THE GRUB REPORT: Hungry for change

This ain't your mama's kitchen.

Sure, those yellowed recipe cards handed down generation to generation are precious. But when's the last time you made grandma's Prize Prune Pie?

Being tied down by the eating habits of our forefathers is, like, so last millennium. There's a whole wide world out there, and we've got it right at our fingertips. So prepare yourself to step out of your culinary comfort zone and consider ideas and ingredients that, quite frankly, might scare you just a little bit.

Together, we'll mine the depths of the World Wide Web, seeking out unfamiliar foods and the know-how to put them to good use.

We’ll seek out and demystify some of the "exotic" items available at local stores. You know. The ones you look at, maybe even pick up, and think, "What am I supposed to do with this?" And we'll explore how unfamiliar ingredients or techniques can fit right into your own repertoire.

You deserve more than the same old same-old staring back at you meal after meal. And it doesn't take a course at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school to break the cycle. The facts and the foods are out there, waiting to fill our minds and our mouths.

We're not professionals. Just hungry. How about you?

Originally posted to The Grub Report by Patricia Gibson on May 21, 2007 06:34 PM


Comments
At May 22, 2007 6:04 PM, Adam Wire said...
The most underrated aspect is experimentation. All you need is a spice rack and whatever meat or vegetable you plan to cook. Add an ingredient to grandma's old recipe, or eliminate one. I do it to my Mom's old recipes all the time (don't tell her that, though). Just don't overload a particular spice or marinade.

(Geez, now I'm even more hungry!)


At May 22, 2007 9:01 PM, James Cramer said...
Bless you! Diversity of food is one of my passions. The tried and true may be comforting but is rarely exciting. However, do not hastily discount your great, great, great grandma's old, yellowed, stained, and smeared note cards. I have found that some of the most amazing flavors and textures I have experienced may not be in current vogue but were at one time main dinning fare.

Prune Pie you say and it won a prize. Can't wait to try it. After turning up my nose at prunes for most of my life as nothing more than a "natural" cure for constipation I have discovered that I like dried plums as a snack and prune danish is delightful. I can't wait to discuss the uses for jicama, leeks, dandelion greens, chick peas, pawpaws, mayhaws, chow-chow, muscadine, ugly fruit, fiddle heads, palm hearts, buffalo, ostridge, escargot, and many, many other both local and foreign "exotic" taste treats.

Greatly looking forward to some "omg" moments both in pleasure and disgust. But, it should be exciting!!


At May 22, 2007 9:18 PM, Bill Lewis said...
Tricia Gibson, I believe this is the type of Blog that is truly needed in Marion/GC. It appears that the majority of the population is addicted to fast food burgers and fries and could use a little culinary diversity. Maybe experimenting with something other than Cheez Whiz and white bread. A sincere bonne chance!


At May 24, 2007 9:02 PM, Nicole Noffsinger said...
I am a little different. I don't have that many grandma's recipes. So everything I make I either find in other people's recipe collections or I have to guess and test! Im not big on Jicama, but I think leeks added to roasts, soups, and stews taste way better than most onions. I had escargot in high school during Foreign Foods day in French class.... my family would stage a seige and send me to time out if I made that. I wonder why don't we have those cooking competitions like we used to have around here? I can remember the tv guide looking booklets that would come in the paper with all the winner's recipies in them. What a great attraction and event it would be to start that up again! Atleast it would take some thought off all the financial woes and gas prices.


At May 25, 2007 10:51 AM, Susan Adams said...
I look forward to reading more about your successful kitchen experimentations.

I am not much of a fast food eater, but I do realize my cooking ideas seem to use the same ingredients every time....HELP!

For the record, I blame my lack of culinary creativity to my high school home economics course where we spent our entire cooking portion of the class learning to make lollipops.....

>>> READ MORE ... you know you want to.