BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 10:49 AM

I wish my phobia (phobiae) ended at onions. Sadly it doesn't, and I can't think of any awful experiences from my youth to explain why I hate so many veggies. It's possible that my folks just didn't force me to clean my plate (or do my homework!)

I was doing a concert in an unamed part of New England a few years ago and the folks that were putting me up had a nice party in my honour out the back of their house. They were SOOOOOO nice, but didn't know about my food peculiarities. I ended up with a plate full of little potatoes COOKED with fried onions! Not only that but three or four Brussels sprouts and a mixture of cauliflower and broccoli filled the plate. The worst was some nice salmon that also been cooked along side the ONIONS!

I absolutely freaked! I should have just told the host that I was allergic to food period and had to be fed intravenously.....but instead.......now forgive me folks....I truly WAS desperate and panicky......I started tossing spuds into the plastic garbage can about twenty feet away, whenever no one was looking!!

I'd gotten rid of most of the (onion-contaminated) potatoes and brussels sprouts when a small girl sidled up and said "what are you doing Mister"? Usually I can be pretty glib when neccessary, but not then. I just looked at the kid, said "I dunno" and prayed she wouldn't tell anyone!

This was before I read Quentin Crisp, and became the "let it all hang out" blabbermouth that joined Mudcat. Back Then I was still in the "Vegetable closet"

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 10:50 AM

"But there's no life without onions and garlic

....and very little sex life with them! Just kidding...We love both and Karen and I are each completely free of fleas as well!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 10:53 AM

For those who dislike slimy Egg plant/Aubergine, try this.

Slice a good sized egg/aub into slices, lay out on a plate and sprinkle liberally with salt, and leave them till the salt draws out lots of moisture, about 30 mins. This also stops them going brown.
Rinse said slices, pat them dry, and then flour them.
Dip the floured slices in cold water and then deep fry, in hot oil, { yes it's messy!}
They come out real crisp, and tasty. You can also do the same thing with marrow flowers.

Bon appetit.....Giok

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 10:55 AM

No vampires, either!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Giac
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 11:04 AM

Jeri mentioned kimchee. Now there's a thought. Eating kimchee might keep one from catching current nasty diseases. No one would get close enough to infect you. Kinda like ramps in that respect.

I like kimchee and relish ramps and okra.

However there was an unpleasant incident once with a nun at a Catholic girls school when I was 11.

I took my bowl of chili, untouched, back to the dirty dish line. When Sister Dunstan saw it, she yanked me from the line and asked why I didn't eat it. "Too greasy," I said. She told me to eat that chili. I said no. She smacked me on the shoulder. Not desiring further smacks, I took a bite of the now-congealed chili. It returned promptly and landed on her black shoes. Too many witnesses for her to kill me, so she just made me write a paper on some long-mouldy saint.

Couldn't look at chili, or stand to smell it for years.

I won't eat anchovies -- no hairy little fishes, thanks. And I really don't like the taste of mutton. I think that was from my formative years when I heard, endlessly, that sheep poison the ground and eat the roots of grass, destroying the pasture. (It was cattle territory, don't ya know!!)

~;o) Mary

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 11:37 AM

Other good onion presentations:

Peanut butter and onion sandwiches.

Orange and onion salad.

Fried hog-brain sandwiches with raw sweet onion. (This is, admittedly, a learned taste.)

Speaking of the peanut butter and onion sandwiches, a good horses' doover is, on a canape base or saltine, peanut butter with just a dab of ground horseradish! Sounds weired, but on my honor, it's good!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: MMario
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 11:40 AM

if you are truly "upscale" the peanut butter and horseradish will also have a slight dab of catsup

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 12:15 PM

The "no vampires either" comment was directed at Spaw's comment.

Orange and RADISH salad is also tasty -- especially along with a Moroccan chicken stew (with plenty of onions, preserved lemons and olives).

Gotta try PB & onion sandwiches. Might even throw some chutney on top of the mix.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 12:40 PM

Just made a discovery -- store brand packaged macaroni and cheese with a little bit of leftover creamed onions added to it is the ultimate comfort food.

What a self-indulgent day I'm having.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 01:24 PM

I first heard about Rick's interest in creamed onions the day he and Heather showed up at my house at dinnertime (just before a gig in Branford) and I had a "Main Event" pizza waiting for them. It was covered with EVERYTHING, including strands of delicious onions, peppers, broccoli, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, etc. Heather dug right in, but Rick said he would "wait" to eat until after the gig (in the hopes that something non-onion would show up, I found out later).

I personally have to leave the room - even leave the house - if someone is cooking liver. And the myth that it's delicious with onions is a lie. I filled many a napkin with liver and onions at the dinner table when I was a kid.

