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Makoeyes
06-11-2013, 09:05 PM
By "ethnic foods", I mean any signature food of a culture, like Italian or English food.

I've been wanting to try out Irish and French food for various reasons. Anyone have any advice on this?

Also, what "ethnic" food is your favorite? I like Italian and American-Chinese the best.

noxious.sunshine
06-11-2013, 09:44 PM
Irish food is really good, though I haven't had too many different dishes. Corned Beef & Cabbage is really good (My mom makes it every year on St. Patty's Day) as is Soda Bread, though the few times I make it, I don't put raisins in like other people might. Corned Beef is probably what's most popular state-side though. It's even better the next day on a sammich. XD

IMO, the best way to try any type of new cuisine is to find a recipe that -you- think looks good and make it yourself. That way you know what all goes in it and if there's a particular herb or ingredient you don't particularly like, you can use less or leave it out. I got adventurous enough to make Coq Au Vin once (I used Hubert Keller's recipe: Maine Lobster Macaroni and Cheese ?Au Gratin? ? Recipes ? Hubert Keller (http://www.hubertkeller.com/recipes/mod/recipe_319CoqAuVin.html) )... There's a lot of steps and it's a lot of work, but it turned out really good.

Cooking-wise, Mexican (yesh, I cook authentic ish) is my go-to.. It's cheap and easy... Unless you get into making tamales (which I did one night. It's not hard - getting the dough right is the biggest challenge, but assembling the damn things take -forever-. Never again) and the way I cook it, it's a lot healthier than what you'd find in a restaurant. Pati Jinich has a lot of good recipes on her website. But I love Mexican in general, and Italian, though I try to stay away from pastas and stuff now. But I like Chinese, Japanese, & Southern (yes, it -is- a type of cuisine)... Fried cube steak, Ham, Pinto Beans, & Corn Bread, baked mac & cheeze, fried chikkin... Mmmmmmm. yummeh. lulz.

EDIT:

Ignore the title of the link. It really does take you to the recipe for Coq Au Vin.

Also, Julia Child is kind of the Final Word on French Cooking. If you have a smartphone, go to tuebl.ca and just search "Cooking" - there's several of her cookbooks on there. They're all epub files and free to download. If you have an Android phone, MoonReader works best for viewing epub files and iPhone/iPad, I've been told Stanza works well.

Chris
06-11-2013, 09:56 PM
Mexican food is not food, but horrible imaginings.

Filipino food is rich and varied, and also largely healthy. I have so many favorite dishes, but I especially prefer the deserts. I could... just make love to all of them and cream out at the end.

noxious.sunshine
06-11-2013, 09:59 PM
lmao Mexican food? Is not horrible imaginings! Filipinos have just as many, if not more, bizarre foods as Mexicans do. Pork blood? No -thanks-. lol

Chris
06-11-2013, 10:02 PM
lmao Mexican food? Is not horrible imaginings! Filipinos have just as many, if not more, bizarre foods as Mexicans do. Pork blood? No -thanks-. lol
This is a complete lie. The blood adds a beautiful colour to the white rice and pieces of pig tails.

noxious.sunshine
06-11-2013, 10:04 PM
Uh huh.. And you say Mexican is gross.

Miriel
06-11-2013, 10:06 PM
Mexican food is not food, but horrible imaginings.

Filipino food is rich and varied, and also largely healthy. I have so many favorite dishes, but I especially prefer the deserts. I could... just make love to all of them and cream out at the end.
Seriously?

Why be proud of the fact that you think an entire culture's food is terrible? That's not something I would ever want to broadcast. Sure, there's some cuisines that aren't my favorite, but why hate on an entire culture's food? It shows such a narrow mindedness. Especially to disparage an entire variety of one culture's cuisine which probably has a huge range of different kinds of dishes, and then flip around and claim that Filipino food is rich and varied.

