What are the greatest dishes from around the world?

[Ivan Seeking]

As opposed to the recipe thread, it would be interesting to know what the greatest dishes are from all over the world. I think great food is one of the greatest pleasures in life.

For example, what is great Irish food [Integral]? I have no idea what the Irish like to eat. And what would be considered a great Korean, Tasmanian, or Guamanian dish [MK]?

The greatest food that I've ever had was in a rather spendy Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam. My cousin ordered so I have no idea what we ate, but to this day my mouth waters just thinking about it - all seven courses.

One of my favorite foods is tripe. The best tacos that I ever had were found at a sleazy little taco stand in one of the worst areas of Los Angeles. They made the best tripe tacos! We don't see tripe on the menus in Oregon.

 

[Chronos]

Tripe is a major ingredient of vienna sausages. Scary stuff.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I don't eat tripe, but the best Mexican food is never found in the better restaurants. It's at the corner burrito place or hole-in-the-wall. I've eaten at dozens of these all over San Diego, and having tasted authentic Mexican food can no longer tolerate Taco Bell or get exited about the strangely sterile, Americanized Mexican dishes I've tried in "proper" restaurants.

 

[Pengwuino]

Man i had this shell-type italian food at this buffet at a casino at Lake Tahoe. I know buffet food is suppose to be pretty watered down and bland... but oh my god, this was the greatest thing I have ever eaten in my life. I had never eaten any food that tasted better then that thing. It was like hitting some sort of delicious jackpot.

 

[ZapperZ]

I would say that the signature dish of Indonesian/Malaysian cuisine is satay. And their version is significantly superior than the one you get in Thai restaurants in the US.

I tried to convince my buddies of this by actually having a party and served Malaysian satay. It took me 2 days to prepare everything, from marinating the beef and chicken, to making the peanut sauce, to making the "pressed rice" cubes, etc.

They now no longer argue with me when I say the Thai restaurants satay aren't the same. :)

Zz.

 

[iansmith]

For example, what is great Irish food [Integral]? I have no idea what the Irish like to eat.

My roomate is irish and he eats a lot of potatoes and fish. I never kney a person could do so many different recipe with potatoes alone. He makes some kind of fishs pie.

The greatest food that I've ever had was in a rather spendy Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam. My cousin ordered so I have no idea what we ate, but to this day my mouth waters just thinking about it - all seven courses.

My uncle is married to an Indonesian. She cooks some of the best food. The best is the asparagus-crab meat soup. I also have recipes.


If anybody ever go to montreal, you have to eat the bagels and the smoked meat.

For smoked meat
Schwartz's http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/index2.html - I used to live a minute away from there and it is always busy and people line up outside.
Bens - http://www.montrealfood.com/restos/bens.html
Lester's - http://www.lestersdeli.com/

For bagels
Fairmount Bagels - http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2803673-fairmount_bagel_montreal-i
St. Viateur Bagels - http://www.stviateurbagel.com

 

[honestrosewater]

My favorite food is anything that my grandma used to make. Just simple, good, I guess you would call it Southern home cookin'. Even something as simple as bread - hers was just miles above the rest.

Oranges aren't really a dish, but every time I eat one, I just can't get over how good they are.

 

[hypatia]

Native American Fry bread tacos, and pan fried corn!

 

[juvenal]

Wow - I just read this WSJ article about this Native American woman who's leading a quixotic campaign against fry bread because it leads to health problems. First I've heard about this food. Sounds tasty.

I love food too - had some great meals the last few weeks. I had some fantastic Vietnamese the other day at Golden Deli in San Gabriel. About a couple dozen very fresh oysters on the half shell at Quality Seafood in Redondo Beach. And superb sushi at Sushi Nozawa. I recommend the movie Tampopo for anyone who really enjoys food.

LA is an amazing food city.

 

[motai]

Indian food is great. Everything curry is great. Split peas and lentils, bombay potatoes, both with naan or roti bread, excellent stuff.

Vegetable curry soup also goes well with it. Vegetable dumplings are also exceptional.

 

[Integral]

... For example, what is great Irish food [Integral]? I have no idea what the Irish like to eat. ...

