Worst Tastes: Tabasco & Baking Soda/Popcorn Butter

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around participants sharing their experiences with the worst tastes they have encountered, exploring various food combinations and individual flavors that are deemed unpleasant. The scope includes personal anecdotes, culinary experiences, and reactions to specific food items and combinations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes a negative experience with Tabasco in coffee, suggesting a chemical reaction that resulted in an unpleasant taste.
  • Another participant shares that baking soda combined with popcorn butter flavoring tasted like vomit.
  • Multiple participants mention earwax as a particularly bad taste, with one humorously questioning the source.
  • A participant recounts a bad experience with sea urchin sushi, contrasting it with another's positive experience, leading to a discussion about the importance of freshness and origin.
  • One participant expresses a strong aversion to aluminum foil, describing a visceral reaction to its taste.
  • Several participants share their distaste for specific food items, such as cilantro, capers, and hominy, with varying degrees of agreement on their unpleasantness.
  • One participant mentions a bitter metallic taste from an alkaloid during a biology survey, indicating a strong reaction to the flavor.
  • Another participant discusses the artificial compound diacetyl, linking it to bad tasting experiences and its presence in certain foods.
  • Some participants share combinations of flavors that did not work well together, such as orange Tang with vodka and strawberry-banana with garlic chicken.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions on various tastes, with some agreeing on specific unpleasant flavors while others share conflicting experiences, particularly regarding sushi and certain food combinations. The discussion remains unresolved with no consensus on the worst tastes.

Contextual Notes

Participants' experiences are subjective and may depend on personal taste preferences, cultural backgrounds, and individual reactions to specific foods. Some claims about food safety and health hazards are mentioned but not verified within the discussion.

  • #61
Duck brains. I once worked on a project that sent me to Beijing. They held a dinner for us at a very traditional Beijing duck restaurant on our arrival. The tradition is to start with duck feet soup. Gradually working ones way up the duck's body, with little side tidbits including the brains, tongue, beak, and glands served on a platter. They also tried drowning us with rice wine and moutai.

After months there, the moutai became quite tasty. We brought some home. We drove home from Kennedy airport through northern Jersey. On smelling the sweet stench of northern Jersey, we rummaged through our bags to make sure none of the bottles of moutai had broken.
 
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  • #62
I think if I was being served duck tongue and beak, I'd need more of that rice wine to get it down! :biggrin:
 
  • #63
Someone convinced me to try bleu cheese once and I nearly threw up, it was so awful. I once accidently drank evapourated milk thinking it was the real thing...that was also a mistake. Oh and one time someone I knew was on a health kick and served me cheesecake...sugarless cheesecake! It tasted sour and rotten. Gross.
 
  • #64
Bleu cheese is WONDERFUL! We used to mix blue cheese and cream cheese to make a spread and serve it on celery sticks for the holidays. YUMMY! :approve: That's okay, scorpa, I'll eat your share.

Let's see, so far I'm getting Evo's uni and scorpa's blue cheese. Anything else anyone wants to give up? I think I need to balance this diet out with something other than proteins. :biggrin:
 
  • #65
Moonbear said:
Bleu cheese is WONDERFUL! We used to mix blue cheese and cream cheese to make a spread and serve it on celery sticks for the holidays. YUMMY! :approve: That's okay, scorpa, I'll eat your share.

Let's see, so far I'm getting Evo's uni and scorpa's blue cheese. Anything else anyone wants to give up? I think I need to balance this diet out with something other than proteins. :biggrin:

You can have mine. I am not a big fan of bleu cheese.
 
  • #66
Here's one that sounded terrible but apparently tastes pretty good: Salmon with shrimp and pancakes.

That's what the cat had tonight and he seemed to love it!
 
  • #67
Ivan Seeking said:
That's what the cat had tonight and he seemed to love it!
I always watch stray cats to see what they eat. Endless new ideas.
 
  • #68
zoobyshoe said:
I always watch stray cats to see what they eat. Endless new ideas.

Yeah, been meaning to try that catnip too.
 
  • #69
Moonbear said:
Oh, back on the seaweed track...dulce. That one I needed to spit into a napkin because I couldn't even try to politely choke it down.
That is nasty stuff. A Japanese exchange student gave me some, and there is no way I could keep that in my mouth. She giggled - I gagged.
 
  • #70
Moonbear said:
Bleu cheese is WONDERFUL! We used to mix blue cheese and cream cheese to make a spread and serve it on celery sticks for the holidays. YUMMY! :approve: That's okay, scorpa, I'll eat your share.

Let's see, so far I'm getting Evo's uni and scorpa's blue cheese. Anything else anyone wants to give up? I think I need to balance this diet out with something other than proteins. :biggrin:
Well, you can have all my eggplant.
 
  • #71
I'm going to vomit. A girl here brought in some zucchini bread and carrot bread she'd made. There is an overpowering taste of rancid tuna in both. I've never tasted anything so nasty.

I WANT THE EGGPLANT! I'm thinking of creating a dish with fried eggplant and blue cheese.
 
