wrong, but I don't find much of the explanation surprising. I suppose most of my eating in the US has been in fairly expensive places (because it's been at a conference and an Ivy League credit card has been picking it up or just because it was a holiday and we were splurging a bit) which are likely to be a bit more 'authentic' or I've been with people from the same place as the restaurant and they were doing the choosing.

'

I didn't say it was "wrong", I was answering your question.

We obviously define 'mistaken' differently, but fair enough.

Odd question: Has anyone ever used a tajine? Been meaning to try Moroccan dishes too, but I heard it’s useful to have one of these around.

 SkavenLord wrote:
Odd question: Has anyone ever used a tajine? Been meaning to try Moroccan dishes too, but I heard it’s useful to have one of these around.

Yes - and, it does make a difference if you want the authentic dish. That said it's not exactly required, and it's a big thing to have lying around if you're only using it once in a blue moon.
I'd suggest trying out the dishes in a slow cooker first, and if you like, get the tajine later.

 Super Ready wrote:

 SkavenLord wrote:
Odd question: Has anyone ever used a tajine? Been meaning to try Moroccan dishes too, but I heard it’s useful to have one of these around.

Yes - and, it does make a difference if you want the authentic dish. That said it's not exactly required, and it's a big thing to have lying around if you're only using it once in a blue moon.
I'd suggest trying out the dishes in a slow cooker first, and if you like, get the tajine later.

Rather surprised to hear that it’s that big. Most of the pictures I have seen made it appear rather small! I’ll try out the slow cooker idea. Probably would have that bolder slow cooker-y taste, but would be much easier to use. Thanks!

Well, it's more to do with the vertical space it takes up! The base width is no bigger than a slow cooker.
...it doesn't help that I'm going by UK kitchen sizes, which aren't typically huge even in a full-on house.