Food Confessions: We're Not Here to Judge

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, spiderpig said:

OK, Artery-Busters - french fries vs. onion rings.  Prepare to defend your choice.

Well, a perfect onion ring is a particularly great bite of food. The crispy breading, the sweet onion, some sort of sauce to dip it in. 

However, very few onion rings are perfect in my experience. They're far too often soggy. They're also not particularly versatile, nor do they come with a lot of variety. 

The humble french fry however is a food you could eat every day, served with a different preparation, not repeat for over a month, and they'd all be awesome. Steak fries, seasoned fries, curly fries, crinkle cut, cheese fries, poutine (for my Canadian friends) and so on. And they don't have to be perfect to be great. French fries are the pizza of side dishes.

So I vote fries, not that there is anything wrong with onion rings. 

Edited April 25, 2017 by JTMacc99

[Nysha]

Fries, especially home cooked fries, thick cut with the skins on, lightly salted and eaten as soon as they're cool enough to pick up.

I don't like the mouth-feel of cooked onions, it's one of those things where I have to dice mine really small when I'm making casseroles so they meld with the other ingredients. 

[Wings]

Onion rings!  I love them.  But they have to be house made at the restaurant and I prefer batter vs breading.   I have made them myself.  They are falling off a log easy but a bit time consuming.   I use an electric skillet with a couple of inches of fat, no need for a deep fat fryer. 

One of the best I have had was at a restaurant in FL.  They were called angel hair onion rings.  The onions were sliced very thin, put in ice water as you do with any preparation, then dusted with flour (salt and pepper), that is it.  The coating was perfect and they were delicate and so good.  They came on a platter all heaped up and golden, enough for a table of 4 with other food.  

[Bastet]

Onion rings, because I hate potatoes.

I will eat french fries if they are thin cut and crispy, and dipped in ranch dressing, so as to no longer taste like a potato.

But onion rings are delicious.  They're kind of a mess to make, but worth it.

[spiderpig]

1 hour ago, wings707 said:

Onion rings!  I love them.  But they have to be house made at the restaurant and I prefer batter vs breading.   I have made them myself.  They are falling off a log easy but a bit time consuming.   I use an electric skillet with a couple of inches of fat, no need for a deep fat fryer. 

One of the best I have had was at a restaurant in FL.  They were called angel hair onion rings.  The onions were sliced very thin, put in ice water as you do with any preparation, then dusted with flour (salt and pepper), that is it.  The coating was perfect and they were delicate and so good.  They came on a platter all heaped up and golden, enough for a table of 4 with other food.  

Sounds like Mustard's in Napa.  A pile of wispy fried deliciousness served with housemade ketchup.  On first bite your eyes roll up to heaven.

[auntlada]

French fries. With cheese. And sweet peppered bacon. And ranch dressing for dipping.

i like onion rings OK, but the onion always slides out for me.

[Quof]

My Food Confession - I've never tasted poutine.  

I'm a bad Canuck.

[rcc]

I have tasted poutine and don't like it. 

I'm a bad part Canuck.

[Jaded]

I ate some Schwan's onion rings I had in the freezer last Wednesday night. The next day I was so nauseous the and felt awful in a way I haven't felt in a looooong time. I did have a left over pork steak with them but I'm pretty sure the onion rings were the culprit. I threw the rest of those things in the trash. I'm ok with a few raw onions on sandwiches and am usually ok with onion rings in moderation too.

[JTMacc99]

I just heard about poutine on Friday night. We considered ordering it just to see what it's all about. Decided to pass. Doesn't look particularly healthy. 

[ariel]

I had poutine when I was in Canada in the late 1970's. I saw the band ELP in concert & was stoned.  After the show I remember poutine being very tasty.  ;)

Edited April 26, 2017 by ariel

[Mellowyellow]

Fries! I find onion rings very rich for some reason. I can eat a few but after that I get sick of them.

We have fries (chips) with chicken salt in Australia. Sooooo good! All that delicious MSG! 

[ebk57]

10 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Well, a perfect onion ring is a particularly great bite of food. The crispy breading, the sweet onion, some sort of sauce to dip it in. 

