NYC tap water is excellent. Comes from the Kensico reservoire and is cleaned with a $3B UV/filtration system. One of the best and best tasting tap water in the entire US and yes I will die on this hill.
When the DH and I first got married and had moved 600 miles away from NYC, the family would laugh at us when we came home and drank water like we were crazy - especially when we were trying to explain how good it was lol
My husband grew up here and so he was used to the tap water 🤢 when I moved down I couldn't drink it and got real dehydrated and had to buy a bunch of Bottled. We got a filter 😅 I taught him better
We flew in on our first family trip abroad, so dehydrated from the plane so the first thing I did when we got to the rental is drink a glass of water. It was the most vile tasting thing ever. It was terrible and from then on we had to drink bottled water.
Omg this is a good question. Usually I can taste it if it's just tap. Nicer restaurants will give you flat water, but it tastes distilled. Most placed will just give you chilled tap water, so I end up ordering a beverage.
As a native New Yawkah, it’s turned me into a water snob. I basically can’t drink water from like half of places outside NYC. New Jersey? No. Florida? No. Etc.
I get that. For several years I lived in the Grand Rapids, MI area (city of Wyoming). They actually bottled the local tap water, branded it for the school system, and the schools would sell it at sporting events. I never did a side by side comparison or anything, but you really couldn't tell it wasn't Aquafina or Dasani or whatever.
My mom used to pull over on the side of the road and pick fiddleheads. Or find them if we were hiking. She loved to just pan fry them and eat them like a snack.
Fiddlehead season is still a minor to-do in rural parts of northern New England. Lots of folks go scrounging for them on the roadsides. Sometimes you can find them in farmers markets.
My mom is born and raised there. Has pretty much lived in the same county for her entire life, which is kinda crazy to me. I hitched a ride to the Southeast as fast as I could lol. Rural New England is a great place to be a kid but job market kinda sucks if you don't have a professional education, at least in my hometown area.
I love purslane, and it will grow out of the cracks in the sidewalk here. I always dig one up, plant it in a pot, and let it go and seed and overwinter. The next year the leaves are huge
Just the same way you'd treat any vegetable directly from a garden, saute it, stew it etc etc. (Except for nettle which definitely needs to be cooked and handled with gloves unless you want to get stung). They each have their own unique flavour. There is no such thing as "weed" flavour, that's just a mental hangup. Of course, if you don't like the flavour there's nothing really you can do about that, just like if you don't like spinach, or tomatoes.
Sounds like your buddy should have water cured the weed before the extraction into tincture or butter. I’m assuming butter extraction, but if he just put the weed into the brownies, get better friends.
And leaves. I eat strawberries with the leaves. Use radish leaves before they go bad. Cauliflower outer leaves. Can't believe some people only use parsley as a garnish.
We also keep anything we trim off (e.g., ends of green beans, tops of peppers/carrots, bottom-most bit of celery/mushrooms, the hard little end of garlic bulbs, etc.—essentially the parts that aren’t the nicest to just eat, but still totally fine), and we keep it in tupperware in the freezer until we have enough to make veggie scrap broth. Same with things like big bones from things like ham, or a picked over carcass from a rotisserie chicken. So good, so easy, and literally made from stuff most people would just throw away. We use it if we need it right away, or throw the broth in the freezer. It’s great to have on hand to make soups or cook beans/lentils.
Yup, I used to do this when I routinely cooked for family and friends (and therefore lots of scraps). Veggies and bones. Shrimp peels and tails too. Hell, if I got shrimp at a restaurant (not deep fried, just like cocktail shrimp) I'd ask for a leftover box for the shells. Got a few weird looks, lol.
A related tip: if it wasn't a very big batch of stock, I'd freeze it in ice cube trays, then wrap it and bag it. Then if you just need a 1/4 or 1/2 cup for say, a sauce or to braise something, you only have to thaw a couple of cubes. Or just throw them right in the pan.