My favorite cuisines are:

1) Korean
2) Mexican
3) Italian
4) Traditional & New American
5) Spanish
6) Thai
7) Japanese
8) Indian
9) French
10) Mediterranean

So... I guess that covers a lot of ground.

Chris
06-11-2013, 10:07 PM
I think you take my comment a little too seriously, Miriel.

Jinx
06-11-2013, 10:13 PM
I love all the foods.

Depression Moon
06-11-2013, 10:22 PM
Chinese, Mexicano, Japanese, Italiano

Miriel
06-11-2013, 10:22 PM
I think you take my comment a little too seriously, Miriel.

I just think you mention it a lot, and it's kinda rude. Imagine if you're a Mexican person reading that, it's probably not fun. I felt the same way when Kim Kardashian said that Indian food was disgusting. It's just so unnecessary to say shit like that.

Jinx
06-11-2013, 10:25 PM
HOW CAN ANYONE THINK INDIAN FOOD IS DISGUSTING?

Calliope
06-11-2013, 10:34 PM
Thai - bring on the fresh herbs and heat, the vibrant vegetables that bloom under the influence of a complex and nuanced curry.

Japanese - simple flavours and stunning presentation; the sharp contrast of strong soy sauce and creamy avocado, delicately fried tempura, salty edamame pods enjoyed with a bright plum wine, perfectly charred donburi, itadakimasu.

Indian - I have spoken of this before, but I could eat Indian food every day and not tire of it - pappadums, jasmine rice flavoured with cumin seeds and peas, a robust curry of chickpeas, or potatoes and cauliflower, or slowly roasted eggplant; every dish is a gift.

Maori - A true Maori meal is a family affair. To lay a hangi, you dig a pit in the ground, cover the bottom with rocks gone through the fire (reminiscent of Maui and Hinemoa), lay flax leaves over the rocks (Kia Ora Tane), and then place baskets of food on the leaves. More leaves go on top, and then you bury the whole lot under cover of earth, and leave it be for several hours.

Lifting the baskets back into daylight, you unveil your feast in the whare: Roasted kumara, taro, pumpkin, potato, carrots, cabbage, stuffing, fish, lamb and pork. These fragrant offerings are served with fry bread - fried dumplings that are often served with golden syrup. Everyone in the whare helps with the preparation for such a feast - from setting up chairs to peeling vegetables; and everyone is grateful and happy to be present under one roof.

Jinx
06-11-2013, 10:40 PM
Thai - bring on the fresh herbs and heat, the vibrant vegetables that bloom under the influence of a complex and nuanced curry.

Japanese - simple flavours and stunning presentation; the sharp contrast of strong soy sauce and creamy avocado, delicately fried tempura, salty edamame pods enjoyed with a bright plum wine, perfectly charred donburi, itadakimasu.

Indian - I have spoken of this before, but I could eat Indian food every day and not tire of it - pappadums, jasmine rice flavoured with cumin seeds and peas, a robust curry of chickpeas, or potatoes and cauliflower, or slowly roasted eggplant; every dish is a gift.

Maori - A true Maori meal is a family affair. To lay a hangi, you dig a pit in the ground, cover the bottom with rocks gone through the fire (reminiscent of Maui and Hinemoa), lay flax leaves over the rocks (Kia Ora Tane), and then place baskets of food on the leaves. More leaves go on top, and then you bury the whole lot under cover of earth, and leave it be for several hours.

Lifting the baskets back into daylight, you unveil your feast in the whare: Roasted kumara, taro, pumpkin, potato, carrots, cabbage, stuffing, fish, lamb and pork. These fragrant offerings are served with fry bread - fried dumplings that are often served with golden syrup. Everyone in the whare helps with the preparation for such a feast - from setting up chairs to peeling vegetables; and everyone is grateful and happy to be present under one roof.

goddammit calliope yer makin me hungry

Chris
06-11-2013, 10:42 PM
I think you take my comment a little too seriously, Miriel.