However, very few onion rings are perfect in my experience. They're far too often soggy. They're also not particularly versatile, nor do they come with a lot of variety. 

The humble french fry however is a food you could eat every day, served with a different preparation, not repeat for over a month, and they'd all be awesome. Steak fries, seasoned fries, curly fries, crinkle cut, cheese fries, poutine (for my Canadian friends) and so on. And they don't have to be perfect to be great. French fries are the pizza of side dishes.

So I vote fries, not that there is anything wrong with onion rings. 

This is so beautifully written!

My vote would go to...both.  Because Fried is one of the four essential food groups - Fried, Salt, Chocolate and Wine.

[WendyCR72]

3 hours ago, ebk57 said:

This is so beautifully written!

My vote would go to...both.  Because Fried is one of the four essential food groups - Fried, Salt, Chocolate and Wine.

Dislike onion rings, but this is a lovely tribute to French fries, which I do love! And I wholeheartedly endorse the food groups you list!

[JTMacc99]

13 hours ago, ariel said:

I had poutine when I was in Canada in the late 1970's. I saw the band ELP in concert & was stoned.  After the show I remember poutine being very tasty.  ;)

The article attached to that picture I posted said something along the lines of "the quality of poutine is often directly related to your level of inebriation." Which sounds about right to me.  

[FormerMod-a1]

I was not inebriated at all when I had the pork belly poutine at One-Eyed Betty's in Ferndale, MI.  Yes, pork belly is often overdone* as a 'foodie' staple in these things, and I have had pork belly poutine where they relied too much on the pork belly.  But that is not the case here.  It is SOOOOO good.  The picture on the menu doesn't do it justice.  That pic just looks so pedestrian.

"fresh cut fries, cheese curds, gravy, pork belly confit, poached egg"

 

* not overdone in terms of cooking, just overdone in terms of its use.

[DeLurker]

On 4/25/2017 at 10:31 AM, spiderpig said:

OK, Artery-Busters - french fries vs. onion rings.  Prepare to defend your choice.

I'll have to go with fries because a fry can be so-so and still ok, but onion rings are more pass-fail IMO.

I'm partial to crinkle cut fries.  And I've had some ridiculously good Irish Nachos.

[MargeGunderson]

2 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

I was not inebriated at all when I had the pork belly poutine at One-Eyed Betty's in Ferndale, MI.  Yes, pork belly is often overdone* as a 'foodie' staple in these things, and I have had pork belly poutine where they relied too much on the pork belly.  But that is not the case here.  It is SOOOOO good.  The picture on the menu doesn't do it justice.  That pic just looks so pedestrian.

"fresh cut fries, cheese curds, gravy, pork belly confit, poached egg"

 

* not overdone in terms of cooking, just overdone in terms of its use.

I would like to go to there.

[Mountainair]

On 4/25/2017 at 1:51 PM, wings707 said:

Onion rings!  I love them.  But they have to be house made at the restaurant and I prefer batter vs breading.   I have made them myself.  They are falling off a log easy but a bit time consuming.   I use an electric skillet with a couple of inches of fat, no need for a deep fat fryer. 

One of the best I have had was at a restaurant in FL.  They were called angel hair onion rings.  The onions were sliced very thin, put in ice water as you do with any preparation, then dusted with flour (salt and pepper), that is it.  The coating was perfect and they were delicate and so good.  They came on a platter all heaped up and golden, enough for a table of 4 with other food.  

Ice water? Interesting! I prefer onion rings to fries but I only have ordered onion rings one time when out in public and that was at a place called Wild Wing Cafe and they were/are delicious!!

I make them at home from time to time but yea they are time consuming and messy as hell to make (at least with the recipe I use). 

[callie lee 29]

Onion rings because onions are a vegetable and vegetables are good for; hence onion rings are good for you. 

(Would you like to hear ny defense for cake and wine for dinner??)

[auntlada]

38 minutes ago, callie lee 29 said:

Onion rings because onions are a vegetable and vegetables are good for; hence onion rings are good for you. 

