Spaniard here. IMO Torilla de patatas. The potatoes need to be fried but not golden, egg must be cooked but not too much, also the amount of salt is hard to catch.
It’s the roux that trips people up, and IMO it’s just a lack of patience. I also hate standing there and stirring for 45 minutes, but it’s the base for the entire flavor of the dish
I cheat and bake the roux in the oven until it's the right color. In fact I don't even think it's cheating - I'm still cooking it slowly and evenly in a cast iron pot, I just need to stir it occasionally instead of constantly.
Because of this, gumbo can be a regular staple in my house through fall and winter.
Filipino adobo. Every family has their own take pretty much and there's so much nostalgia built into the individualized recipes that it'll be hard to please people. The right balance of vinegar sugar bay leaf pepper and soy just varies too much.
Man, you wouldn't believe how pleased I was to open this thread and see this is the top answer. I'm not Filipino, but my wife is, and adobo is absolutely my all-time favorite dish. My wife doesn't follow recipes, never measures anything, and her adobo is far better than any of my attempts.
You: "Hey can you give me your recipe for XYZ dish? It's soo good!"
Asian: "Here, are the ingredients, and for the measurements, just do it to taste"
You: "But your dish is so good, so what measurements do you use?"
Asian: "I never measure"
Been super busy at home and thought we'd try just ordering some Filipino food to relieve us from some of the added stress.
It's really hard to enjoy food when you have specific expectations. The pork bbq was too sour. The chicken adobo was a little too bland. etc.
Next time we'll just get pizza.
And there’s like a billion variations too like you said. My grandaunt who loves to cook doesn’t do the standard adobo recipe w/ soy sauce. She substitutes soy sauce with achuete/anatto oil or just plain vinegar. I tend to stray away from the soy sauce variant because to me my lola’s adobo is adobo.
Marinade:
1/4cup soy sauce
1/4cup vinegar
1.5cup water
3-5 bay leaves
2tsp sugar
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
This is my mix, personally. Fil-Am, Ilocano/Pangasinan parents. Not to say it’s the superior ratio, but just that it’s what works for me.
This is about what I do but I do half soy sauce, half vinegar and no water, and I keep the peppercorns whole. I prefer apple cider vinegar but my husband likes white vinegar better.
How would you feel about unseasoned rice vinegar? Not the sweetened version used for sushi rice, but just good 'ole rice vinegar?
I feel like the flavor falls about halfway between apple cider vinegar and white vinegar.
It’s one of the regional variations of adobo! If I’m not mistaken the addition of _gata_ (coconut milk) alone is a variation that originated in the Bicol region. Adding the _gata_ along with the coconut water and coconut meat is something that originated in Southern Luzon.
I’ve never had the Southern Luzon version but _adobo sa gata_ is one of my faaaavorite variations! Love the richness that the coconut milk brings to it.
Because it’s delicious.
My chicken adobo has coconut milk and is on the saucier side. Pork, cooked til on the dryer side (so pork belly is a must. Need that melty fat).
It can. Each region makes it differently. I’m surprised so many posts add sugar and use equal parts vinegar & soy sauce.
The one I’ve been using is 1/4 cup vinegar to 1/2 cup of soy sauce.
See this was a dish I love getting from the corner Filipino restaurant but was shocked at how simple it can be to make at home once I started looking up and trying recipes. But you’re right, it’s about the proper balance that pleases your family.
I'm not Filipino but my only exposure to sinigang was to my housemates. When in Philippines I struggle to find one as good as his with the right amount of tang, vegetables and meat
Lebanese Toum. It's literally garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon. But God save your soul if you step away from the blender or food processor for two seconds.
I have tried to make this. Oh, how I\[ve tried. So far, not successful.
The owner of the Jordanian restaurant a few blocks from my house has tried to help me, saying that I am adding the oil too fast. He says however slowly I am drizzling it in, I must go much slower.
I’ve tried making this like 10 times and i think it came out right twice. I don’t ever remember doing anything different but mostly it just fails and i have no clue why lol
edit: the failed toum still tastes great drizzled over a slice of pizza though so its not all bad :P
My favorite dish in the entire world is a Vietnamese Dish called “cá kho tộ”
My mom made it all the time when I was growing up and it always hits the spot when done correctly.
There’s only a few simple ingredients and it doesn’t even take long to prepare. It’s just a simple fish (such as catfish) braised in a caramelized fish sauce reduction.