  • #72
Evo said:
I WANT THE EGGPLANT! I'm thinking of creating a dish with fried eggplant and blue cheese.
Sorry! The eggplant is already promised to Moonie. I'll send you some beer coasters instead. Would you prefer Heinekin or Beck's coasters?
 
  • #73
Evo said:
I'm going to vomit. A girl here brought in some zucchini bread and carrot bread she'd made. There is an overpowering taste of rancid tuna in both. I've never tasted anything so nasty.
How does one get a taste of rancid tuna in zucchini bread and carrot bread? Evo, you work with strange people.

I WANT THE EGGPLANT! I'm thinking of creating a dish with fried eggplant and blue cheese.
:-p
 
  • #74
Astronuc said:
How does one get a taste of rancid tuna in zucchini bread and carrot bread? :-p
I don't think I want to know.
 
  • #75
Maybe she baked the breads with sour milk.
 
  • #76
turbo-1 said:
Maybe she baked the breads with sour milk.
Or chopped the zucchini and carrots on a cutting board that had fish on it last week. :eek:
 
  • #77
Evo said:
How does one get a taste of rancid tuna in zucchini bread and carrot bread? :-p
I don't think I want to know.
Yeah - I don't want to find out either.

BTW, I think I was misquoted. :smile: I didn't mean :-p for the rancid tuna tasting zucchini or carrot breads. Certainly that is


Anyway, is that girl married? With the way she cooks - I can't imagine. :rolleyes:
 
  • #78
Astronuc said:
BTW, I think I was misquoted. :smile: I didn't mean :-p for the rancid tuna tasting zucchini or carrot breads. Certainly that is
Oooops, yes, that was my mistake.

Anyway, is that girl married? With the way she cooks - I can't imagine. :rolleyes:
She's single. And she's VERY friendly. When I told her where I moved (a few blocks from her), she grabbed my cell phone, entered her phone number and told me to call her any time of the day or night. :rolleyes:
 
  • #79
Evo said:
She's single. And she's VERY friendly. When I told her where I moved (a few blocks from her), she grabbed my cell phone, entered her phone number and told me to call her any time of the day or night. :rolleyes:
Maybe you can teach her to cook and she can coach you in jello-wrestling. :cool:
 
  • #80
Huckleberry said:
I didn't know him personally. It was something I heard from other marines that claimed to know him. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it were true. He may have even known that it was harmful. Marines will do anything to prove how tough they are.

A few Air Force pilots are like that, too. A former pilot was telling me how all the guys in survival training with her were too wimpy to kill a rabbit, so she had to do it (of course, being Air Force, the school was kind of wimpy - the rabbit was given to them rather than watching these guys try to actually catch a wild rabbit). She said they totally freaked out when she sucked out the eyeballs for their salt content. Then she described how having to bite down through the optic nerve made some people queasy. It was pretty painful and I've tried to avoid ever being in an office alone with her ever since that conversation.
 
  • #81
BobG said:
I've tried to avoid ever being in an office alone with her ever since that conversation.

You should be safe if you wear glasses.
 
  • #82
Evo said:
I WANT THE EGGPLANT! I'm thinking of creating a dish with fried eggplant and blue cheese.
As long as you share it with me, I'll let you have the eggplant and blue cheese. That actually sounds like a good combination (then again, I'm really hungry, so anything would taste good right now).
 
  • #83
BobG said:
A few Air Force pilots are like that, too. A former pilot was telling me how all the guys in survival training with her were too wimpy to kill a rabbit, so she had to do it (of course, being Air Force, the school was kind of wimpy - the rabbit was given to them rather than watching these guys try to actually catch a wild rabbit). She said they totally freaked out when she sucked out the eyeballs for their salt content. Then she described how having to bite down through the optic nerve made some people queasy. It was pretty painful and I've tried to avoid ever being in an office alone with her ever since that conversation.

Y'know, she could've just cut out the eyeballs rather than sucking them out. And, yeah, not too useful to know how to kill and eat a rabbit if you can't actually catch one unless your plane goes down on a rabbit farm. :rolleyes: Rabbit sounds kind of fancy for survival training. Aren't they supposed to learn how to eat bugs and twigs?
 
  • #84
Evo said:
Oooops, yes, that was my mistake.
Nah! The software just takes what is typed outside of quotes. I thought it was pretty funny. :smile:

She's single. And she's VERY friendly. When I told her where I moved (a few blocks from her), she grabbed my cell phone, entered her phone number and told me to call her any time of the day or night.
Geez - what is it with people. Don't they teach manners out your way? Grabbing cell phones. Too friendly if you ask me.

I agree with turbo, you need to advise this woman on cooking. If she cooks like that, she'll be single until she learns to cook.

turbo said:
. . . she can coach you in jello-wrestling.
Such an imagination. :rolleyes:
 
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  • #85
Astronuc said:
I agree with turbo, you need to advise this woman on cooking. If she cooks like that, she'll be single until she learns to cook.