(Would you like to hear ny defense for cake and wine for dinner??)

Yes, please.

[theredhead77]

On 4/24/2017 at 8:32 AM, spiderpig said:

Any New Englanders here?  Devil Dogs.  Frozen.

I'm going to Boston later this year and put those on my list to find. But it looks like the company is now owned by Hostess and they look like Suzy-Qs. Are they basically the same thing?

[callie lee 29]

1 hour ago, auntlada said:

Yes, please.

So cake has dairy and eggs. Eggs = high in protein, raises your HDL, and contains a multitude of vitamins. Cake also contains milk. Milk is calcium, essential for good bone health. Basically eating cake prevents osteoporosis and heart disease really.

Wine is just fruit in liquid form. And fruit is one of the four main food groups we should eat everyday. And if it's red wine even better. Everyone knows red wine is good for you.

Pair this with the onion rings?? How can you have a better meal!!!

[spiderpig]

40 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

I'm going to Boston later this year and put those on my list to find. But it looks like the company is now owned by Hostess and they look like Suzy-Qs. Are they basically the same thing?

They're kind of like devil's food Twinkies, or hot dog-shaped Suzy Q's with maybe a lower proportion of filling.

We're talking haute cuisine!!!

[theredhead77]

8 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

They're kind of like devil's food Twinkies, or hot dog-shaped Suzy Q's with maybe a lower proportion of filling.

We're talking haute cuisine!!!

I've scouted out the convenience stores near the hotel. What else is must-have junk food not found in CA?

[DeLurker]

9 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

What else is must-have junk food not found in CA?

A required stop for me is to go to Friendly's for a strawberry shake.

[Qoass]

I like to put Peeps in the microwave, hit "Go" and watch them puff up to gigantic proportions.  Then I throw them away.

I've been on a major clean out the kitchen streak lately so instead of dropping $25 on half-price Easter candy as I usually do, I settled for one discounted bag of Cadbury mini-eggs.  I hope I don't have one of those bad-day-need-chocolate episodes and come to regret not having my stash.

[Wings]

On 4/26/2017 at 11:30 AM, Mountainair said:

Ice water? Interesting! I prefer onion rings to fries but I only have ordered onion rings one time when out in public and that was at a place called Wild Wing Cafe and they were/are delicious!!

I make them at home from time to time but yea they are time consuming and messy as hell to make (at least with the recipe I use). 

Soaking them in ice water before cooking insures they won't over cook.  You want the ring of onion to have some texture so getting it cold does the trick. 

[ennui]

I had never heard of deep fried eggs or Irish nachos. I'll have to lurk here more often.

[harrie]

22 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

I've scouted out the convenience stores near the hotel. What else is must-have junk food not found in CA?

 

I recently learned that Marshmallow Fluff is largely regional to the New England states. So, if it is indeed not available in California, you might consider picking up a jar of it.  Once you get it home, make a Fluffernutter sandwich with your favorite peanut butter and fluff. Any bread will work, but the old school (packed in millions of brown bag lunches since the beginning of time) bread of choice is gooey white bread like WonderTM. 

 

    

 

The fudge recipe on the jar isn't half bad in a pinch, either. 

Edited April 28, 2017 by harrie

[theredhead77]

Does Fluff count as a liquid? I wasn't going to check a bag...

[harrie]

Oh, good question - I hadn't considered that. 

It looks like it's in a gray area: not specifically prohibited, but sometimes confiscated.  Sorry about giving you a bum steer. 

However there were a few items on the list that did surprise me: snow globes (or like decorations), gel type candles, gel shoe inserts, most sporting equipment  and recently marshmallow fluff  (not on the actual list but my co-worker’s son lost his to security coming back from Quebec on a school trip last month).

It's possible the security guy in Quebec just wanted the Fluff, but you never know. 

 

Edit: Since creamy dips are counted as liquid, I'm guessing Fluff would be also. Bummer. 

Edited April 28, 2017 by harrie

[JTMacc99]

Gonna have to send it back home Priority Mail.

12 hours ago, harrie said:

nce you get it home, make a Fluffernutter sandwich with your favorite peanut butter and fluff.

