Food you've never tried but wonder what it's like..

[ScentedScandal]

Watching Hairy Bikers last night (it might've been an old one, I wasn't sure) but they were scoffing oysters. And they seemed to be live oysters too.... I seem to have reached my late 40's and have never had an oyster. Or caviar come to that. I can't say the oyster slurping looked too nice, but Si was in 7th heaven. What are they like?? What have you never eaten but are curious about?

[hootloop]

Lobster.
I love crab and wonder if lobster is even better.

[ScentedScandal]

I don't think I've had lobster either.. I need to be wined and dined at some top restaurants. Can't see that's going to be happening any time soon.

[fieldfare]

Oysters and Lobster are among my favourite foods.
Oysters with either a squeeze of lemon and a dash of tobasco or a really lovely vinaigrette mmmmmmmmmm!
Lobster is a lot like crab claws in texture but sweeter.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

As I've travelled quite a lot for my job there aren't many foods left on my wish-list. I love having foods in situ however because I think they lose a lot when they're taken out of context. For example, I'd love to tour the southern states of the USA and have a crack at some proper Creole and Cajun dishes. My friend from Arizona also tells me that authentic Mexican food bears no resemblance to the Tex Mex stuff we get dished up.

Oysters btw are like the seaside in gelatinous blobs! Lobster, if it's done right, should be sweet, meaty and juicy ... like an overgrown prawn.

[JamNan]

I am also very lucky that I travelled with my job and got to eat at some lovely places.

I've still got a few on my wish list though:
pastilla which is a Middle Eastern pigeon pie made with filo, almonds, and icing sugar. I would prefer to eat it in Morocco.
pescado a la sal Spanish version of fish baked in a salt crust, best eaten on a beach in Spain.

I would also love to go to New Orleans and eat and eat listening to live music.
And I really want to go to Georgia to sample the food of the Caucasus.

[ScentedScandal]

Ooh I envy you well travelled/well eaten people... Lobster sounds delicious. Not so sure about gelatinous blobs for the oysters but I'd be brave and give them a go. But eating something that's still alive seems weird. My dd is always saying how she wants to try real Mexcan food in the country itself. I hope she does!

[Dillydollydaydream]

Oysters too. I've heard they have the consistancy of pleghm though so not sure if they'll be nice.

[HyvaPaiva]

JamNan We go to Marrakech every year and the pastilla is divine. Great wish list. I hope you'll go there someday! Try Dar Zellij.

[HappyAsEyeAm]

Lobster tastes like very lovely enormous juicy prawns to me. I first had it in new Zealand, where it is very cheap indeed, they sell it in takeaway fish and chips shops as well as in restaurants. Its not as strong a taste as crab (to me, anyway).

I have only very recently tried mango and papaya and I love them

I would like to try horse meat, just because.

[baldisbeautiful]

Lobster is gorgeous! I am curious as to what a truffle tastes like (I don't mean the chocolate kind - I know what they taste like)

[VivaLeBeaver]

Baked beans. I kind of wonder but not enough to brave them.


Oysters are nice.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Truffles are somewhere between a very intense mushroom flavour and plunging your face into fresh woody compost!

[Snowdown]

I want to try deep fried stuffed courgette flowers and asparagus fresh from the garden. Have tried oysters, they were very fresh and were more about ritual and texture than big flavours.

[squarecircle]

I wonder about stuffed courgette flowers too.
And steak tartare. Like the idea but never had the opportunity to try it.
I've eaten all sorts of other things including sheep's testicles - not to be repeated ever again.

[Allalonenow]

Fried courgette flowers are womderful, summer on a plate!

[JamNan]

Ah stuffed courgette flowers - what a lovely Italian fragrance and taste comes to mind.

... every year in my veg garden I look at the two or three ridiculously small flowers on the courgettes and think yes I'll stuff you lot when you grow bigger.

But the buggers always wither off and die.

[JamNan]

HyvaPaiva
Dar Zellij and Marrakech added to my wish list. Thank you.

[Mignonette]

The scent of cooking truffles in a professional kitchen is unforgettable. I was helping a friend out and suddenly the air was saturated with the most powerful smell - a mix of petrol, bosky woodsiness and something feral.

I have lived in Mexico and the food is totally different to how most people imagine it. Real authentic Tex Mex is great too ,but different.

I am another one who dreams of a Deep south and Cajun/Creole sabbatical. I want to eat Boudin in Louisiana at the Cajun dance breakfast in Cafe Des Amis in Beau Bridge. I want to eat real Brunswick Stew in North Carolina and a Prune shake in California.

I have eaten horse many a time - it has a sweetness to it. The last time I had it was at a bistro near Villandry in the Loire.

Lobster can be meh if you eat a previously frozen one but a real Lobster Roll made with Pepperidge Farm top sliced Hotdog buns, fried lightly in butter then stuffed with Lobster are food of the gods.

[duchesse]

Oysters: didn't use to like them, but had them properly prepared and desalinated a bit and they are delicious
caviar: a bit meh imo and not worth the death of the fish and loss of the next generation. Should be banned.
lobster: one of my favourite things ever but I can't afford it in this country
Deep fried courgette flowers are lovely- very like vegetable tempura
horse- used to have it for school lunches (France) It's delicious- really really tender and lean
Can I say here that I've actually eaten fox (long story with a pretty funny ending...) which was not really very delicious.

Having just returned from N Africa, I am revolted by the idea of eating sheep's eyes. I don't intend ever to either, so that's kind of cheating.

I would really, really like to try Durian. I think I might have to have a peg on my nose first. The thought of a fruit that smells like a corpse is just so wrong.

[ManAliveThisThingsFantastic]

Deep fried mars bar

[Marne]

Have never eaten oysters or muscles ( can't bring myself to do it ), have eaten lobster and it's much better than crab. Have never eaten a battered Mars bar ( never really wanted too ), I am willing to try most things, have tried shark, ostrich and wilder beast but not oysters .

[Snowdown]

I have some fermented bean curd in my cupboard, I want to try it but I'm a little reluctant too - I remember the pungent smell polluting my nostrils years ago when I lived in Hong Kong. Fermented foods in general are intriguing - the fermented herring in Sweden is meant to taste fantastic if you can ever get over the revolting smell.

You can easily recreate truffle flavour with a good truffle oil - dh was obsessed with truffles for a while, I like them in scrambled egg or the oil drizzled on a cauliflower soup. It can be a bit overpowering though.

[Snowdown]

Battered deep fried mars bars are lovely - with a scoop of ice cream. Harder to find than you'd imagine. Deep fried pizza is not recommended however!

[RonaldMcDonald]

I battered and deep fried celebrations...for a dinner party...they were delish

[HuevosRancheros]

Snowdown, is the tofu red or white? I love it now :)
Fuschia Dunlop has some recipes using both in Every Grain of Rice - the Spinach with (white) fermented tofu is lovely, as is the Slow-Cooked Ribs with red Fermented Tofu (though I made it veggie! But the sauce was the same).
I think the key is that you use it as a flavouring, not as the main ingredient :)