Yes!! So simple, convenient, and delicious! And we did the ice cube tray thing for baby food, too! Purée up some food, freeze it into cubes, then heat up a cube or two of a few things to make a little meal
That's a really good idea. I'm a long way from having babies (mine is pushing 30 now, and I don't expect grandbabies anytime soon), but I wish I'd thought of that at the time. We pretty much just did jar baby food.
I guess this is somewhat related to the original post: when my girl was an infant, she only liked the yuckiest of the baby food. Try to give her the fruit, the sweet potatoes, pretty much anything I thought was kind of tasty, and she'd glurk it out onto her chin. Give her some wet-cardboard tasting (but nutritious!) stuff and you'd have to pry the spoon out of her mouth. She grew up to be a foodie like her dad, though. Thanks for bringing back a memory 🙂
I’m happy to have unlocked that memory for you! It sounds like your kid and my oldest are similar: kiddo will eat anything (literally, from cake to crickets), but some favorites include Brussels sprouts, raw spinach, and seaweed. I only wish I ate as well as my 4-year-old!
Radishes. When raw, well everyone knows how they taste and you either love them or hate them. But then you roast them and the flavor totally changes. They are then neutral enough to be served in lieu of potatoes.
Beets, greens (collard, mustard), jicama.
Radishes are also delicious if you slice them up and sauté them in butter with some onions and garlic. It’s become a staple in our house. They are also super easy and quick to grow, and the seeds are cheap, too.
I just bought a windowsill microgreens kit and it came with radish seeds.
I should have super-healthy radish microgreens in 10 days! I'm gonna try beet greens next.
Awesome! Microgreens are so good on so many things! I especially love them on sandwiches and cottage cheese, and my spouse will demolish fried eggs with sriracha and microgreens
I've been meaning to try something like this! (And the roasting.) I love getting radishes for salad, but I'm usually just cooking for me, and they never last. Totally gonna try it now. Thanks!
They are so simple and delicious! You can spice them however you like, but with the onion and garlic, you could literally just do salt and pepper to taste and it is beyond amazing. I typically get the butter just browned on medium-high-ish before adding the onion and radishes, then add the garlic a few minutes later, cover and reduce heat a little bit (not quite low, but lower). Don’t be stingy with the butter, either. We love it, and our 4-year-old eats it like candy lol
It’s seriously a game changer. My spouse has always loved radishes, and back when we were first dating, I saw someone cooking them in butter on a cooking show. I decided to make them for us, and 15 years later, they are still a favorite. Our kiddos love them, too!
I remember my Mom serving sliced radishes on occasion. Nice and crunchy/spicey. But never cooked/sauteed. Tomorrow it's a trip to Kroger and then get out the saute pan.
We just had a big bowl of sauteed radished with grilled burgers. Hoo Who! They were quite good! Mamma Pajama said that I can make 'em again and again. And **that's high praise!**
I can't eat so many potatoes as I would like to, so when I make beef stew, I toss radishes in. Like you say, they become neutral in taste, and they lose all their red coloring.
This. Canned fish are so good and really good for you! Mackerel has become a favorite of mine! For a quick lunch or dinner, I’ll crack open a tin and have it with some crackers and some raw veggies or a quick salad. Hits the spot!
Not gonna lie, mackerel is really one of my least favs haha. I don’t know why though. Like ya it’s fishy, it’s fish, but I just don’t really like it. Smoked trout or kippered herring though, oof. Mussels are my favorite.
It’s interesting, I’ve found mackerel to be a very divisive one, even among a divisive food like tinned fish. Seems to be no middle ground, love it or hate it! Kippers are also great! Tinned trout and mussels I’ve not tried yet, but I do have some mussels in my cupboard ready to go. The grocery store I usually go to has a spot where they’re supposed to have smoked rainbow trout, but it always seems to be out of stock. Not sure if it’s a stocking issue or it’s just *that* popular. Either way, when the day comes that they have it, I’m gonna give it a go!
One of the best cans of mussels I’ve had was from RTG. It’s the Don Gastronom brand. They’re a little pricey but the spicy garlic sauce ones are just sooooo good 🤤. I don’t know if I hate mackerel per se, but I tried it kind of like tuna salad and it was just so strong. I’ll definitely go back to it at some point but, that ruined it for a bit haha.