I used to hate onions as a kid, wouldn't eat one that still looked like onion but would eat meatloaf, etc. if the onions were grated and invisible. But I outgrew that, and came up with the notion that "tastes change."

So, I kept telling my sons when they were growing up that "tastes change." Every few months I would try again to make one son taste cauliflower. One day when we had company at a cozy little dinner party, I prevailed upon him to just taste the cauliflower, because "tastes change" and he might like them now. He took some in his mouth and then proceeded to spray the dinner table with cauliflower vomit!! I've come to the conclusion that cauliflower isn't that great - "Moms change."

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Amos
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 01:35 PM

My delicate little stomach is knotting up just reading this thread. :.)

"Satan gave me a taco, it really made me sick
The meat was kinda greasy, and the cheese was much too thick...."

(Beck, "Satan gave me a taco...")

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 01:40 PM

The trick to liking liver, in my experience, is to not to overcook it. Not only does the texture change, when it's well done but the taste changes too. So, yes, I like calf and chicken livers both. (Man, don't we sound predatory!)

One of my favorite meals for a long time was chicken livers, cottage cheese and asparagus. The tastes and textures go well together.

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 01:43 PM

Hi Giac.

I've just learned a very interesting lesson about the mystery of life.

You encountered a sadistic nun who made you eat congealed chili.

You can't eat chili now.

Had I had the same experience, I wouldn't be able to go into a Catholic Church!!

.....and I would have AIMED HIGHER on the nun when throwing up!

This is probably why I was eventually expelled from High School!

********************************************************

Hi Barb. Yeah, I remember that Pizza. LOOKED great!

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 01:50 PM

I like liver, too -- not too often, but I like the liver, onions and bacon fat combination.

Bacon fat RULES!!! (But I don't like bacon unless it's in or on something.)

Chicken livers, cottage cheese and asparagus? I like all the ingredients, just not sure about them together.

Now chicken HEARTS -- love those little suckers. Ate them even in the days I wouldn't eat chicken [Die chicken beast! I eat your heart!] because the Leghorns my grandparents kept were such disgusting stupid critters. Chicken hearts sauteed in butter and piled on top the Armenian rice pilaf with the toasted orzo in it.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 02:01 PM

The real trick to not overcooking liver is to buy it whole and have it sliced an eighth of an inch thick. I buy it that way but slice it myself. Now a hot skillet and only a minute or so a side and you would never know it's the same meat. Do the onions the same way, thin sliced and quick cooked. It cooks best in either real butter or bacon grease.

I don't eat it very often anymore because frankly the way you cook it is unhealthy and organ meats are far more unhealthy than we thought. Not heart healthy at all!! But cooked "my way" once in a great while?   DAMN....it's really great!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Allan C.
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 02:52 PM

These days I will eat and do eat almost anything commonly considered to be food and some things that aren't. It wasn't always thus.

My initial nemesis was salad. I endured more than a few lengthy standoffs between me and my folks before they would finally send me to bed and then scrape the uneaten salad into the dog's dish. Rick, it will do your heart good to know that the dog carefully ate all of the salad except the onions which he pushed out of the dish and then peed on!

In later years I came to thoroughly enjoy salads. I don't know how that happened.

Another so-called member of the salad family is tomato aspic. I had this atrocity forced upon me in my early years until I finally learned to be more assertive. To me it seems like congealed V-8 juice - which I am convinced is nothing more than garbage put through a blender.

When I was a little kid I equated the smell of broccoli with that of one of Dad's farts. Even now, if I should happen to forget to immediately clean any pot used to cook broccoli the same smell returns. I have no idea how I managed to work past my initial issues with this vegetable for now it is among my favorites.

My parents both loved artichokes. After cleaning up a few messes, Mom finally learned to give me enough advance warning so that I could evacuate the house before she began cooking them. Strangely, I now totally love spinach/artichoke dip and have even eaten a few artichokes in recent years.

Jeri, I had a great uncle who always put on a show whenever boiled okra was served to him. He would take a bite and then jump out of his chair, examining the seat to see if the damned thing had slid all the way through! I have to agree with you, boiled okra is not fit for human consumption. It is a shame that this is all too often the only introduction to okra for many people. However, I totally agree with Sorcha that when properly fried, it can be absolutely wonderful! To my way of thinking, it takes on a flavor not unlike fried oysters. I also like adding chopped okra to soups.

For me, brussels sprouts and turnips both can be used as empirical evidence that if you put enough butter on almost anything, it can be eaten.

There must be something about the canning process...
I was nearly grown before I discovered that green peas did not necessarily come from cans. It was a revelation! I detested and still detest canned peas but will eat fresh or fresh-frozen peas 'til the cows come home.