I just think you mention it a lot, and it's kinda rude. Imagine if you're a Mexican person reading that, it's probably not fun. I felt the same way when Kim Kardashian said that Indian food was disgusting. It's just so unnecessary to say trout like that.
People here know that I mean nothing by it at all, and honestly, if you find me so offensive, then you must not have met a lot of the other members here. :3

noxious.sunshine
06-12-2013, 12:31 AM
The truth is, Chris -loves- Mexican food. He's just in the closet about it. XD Either that or he's only eaten in sh*tty Mexican restaurants.

I like some Filipino food. And GUESS WHAT!?!?!?! Quite a bit of it is similar to -Mexican-. OMG No way! The BF made some kinda ground beef guisado whatever and I was like "...... This is Mexican, dude. We eat this ish on corn tortillas"... The only difference was the rice. And no tortillas. hurdy hurdy hurdy.

Why the similarities? Because Mejico and the Philippines were invaded by Spain around the same time. Or well, that's what my BF's bro-in-law tolds me.

Indian food I'm not a huge fan of, tbh. I made Korean BBQ once. It was good. With Jamaican Jerk chikkin wings.

Makoeyes
06-12-2013, 02:26 AM
Irish food is really good, though I haven't had too many different dishes. Corned Beef & Cabbage is really good (My mom makes it every year on St. Patty's Day) as is Soda Bread, though the few times I make it, I don't put raisins in like other people might. Corned Beef is probably what's most popular state-side though. It's even better the next day on a sammich. XD

IMO, the best way to try any type of new cuisine is to find a recipe that -you- think looks good and make it yourself. That way you know what all goes in it and if there's a particular herb or ingredient you don't particularly like, you can use less or leave it out. I got adventurous enough to make Coq Au Vin once (I used Hubert Keller's recipe: Maine Lobster Macaroni and Cheese ?Au Gratin? ? Recipes ? Hubert Keller (http://www.hubertkeller.com/recipes/mod/recipe_319CoqAuVin.html) )... There's a lot of steps and it's a lot of work, but it turned out really good.

Cooking-wise, Mexican (yesh, I cook authentic ish) is my go-to.. It's cheap and easy... Unless you get into making tamales (which I did one night. It's not hard - getting the dough right is the biggest challenge, but assembling the damn things take -forever-. Never again) and the way I cook it, it's a lot healthier than what you'd find in a restaurant. Pati Jinich has a lot of good recipes on her website. But I love Mexican in general, and Italian, though I try to stay away from pastas and stuff now. But I like Chinese, Japanese, & Southern (yes, it -is- a type of cuisine)... Fried cube steak, Ham, Pinto Beans, & Corn Bread, baked mac & cheeze, fried chikkin... Mmmmmmm. yummeh. lulz.

EDIT:

Ignore the title of the link. It really does take you to the recipe for Coq Au Vin.

Also, Julia Child is kind of the Final Word on French Cooking. If you have a smartphone, go to tuebl.ca and just search "Cooking" - there's several of her cookbooks on there. They're all epub files and free to download. If you have an Android phone, MoonReader works best for viewing epub files and iPhone/iPad, I've been told Stanza works well.
Thanks for the info. :) I love Mexican, it's also one of my favorites, and Japanese. I live in the South, so I think I've kind of gotten used to Southern food by now. It sort of bores me, tbh. Except for ribs; ribs are still delicious.

Indian food is one of the ones I've been wanting to try out the most. Idk if I'll like it or not. I heard it's extremely spicy.

Jinx
06-12-2013, 03:38 AM
Indian food really isn't that spicy unless you ask for it spicy. But, you can get it VERY spicy...which is the best!

Shorty
06-12-2013, 04:54 AM
Thai food is my favorite ever, of all time. Mexican is a super close second, followed by Italian. All of it is so, so good.

Makoeyes
06-12-2013, 05:41 AM
Indian food really isn't that spicy unless you ask for it spicy. But, you can get it VERY spicy...which is the best!
Ah okay good. I don't think I would be able to handle all of that, lol.

