Few foods taste so good that they forever change how you look at a meal—here are the ten best.
Steak tartare
It’s prime beef, minced, and usually mixed with Dijon mustard, capers, chopped shallots, Worcestershire, anchovies, ground pepper, and a raw egg. Steak tartare has a velveteen texture and a deep, luxurious flavor that trumps any high-end steak you’ve ever eaten. It’ll leave you to wonder why man touched meat to flame in the first place.
It’s prime beef, minced, and usually mixed with Dijon mustard, capers, chopped shallots, Worcestershire, anchovies, ground pepper, and a raw egg. Steak tartare has a velveteen texture and a deep, luxurious flavor that trumps any high-end steak you’ve ever eaten. It’ll leave you to wonder why man touched meat to flame in the first place.
A lobster you kill yourself
Murderous, but that’s exactly why you should do it. We’ve become so accustomed to pre-packaged meals that “nuggets” are a viable food option. Lobsters are one of the only whole foods a supermarket will let you take home alive and kill in your kitchen. Once you have, you’ll inherit a newfound respect for dinner.
Murderous, but that’s exactly why you should do it. We’ve become so accustomed to pre-packaged meals that “nuggets” are a viable food option. Lobsters are one of the only whole foods a supermarket will let you take home alive and kill in your kitchen. Once you have, you’ll inherit a newfound respect for dinner.
A homegrown tomato
There’s no sweeter taste of summer than a ripe, red tomato you grew from a single seed. It’s almost heartbreaking to pick off the vine, but then you bite into it. You can taste the sweat it took to plant it. You can taste the sun it took to sprout it. You can taste the drenching rains it took to grow it. And you learn an important lesson: Great food comes from refusing to take shortcuts.
There’s no sweeter taste of summer than a ripe, red tomato you grew from a single seed. It’s almost heartbreaking to pick off the vine, but then you bite into it. You can taste the sweat it took to plant it. You can taste the sun it took to sprout it. You can taste the drenching rains it took to grow it. And you learn an important lesson: Great food comes from refusing to take shortcuts.
An In-N-Out hamburger
I had my first burger from this out-west chain when I was 15 years old. I haven’t been able to shake the craving since, contemplating cross-country trips for another taste of In-N-Out’s fat beef patty, crunch-crisp lettuce, juicy tomato slice, and mystifying secret sauce—all piled on top of their made-from-scratch bun that’s puffed to pillowy perfection. This is how a burger should taste. You hear me, Five Guys?
I had my first burger from this out-west chain when I was 15 years old. I haven’t been able to shake the craving since, contemplating cross-country trips for another taste of In-N-Out’s fat beef patty, crunch-crisp lettuce, juicy tomato slice, and mystifying secret sauce—all piled on top of their made-from-scratch bun that’s puffed to pillowy perfection. This is how a burger should taste. You hear me, Five Guys?
Natto
Someone once told me that the best things in life are acquired tastes. If that’s true, then natto, a Japanese dish of fermented soybeans, must be the single best thing in life. To eat natto, open the package, and stir the smelly-as-all-hell beans with chopsticks until they take on a froth. Then eat, doing your best to suck up all the mucosal-like strings that descend from your chopsticks. Gross, yes, but the heady aftertaste will, for some reason, beg you to take another (and another) bite.
Someone once told me that the best things in life are acquired tastes. If that’s true, then natto, a Japanese dish of fermented soybeans, must be the single best thing in life. To eat natto, open the package, and stir the smelly-as-all-hell beans with chopsticks until they take on a froth. Then eat, doing your best to suck up all the mucosal-like strings that descend from your chopsticks. Gross, yes, but the heady aftertaste will, for some reason, beg you to take another (and another) bite.
Handmade pasta
Once you’ve had it, there’s no going back to the box. Making your own is an art that takes time to master, but the manpower pays off with pasta that doesn’t require a swamp of sauce to taste amazing. All you need is salt, pepper, a hit of high-quality olive oil, and a hefty sprinkling of Parmesan. Can’t spare the investment? Make friends with an Italian grandma. Quickly.
Once you’ve had it, there’s no going back to the box. Making your own is an art that takes time to master, but the manpower pays off with pasta that doesn’t require a swamp of sauce to taste amazing. All you need is salt, pepper, a hit of high-quality olive oil, and a hefty sprinkling of Parmesan. Can’t spare the investment? Make friends with an Italian grandma. Quickly.
Escargot
Go ahead. Turn up your nose and leave this one to the Frenchies—that only leaves more of these luscious, tender, garlic-and-butter-loaded mollusks for me. Even better than eating the meat: using a hunk of garlic bread to sop the sauce.
Go ahead. Turn up your nose and leave this one to the Frenchies—that only leaves more of these luscious, tender, garlic-and-butter-loaded mollusks for me. Even better than eating the meat: using a hunk of garlic bread to sop the sauce.
Bone marrow
When roasted, the interior of a beef bone softens and takes on a flavor that, if appropriately salted, tastes like a steak has punched you on the tongue. Because roasted marrow adopts an almost pudding-like consistency, as you eat the flavors coat your entire mouth. A food-induced muteness takes hold. All you can do is spoon, eat, and grunt.
When roasted, the interior of a beef bone softens and takes on a flavor that, if appropriately salted, tastes like a steak has punched you on the tongue. Because roasted marrow adopts an almost pudding-like consistency, as you eat the flavors coat your entire mouth. A food-induced muteness takes hold. All you can do is spoon, eat, and grunt.
Kumamoto oysters
Harvested from Japanese shores these small, sweet oysters are nothing like the bland, flabby Gulf oysters you’re used to. Kumamotos are salty, but not overpowering, and taste incredible with a craft brew IPA. Hold the cocktail sauce and slurp them straight up.
Wedge of iceberg and blue cheese dressing
The lettuce has to be ice-cold and the dressing room temperature. When creamy, salty flavors of the dressing tag team with the crunch of the fresh iceberg, you’ll have your proof that the best taste sensations are often the simplest.
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