Or maybe she'll just meet a nice guy who can do the cooking for them both, and even teach her. My mom's cooking was atrocious before she met my dad. My dad taught her how to cook (somewhat). Or, I hope she earns enough to go out to eat a lot.
 
  • #86
Most of my single friends seem to eat out.

I like to cook and my son likes to cook somewhat - mostly desserts. He does a really good apple crisp.

I learned to cook by helping my maternal grandmother and my mom. I used to do the cutting and chopping, and sifting flour. I can't tell you how much flour I sifted - but it was tons. My mom made pies (meat and fruit) and pasties from scratch. Her lemon meringue pie was out of this world! I've never had any as good as hers. Boy do I miss those days.

My maternal grandmother cooked on a wood stove. She made the best soups and stews. :-p
 
  • #87
Astronuc said:
I learned to cook by helping my maternal grandmother and my mom. I used to do the cutting and chopping, and sifting flour. I can't tell you how much flour I sifted - but it was tons. My mom made pies (meat and fruit) and pasties from scratch. Her lemon meringue pie was out of this world! I've never had any as good as hers. Boy do I miss those days.

I think a lot of boys learn to cook from their grandmas. I think that's interesting, and pretty cool. I rarely hear men talking about having learned from their mom or dad, but often hear about their visits to their grandma and learning to cook there...either like you did with sifting flour, or having to cut out the raviolis, or helping with the pressure cooking when canning, etc.

Do you have a good recipe for pasties? When I was in MI was the only time I've ever had them, and they were delicious, so I'd love to know how to make them. They were originally made for the miners to take with them as lunches...when they couldn't come up out of the mine to wash their hands before lunch, they could just hold the crust to eat it and toss away the crust (of course, I really like the crust, so won't be tossing it away).

Oh, wait, that's things that taste good, not things that taste awful. If you have a recipe, post it in the Food Thread. :biggrin:
 
  • #88
Moonbear said:
I think a lot of boys learn to cook from their grandmas. I think that's interesting, and pretty cool. I rarely hear men talking about having learned from their mom or dad, but often hear about their visits to their grandma and learning to cook there...either like you did with sifting flour, or having to cut out the raviolis, or helping with the pressure cooking when canning, etc.

Do you have a good recipe for pasties? When I was in MI was the only time I've ever had them, and they were delicious, so I'd love to know how to make them. They were originally made for the miners to take with them as lunches...when they couldn't come up out of the mine to wash their hands before lunch, they could just hold the crust to eat it and toss away the crust (of course, I really like the crust, so won't be tossing it away).

Oh, wait, that's things that taste good, not things that taste awful. If you have a recipe, post it in the Food Thread. :biggrin:
I seem to remember a recipe or two that I posted in the Food Thread or similar thread. I guess we got off topic. :smile:

I learned a lot from my mom and dad. My mom taught me about sewing, laundry, and cooking. My dad taught me gardening, carpentry, mechancial stuff. I used to help my dad repair the family cars. He'd pull apart engines, transmissions, or whatever, and I'd work alongside him. When I got to university, I learned plumbing, mechanical maintenance, and electrical maintenance, and then I'd work with my dad at home or at his office doing repairs and maintenance. It helped him save a lot of money.

My dad and I re-roofed the family house, but since a lot of the work was in the heat of the summer, I'd do most of the work. We had people driving by the house asking how much we charged to roof a house. :smile: My dad explained that he and I were doing our place, and that we weren't professionals.

I very much enjoy heavy labor.
 
  • #89
robphy said:
Anyone try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian ?
I've only gotten close enough to be offended by the smell.

Durian is one of the best fruits here in South East Asia, and yes, I love it :approve:
 
  • #90
My paternal grandmother was a cook for the Kennebec Log Drive, and she used to cook for a crew of 40-50 men. Every day, she would cook turkeys, hams, beef and pork roasts, and make stuffings, gravies, and all kinds of vegetables and casseroles, breads, biscuits, etc, and every single day she would bake a10" fruit pie for every man on the crew. Anything that did not get eaten at supper-time got incorporated into their breakfasts and/or packed up into their lunches for the next day, and she was there bright and early to make sure they all had eggs, bacon, ham, biscuits, pancakes, fried potatoes, baked beans, etc for breakfast. She only lived a couple of miles from my parents, but every summer she'd try to keep me for a couple of weeks and I would pack on 5-10 pounds in that time. Since I ran a lot (even as a grade-schooler), there was no chance that I would turn those calories into fat - it was my yearly change-up to a high-fat diet, and it seemed to help me gain muscle mass.

I learned at least an appreciation for the skills involved in cooking from her, and from my mother and some aunts. My mother was loving and was meticulous in her cooking. My father's mother could "get 'er done" with the best of them, while keeping everybody pretty happy. Often, when we had Thanksgiving dinner at her place, she could cook for our huge extended family using one double-oven wood stove located down in the "summer kitchen" and we would sit around old trestle tables, toasty warm from said wood stove in that uninsulated space while ranging from appetizers to desserts.
 
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