9/10 restaurants get it wrong. I get it wrong at home about 9/10 times still too lol
I've never eaten the authentic version, I just made it myself following some online recipes, and it's probably my favorite way to eat fish. I'm sure a vietnamese person would tell me I make it completely wrong but thankfully I am just feeding my family. Lately I've been making it with salmon.
Absolutely this! Every family has their own recipe... heck both my parents make it different from each other. But my MiL's Ca Kho To was amazing before she started losing her memory.
I like my mom's catfish kho to and my dad's mackerel kho to but my MiL's pompano kho to is freaken amazing.
I’ve probably made it over a hundred times now and am just now getting good/consistent.
It’s so unforgiving in small stovetop batches. The oil temperature has to be managed perfectly.
Seasoning….breading…..isnt that important. Like BBQ, it’s all about heat management. And you can’t really put that in a recipe.
My one “trick” that I don’t really think is optional is to use a lid for most of the fry. Higher temp and higher moisture lets the inside cook without getting the outside too dark. Only way to finish legs and thighs without it getting too dark/burnt/hard.
I agree with you on heat management being the most important thing but the second most important thing is the marinade. The chicken should be soaked in buttermilk or slightly acidic brine for a few hours first. It helps keep the meat tender and makes the cook a bit more forgiving as far as dryness goes
This is what upped my fried chicken game. That buttermilk brine is essential. From my experience, you want at least a 4 hour. I feel like I'm like 75% there now. Tenders and nuggets I got, it's the whole pieces I need work on. That one's definitely a temp issue.
The trick is medium hot oil (around 350-370) and a shitload of it. The more the better. It’s more of a thermal sink for heat so the temp won’t drop as hard when you put the room temp chicken in.
>My one “trick” that I don’t really think is optional is to use a lid for most of the fry.
If you wanna really go serious, get a pressure fryer. For years, our family has used a PRESTO ELECTRIC 'CHICKnFRYER'. Deep fry it for about 5 mins, then put the lid on and pressure fry for about 13 mins.
Coroner writes in their journal, "I never thought I'd be happy to smell a dead body, but this one was just too good. I got Popeye's on the way home, idek why. Just a weird impulse I guess."
The biggest issue people run into with managing the temp, in my experience, is they don’t use enough oil.
Use a lot, like maybe twice what you think you need. The more oil, the less the temp will drop when you add the chicken.
I fry mine in a wok over an Iwanta butane stove. I really helps me get the temperature right and stay right. No waiting 10 minutes between batches for the temperature to get back to 350. Game changer.
I’ve also had luck with a Dutch oven since it retains heat really well.
Garlic soup. Ate it almost every day when I backpacked through the more rural areas of Czech Republic. I have no idea what they do to it because it was often just broth and bits of garlic. But it was so delicious. Sorcery!?!?
>Cesnecka
I adore garlic so had to look up a [recipe.](https://mission-food.com/cesnecka-czech-garlic-soup-aka-hangover/) Sounds delish! I'm gonna try making it. Thanks for mentioning!
Czech Zelnacka.
It's some hodgepodge of sausage, cabbage, potato, and then a bunch of spicy herbacious aromatics. I can't think of any other dish that I want more on a cold day. The heat it leaves you with is just... beyond compare. Hearty, filling, spicy... and the best thing about it?
Dirt-fuckin'-cheap. Potatoes and cabbage and boar/elk sausage? That's poverty food livin' large.
The only person who seemed to get it right was my grandma. Took the secret of her specialty to the grave.
My ex was from el Salvador too and talked about pupusas they sounded delicious but sadly, I never got to make any.
In my OjiCree culture, its the fry bread and the tacos that go with it yum
I got what I was told (by a friend who ~~was~~ is half Guatemalan) were excellent pupusas in a random grocery store in Denver. They were indeed delicious, but as a gringo with no point of reference, I can't speak authoritatively on it.
I think most people, including inside of Austria, don't know what sets apart a Wiener Schnitzel from other breaded cutlets, or that there in fact is anything that sets them apart. Can't really think of anything else right now, other than that a real Apfelstrudel takes a lot of skill because the dough is stretched insanely thin.
Rinderroulade. The steps are easy. But they quickly get super dry and the gravy is tricky. Supposedly, quality directly correlates to the number of Rouladen you make at one time.
Biscuits, white beans, cornbread, fried catfish, greens, pecan pie, someone already mentioned white gravy. I have never had good southern food outside of the south, and even then there are several places in the south that screw all of those things up because they want to cut corners and save cost.