It may be only as little as five years since I discovered that tuna and salmon did not have to come from cans and did not have to smell - no, reek (and probably taste) like cat food. As it is with the peas, there is a world of difference between canned and fresh.

As Barbara Shaw observed, tastes change. What I once found repulsive are often now among my favorite foods. However, I am still fairly well convinced that it will be a very cold day in hell before I eat any tomato aspic!

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Beccy
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 04:48 PM

I know I said it elsewhere... but you could not PAY me to eat a durian again. Honestly, the stuff tasted like pure sulphur AND it was had the texture of a bad avocado. Ack... I think I need to go brush my teeth just from thinking of it.

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 04:52 PM

That's really good to know Beccy and I'll keep it in mind, I certainly will! Now I was wondrun iffen yall might tell me what the fock a durian is?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Beccy
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 05:01 PM

Spaw, my friend... durian is an exotic fruit that looks like a large version of the business end of a mace (medieval weapon- not spice). It is terribly intriguing looking if you like odd fruits and it is offered in many metropolitan areas in those uber-big supermarkets. It is also in many Asian markets as it is a *ack* delicacy in Indonesia and Thailand. They say that some people actually *gag* worship the rancid thing. It has the odour of rotting flesh.

We got it for my Mom for a birthday present (she's a food adventurer) and weren't deterred by the smell on account of the whole "limburger-cheese" theory. We SHOULD have paid attention to the smell. For starters, we needed a hatchet to open the dad-blamed thing. Then the smell about bowled us all over. Then we actually INGESTED the horrid stuff. Then my baby sister gagged, and my Mom and I RAN for the bathroom to brush our teeth. The rest of our party was wise enough to avoid it after smelling it. My husband said I smelled like the durian for 3 days. My Mom, sister and I burped the stuff for at least a week post-eating it. My little sister gets a pained expression whenever someone mentions durians.

Rick- you wanna supplant your hatred of onions? Try a durian.

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Matt_R
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 05:11 PM

I can't believe after all these years you guys are still making clam jokes. I'm just waiting for the dragonfly shoe to drop...

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Amos
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 05:25 PM

YEah, you're right, Matt. I vow, I am NOT gonna talk clams anymore.

I musta missed the dragonfly connection -- you want to serve???


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 05:35 PM

Hi Matt, welcome back. Not EVERYONE is making clam jokes!

Beccy. A friend from New York came to visit about five years ago. He loves

our Oriental Markets here (cuz they remind him of home)

He brought a durian over and literally insisted we "open 'er up". "Don't worry about the smell" he said, "it's just like scooping out WARM VANILLA PUDDING"!!

Jeezus!! Both Heather and I almost threw up on the spot....and we hadn't come close to opening the sad thing. I put my foot down.

After he left, we went out the back yard to see just how awful the thing really was.....I hacked it open with a hatchet, and thirty seconds later it was in a TIGHTLY closed gatbage bag!

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 05:42 PM

I've heard of durians, but never encountered one. Maybe I'm lucky.

Hey, Matt, nice to hear from you!

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Amos
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 07:20 PM

They native to the Malay peninsula, LH -- try the open markets outside Kuala Lumpur, they're all over there. I never got the nerve up to try one, though -- their reputation alone made me queasy!!

Rick, Ebby and I have decided to include you as a contributing researcher on our break through discovery concerning the roots of human violence -- enforced eating!! You've really done a major service to mankind here, buddy!! (See the Roots of Human Violence Thread).

Congratulations!


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 26 Apr 03 - 07:47 AM

I had some friends who would boil onion like you do potatoes, just peel them and boil them in a pot. I enjoyed them, but they are the only thing that I have ever tried that upset my stomach.

Liver, I gag thinking about it.

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: MMario
Date: 26 Apr 03 - 10:04 AM

I love a good boiled onion -

I've been told that Durian's need to be dead ripe before they are edible - and if you have to "hack" into them they are far too green - as a ripe Durian will split if you look at it. But the smell doesn't change.

I suspect that if they are not local you're not going to get a ripe one.

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: DebC
Date: 26 Apr 03 - 10:16 AM

Saw this thread...I thought Rick was talking about The Onion

Deb Cowan

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 26 Apr 03 - 11:13 AM

Nah, Deb....I LOVE THAT Onion!

Hope all is well.

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: The Onion...My Life Long Enemy.
From: DebC
Date: 26 Apr 03 - 11:28 AM

Me too, Rick. We have had a subscription now for the last four years.

All is well. Still jonesing to get up to Toropnto to see you and Miss Heather.

Oh yes, I am taking your place in the house concert today in CT.

All the best,
Deb