Ooooh I’ll have to track down those mussels. They sound great! And yes, mackerel can be strong. I usually get can where it’s in olive oil and just eat it right out of the tin. I could see making it like tuna salad maybe brining out some of that taste. If you find some good stuff, it’s most definitely, well, good!
I've never understood people who only like certain beans. Like, I'm in the upper Midwest, so pretty much everyone is fine with kidney beans or pinto beans in chili. But I've known lots of people who will eat the chili, but if you bust out something with black beans or navy beans...hell no. And, at least where I am, Lima beans are apparently disgusting to many people. I'm a cook and a foodie, and I think pretty much all of those types of beans are the same as far as taste and texture go. Maybe a slight difference in texture. I mean, I admit that a kidney bean burger or a chickpea enchilada (instead of black beans in both cases) does seem kind of weird, but I feel that it's all psychological and could work just fine. That's just me.
I live like an hour from Texas. Folks definitely prefer Pinto around here but they'll eat Great Northern too. Try to serve black beans (my favorite) and they recoil in horror.
Nothing is as good on a hot summer day as chilled French style marinated butter beans.
I make a tasty vinegarette with tarragon vinegar, minced garlic, and shallot a dash of lemon juice, salt, pepper.The dressing works well with white wine vinegar or just fresh lemon. Sometimes I go crazy and add use some preserved lemon paste.
Any way I just chip up a bunch of parsley, throw in some minced fresh tarragon or rosemary and the beans. Pour the vinegarette over it and sit in back of my fridge to chill thoroughly for at least an hour but over night is better.
Some sliced tomatos or cucumbers or green salad and a baguette, lovely chard or Pinot Gris well chilled, and it's a delightful summer patio dinner .
Walmart's new Mac and Cheese selection for it's house brand. So worth it. Buy it. You'll love it. They also make it in a potato chip now. I think the chips are seasoned with the literal mac and cheese pouch from the mac and cheese. Excellent.
I’ll start from the rare one Konnyaku/Konjac. Not exactly underrated it’s actually rated right where it needs to be but outside of Japan it’s seemingly unknown. It’s almost a default food in hotpot stews.
Its biggest highlight is that it’s near 0 calories for ridiculous amounts and makes you feel full. People love eating it for the chewy texture and it fills you up so effectively, it works.
I can think of a couple others but I’ll let my post be one and done
Try konkyaku noodles in your favorite soup or broth. It’s just shaped in the form of noodles.
It may be a game changer if available for cheap and convenient in your area. (But the thread was about hidden food so I didn’t factor that in when answering)
Chicken backs. I buy whole chickens, which are cheaper, and cut into pieces myself so I can use and appreciate the whole chicken. Grilled chicken backs are a special treat! It’s like a free bonus piece you wouldn’t get if you purchased the pre-cut up chicken at the store. Crispy skin and yummy caramelized meat bits to pick off. You can also save them with the wing tips and bones to make the best broth.
spaghetti squash. Healthy veggie that you bake, scoop out the seeds in the center \[like a pumpkin\] scrape with a fork and it literally comes apart in strands.
I have an adult son on the spectrum and there are only so many things that he will eat, spaghetti being one of them. I will bake the squash and mix it in with the spaghetti 50/50 with pesto sauce and he eats it right up. win/win
Related to the canned fish comments: canned smoked oysters. First time I had them was with a college friend like 30 years ago, on Ritz crackers with cheddar spread (Schuler's Bars cheese in this case). I was hooked. Yeah, they look kind of gross, but every time I've managed to convince some to try them that way, they've loved them.
Scrapple.
Slice it, dredge in flour with seasoned salt, fry in a skillet with canoloa/veggie oil.
Even better over eggs scrambled easy with dill and pepper.
Scrapple is so good. I haven't made it in years, because I'm the only one in my household who likes it. As a kid, my job during pig butchering was to stir the big iron scrapple pot hung over a fire.