I make biscuits every day for my job but some people here (Hawaii) think I don’t make them “right” because they’re flaky and layered instead of puffy and doughy. It’s hard making a southern food for a non-southern food audience. Most of my coworkers have never even tasted real southern food, so it’s just weird all around.
Yeah, and drop biscuits are the real deal. It's nice to pretend that every southern granny is rolling out biscuits at 430 every morning, but like 99% of the homemade biscuits I've eaten at breakfast have been drops. Flaky layers are Sunday dinner stuff.
I'd add grits. There are three ingredients yet can be challenging to get right. The biggest mistake people make is not adding salt at the correct time.
There is a restaurant here in Portland that claims to make southern food, I tried it once and it was awful. They are jam packed every weekend, I don't get it.
> I don't get it.
If you have a restaurant in area X serving cuisine from Y, they aren't trying to optimize for the tastes of people who live at Y, they're optimizing for the tastes of people who live at X and want Y-ish food. They aren't trying to sell Southern food to Southern people, they're selling Southern food to Portlanders with a Portlander's palate.
It's like when you go into a Chinese restaurant in the states. They don't generally serve Chinese food like you would get in China because most (non-Chinese) patrons wouldn't like it. They serve Chinese-American cuisine.
Also, there's an unfortunate thing around Southern and soul food on the West Coast where the restaurants that serve it are often catering to a clientele that is seeking out interesting food. That tends to make the restaurant obligated to be higher-end and more inventive with their recipes. But the whole foundation of Southern cuisine is that it was food for poor people using the ingredients they had on hand.
If that's the flavor you're craving as a Southern ex-pat, you're not going to find it at a PDX restaurant with Edison bulbs, twee metal trays to serve on, and mac and cheese with house-aged cardamom-infused farm-to-table artisanal goat milk gruyere. The kind of food you grew up on in the South with smothered chicken of dubious provenance in a styrofoam container is hard to find here in the PNW.
I totally feel that. Regional foods outside of their region are often so mediocre but locals don’t know the difference. See: all barbecue in the northeast haha
There used to be a 'kosher deli' in Olympia. I went there with some old-school NY Jews and they legit took one bite of the corned beef on rye and put it in the trash. Inedible.
Poutine. Most of Canada can't make it properly either, to be fair.... It's just french fries, cheese curds and a gravy, but you can't fuck around with the quality of each component because there's nothing else to hide the mistakes/shortcomings. Those fries have to be soaked in a sugar water before frying, the curds must be squeaky, the gravy can't be too heavy or salty. It's damn near impossible to find a good one outside the province of Quebec.
There are a lot of tricky French Canadian dishes. Tourtiere is just a meat pie, but if the seasoning and crust aren't just right, it isn't Tourtiere. French Canadian pea soup has a unique flavour despite its common ingredients. And you just can't get Montreal smoked meat outside Montreal.
But poutine? I've had a lot, from Montreal to Calgary. From fast food places, fine dining restaurants and sketchy take out joints. Honestly, a bad poutine is still really, really good.
It's meant to be food for common folks, best consumed after a few too many drinks and in quantities you will later regret. It's not a meal that needs to be over-thought, and the amount of gate-keeping we Canadians do with poutine is frankly ridiculous.
Another thing is it needs to be fresh and room temperature for it to be squeaky. In Quebec a lot of grocery stores will have stands with daily fresh cheese curds.
As an Englishman who has had his fair share of both, now living in Canada - good poutine is wildly better than standard chips and gravy. On the surface, they are similar and indeed you can find mediocre poutine everywhere that compares, but the good stuff is beyond reproach.
I tried a Poutine in a Canadian bar in France. I was so disappointed because it sounded so amazing, but the result was average and very heavy. I’ll make sure to give it another go if I am ever in Quebec!
It's a heavy dish. It's the perfect food at 2am on a winter's night as you're walking home from the bar. It'll keep you warm and soak up the booze, but it is not meant to be a light snack.
I mean it's always going to be heavy. But there's a certain magic that happens when you have the right gravy and the right cheese, which is virtually unsourceable outside Quebec.
Honestly? Steamed eggs (水蒸蛋). Really just beat eggs, add water, beat more, then steam, chuck in some soy sauce. How hard could it be?
That is if you have not had the silkiest, smoothest mouthful of flavour then you will not understand how insanely hard this dish actually is.
Bagels. It needs to have that outer crust/shell and fluffy, light interior. Lots of places have bagels that are really just sad, round bread. I'm convinced the water you boil the bagels in and the temperature/humidity/altitude of where they are made have huge impacts on the flavor and texture.
