#2387895 - 08/23/08 06:00 PM
I have a culinary argument for you!
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rob p
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I read a story from a famous tv chef talking about how bland veal is. I read the other day that sweetbreads are bland. I also read today that monkfish is bland. Well, these are gourmet / expensive items! Bland? Why the demand, expense, and status associated with foods like these? Things like pork shoulders and briskets, and until yesterday, flank steaks and briskets were considered "lesser cuts." I think they have a lot of flavor. Well that's another subject.
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#2388576 - 08/24/08 05:58 AM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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GPA
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Loc: Upstate NY
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Taste is, as we have heard so often on this forum, highly subjective: "Taste is in the mouth of the taster", so to speak. That which some might term bland, can be made delicious at the hand of a good cook. Seasoning...cooking method...presentation... and more, all play a part in the dining experience.
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#2388629 - 08/24/08 06:48 AM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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5sdad
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I would offer that perception is a good part of the equation as well. What we wish to "taste" good often does for whatever reason that it is important to us for it to do so.
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#2389201 - 08/24/08 12:26 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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djb
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Funny I was just saying the other day how my polish Grandmother would make oxtail soup and other peasant dishes from “lesser” cuts. Now a small package of oxtails is over $10 at Walmart! Look at the price of chicken wings….10 years ago they couldn’t give them away.
Personally, I think filet is the most over hyped cut of beef there is. It is very tender but I’d rather have a chuck roast for flavor. Same goes for boneless/skinless chicken breast; give me thighs. I love pork “butt”, ham hocks, lamb shanks and the other ‘braising’ meats.
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#2389660 - 08/24/08 04:36 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: djb]
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rob p
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Today, I read a recipe for seafood soup with some very expensive ingredients. For six servings, it also called for a cup and a half of fresh chopped herbs and a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. How are you going to taste the shrimp, scallops, fish...with a quarter of a cup of herbs in your bowl? I honestly don't know how I got on this subject but it's been bothering me.
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#2389690 - 08/24/08 04:51 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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GPA
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Loc: Upstate NY
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Don't let it bother you....Good Subject! It is not difficult to get caught up in the "extra hype" related to many of the recipes that catch our attention. Perhaps we needed something like this to get back to basics.....back to the taste of food.
Thanks,
GPA
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#2389730 - 08/24/08 05:16 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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Stetson
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Sounds like a lousy recipe! LOL
Personally I have never heard Monkfish described as bland. It's often described as poor mans lobster.
Sweatbreads cooked improperly are an abomination. Done to perfection devine. Having said that I'm just not a big fan of offal as it sounds a lot like awfull and in many cases it really is.
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Leave the gun take the cannoli's.
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#2389789 - 08/24/08 05:47 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: Stetson]
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rob p
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A sweetbread is the thymus gland of a baby cow. Is it really worth eating? Is it spongy, does it have flavor of it's own? Should I get one from my butcher, or would I think it's no big deal.
I've had monkfish. The draggers sell it at the docks along with fluke and the lobsters tumbled stupid in the nets. I thought it was soft, and delicate. Not a lot of flavor where you would recognize it as monkfish.
Edited by rob p (08/24/08 05:50 PM)
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#2389937 - 08/24/08 06:49 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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prostrate8
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I don't think lobster has a strong flavor. The texture when done right is incredible, but I've had a bunch of bad lobster (read gristle) and I've given up on chain restaurants.
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#2390409 - 08/25/08 04:55 AM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: prostrate8]
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rob p
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Oh man, in Texas lobsters must be pretty bad. We used to bring lobsters to our friends in North Carolina when we went to deer camp every December. They complained about the quality of lobsters there. Texas has to be twice as far away! I live in RI on Narragansett Bay. We get lobsters from the bay, and deep water lobsters from Georges Bank and other ocean spots. We also get Maine and Canadian lobsters. Down the street, a vendor I know does 30,000 a day. They're like gold coins here and you can sell them or trade them for just about anything. They're about $10 a pound in the markets now. I can go to the docks and buy 'dizzy lobsters' caught in the dragger nets for about half that. They're alive, but won't last long enough to sell from tumbling around in the nets. I've had lobster once this year (I baked stuffed them) and will probably have one more over a pile of steamers. They're still a luxury item, and we don't eat too many of them.
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#2392419 - 08/25/08 07:54 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: Stetson]
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rob p
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Oh, you've discovered the whoopie pie! A Maine original. I love whoopie pies. Lobster's good too. I don't know why we don't eat more. It's not really expensive here, but it's kind of got the extravagant stigma attached. There's a lovely little all you can eat joint here called the Nordic Lodge. For about $75 you can sit down and eat for 3 hours. Lobster, shrimp, prime rib, filet... I sat with my Brother one day and ate 11 lobsters. He ate 21. Put me to shame he did, but I dabbled at the other counters as well. That was back when the deal was about forty bucks. Now, as you say, it's a lobster roll here and a stuffed lobster fisherman's style there. Did I mention I like whoopie pies? Monhegan Island Maine is the biggest lobster grounds in these parts. They have the lobster drags each year when they race their boats. It's cool. I think I need to eat a lobster tomorrow!
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#2395020 - 08/26/08 08:54 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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5sdad
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Registered: 01/22/05
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Today, I read a recipe for seafood soup with some very expensive ingredients. For six servings, it also called for a cup and a half of fresh chopped herbs and a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. How are you going to taste the shrimp, scallops, fish...with a quarter of a cup of herbs in your bowl? I honestly don't know how I got on this subject but it's been bothering me.
Excellent point - I don't know why some people go to the trouble (and expense) of including meat in a dish when all you can taste are the seasonings. Even more baffling is why anyone would go to the same trouble and expense when they intend to cauterize their taste buds so that they can't taste anything at all.
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Not a real member - just an ordinary guy who appreciates being able to hang around and say something once in awhile.
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#2395406 - 08/27/08 06:30 AM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: Stetson]
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rob p
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$5 for a Whoopie Pie
$28 for a Shortbread Lobster
These people take themselves too seriously. See what a little television exposure will do to your ego. I'm surprised they don't have "moose droppings" like everyone else in Maine sells. I'm going to make some. That's it. I wonder if they plop the batter on a baking sheet or if they use muffin top tins and use cake batter.
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#2395647 - 08/27/08 08:30 AM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: rob p]
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Stetson
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No question the Cranberry Island ones are made in a mold. Many others are just round. I had one at Harraseeket Lobster and I kid you not they are the size of a saucer. Big enough for two people. The lobster bisque there was pretty darn good as well but the lobstahs sure weren't on the cheap side.
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=181
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Leave the gun take the cannoli's.
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#2396515 - 08/27/08 04:23 PM
Re: I have a culinary argument for you!
[Re: Stetson]
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rob p
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Your picture is my new desktop background until I get mine.
I have got to find a muffin top pan. Whoopie pies are so good, but their filling sticks to the roof of my mouth like buttercream frosting. A real cream filling recipe would be nice.
My church does a ton of fund raisers, and we always make pizzelles or egg biscuits. Whoopie pies would be such a wonderful change.
Here's an interesting side. At our farmer's market, an Asian farmer gave me some eggplant (long skinny) and a water squash. It's three feet long, white, and he said you make soup out of it. I couldn't find it in my bible of Asian ingredients, but if I don't hear different, I'm gonna slice and fry that critter.
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Here's what they look like at Redds eats in Wisacasset ME. This "plate" is actually a serving platter that's about 1/3 the size of the table. 