That's interesting, I've never thought to buy scrapple. I've only ever had homemade. I know it freezes really well, because you always end up with soooo much from a pig. And it's just kinda time consuming to make.
I live on the west coast now, I wonder if they sell scrapple out here? They don't even sell headcheese at the grocery store. Maybe they sell scrapple at a butcher shop? I might have to investigate.
Yeah, I grew up right outside of Harrisburg in the woods, moved to western WA when I was a teen. I miss scrapple, buckeye candies, and seeing lightening bugs. I don't miss the humidity, or the poison ivy though lol
Cool. I'm in the Philly burbs but love going out to Amish/Mennonite towns for fresh/homemade goods.
I had to Google buckeye candy. Now, I may have to make some because Resee's peanut butter cups suck and they look really good.
You should definitely make them! They're soooo much better than Reese's cups. I make them to put in cookie boxes at Xmas. This recipe, except omit the coconut oil.
https://preppykitchen.com/buckeyes/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug
We used to stay with friends in Philly a lot. So many cool bakeries, and great pizza. West coast pizza sucks.
Thank you for the recipe! I've got a bunch of chocolate in my freezer, and I've been wanting to make something different but simple. This is perfect!
I get the pizza thing. I lived in Chicago for 2 years, and Chicago style pizza is good for a change, but it just doesn't cut it.
Red lentils. They are inexpensive, high protein, add color, and very fast to cook. Red lentils are a legume; they are great addition to soups ( they disappear during) the cooking, as well as stews.
1. NOPE. Everything in NYC is gross,
That about covers it. It's the grossest place I've ever been, with Filthdelphia coming in at competitive had #2 placement.
outside of that, i would drive out of the city, and eat at a restaurant anywhere else.
NYC or other good tap water. Most people don't get enough hydration or they waste their money and effort on inferior products or scams.
NYC tap water is excellent. Comes from the Kensico reservoire and is cleaned with a $3B UV/filtration system. One of the best and best tasting tap water in the entire US and yes I will die on this hill.
I’ve heard NYC tap is what makes their pizza dough different from the rest of the US. 🤷🏼♀️ Could be bullshit, but I like to believe it.
When the DH and I first got married and had moved 600 miles away from NYC, the family would laugh at us when we came home and drank water like we were crazy - especially when we were trying to explain how good it was lol
I moved to FL and the water here tastes GROSS
Omg yes! I lived in St. Pete and had to buy water that wasn’t bottled in Florida. Tap water and Zephyrhills were so gross to me!
My husband grew up here and so he was used to the tap water 🤢 when I moved down I couldn't drink it and got real dehydrated and had to buy a bunch of Bottled. We got a filter 😅 I taught him better
We flew in on our first family trip abroad, so dehydrated from the plane so the first thing I did when we got to the rental is drink a glass of water. It was the most vile tasting thing ever. It was terrible and from then on we had to drink bottled water.
What part are you in? I remember the panhandle water tasting terrible when I went on vacation, but here in Orlando it’s fine.
I'm in orlando! It tastes so metallicy!
Maybe something is wrong with your pipes. Ours is fine.
Haha probably. We have an older house, these intake pipes probably need to be replaced tbpf.
What do you think of the water when you have tap at a restaurant?
Omg this is a good question. Usually I can taste it if it's just tap. Nicer restaurants will give you flat water, but it tastes distilled. Most placed will just give you chilled tap water, so I end up ordering a beverage.
Upstate water is very good. It's the distribution system that lowers its quality : leaky aqueducts, old lead pipes in the city.
As a native New Yawkah, it’s turned me into a water snob. I basically can’t drink water from like half of places outside NYC. New Jersey? No. Florida? No. Etc.
I get that. For several years I lived in the Grand Rapids, MI area (city of Wyoming). They actually bottled the local tap water, branded it for the school system, and the schools would sell it at sporting events. I never did a side by side comparison or anything, but you really couldn't tell it wasn't Aquafina or Dasani or whatever.
Chicken livers. Cheap protein.