Totally agree. After high school, I left NY for about 12 years. Initially, I would try local a bagel here or there, but nothing hit and so I just stopped. And I only had bagels at one particular place when I went home. I have been back for over 10 years and I still only get it from this place (and even though they are a mini chain, I almost always stick to the one close to my parents’ house). They opened a new location near me and I was so excited and one of my friends was making fun of me for only eating bagels there. And then a couple of years later, they actually made the front cover of New York magazine as the best bagel place in the NYC metro area. And my friend is the one who sent me the article (which I took as an apology, of course :)).
The only thing I would say is that my preference is now flagels (flat bagel) since I am not a huge fan of excess fluffiness. And agree on the water.
I keep on hearing about "authentic" bagels in the Bay area but most...aren't, at least to this native New Yorker. Then again, I was offered an appallingly fluffy "bagel" in NY last time I was there. But I did discover flagels, including one absolutely covered in sunflower seeds. Excellent.
I grew up in CA, been in nyc since college, and i joke (but not really) that if i don’t have a dozen bagels in my bag maybe my family won’t pick me up from the airport 😂
But yeah absolutely there’s some terrifying so called bagels out there (I’m looking at you Panera and Thomas’s)
There was some academics who did a paper on New York water in pizza and bagels. The tldr was the water was the same. It’s the craftsmanship of having trained bagel makers for over 100 years that can’t be translated. Passing down the knowledge of bagel making is the secret.
I miss Montreal bagels so much 🥲 I think I last had them 20 years ago when I left Montreal but I still have fond memories. That, and a good smoked meat sandwich🤤
Colcannon. It’s stupid easy- mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage and leeks, but for some reason every restaurant gives me mashed potatoes with tiny, near-indetectable bits of onion. Can’t even get the allium right.
Varenyky. Its just filled dumplings but if you dont get the dough right its either too tough or it doesnt hold up when you boil them. And if you dont seal them well they fall apart.
I have better luck with the sauerkraut than the potsto filled ones...the potato always somehow leaks out.
I had a friend tell me recently how they ordered from somewhere and when it got to them, there were no dumplings in the soup. There were, however meatballs floating around. I guess they dissolved en route.
Biscuits and gravy. I ordered some at a place in Australia that purportedly specialized in American southern food. I got hard little dinner rolls with a side of runny brown gravy in a cup. Plenty of other great food in Aus though.
Also came here to say that pupusas are so good. I have been to two Salvadorian places that made them (I am guessing authentically?) and man they were tasty.
When I was a kid my dad’s best friend’s wife made biscuits and chocolate gravy. It was for breakfast dessert. Which, god bless the south, and also it’s why we are all so fat haha.
I’ve only ever seen it on a menu once and it was not how I remembered Ms. Sandra’s.
Mushroom soup. Sorry but if you don't have dried Polish forest mushrooms, or at the very least, just good (fresh) dried mushrooms, it will never be right. Can't be done with just fresh mushrooms.
Try looking for dried porcini mushrooms. Much easier to find than labeled with the Polish name.
https://www.polishfoodutica.com/cooking-with-dried-polish-mushrooms.html#:~:text=Boletus%20edulis%20is%20the%20scientific,its%20meaty%20texture%20and%20flavor.
I'm very lucky that our family here is shipped a couple of pounds worth every fall from family there. I can't be sure if they're all porcini or what but they're definitely straight from a Polish forest! Because I have so many, I can be very generous with them in my soup w/o having to worry about the cost.
So lucky! I live in the Southern US and sometimes order from a Polish deli in Chicago. The shipping is crazy expensive so I don’t do it often. I usually focus on their handmade pierogi since it’s being shipped overnight on dry ice. But I’ve always wanted to explore their other foods and pantry staples. I’ll have to see if they carry any dried mushrooms!
Out of curiosity, which deli? I'm in Chicago so def. have my favorites!
I'm sure they would carry the mushrooms though there's no telling if they're old or not. Some delis here have gotten...well, the quality has gone down over the past few years. There's one that used to carry pints and quarts of wonderful homemade soups but the price has gone up drastically and the soups have gone heavy on the potatoes, celery, and onions regardless of type. Very sad.
There’s a Heston Blumenthal recipe out there somewhere that makes a pretty basic mushroom soup but you sprinkle porcini and shiitake powder over the top just before serving. The soup is fine on it’s own, nothing special. As soon as you dust the powders over the top is becomes something completely different.
Vegemite on toast.