I'm actually very limited to whenever it comes to different foods. I think these are the only ethnic foods I've ever eaten: Italian, American-Chinese, American-Japanese, Southern, American (in general), Mexican, French, and Greek. I don't think I've eaten anything outside of that very limited range. Honestly, that's one of the major reasons why I used to have a weight problem. I never got satisfied because all of the food I ate bored me, or whenever I did get to eat something "interesting" I still overate because I knew it wouldn't last for long.

Has anyone ever tried food from the Middle East? I know the different cuisines can vary wildly between countries, but has anyone tried some from that basic region?

noxious.sunshine
06-12-2013, 07:20 AM
I've had Karen (one of the main tribes in Burma ya know.. The one the military was killing off) food.. I made one of my refugee kids bring me some one time.. I think it was fried pork skin. Wasn't great, wasn't horrible. That's not really the middle east though. I may have tried Iraqi food once, but I can't remember. Probably asked another one of my ESL kids to bring me something. XD

Makoeyes
06-13-2013, 05:52 PM
I heard Greek food is somewhat similar to Middle Eastern food, at least to Turkish food.

Pumpkin
06-13-2013, 07:26 PM
French food.

Key to a French dish: Cream based sauce, drown it in butter, add cheese.

noxious.sunshine
06-16-2013, 09:49 AM
Uh uh. Coq Au Vin has neither cream -or- cheese. ;p

Neither does Bouillabaise (sp?)

Denmark
06-16-2013, 03:35 PM
indian, mexican, maybe italian 3rd? yum

Madame Adequate
06-16-2013, 05:55 PM
Ethnic food? Yeah I like donuts.

Shauna
06-16-2013, 06:31 PM
I have been pondering for ages about this, but what exactly is "Irish food"? Potatoes? :p Honestly, I can't think of any food that is traditionally Irish, not trying to be a dick or anything. It is possibly just living too close to the situation.

noxious.sunshine
06-17-2013, 05:05 AM
Lamb can be considered traditional Irish food. Corned Beef, Shepherd's Pie, Soda Bread...

List of Irish dishes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_dishes)

meh. Yeah, cop out reference, but at least it's a start.

Shauna
06-17-2013, 11:30 AM
Interesting. Many of those I would not have considered to be "Irish" as they're commonplace all over the UK. May have came from Ireland, but unidentifiable to me as Irish. Living too close to the situation. xD

Rantz
06-17-2013, 12:01 PM
I love all the foods.

I agree with this one. I can't really make a list of favourites because it'll probably change from one week to the next.

Night Fury
06-17-2013, 12:08 PM
I honestly think that if I could only eat one food every day til I died, it would be burritos! But as a whole, Mexican food really isn't my favourite. I love Italian dishes because they're so full of flavour and proper 'soul food'.

Burgers are pretty high on my 'best foods evah' list too. I also love Chinese food, Black Bean Chicken is mighty fiiiiine!

Basically, I have different foods for different times. I'll just eat everything.

Pumpkin
06-18-2013, 04:53 PM
Uh uh. Coq Au Vin has neither cream -or- cheese. ;p

Neither does Bouillabaise (sp?)

Well, yeah, not every dish is going to have that stuff. It's just more of a joke than anything. And a good number of dishes DO have it. I meant if he's kinda making it up as he goes, it's pretty easy to make a dish French by adding those ingredients :P.

fire_of_avalon
06-18-2013, 05:26 PM
I like that fried chicken and jello with grapes in it at the Chinese buffet. So cultured.

noxious.sunshine
06-19-2013, 07:35 AM
lmao, I know Shi. I'm messing with you. xD

I'm going on a ummm.. "Cultural Smorgasborg" next week. I'm totally holding a gun to my mom's head until she makes me ham, corn bread, & pinto beans -OR- corned beef & cabbage.
Ah hell, I'll settle for her fried chicken & fake ass mashed 'taters. Fekk it. And then Dallas... Flip//Viet food...

I'm starting a new thread for comfort foods right meow.