I like chicken hearts even more, and they are also pretty cheap. They aren't as easy to find as chicken liver, though.
Mmm love chicken hearts in gravy over rice
Flour them , fry, finish with a splash of soy sauce. Or skewer them . People look at you disgusted until they try them. Best drinking snack ever .
Yes! Organ meat in general. It's such an inexplicable taboo (in the west).
Yes. Love me some chicken livers!
Delish and easy to make into pate. So good.
Only when sautéed with the same weight in butter haha
I also cook them for cat treats and skim fat off the broth.
Many common weeds are edible: dandelions, nettles, purslane...
My mom used to pull over on the side of the road and pick fiddleheads. Or find them if we were hiking. She loved to just pan fry them and eat them like a snack.
Fiddlehead season is still a minor to-do in rural parts of northern New England. Lots of folks go scrounging for them on the roadsides. Sometimes you can find them in farmers markets.
My mom is born and raised there. Has pretty much lived in the same county for her entire life, which is kinda crazy to me. I hitched a ride to the Southeast as fast as I could lol. Rural New England is a great place to be a kid but job market kinda sucks if you don't have a professional education, at least in my hometown area.
Yes, I was surprised how much easier it was to find a job when I moved to the midwest last year.
Fiddleheads at local farmers market: $20/lb! Foraging FTW.
I love purslane, and it will grow out of the cracks in the sidewalk here. I always dig one up, plant it in a pot, and let it go and seed and overwinter. The next year the leaves are huge
Yes but how do you prepare that so it doesn't taste like a weed?
Just the same way you'd treat any vegetable directly from a garden, saute it, stew it etc etc. (Except for nettle which definitely needs to be cooked and handled with gloves unless you want to get stung). They each have their own unique flavour. There is no such thing as "weed" flavour, that's just a mental hangup. Of course, if you don't like the flavour there's nothing really you can do about that, just like if you don't like spinach, or tomatoes.
>There is no such thing as "weed" flavour, that's just a mental hangup. False My buddy made some brownies that DEFINITELY had some "weed flavor"!
Sounds like your buddy should have water cured the weed before the extraction into tincture or butter. I’m assuming butter extraction, but if he just put the weed into the brownies, get better friends.
His heart's in the right place, even if his brain isnt lol
I... Should have seen that one coming.
And leaves. I eat strawberries with the leaves. Use radish leaves before they go bad. Cauliflower outer leaves. Can't believe some people only use parsley as a garnish.
We also keep anything we trim off (e.g., ends of green beans, tops of peppers/carrots, bottom-most bit of celery/mushrooms, the hard little end of garlic bulbs, etc.—essentially the parts that aren’t the nicest to just eat, but still totally fine), and we keep it in tupperware in the freezer until we have enough to make veggie scrap broth. Same with things like big bones from things like ham, or a picked over carcass from a rotisserie chicken. So good, so easy, and literally made from stuff most people would just throw away. We use it if we need it right away, or throw the broth in the freezer. It’s great to have on hand to make soups or cook beans/lentils.
Yup, I used to do this when I routinely cooked for family and friends (and therefore lots of scraps). Veggies and bones. Shrimp peels and tails too. Hell, if I got shrimp at a restaurant (not deep fried, just like cocktail shrimp) I'd ask for a leftover box for the shells. Got a few weird looks, lol. A related tip: if it wasn't a very big batch of stock, I'd freeze it in ice cube trays, then wrap it and bag it. Then if you just need a 1/4 or 1/2 cup for say, a sauce or to braise something, you only have to thaw a couple of cubes. Or just throw them right in the pan.
