Things That I Like About Me: No 1 in a series
(after all, it's my stack, therefore it's all about ME dammit. ;) )
Not being a picky/fussy eater.
I probably was as a child, but I think I grew out of that quite quickly. I don’t have many dislikes, and I am usually open to try most things.
Oysters and mussels are a no - tried and tried and failed. If even deep fried didn’t work then that’s when I know there’s no hope.
I loathe caviar. Tried and it was an immediate gag reaction.
I’m not a huge fan of too much saffron, so it turns out I am a very cheap date. I have to say, I’d choose me as a dining partner any day of the week.
People who pick pick pick at food, or turn their noses up, or [wince] throw perfectly good food away just frustrate me.
“Oh, no, I never eat [pot noodle/ramen/leftovers/Arcturian megadonkey].” said in a tone that seems to indicate they think they are special in their non-plebeian tastes.
I know there are those of you out there who simply cannot ‘do’ certain textures, and I get that. It can still be frustrating to a cook when yet another thing you thought would be fine gets pushed around the plate, or a face gets pulled.
Allergies are not counted in this post, for obvious reasons, so don’t come at me. It’s the no reasoners, the Will not tryers.
“I don’t like that.”
“Have you had it before?”
“No, but I know I wouldn’t like it.” 👀
I’m not a fan of irrationality when it comes to food. Once a particular foible is explained to me, I’m fine but…people who throw food away when there is NOTHING AT ALL WRONG WITH IT because they have no knowledge or think that food magically becomes poisonous when it’s 30 minutes past the Best Before date…that grinds my gears so badly. Yes, I know that’s irrational too, and it winds me up that it annoys me!
I grew up eating what was provided to me, and being grateful for it. There are so many with not enough that food waste goes against every fibre of my being. I didn’t grow up with food rationing but I was raised by people who did, so maybe that has been passed down to me.
I have noticed of late that the phrase “He is/I am a picky eater” sends a frisson of involuntary irritation through me. It may be that I associate that with someone overly negative in my past, who critiqued everything edible. I like to find out the why of things, hence my inner examination of what has caused this irritation to flourish.
Maybe it’s the words themselves; picky and fussy aren’t imbued with positive feeling. Maybe ‘selective’ is better?
Whilst writing and running this through my head it occurred to me that use of the words picky and fussy infer a choice, or that someone is doing it on purpose. If that’s my subconscious association then it explains the minor angst.
Hmm. I shall work some more on that because it’s quite silly to react that way to something that’s not even affecting me.
When it comes to Food Things That Make People Go Eew, squid is right up there. Battered rings of it don’t count, by the way. That could be anything in there.
Raymond Blanc’s Slow Cooked Squid with Chorizo
Squid is one of those things that I always associate with charcoal grills, holidays and blazing sunshine. I’ve mostly eaten it grilled or deep fried, so I thought I’d give it a go in a different dish to see how it changed the taste. I know that with squid the rules are that you either cook it as fast as you can, or long and slow. Anything in between and you have rubber bands, and nobody wants that.
I found Raymond’s recipe on the BBC website. As ever, a joy to watch. I didn’t have all the things that he used so, yes you guessed it, I winged it. I wanted to bulk it out more, too, so added chick peas in, and left the garlic out as I wanted a more gentle taste.
1 large white onion
olive oil
1 tbs tomato puree
1/2 cup Commandaria wine (use what you have. That’s what I had.)
1 400g tin of good quality chopped tomatoes
300g squid tubes, cleaned and skinned (thank you Ocado)
1 tin chick peas, drained
100g chorizo (mine was plain, not the picante one) cut into 1 inch pieces
Peel the onion, cut in half, and chop into thick ish slices.
Sauté off in some olive oil until it starts to soften, then add the tomato puree.
Stir and fry that until it is well mixed in with the onion.
Add the wine, turn the heat up so that the wine boils for a minute or so, then turn the heat back down to low.
Add in the tomatoes and the chick peas, then the chorizo.
While that’s simmering, slice the squid tubes open, lightly cross hatch the skin with the back of a dinner knife, then cut into large pieces.
Pop that in to the sauce, pushing down so that it is covered well, put a lid on and then leave it to cook on a very low heat for 1 hour.
After one hour, the squid will be tender, and will have soaked in a lot of the chorizo flavour, and vice versa.
I actually left mine overnight, and then gently reheated it the next day.
The flavour of the squid is very pronounced, a lot stronger than when you flash fry it, and I realised that it was missing that char grill taste that I loved so much, so I did what any normal person would do at 8am on a Sunday, and got the blow torch out.
Adding that charred edge to the pieces took it from a good dish, to an excellent one that I will most definitely make again. I might use white beans next time.
You're making people (i.e. me) hungry over the internet again. That looks really good!
(Also "I can't remember, do I like that?" "Yes, now shut up and eat it." :-D )
I once worked with a cook who would make tuna pasta bake with sweetcorn in, but had never actually tried sweetcorn herself. I could not get my head around that at all, how could a cook be so un-curious about a food? Especially one they were serving!
I like to try new things and even revisit things I have previously disliked to see if my tastes have changed (there may be hope for Stilton but I think celery is a lost cause).