There are many varieties of stew, I had some Stout and Beef stew at a pub, called the Porterhouse, that was excellent, the Stout is for the Pubs Stout beer, Within a few bites I began to understand Irish food. Just imagine what you would like to have on a dark, cold rainy January evening... Irish stew is the answer. Nearly every Pub serves a Lamb stew and/or a seafood stew. The stews seem to come with a lump of mashed potatoes in the middle. The side dish would,of course, be the main source of Dubliner vitamins...a pint of Guinness.

It seems that the Irish are big on breakfast. If you order a Irish breakfast you will get, a bit of bacon, a pork sausage, Black and white pudding, Beans, grilled tomatoes, chips and a egg. I think the black and white pudding is an acquired taste. It resembles a slice of sausage, you get to slices about 3mm thick, and 3cm in diameter, one is very dark the other is very light, I am not sure what it is but, I was not all that thrilled by it. Is their anyone who can tell me more about this stuff?

 

[hypatia]

The white is a sausage pudding made with more garlic and herbs, the black pudding is ...BLOOD sausage...eeeiicck!

 

[Echo 6 Sierra]

Chicken Fried Steak with cream gravy, fried okra, mashed potatos, green beans, yeast rolls all washed down with sweet tea. Sweet tea MUST be made with pure cane sugar from Sugarland, TX. Since Dove season open in 3 days I must say that a dove breast wrapped around a hunk of cream cheese w/a jalapeno ALL wrapped with a slice of bacon and grilled over mesquite will make you slap your momma...not "yomomma" from this board. The downside is biting into a chunk of #6 or 7 lead shot used to bring them down, dodgy little blighters that they are. I'm heading to Luby's.

 

[singleton]

The meal is known as "Scottish Mince" to me, but its just a variation on beef and potatoes basically

While some relatives use corn (yuck) we use peas.

Basically you take ground beef, cook it, mix in a light watery gravy (OXO? I'm no cook so don't ask me what it is), onion, peas and other fixins.

You take mashed potatoes, spread a pile on a plate, then scoop the mince out of the frying pan and spread it over the potatoes.

Keep it simple.

 

[Kerrie]

PAN FRIED OYSTERS AND BEER BABY!

I have had lots of pan fried oysters these past 8 months, but I sure do miss the beer...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Okay, I want Ian and Zapper to come over and cook!

The best is the asparagus-crab meat soup. I also have recipes.

That soup sounds like something that Tsu would love! I'd like to take you up on a few of those recipes.

 

[iansmith]

I think this thread will become a recipe thread. The recipe are translated and my aunt does not use much "standardized" techniques. It is all about experience and taste. I only gave two recipe because the other ones require special ingredients that I have obtained either the Indonesian store below the ambassy in Ottawa or at an Asian supermarket in montreal.

ASPARAGUS KEPETING

1 can of Asparagus
1 can of crab meat
½ onion cut in in very small pieces
3 garlic cloves cut in very small pieces
Sesame oil
2 tbsp of flour
1 tsp of beef soup powder
1 egg
Corn Starch
Salt

Mix the onion and the garlic. In a wok, add a bit of oil and cook the onion garlic mix. Add the flour and then water. Bring to a boil, and add the asparagus (cut or not), the crab meat, salt, the beef soup powder, sesame oil. Bring back to a boil, then add the beaten egg, wait a bit and add a corn starch/water mixture until the liquid becomes thicker. Heat and serve.

MIE GORENG (Fried noodles)

4 garlic cloves
3 red onions
Noodles
Chicken (cut in small pieces)
Chicken Broth Powder
Salt
Sugar
Sesame oil
Kecap raja raso (Regular Indonesian soy sauce)
Kecap mamis (Sweet Indonesia soy sauce- it's a thick sauce, do not add too much)
Egg

Cook the noodles
In wok, mix the oil with the garlic and the onion and cook. Add an egg, mix and then add the chicken. When the chicken is cooked add enough water to cover the chicken and the add the chicken broth powder, salt, sesame oil (not too much it give a sesame taste to dish), the kacap raja raso and the kecap manis. Bring to a boil, then add the noodles and mix until the liquid disappear.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Awesome! Thanks. I was just telling Tsu about this...

 

[kaos]

I would say that the signature dish of Indonesian/Malaysian cuisine is satay. And their version is significantly superior than the one you get in Thai restaurants in the US.



Zz.

Hell yeah.

 

[hypatia]

Pierogi, Paczki, Nalesniki, Kluski and Golabki...Polish food anyone?

