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How do!

Yes, it’s another foodie thread from your’s truly, because I really like my pies, and other assorted foodstuffs.

In our ever shrinking world, where immigration brings new and interesting cultures and their culinary skills with them, I suspect we’re all used to cuisine that isn’t native.

Living in the UK, I of course love a Good Curry, or a greasy Kebab, to give two obvious examples. But this thread is brought to you by Cajun and Creole cooking. No, I don’t know the difference, and that’s because I’m poorly placed to explain it. All I know is that I wants to eats it. All of it.

Now I can find recipes and videos online, but what one might call authentic involves ingredients I simply cannot source here in Blighty. Yes there are often alternatives suggested, but tasty as the outcome is, it’s still never going to be the real McCoy, is it?

And I suspect there are other food fans that also want to try foods where they come from.

My pick? Crawfish Boil, down in Louisiana. Not from a restaurant, but in someone’s backyard. Ideally many people’s backyards so I can try different takes. I like my shellfish, and I likes my spice. And I particularly enjoy communal eating. There’s something that’s just very human about communal eating that has a deep appeal to me (probably from never to now be repeated family Christmases).

Sure, when my trip to New York is organised again* I can probably find a suitable restaurant. But, until I’ve been to The Source? How do I know what it’s really all about?

Right, your turn fellow Dakkanauts. What food do you want to travel for, to taste at source?

*seems the best place to get a general taste of Americana, without being too different to what I’m used to

I want to one day eat Blowfish in Japan

Poison, poison, tasty fish?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Poison, poison, tasty fish?

Yeah I hear it has an amazing texture and chew.

My Personal eating-bucket list.

Meatpie any Version in england.
Haggis, scotland.
Knödel any variation.
In France mainly some haute cuisine. After that provincial.
Pirogi .
Greek fish soup.

Not Online!!! wrote:
My Personal eating-bucket list.

Meatpie any Version in england.

Haggis, scotland.
Knödel any variation.
In France mainly some haute cuisine. After that provincial.
Pirogi .
Greek fish soup.

If you ever come to the uk, research this in detail and follow the best online advice... It's so easy to be disappointed and get caught out with processed crap. A decent bistro pub that makes their own and it will be a delight, nearly anything else other than quirky fine dining and it's not worth the effort to be honest.

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.

I think it's become more widely popular and easily available within the last 5 years, but if you haven't tried it I highly recommend Lebanese food. It's fairly clean but very tasty.

endlesswaltz123 wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:
My Personal eating-bucket list.

Meatpie any Version in england.

Haggis, scotland.
Knödel any variation.
In France mainly some haute cuisine. After that provincial.
Pirogi .
Greek fish soup.

If you ever come to the uk, research this in detail and follow the best online advice... It's so easy to be disappointed and get caught out with processed crap. A decent bistro pub that makes their own and it will be a delight, nearly anything else other than quirky fine dining and it's not worth the effort to be honest.

Figured as much on my visit on the channel Islands.
Same with alot of Swiss dishes, especially cheese based ones... Sadly.

I'd love to check some proper Italian cuisine. I wanna try some ossobuco in particular, see how it compares to the ones I've had so far.
Aside from that, I'll have to visit Belgium again at some point. I can't get enough moules-frites and they make the best over there.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
But this thread is brought to you by Cajun and Creole cooking. No, I don’t know the difference, and that’s because I’m poorly placed to explain it.

Very briefly: the Cajun were French settlers in Louisiana. They were previously kicked out of parts of Canada that France lost to the British. That colony was called "Acadie". Acadien -> Cadien -> Cajun.
"Creole" originally meant "born in the colonies" and it became kind of a generic term for people with mixed ancestry, language and culture. In Louisiana, that'd be mostly people originating from the Caribbean.

Oddly enough, my current goal is to eat more local stuff.

When Europeans settled Australia, they brought all of their food with them, completely ignoring all of the edible stuff that was already here. We've happily adopted foods from all over the world, but outside of a few herbs, native produce is still almost entirely ignored.

That's slowly changing, but would be nice to see more of it.

Although part of the problem is that people have weird hangups about it. There's this odd pushback, for example, against eating kangaroo 'because how can you eat an animal that's on our coat of arms!'... ignoring all of the towns and shires around the country that have cows or sheep on their official emblems. It's frustratingly absurd.

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.

Also hoping to try cooking from countries in Asia. I love me some takeout and sweetened butter chicken has a special place in my heart, but I would love to try to make some legitimate dishes.

 insaniak wrote:
Oddly enough, my current goal is to eat more local stuff.