Also, OW, my teeth!

[vavera4ka]

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 1:42 PM, Bastet said:

Onion rings, because I hate potatoes.

I will eat french fries if they are thin cut and crispy, and dipped in ranch dressing, so as to no longer taste like a potato.

But onion rings are delicious.  They're kind of a mess to make, but worth it.

now I know it says we're not judging, but... LOL

j/k obviously.

It's just I might as well be made of potatoes, how much I love them lol

Onion rings though... eww lol anything onion is eww 

[Bastet]

4 minutes ago, vavera4ka said:

now I know it says we're not judging, but... LOL

j/k obviously.

Heh; no problem.  Saying I hate potatoes sometimes inspires responses that would be more in line with my having announced I like to eat small children topped with puppy dust, so joke away.

[FormerMod-a1]

I don't hate potatoes, but I'm not big on them either.  For me, the only reason to have a fry is for the ketchup or ranch dressing for dipping. :-P  (Not quite, but usually).  I don't even crave potato chips... ever.  Again, I'll eat some if they are in front of me, and if there's french onion dip I will eat a lot of them... for the dip.  And I like a lot of (too much of) fattening/bad for you food.  Burger and fries is always wasted on me, I will leave half the fries at least, if not more.  I often sub a side salad, or something, unless someone I'm with really wants fries and will eat mine.  I also prefer bread and gravy or rice and gravy to mashed potatoes and gravy.   I do love a good potato-leek soup, though.

[vavera4ka]

@aquarian1 you and potatoes is kinda like me and rice... I don't dislike it... I just wouldn't consciously select it. If it's there, and it's not plain white rice (fried rice, Mexican rice, or rice pilaf at Mediterranean spot) I will eat it. Probably about half of it. But if there's a choice of sides, it will probably be my last choice. Next to last if there are onion ring lmao

[scriggle]

6 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Gonna have to send it back home Priority Mail.

Also, OW, my teeth!

When I was a kid way back in the 70s, I'd make fluff sandwiches on wonder bread. Adding peanut butter would've made it too healthy. ???

[Bastet]

I only eat rice if it's necessary to the dish, e.g. to soak up the liquid in a curry.   I never just eat it as a side dish.  I don't dislike the taste, I just find it rather pointless.  And I use brown rice, because it at least has a little interest to it; white rice is completely boring to me.

The first time I heard about a fluffernutter sandwich, I thought someone was toying with me.  I don't like marshmallow (or Wonderbread), so that's not something I'll be trying.

[harrie]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

The first time I heard about a fluffernutter sandwich, I thought someone was toying with me.  I don't like marshmallow (or Wonderbread), so that's not something I'll be trying.

 

Oh, it's perfectly delicious on rye, a nice whole grain bread, or (my personal favorite) pumpernickel; those choices just seem kind of sacrilegious to some.  But since you don't care for marshmallow, it would definitely be a wasted effort.

[mansonlamps]

3 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

I don't hate potatoes, but I'm not big on them either.  For me, the only reason to have a fry is for the ketchup or ranch dressing for dipping. :-P  (Not quite, but usually).  I don't even crave potato chips... ever.

Ok, well F U.  Haha just kidding, but...hmmm.  Seriously, if potato chips and fries would have never been invented, I would be a supermodel.  A very short one, but still...

[auntlada]

5 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

I don't hate potatoes, but I'm not big on them either.  For me, the only reason to have a fry is for the ketchup or ranch dressing for dipping. :-P  (Not quite, but usually).  I don't even crave potato chips... ever.  Again, I'll eat some if they are in front of me, and if there's french onion dip I will eat a lot of them... for the dip.  And I like a lot of (too much of) fattening/bad for you food.  Burger and fries is always wasted on me, I will leave half the fries at least, if not more.  I often sub a side salad, or something, unless someone I'm with really wants fries and will eat mine.  I also prefer bread and gravy or rice and gravy to mashed potatoes and gravy.   I do love a good potato-leek soup, though.