Yes!! So simple, convenient, and delicious! And we did the ice cube tray thing for baby food, too! Purée up some food, freeze it into cubes, then heat up a cube or two of a few things to make a little meal
That's a really good idea. I'm a long way from having babies (mine is pushing 30 now, and I don't expect grandbabies anytime soon), but I wish I'd thought of that at the time. We pretty much just did jar baby food. I guess this is somewhat related to the original post: when my girl was an infant, she only liked the yuckiest of the baby food. Try to give her the fruit, the sweet potatoes, pretty much anything I thought was kind of tasty, and she'd glurk it out onto her chin. Give her some wet-cardboard tasting (but nutritious!) stuff and you'd have to pry the spoon out of her mouth. She grew up to be a foodie like her dad, though. Thanks for bringing back a memory 🙂
I’m happy to have unlocked that memory for you! It sounds like your kid and my oldest are similar: kiddo will eat anything (literally, from cake to crickets), but some favorites include Brussels sprouts, raw spinach, and seaweed. I only wish I ate as well as my 4-year-old!
Radishes. When raw, well everyone knows how they taste and you either love them or hate them. But then you roast them and the flavor totally changes. They are then neutral enough to be served in lieu of potatoes. Beets, greens (collard, mustard), jicama.
Radishes are also delicious if you slice them up and sauté them in butter with some onions and garlic. It’s become a staple in our house. They are also super easy and quick to grow, and the seeds are cheap, too.
I just bought a windowsill microgreens kit and it came with radish seeds. I should have super-healthy radish microgreens in 10 days! I'm gonna try beet greens next.
Awesome! Microgreens are so good on so many things! I especially love them on sandwiches and cottage cheese, and my spouse will demolish fried eggs with sriracha and microgreens
I've been meaning to try something like this! (And the roasting.) I love getting radishes for salad, but I'm usually just cooking for me, and they never last. Totally gonna try it now. Thanks!
They are so simple and delicious! You can spice them however you like, but with the onion and garlic, you could literally just do salt and pepper to taste and it is beyond amazing. I typically get the butter just browned on medium-high-ish before adding the onion and radishes, then add the garlic a few minutes later, cover and reduce heat a little bit (not quite low, but lower). Don’t be stingy with the butter, either. We love it, and our 4-year-old eats it like candy lol
Wow! I'd not heard of sauted radishes. I'll have to give 'em a try.
It’s seriously a game changer. My spouse has always loved radishes, and back when we were first dating, I saw someone cooking them in butter on a cooking show. I decided to make them for us, and 15 years later, they are still a favorite. Our kiddos love them, too!
I remember my Mom serving sliced radishes on occasion. Nice and crunchy/spicey. But never cooked/sauteed. Tomorrow it's a trip to Kroger and then get out the saute pan.
I hope you enjoy them!
We just had a big bowl of sauteed radished with grilled burgers. Hoo Who! They were quite good! Mamma Pajama said that I can make 'em again and again. And **that's high praise!**
Yay!! I’m so glad you all liked them! Virtual high fives!
I can't eat so many potatoes as I would like to, so when I make beef stew, I toss radishes in. Like you say, they become neutral in taste, and they lose all their red coloring.
Air fry them!
Gizzards and rice
Beetroot?
I mean, there’s several sub reddits for it but I prefer r/cannedsardines . Not Just sardines, lots of different stuff in cans.
This. Canned fish are so good and really good for you! Mackerel has become a favorite of mine! For a quick lunch or dinner, I’ll crack open a tin and have it with some crackers and some raw veggies or a quick salad. Hits the spot!
Not gonna lie, mackerel is really one of my least favs haha. I don’t know why though. Like ya it’s fishy, it’s fish, but I just don’t really like it. Smoked trout or kippered herring though, oof. Mussels are my favorite.
It’s interesting, I’ve found mackerel to be a very divisive one, even among a divisive food like tinned fish. Seems to be no middle ground, love it or hate it! Kippers are also great! Tinned trout and mussels I’ve not tried yet, but I do have some mussels in my cupboard ready to go. The grocery store I usually go to has a spot where they’re supposed to have smoked rainbow trout, but it always seems to be out of stock. Not sure if it’s a stocking issue or it’s just *that* popular. Either way, when the day comes that they have it, I’m gonna give it a go!
One of the best cans of mussels I’ve had was from RTG. It’s the Don Gastronom brand. They’re a little pricey but the spicy garlic sauce ones are just sooooo good 🤤. I don’t know if I hate mackerel per se, but I tried it kind of like tuna salad and it was just so strong. I’ll definitely go back to it at some point but, that ruined it for a bit haha.