When Europeans settled Australia, they brought all of their food with them, completely ignoring all of the edible stuff that was already here. We've happily adopted foods from all over the world, but outside of a few herbs, native produce is still almost entirely ignored.

That's slowly changing, but would be nice to see more of it.

Although part of the problem is that people have weird hangups about it. There's this odd pushback, for example, against eating kangaroo 'because how can you eat an animal that's on our coat of arms!'... ignoring all of the towns and shires around the country that have cows or sheep on their official emblems. It's frustratingly absurd.

Could it be an issue about eating the usual farm animals rather than the rest of the local wildlife? We don’t eat beaver here, but it does sound rather enticing...
Do you know if there are any local dishes that involve the local wildlife? Now that you mention it, I can’t recall ever hearing someone bring up a signature ingredient or dish associated with Australia.

 SkavenLord wrote:

Could it be an issue about eating the usual farm animals rather than the rest of the local wildlife? We don’t eat beaver here, but it does sound rather enticing...
Do you know if there are any local dishes that involve the local wildlife? Now that you mention it, I can’t recall ever hearing someone bring up a signature ingredient or dish associated with Australia.

It's absolutely a case of what people are used to. And there's only ever been a fairly lacklustre attempt to encourage people to use more native ingredients (probably because we have so much of our agricultural infrastructure reliant on all those plants and animals the Europeans brought with them 200 years ago) so it's only the more adventurous eaters who ever get past it.

Having said that, you can buy Kangaroo meat in most supermarkets these days (although I have no idea how well it sells) and there's a slowly growing number of stores around offering native herbs and fruit, so there's hope.


As for local dishes... no. Information on Aboriginal cooking is fairly sparse, and any amount of searching for native recipes just turns up 'modern' dishes using some amount of native ingredients. It's a start, but we're unlikely to see 'flame grilled goanna' on the menu at any high-class restaurant any time soon.

Part of the issue with eating native Australian is that very few of our native foodstuffs cultivate well, either due to intrinsic factors, or lack of knowledge/money/experience in the field.

I think the only native Australian foodstuff that's well known/widely consumed is the macadamia nut.

 insaniak wrote:
Oddly enough, my current goal is to eat more local stuff.

When Europeans settled Australia, they brought all of their food with them, completely ignoring all of the edible stuff that was already here. We've happily adopted foods from all over the world, but outside of a few herbs, native produce is still almost entirely ignored.

That's slowly changing, but would be nice to see more of it.

Although part of the problem is that people have weird hangups about it. There's this odd pushback, for example, against eating kangaroo 'because how can you eat an animal that's on our coat of arms!'... ignoring all of the towns and shires around the country that have cows or sheep on their official emblems. It's frustratingly absurd.

Australia's become almost a second home to me over the years. The first time I went there, I remember being in a restaurant with Australian friends and ordering kangaroo - it's local, you don't find it in the UK, and frankly I wanted something a bit different. The looks from the Aussies in the group! I got so much grief for eating a "national icon". So don't put it on the menu then!

When I lived in Sydney many years ago, one of the local Vietnamese restaurants used to do alternative versions of their dishes with kangaroo replacing beef, and crocodile replacing chicken. Never really liked the croc meat (always seemed a bit chewy/stringy), but kangaroo is damn good when cooked right. I miss barramundi too - my local pub in the UK used to get a batch every few months when they had an Australian chef.

Oddly, kangaroo has become relatively easy to find here in France. There's been a fad for "exotic" meat a while back, so you can get it or stuff like ostrich or zebra without having to look super hard for it. There are even a few farms raising them here and there.

It's always been very arbitrary what meat people will find "acceptable to eat" or not. I always enjoy making people squirm by telling them how much I like horse meat.
Unfortunately it's become harder to find a decent horse steak. Last time I found some, it came from Argentina and it turns out their horse is as awful as their beef is amazing.

 Tiennos wrote:
It's always been very arbitrary what meat people will find "acceptable to eat" or not. I always enjoy making people squirm by telling them how much I like horse meat.

My sister-in-law got very upset at a family BBQ when my uncle only told her it was a rabbit burger after she ate it.

now maybee that is snobbery, but alas:
I am rural, i hunt on occaision, and fish also.
Let me tell you in regards to meat, or other produce, the dirt and yes that is what i think it is, that is served as acceptable, by esthetic standards solely picked seemingly in supermarkets, fed up in the case of meat on a cocktail of drugs and medicine with little to no care torwards animal well beeing.

does not compare to when you go to your local farmer attempting to do right or as right as he can by nature. Go buy directly from them if you can, yes that is potentially more expensive but the marked increase in quality is well worth it, just in regards to your own wellbeeing.