I have been known to eat a bag of potato chips for supper. The only reason I don't do that any more is that I have to fix supper for my son, and I feel like I also ought to be a good example. I'm not going to let him eat potato chips for supper. He has to wait until he grows up and moves out. (He's got at least 15 years before that. Should the thought make me sad already? Maybe it's just because I'm away from home by myself.)

[spiderpig]

OK Anglophiles - I can't be the only one around here who loves bubble and squeak.

[Mellowyellow]

4 hours ago, auntlada said:

I have been known to eat a bag of potato chips for supper. The only reason I don't do that any more is that I have to fix supper for my son, and I feel like I also ought to be a good example. I'm not going to let him eat potato chips for supper. He has to wait until he grows up and moves out. (He's got at least 15 years before that. Should the thought make me sad already? Maybe it's just because I'm away from home by myself.)

Hehe mine wants a house on the same street! We're looking into it actually!!!!

We have these "gourmet" potato chips with truffle salt flavour in Australia. It's sooooo good!!!!!

[harrie]

9 hours ago, spiderpig said:

OK Anglophiles - I can't be the only one around here who loves bubble and squeak.

We don't do bubble and squeak, but we do colcannon, which looks pretty similar.  We're not against bubble and squeak, it's just that if we have cabbage and potatoes (and maybe other veggies) hanging around, colcannon is our go-to recipe.  But I probably would love bubble and squeak.

[spiderpig]

11 minutes ago, harrie said:

We don't do bubble and squeak, but we do colcannon, which looks pretty similar.  We're not against bubble and squeak, it's just that if we have cabbage and potatoes (and maybe other veggies) hanging around, colcannon is our go-to recipe.  But I probably would love bubble and squeak.

Oh yum.  Irish food on a rainy day.  I love potatoes.

[Wings]

1 hour ago, spiderpig said:

Oh yum.  Irish food on a rainy day.  I love potatoes.

I have a friend who lives in NYC.  I would take the train down from MA twice a year, spring and fall, to clothes shop.  We would eat one meal at an Irish pub on 55th St.  The first time I went, after looking at the menu, I asked the bar tender what things on the menu were homemade.  He said all of it!   I said, oh come on, really?  The beer battered shrimp are not from frozen?  He said, nope, we have a little old Irish lady cooking in the kitchen.  We laughed.  He disappeared and returned with a little old Irish woman, brogue and all!  Turned out she no longer did the cooking but came everyday to supervise the kitchen.  :^) 

We ordered 2 things to share and one was the shrimp.  We didn't go there thinking shrimp but we had to order it knowing this.  Delicious, jumbo shrimp!  We split that every time we returned to share and another more typical Irish dish.  

Edited April 29, 2017 by wings707

[spiderpig]

Six months after 9/11 Mr. pig and I went to Manhattan. Our visit was over St. Patrick's Day.

(Side note:  when a disaster happens, they immediately advise looky-loos to stay away and let the professionals do their work.  We honor that, but know that at a certain point local business suffer - as in the Loma Prieta earthquake and Katrina - and they beg travelers to come back to help the local economy.)

So we were staying at the then Righa Royal* hotel on 54th and asked where the nearest Irish pub was.  They pointed out the front door and there was one just across the street: Oldcastle.

Don't remember what we ordered, but I must have had fish & chips, since that's going to be my last meal request if I end up on Death Row.  We also went to a little pub Downtown that stayed open in what appeared to be a war zone, where the Irish owner was lamenting how hard times were.

*Googled Righa Royal and it appears it's now The London, where Ramsay has a restaurant.

[Wings]

I went to NYC about that same time.  I wonder if we passed on the street!  I often get fish and chips.  We were stuck with only franchise restaurants one time while traveling.  We chose Red Lobster.  They have excellent fish and chips!  Never would have thought.  

[spiderpig]

Oh the glory of fish & chips!  We remember the days in Britain when you could order your fish of choice off the chalkboard, and the lowly cod was always the cheapest.  Last time we went, it was at the top due to overfishing.

My favorites are plaice and haddock.  We don't have fresh haddock out here on the Left Coast, and I've never seen plaice outside of the British Isles, or am I not looking hard enough?