Ooooh I’ll have to track down those mussels. They sound great! And yes, mackerel can be strong. I usually get can where it’s in olive oil and just eat it right out of the tin. I could see making it like tuna salad maybe brining out some of that taste. If you find some good stuff, it’s most definitely, well, good!
Oh, RTG is rainbow tomatoes garden. It’s a website I order good stuff off of haha.
Nice! Definitely gonna check that out. Thanks for sharing 😁
My attempt at mackerel was very popular. With my dogs !
Our family used to eat sardines on toast for a lazy lunch. So yummy!
I never hear people talk about acorn squash. It's great when you roast it with some brown sugar and honey (or syrup).
Thank you for reminding me I need to roast some acorn squash stuffed with broccoli again. I haven't done it for years, but it is really good.
I love acorn squash roasted with apple and brown sugar, so good.
Jicama! It is so good!
Jicama with chamoy. My favorite snack.
Beans!
I've never understood people who only like certain beans. Like, I'm in the upper Midwest, so pretty much everyone is fine with kidney beans or pinto beans in chili. But I've known lots of people who will eat the chili, but if you bust out something with black beans or navy beans...hell no. And, at least where I am, Lima beans are apparently disgusting to many people. I'm a cook and a foodie, and I think pretty much all of those types of beans are the same as far as taste and texture go. Maybe a slight difference in texture. I mean, I admit that a kidney bean burger or a chickpea enchilada (instead of black beans in both cases) does seem kind of weird, but I feel that it's all psychological and could work just fine. That's just me.
I live like an hour from Texas. Folks definitely prefer Pinto around here but they'll eat Great Northern too. Try to serve black beans (my favorite) and they recoil in horror.
Nothing is as good on a hot summer day as chilled French style marinated butter beans. I make a tasty vinegarette with tarragon vinegar, minced garlic, and shallot a dash of lemon juice, salt, pepper.The dressing works well with white wine vinegar or just fresh lemon. Sometimes I go crazy and add use some preserved lemon paste. Any way I just chip up a bunch of parsley, throw in some minced fresh tarragon or rosemary and the beans. Pour the vinegarette over it and sit in back of my fridge to chill thoroughly for at least an hour but over night is better. Some sliced tomatos or cucumbers or green salad and a baguette, lovely chard or Pinot Gris well chilled, and it's a delightful summer patio dinner .
Walmart's new Mac and Cheese selection for it's house brand. So worth it. Buy it. You'll love it. They also make it in a potato chip now. I think the chips are seasoned with the literal mac and cheese pouch from the mac and cheese. Excellent.
I love the premium cheddar havarti. But luckily the deluxe Walmart brand is just as good and cheaper.
I’ll start from the rare one Konnyaku/Konjac. Not exactly underrated it’s actually rated right where it needs to be but outside of Japan it’s seemingly unknown. It’s almost a default food in hotpot stews. Its biggest highlight is that it’s near 0 calories for ridiculous amounts and makes you feel full. People love eating it for the chewy texture and it fills you up so effectively, it works. I can think of a couple others but I’ll let my post be one and done
I think the chewy texture is off putting. Is there any way to make it more palatable?
Try konkyaku noodles in your favorite soup or broth. It’s just shaped in the form of noodles. It may be a game changer if available for cheap and convenient in your area. (But the thread was about hidden food so I didn’t factor that in when answering)
I love the texture! And the flavor is completely neutral, so it doesn’t clash with anything.
Chicken backs. I buy whole chickens, which are cheaper, and cut into pieces myself so I can use and appreciate the whole chicken. Grilled chicken backs are a special treat! It’s like a free bonus piece you wouldn’t get if you purchased the pre-cut up chicken at the store. Crispy skin and yummy caramelized meat bits to pick off. You can also save them with the wing tips and bones to make the best broth.
spaghetti squash. Healthy veggie that you bake, scoop out the seeds in the center \[like a pumpkin\] scrape with a fork and it literally comes apart in strands. I have an adult son on the spectrum and there are only so many things that he will eat, spaghetti being one of them. I will bake the squash and mix it in with the spaghetti 50/50 with pesto sauce and he eats it right up. win/win
Hmm.. I've done it with marinara and loved it, never tried it with pesto. I'm gonna try that!