My wife and I have quite a difficult time over food, as we're both quite into it and our kids are the most ridiculously over-fussy eaters you have ever seen. We literally have a menu of about half-a-dozen meals that they will actually eat and enjoy without any whinging. I have somewhere a photo of my eldest son (probably aged about 6-7 at the time) literally recoiling and cowering in horror as I held out a crouton to him to try.

One place I suspect we might get away with is Italy. The kids will at least eat pizza and pasta... Although I imagine the Italians will do it 'wrong' as far as they're concerned...

Remember that period in the latter half of the 2nd millennium when Britain invaded half the world for their spices only to decide they didn't like any of them?

Anyways, southwestern US Tex-Mex. No, not authentic Mexican food; authentic American bastardization of Mexican food. Not for anyone who wants anything resembling healthy. My advice is to get a good California burrito (beef, french fries, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa).

As a thin blooded son of the tropics, I've always wanted to eat proper Canadian food. You know, poutine, cheese curds, beavertails etc. The sort of Northern junk that lets one go out in shorts in frigid weather, like the low 40s in shorts.

MDG if you make it far enough south to get to the South and some cajun cooking, try to find some beignets, pralines, and grits. Beignets have to be fresh, and oddly enough so do pralines. If they're shipped they lose their luster. Grits are one of those dishes that if they're made by someone that knows what they're doing is amazing, and if you encounter it in packet form is partially set concrete.

Oh, and our official drink- Sweet tea. Very distinct from iced tea with sugar in it.

 Gitzbitah wrote:
As a thin blooded son of the tropics, I've always wanted to eat proper Canadian food. You know, poutine, cheese curds, beavertails etc. The sort of Northern junk that lets one go out in shorts in frigid weather, like the low 40s in shorts.

MDG if you make it far enough south to get to the South and some cajun cooking, try to find some beignets, pralines, and grits. Beignets have to be fresh, and oddly enough so do pralines. If they're shipped they lose their luster. Grits are one of those dishes that if they're made by someone that knows what they're doing is amazing, and if you encounter it in packet form is partially set concrete.

Oh, and our official drink- Sweet tea. Very distinct from iced tea with sugar in it.

Bruh. Beavertails are the BEST. Just don’t fall for the “specialty” ones. Whoever decided garlic and cheese beavertails were a good idea needs to be dumped off up north. Wasn’t there also that thing with the syrup? The one where you put it in snow to turn it into some kind of taffy? If you’re looking for poutine, I hear it’s best in Quebec.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Sure, when my trip to New York is organised again* I can probably find a suitable restaurant. But, until I’ve been to The Source? How do I know what it’s really all about?

You might be disappointed, there are cajun and creole spots in the region, but they are few and far between and I've yet to find any that are really all that authentic. For the most part they are generic american fare with a couple of cajun or creole dishes on the menu. If you're willing to come to the New Jersey side of the Hudson, I can recommend Saveur Creole as being pretty damned good, and if you come in the summertime Michael Arnone's Crawfish Festival is basically a Louisiana backyard crawfish boil transported to the northeast, except the backyard is a state fairground and features a huge musical lineup from the New Orleans and Louisiana music scene.

In NYC itself, I've heard good things about a place called 1803, but from what I understand its a hipsterfied version of Cajun and Creole cuisine rather than anything authentic. Claw Daddy's is good, but I recommend it more for the appetizers/small plates/soups as they have a good selection of cajun fare, but their main schtick is otherwise a fairly generic louisiana seafood boil type thing that you can find just about everywhere. Sugar Freak is similar but a little more "down home" and has a wider range of options besides the seafood boil.

If you're willing to travel a bit further to the outskirts of Pennsylvania (probably about a 1-2hr trip from manhattan), Marsha Brown is a fixture up here and its very very good. Its refined without being pretentious, and the restaurant is an old church so it has an interesting ambiance.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Remember that period in the latter half of the 2nd millennium when Britain invaded half the world for their spices only to decide they didn't like any of them?

Anyways, southwestern US Tex-Mex. No, not authentic Mexican food; authentic American bastardization of Mexican food. Not for anyone who wants anything resembling healthy. My advice is to get a good California burrito (beef, french fries, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa).

Yeah, if you're in New Mexico avoid the local cooking. I'm stuck here now and the local cuisine begins and ends with the chili pepper. How much can you cram in, and how hot can you make it is the only variables. If you're lucky there's a bit of salt and pepper involved. No subtlety or nuance, just chili peppers; the hotter the better. Why hotter? Because the locals have burned off their taste buds and can't taste anything less. Sure, you can leave the hot chili sauce off, but what's left is little more than a hamburger or chicken breast wrapped in a tortilla. Bland as all get-out.