 

[kaos]

The best food i ever had is a crab that is almost 1 foot wide(from shanghai or somewhere).Damn friggin expensive too ( a few hundred Malaysian ringgit). Worth every cent tho.

 

[hypatia]

Chicken Fried Steak with cream gravy, fried okra, mashed potatos, green beans, yeast rolls all washed down with sweet tea. Sweet tea MUST be made with pure cane sugar from Sugarland, TX. Since Dove season open in 3 days I must say that a dove breast wrapped around a hunk of cream cheese w/a jalapeno ALL wrapped with a slice of bacon and grilled over mesquite will make you slap your momma...not "yomomma" from this board. The downside is biting into a chunk of #6 or 7 lead shot used to bring them down, dodgy little blighters that they are. I'm heading to Luby's.

I'm sooo hungry, I WOULD slap yomomma for this meal right now, minus the okra. I say BRING ON THE DOVE!

 

[Moonbear]

Pierogi, Paczki, Nalesniki, Kluski and Golabki...Polish food anyone?

The pierogi my grandma makes are the best (and second best are the ones the other women at her church make for their Christmas party). That bland, icky stuff you get at the grocery store frozen section is nothing even close to what pierogi is supposed to taste like. And Kielbasa from a real Polish butcher is the BEST! If you've only had Hillshire Farms, you haven't had real Kielbasa!

When I lived in Ann Arbor, once a year people would bring in Paczki for some holiday...I grew up with Polish grandparents and visited Poland, yet never heard of it before then. I was unimpressed when I learned they were nothing other than jelly donuts. I could get those every day from the local bakery in NJ (you could get them at Dunkin' Donuts too, but not as good as the ones at the bakery; Tim Horton's doesn't know how to make a good jelly donut ).

Other great foods...pizza in NYC! I really crave that and the first place I go whenever I'm in NYC is to the pizza parlor! Graeter's ice cream in Cincinnati (it is THE BEST ice cream I have ever had...even Haagen Dazs can't hold a spoon to it...and I'm going to miss it. They do ship it though, but it's expensive to do that...I might have to do it for special occasions to satisfy cravings ). There's a comfort food that I like, which is possibly of Irish origin (my Irish step-family introduced me to it), and that's Poor-Man's Stew. It's fairly simple to make, brown some ground beef, add water, potatoes, and onions, some salt and pepper and boil for a long time. I think that's all that went into it. Very simple, and really good if you have a tummy ache. Oh, Welsh Pasties are good too. And my Chinese neighbor when I was a kid made the most wonderful food...spare ribs, some sort of asparagus dish, a chicken cooked with soy sauce, dumplings, wanton soup...yummy! Nothing like what you get in a Chinese take-out type restaurant (there were a few places near there that had more authentic dishes in a small section of the menu, or would make it if you knew to ask, but most stuff on those menus isn't the real thing). I used to babysit her kids, and they were the ones who taught me how to use chopsticks...it was kind of funny that I was a teenager learning from these little kids how to use chopsticks. I've also had some really tasty homemade Indian food. One of my friends from high school had this really tasty, and very spicy, snack at her 16th birthday party...I wish I knew what it was! It was addicting, though the spice really snuck up on you as you ate more. I've also been spoiled on homemade Italian food. I don't really like Italian restaurants much anymore since it's never as good as the homemade stuff. I've learned to make a lot of that myself too. Probably most of the food I cook for myself would be considered Italian more so than anything else.

And for the less cultural food, a place (long closed now) by where I grew up used to make deep-fried mushrooms (they made everything deep fried...it was the place to go if you wanted deep fried chicken too, and definitely a place to stay away from if you wanted to stay healthy). I LOVED those deep-fried mushrooms. Every once in a while, I get a craving for them, but cannot replicate the batter to get the right flavor to make my own.

 

[Moonbear]

Chicken Fried Steak with cream gravy, fried okra, mashed potatos, green beans, yeast rolls all washed down with sweet tea. Sweet tea MUST be made with pure cane sugar from Sugarland, TX. Since Dove season open in 3 days I must say that a dove breast wrapped around a hunk of cream cheese w/a jalapeno ALL wrapped with a slice of bacon and grilled over mesquite will make you slap your momma...not "yomomma" from this board. The downside is biting into a chunk of #6 or 7 lead shot used to bring them down, dodgy little blighters that they are. I'm heading to Luby's.

