 October 27th, 2010
12:15 PM ET
Every stitch of clothing in my suitcase reeks of wood smoke, and I can't say I mind all that much. I've recently returned from the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in Oxford, Mississippi, where the preferred method for transubstantiation from whole animal (namely pigs and goats) and nasty bits (41 cow heads and a choir's worth of tongues) to sumptuous, silken barbecue was a good long linger in a pit full of ashed-over wood and coals. Or, as speaker Dr. James Peacock of the University of North Carolina's Department of Anthropology termed it, "Profane spheres like barbecue - good old boys doing stuff outside...with pigs." I couldn't get enough of that heady scent and luscious flesh and I'm sure I made a pest of myself at the pit where Chef Kelly English of Memphis's Restaurant Iris was holding vigil over the barbacoa de cabeza all night. But, as the SFA's director John T. Edge told me, "Your Twitter feed, more than anyone else's out there, reflects your love of smoke." He wasn't wrong. Heck - some ladies love a sugar-slathered Magnolia cupcake. I'm a slave to the smolder. |
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Definitely spicy...VERY spicy! Not every meal should be so spicy but to have that experience, that rush, from time to time is a must! Plus, it's just as intense on the way out as it is on the way in!
I love unami- savory foods like cheese, broths, mushrooms. I like salty foods like veggie sushi and baked potatoes with salt and pepper. Morton's lit salt is a must for me- half the sodium of table salt with added pottasium.
It's so hard to choose just one! I'd like to say my fave is any kind of hot comfort food (can be bland or spicy)...followed by something sweet.
I'm so fickle.
I daydream about soft, yeasty breads. And buttermilk biscuits.
AS far as barbecue goes – I grew up with Eastern NC – so somewhat spicy yet pungent being a moist vinegar based sauce. Nothing better than a NC barbecue sandwich with sweet coleslaw on it.
I love sweet things! But not too sweet (ex: merengue). I hate things that are too salty. I actually like things that are a little bitter.
I love salt and Umami! As a supertaster I need sea salt now and then, just a crystal to slowly melt against the tongue. Oh salt, how I love thee. Salty meat products, yum. FYI if you need it: Umami: The umami taste is due to the detection of the carboxylate anion of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring amino acid common in meat (particularly bacon), cheese, broth, stock, and other protein-heavy foods–this is from Wikipedia.
Here what I have always wondered. Given the higher preference of folks for spicy, how come Indian food which primarily relies on spices takes a backseat to French/ Italian cooking which is not as spicy. My guess is the lack of proper representation considering the slop that is served here in US restaurants. Of course there are few restaurants that are good but more of an exception than a rule. Can someone give an honest opinion?
Indian food isn't popular here because it's very stringy with meat and devoid of beef. Other spicy foods, such as Mexican and Tex-Mex is very popular. Also, spicy is relative. What's consider mildly hot in India/Mexico is blazing hot here.
On the main topic, it's between umami and sweet, because those flavors can actually stand on their own. Really tough choice, but I'll have to go with sweet; after all, it is the one flavor that I have a lot of, 7 days a week.
In my experience, Indian restaurants tend to Americanize their food when they have American customers. So the dishes, depending on what you order, can be kind of a bland, and without those spices, it may not have the flavor people are expecting. Even asking some places to go ahead and make it very spicy doesn't always yield results. And if the flavor and spice isn't there and it disappoints you, you just don't go back.
The good places will figure if you came in, you want their food and make it the way it should be unless you specifically ask for it mild. But those places are harder to find.
Also remember that you're talking to very few of us here, and most of us are drawn to this blog because we love all kinds of foods and want to share our opinions on it. So maybe the majority of US likes spicy foods, but that doesn't mean the majority of the U.S. does.
And a lot of the U.S. isn't into trying foods they consider exotic. Italian, Chinese and Mexican food has been very well established and can be found just about anywhere, so people are used to it, understand it and allow themselves to enjoy it. Indian food is not as well established. You might not necessarily find an Indian restaurant in a small rural town, but you probably will find an Italian, Chinese or Mexican place. So the people who stick to eating what they know are much less likely to try Indian food in the first place, and might not allow themselves to enjoy it the way they would something that's more familiar to them.
It's hard to pick just one that I really, really like... but the one constant in my own cooking is spicy, be it a flaming hot beef-and-bean chili, a mildly spicy chicken-vegetable stir-fry, or a molasses cake with plenty of allspice and cloves in the mix. Sure, my potato salad has a good variety of herbs in it... but there's still that little "surprise" in the tiny bits of jalapeño peppers that somehow find themselves in every bite, blended in with the dressing, and of course there's that light dusting of cayenne on the salmon filet that has been marinated in white wine, lime juice and tarragon and then baked on a slow grill with a healthy dose of fresh dill on top.
smoked brisket. yup.
Tangy. Like malt vinegar over fresh cut french fries or a Carolina bbq sandwich with coleslaw...mmmmm
I agree totally.
Smoke makes everything taste better, at least when done properly!
bloody!. a nice rare steak singed on each side to lock in the flavors is the best taste in the world. i feel sorry for the people who won't even give it a chance. oh yeah and it tastes better when you eat venisan rather than beef. venisan is deer meat for those who don't know
Sorry, if it's purple I really don't get down with that. I like the medium-rare. I will eat it rare, but definitely prefer it cooked just a bit more.
The spicier the better! If it doesn't make me sweat, it's not hot enough.
I agree. I would go so far as to say if it doesn't make me bleed from the other end in a couple of hours it was not spicy enough.
Its hard to choose one but if I had to it would be SPICY!!!
I love for things to be sweet and spicey. It makes my mouth water thinking about something sweet and spicey.
that's why i so love thai... you don't have to choose just one.
I had thai food for the first time just a few days ago. Not sure what it was, but it was sweet and salty and spicy all rolled into one. It was heaven! I am hooked.
sweet and spicy together
I like a sweet and spicy combination
The flavors I'll savor, just let sit on my tongue to get the most out of the taste? Herbal, I think. If it's a food that has a lot of fresh herbs, or an herbal tea, I tend to linger over it.
The flavors I'll savor, just let sit on my tongue is your wife!
Awww... it's a troll! That's so cute.
Why hello there, troll. How are things under the bridge?
Moron.
Salt makes everything better! (except my circulatory system)
Smoky! I also don't like things that are too sweet, but a little sweet to food can be amazing.