There was a Mexican restaurant in St. Louis that was TONS better. Run by a family from the south end of Mexico. Yes, they had hot foods too, but they also used other spices to flavor the food beyond 'heat, heat, and more heat.'

I'll second Lebanese food. Back in the eighties a Lebanese grad student and his family ran a Lebanese restaurant in Lawrence, KS that was REALLY good.

Seafood... if you can't get if fresh, generally don't bother. And when I say fresh, I mean the only fish you'll get better than a little place on the coast that does it's own fishing is the fish you catch and prepare on the spot literally right out of the water. Doesn't matter what cuisine you're dealing with, fresh seafood makes all the difference.

By and large, if you want really good ethnic cuisine, find a small restaurant run by people who don't speak your language very well. They are new in-country and know how their ethnicity cooks and will do it right. Sure, there'll be some linguistic misadventures, but that's part of the fun,

 Tiennos wrote:

It's always been very arbitrary what meat people will find "acceptable to eat" or not. I always enjoy making people squirm by telling them how much I like horse meat.

I have nothing against people eating horse, but damn is it gross in my opinion. It's got an almost putrid scent. Of course that might have something to do with the fact that most horses that get butchered for eating are old, not in their prime like most meat animals.

I count myself rather lucky among Americans. While I was military, I got to live in Germany for three years. And while I know its not universally true, the one thing I overwhelmingly noticed in the city I lived in, was that if you pick an ethnic restaurant, it was owned and operated by someone of that ethnic group. The local scotch bar was ran by a gent by the name of Gordon, who was from Scotland and used his family recipes in his food. The italian joint was run by a bunch of folk who barely spoke German and even less English, etc. The one exception to that was Mexican food, and that was almost universally run by some American ex-GI who opened up shop because when he was stationed there, Mexican food was the one food he truly missed.


Anyhow, even with all the food adventures I had in Germany, I really only experienced from Wiesbaden south/east to Stuttgart, and Bavarian foods. I would love to check out northern German coastal/sea foods.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Tiennos wrote:

It's always been very arbitrary what meat people will find "acceptable to eat" or not. I always enjoy making people squirm by telling them how much I like horse meat.

I have nothing against people eating horse, but damn is it gross in my opinion. It's got an almost putrid scent. Of course that might have something to do with the fact that most horses that get butchered for eating are old, not in their prime like most meat animals.

Yeah, if you get some horse that was butchered because it's too old to do whatever it did before, it's going to be bad. That's true for all animals; you don't want to eat some old dairy cow; compared to proper beef it's not going to be any good.

There are farms raising horses specifically for the meat, ideally that's what you'd want. It has a distinct taste, but normally it's pretty close to beef. It seems to be pretty popular in Switzerland, you can get a horse steak in plenty of restaurants there, if you're ever curious.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I count myself rather lucky among Americans. While I was military, I got to live in Germany for three years. And while I know its not universally true, the one thing I overwhelmingly noticed in the city I lived in, was that if you pick an ethnic restaurant, it was owned and operated by someone of that ethnic group. The local scotch* bar was ran by a gent by the name of Gordon, who was from Scotland and used his family recipes in his food. The italian joint was run by a bunch of folk who barely spoke German and even less English, etc. The one exception to that was Mexican food, and that was almost universally run by some American ex-GI who opened up shop because when he was stationed there, Mexican food was the one food he truly missed.


Anyhow, even wit h all the food adventures I had in Germany, I really only experienced from Wiesbaden south/east to Stuttgart, and Bavarian foods. I would love to check out northern German coastal/sea foods.

*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).

Also always worth noting how things change for local palettes. Most Indian food served in the UK, cooked by Indian chefs in Indian-owned restaurants, is starkly different from Indian cuisine from the same region served in India. German Turkish food is not like Turkish food in Turkey, despite its huge (and often quite traditional) Turkish population.

There's also the fact that a chief, if he is worth his weight in salt atleast, will attempt to use fresh and decent quality ingredients, meaning that he or she will be forced eventually to adapt to the local produce., inevitably changing recipies.

Sooner or later, foods get adopted, localised and ingrained. You can see this quite well with border regions, often sharing similar ways to cook stuff.

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


Automatically Appended Next Post:

nfe wrote:


Also always worth noting how things change for local palettes. Most Indian food served in the UK, cooked by Indian chefs in Indian-owned restaurants, is starkly different from Indian cuisine from the same region served in India. German Turkish food is not like Turkish food in Turkey, despite its huge (and often quite traditional) Turkish population.

That's true. Only maybe 1% of the italian restaurants spread out across the world serve real italian food.