Oooh, yummy! I can help with getting that buckshot out of the birds. Last Christmas, we had some sort of small game bird (can't recall which one...maybe pheasant) that one of my sister's friends shot. They were already dressed, but I helped her with the final cleaning (whoever they had dress them did a cruddy job) and dug out all the last buckshot...nobody found any during the meal, though they were warned to be careful.

How do you make your sweet tea? Do you use a special brand of tea, or just regular tea bags? And how many to how much water? And how long do you brew it? And how much sugar do you add? I've always wanted to know how to make proper sweet tea (unsweetened is NASTY, and that's all you can get in the north...you cannot add enough sugar to cold tea to make it sweet...otherwise it's just Lipton's iced tea mix).

 

[hypatia]

Sweet tea.

to make one quart, boil water with
1/2 cup of cane sugar{not beet sugar}, steep 4 tea bags{Red Rose is the best} for at least 10 minutes. remove the bags, let it cool to room temp ..pour over ice.

And Paczki day is Fat Tuesday, right befor lent. Moon bear...did granny teach you how to make pierogi ?

 

[GOD__AM]

I like Philly cheese steaks myself.

 

[Moonbear]

Moon bear...did granny teach you how to make pierogi ?

No, she didn't teach me how to make any of the good stuff. I asked many times, but she'd just tell me she'd make plenty if I wanted it and didn't have recipes, she just does it all from memory and by "feel." Of course that defeats that purpose when I don't live near her, and she's getting pretty old now. My mom tried a few times, but hers don't taste as good...something isn't the same.

 

[Kerrie]

tonight for dinner was homemade babaganoush (i think that is how it is spelled!), lamb, pita bread, feta cheese to top, olives, cucumbers, yellow tomatoes, and stuffed grape leaves! i was blessed with a husband who knows cuisine!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Tripe is a major ingredient of vienna sausages. Scary stuff.

I almost forgot an old favorite: Chorizo and eggs!

I grew up eating this and menudo [made with tripe] at my best buddy's house, but for years they would never tell me what either one was. Then, one day I looked closely at a package of chorizo; the listed ingredients were pork lymph nodes and salivary glands. Love the stuff but rarely eat it anymore.

 

[fourier jr]

I like Philly cheese steaks myself.

ahh the beauty of simplicity... even better would be a big juicy steak by itself, maybe with some roasted potatoes.

i also liked fish & chips at the stockpot, a non-touristy place off haymarket in london. i also like southeast-asian noodles, and anything curry. looks like everyone has already stolen my favourite foods.

 

[orangeSLICE]

The best pineapple in the world is in TAHITI

 

[JamesU]

I almost forgot an old favorite: Chorizo and eggs!

*drools*

 

[Moonbear]

ahh the beauty of simplicity... even better would be a big juicy steak by itself, maybe with some roasted potatoes.

i also liked fish & chips at the stockpot, a non-touristy place off haymarket in london. i also like southeast-asian noodles, and anything curry. looks like everyone has already stolen my favourite foods.

Oh, while we're on simplicity, how about fresh baked bread, just out of the oven, with a little butter melted onto it.

 

[The Smoking Man]

Singapore Chow Mien - Glass noodles with dry curry, shrimp, BBQ pork, onions, eggs and bean sprouts.

Lobster bisque with sherry

Lobster thermadore

Thai Green Curry

Basken & Robbins - Chocolate Rasberry Truffle.

All you can eat Alaskan King Crab legs with plenty of clarified butter. (A favourite while living in Columbus, OH on the Tuesday night all you can eat for $7.00 specials around town)

Eggs Benedict for Breakfast

Vienna Roast Coffee Beans freshly roasted and made into Cappuccino.

Crispy Kankun - (Filipino dish)

Chicken Adobo - (Filipino Dish)

Roast Beef with Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatos, green peas, horse radish followed by Strawberry rhubarb crumble with custard -- or Trifle

Anything from Xinjiang China (Imagine good mexican food crossed with Chinese!)

I can go on ... and on ... but I might hurt myself.

 

[honestrosewater]

Oh, while we're on simplicity, how about fresh baked bread, just out of the oven, with a little butter melted onto it.

Mmmm... but now that I think of it, making bread isn't so simple. Lots of waiting and elbow grease. It takes the whole afternoon.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Anything from Xinjiang China (Imagine good mexican food crossed with Chinese!)