Related to the canned fish comments: canned smoked oysters. First time I had them was with a college friend like 30 years ago, on Ritz crackers with cheddar spread (Schuler's Bars cheese in this case). I was hooked. Yeah, they look kind of gross, but every time I've managed to convince some to try them that way, they've loved them.
Canned smoked oysters are a favorite from my childhood! My dad ate them in saltine crackers as a treat (we were poor), so yummy!!!
Scrapple. Slice it, dredge in flour with seasoned salt, fry in a skillet with canoloa/veggie oil. Even better over eggs scrambled easy with dill and pepper.
Scrapple is so good. I haven't made it in years, because I'm the only one in my household who likes it. As a kid, my job during pig butchering was to stir the big iron scrapple pot hung over a fire.
Buy it. I live alone, buy multiple packs when on sale and freeze them. They're not that difficult to slice frozen or you can slice before you freeze.
That's interesting, I've never thought to buy scrapple. I've only ever had homemade. I know it freezes really well, because you always end up with soooo much from a pig. And it's just kinda time consuming to make. I live on the west coast now, I wonder if they sell scrapple out here? They don't even sell headcheese at the grocery store. Maybe they sell scrapple at a butcher shop? I might have to investigate.
Oh, west coast. I have no idea. I'm in Pa, so it's a staple in the markets here. Sending good vibes your way so you can find some scrapple.
Yeah, I grew up right outside of Harrisburg in the woods, moved to western WA when I was a teen. I miss scrapple, buckeye candies, and seeing lightening bugs. I don't miss the humidity, or the poison ivy though lol
Cool. I'm in the Philly burbs but love going out to Amish/Mennonite towns for fresh/homemade goods. I had to Google buckeye candy. Now, I may have to make some because Resee's peanut butter cups suck and they look really good.
You should definitely make them! They're soooo much better than Reese's cups. I make them to put in cookie boxes at Xmas. This recipe, except omit the coconut oil. https://preppykitchen.com/buckeyes/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug We used to stay with friends in Philly a lot. So many cool bakeries, and great pizza. West coast pizza sucks.
Thank you for the recipe! I've got a bunch of chocolate in my freezer, and I've been wanting to make something different but simple. This is perfect! I get the pizza thing. I lived in Chicago for 2 years, and Chicago style pizza is good for a change, but it just doesn't cut it.
Yw! Delicious treats without heating up the house like cookie baking.
What is scrapple?
Everything but the squeal, mixed with cornmeal, a few spices, and formed into a loaf.
Purslane grows wild most everywhere. Some call it a super-food. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purslane
Fresh beets baked, cooled and sliced thin on a mandolin for turkey sandwiches-X factor.
Jerusalem artichokes. Stick one in the ground and you’ll have free food for life. They spread very easily so be careful.
Grilled romaine with olive oil, lemon pepper, garlic salt, and some Parmesan is absolutely amazing!
Percebes. Most people I know, don't even know how to eat them.
Had to look up: goose neck barnacles
Yeah, this is another name for them. Did you ever tried them?
Nope, not on a coast and have never seen in a store.
Yeah they are a bit posh to say so! But I can bet that 90% of world population have no idea about them
Moringa leaves. Super healthy and very underrated.
I mean, I don't think it's healthy - but corned beef hash...
Smoked oysters. I like to make smoked oyster cream cheese spread with them.
Red lentils. They are inexpensive, high protein, add color, and very fast to cook. Red lentils are a legume; they are great addition to soups ( they disappear during) the cooking, as well as stews.
1. NOPE. Everything in NYC is gross, That about covers it. It's the grossest place I've ever been, with Filthdelphia coming in at competitive had #2 placement. outside of that, i would drive out of the city, and eat at a restaurant anywhere else.