There is a wonderful style of cooking like this found in Peru called chifa. Below it seems to indicate that this is chinese food, but really it is a hybrid of Chinese with traditional Peruvian cooking. And then there are variations on this theme with seafood, and something more like mexican style cooking. I spent ten days there and ate this as much as possible.

The Peruvian food in the latest years...oriental influence

One thing that surprises the tourist that visits Peru is the large amount of oriental restaurants. There are over 2000 Chinese restaurants called "chifas". Peru is by far the country with the most Chinese restaurants in Latin America. [continued]

http://www.culturalexpeditions.com/culinary_history.html

 

[Moonbear]

Mmmm... but now that I think of it, making bread isn't so simple. Lots of waiting and elbow grease. It takes the whole afternoon.

Or a bread machine! Add all the ingredients in the morning, set the timer, and come home to fresh baked bread. I do make bread by hand too, and it makes it even more worthwhile when you finally have the final product fresh from the oven after all that waiting. Actually, it's not that hard, and doesn't take that much elbow grease...about 10-15 min of kneading...but it is a LOT of waiting, especially if you're making something like a sourdough that requires a few days to get a good starter going if you don't keep a starter all the time.

 

[Integral]

My mother totally ruined me for white bread. As one of 5 kids my mom had to work hard to make ends meet, one of her methods was baking a dozen loafves of bread each week. This gave me a false sense of what white bread should be. I have never found anything to compete with is since. The fact that she won Blue Ribbons every time she entered a loaf in the local county fair (one of the bigger fairs in Southern Oregon) is a testament that others thought she baked a pretty good loaf.

In another stage of my life... My first wife was Cechz, her grandmother (Babushka) baked the best Austrian style Torts.. I have never really liked American style cakes and frosting since. She also did a mean Pierogi and a sort of chicken fried steak they called Beftec, of course the spelling is only approximate.

I saw mention of Native American Fry bread some where up thread. That is on of the highlights of going to a Powwow, good fry bread.

Humm... also from my childhood was biscuits and gravy, liver gravy was great even if I could not get into the liver itself.

I still make bisciuts and gravy, though now I like Pennsylvania Dutch dried beef with a white gravy.

My favorite occasional breakfast is crisp fried grated potatoes, it comes out nearly a potato pancake. Top it with a fried egg, cheddar cheese, sour cream and salsa... good stuff...

 

[neurocomp2003]

Chinese-Shanghai noodles, hunan/szechuan spicy sauce, honey chicken, dimsum,bao,
dan ta(egg tart), phoenix nest, tsa yei dan, bakery goods, uei shung ro se, fried rice
dan tsin ro. satay beef. nio tsai kwa. CONGEE(sweet kind), Red bean desert soup(hong do tung) with milk condensation. Green bean desert soup. (some of my mom's cooking)
Japanese-any seafood but fish, fried battered shrimp tempura, honey pork
Korean-Bukoki beef...sorry if i spelled that wrong, neoguri instant noodles
vietnamese-PHO, vietnamese sausage rolls
Thai noodles in a wrap
polish-perogie bacon/cheese
middle eatern- baclava, chicken schwarmas.
indian-the pancake like pita, fried rice.
new brunswick-lobster and chips.

mom's pancakes
waffles with whipcream/fruit toppings/ chocolate sauce
wraps
chicken pot pie.
tacos
chili and tostitos
baked potato with bacon cheese topping.
Devils Eggs

Deserts #1Laura secords Super kid Icecream(blue red yellow)
chinese style icecreams(pineapple, red bean, green bean, honey dew, lychee)
Jackfruit shake
korean- honey dew popsicles
banana/chocolate icecream.
Chocolate Fondue.
egg tarts
Cheese/fruit danishes
chocolat almonds
pistachio ice cream.

 

[quantumdude]

Pepperoni pizza from Lou Malnatti's in Chicago, IL.

Best. Pizza. Ever.

 

[Evo]

I love Greek food

Moussaka :!)
Souvlaki
Tiropita
Spanakopita
Gyros
baklava

A bottle of Ouzo. Opah!

 

[Loren Booda]

The best salad I ever ate was from the Mistral region of France. The greens were fresh picked, dressed delicately and served with slices of fine cheeses and cured meats.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The best salad I ever ate was from the Mistral region of France. The greens were fresh picked, dressed delicately and served with slices of fine cheeses and cured meats.

That reminds me

Parma Ham!