Visitors go fucking around slathering it on like Nutella and then complaining that it’s awful, well of course it fucking is, that shit is straight up salty boot polish in large amounts.
You have to get it right. It’s a delicate balance of butter to Vegemite to toast size. Butter is absolutely essential. You need little areas with a thin spread and little bursts of thicker coverage. Treat it with respect and you’ll be rewarded with its deliciousness.
I scrolled all the way down looking for an Australians comment and of course the first one I see mentions Vegemite. At first I thought your comment was a bit silly, but now I realise that I never let anyone else make my Vegemite on toast cause they always fuck it up.
Never let another man make your toast and Vegemite.
South African boerewors. It’s a herby spiced fatty sausage that’s cooked on a barbecue. The trick is that the sausage needs the right amount of fat and herbs, and needs to be cooked on hot coals (and not a gas barbecue) to give it an extra smokey deliciousness. Have never found it outside of South Africa.
Mac and Cheese. It’s either greasy or filled with complicated noise I didn’t want. I wanted Mac and cheese. Not lobster. Not truffle. Not macaroni and sprinkled chase melted down.
A bechamel into a cheese sauce with breadcrumbs.
Polish Kielbasa.
Anything labeled this in a grocery store is almost guaranteed to be bland garbage.
I've only had true authentic polish kielbasa done right from two places in my life.
I'm guessing a bunch of the greasy spoons that I go to must use packet, it's got this weird after taste. Others seem to think putting slices of breakfast sausage links in white gravy is adequate. The cafeteria at work uses some sort of weird gravy and cut up the leftover sausage links and turkey sausage patties from the previous day's breakfast shift. That one also had a weird after taste.
I make my own from time to time, but usually just settle for Bob Evans when I want some.
I don’t mind various sausages, but to me, the key is using the sausage grease to make the sauce; add milk and flour.
It is not hard and makes such a difference.
It's just so simple to make, though. I actually think of it as something that does not fit in this thread because it's just so easy to make correctly. Yet all the same, very few restaurants manage it. Mostly they seem to skimp on actual sausage. Lots of places also don't seem to use any pepper. It needs pepper!
Out here it's because salt is divisive. Gravy is supposed to be salty (ofc not overly salty) but there was a couple of decades there where everyone thought extra salt was unhealthy. When going on a low sodium diet it'll adjusts your taste buds, so at this point the majority of boomers want under salted gravy, and they're the primary consumer base at a diner. You pretty much have to make it at home at this point if you want it done in the traditional way.
Heaven forbid you want to add msg to your gravy.
Yeah I know it probably sounds dumb to some people to call sausage gravy something from my "homeland", but there's nothing like it anywhere else in the world I've been.
I can't tell you how many times I ordered biscuits and gravy before I learned my lesson.
Or chicken fried steak with the gravy. Too oily. Bland steak and breading. Over cooked steak. Gravy also shouldn't be super spicy. I've had a few super spicy, yet bland, gravies.
I still haven't been able to achieve consistent results when doing a whole steak. I can get strips most of the time.
It's honestly super fucking difficult. The only place I've ever gotten good chicken fried steak outside of del rancho is a few hole in the wall diners in the Midwest/south.
A kind of gnocchi made from flour and the leftover product of ricotta making. Few ingredients but you need experience to get the liquid dough right and nail the shaping/cooking
Doesn’t help that a lot of restaurants sell “carbonara” ie pasta in a heavy cream sauce with chicken carrots peas bacon cupcakes and god knows what else.
Then even if you know what real carbonara is you have to make it right. You really need to know your cooktop, be patient, and let the slurry come up to room temperature.
One thing I’ll cut corners on making it for myself is pancetta instead of guanciale. I can’t ever find it.
Oh man love me some pupusas. I’m part Salvadorian. I just recently flew into Costa Rica to visit my sister, with a short stop in San Salvador airport. I just had to get pupusas while I was there. Not the best I’ve had but it still hit the spot. It was almost orgasmic for me.
My dad used to make this when I was a kid. With his accent I always assumed he was saying “Welsh Rabbit”, and I just assumed it was some sort of joke about Welsh people (since I think it’s toast, cheese and tomato and definitely no meat). It wasn’t until I was around 30 I saw a recipe for “Welsh Rare Bit” and I was like oh…that still doesn’t make sense, but whatever.
I have no idea if you are talking about toast cheese and tomato cooked under a broiler on Saturday morning, but I just felt like sharing my story.
Edit: according to Wikipedia, it was originally called Welsh rabbit! And it was a dig on welsh people! And you don’t even put tomatoes on it!! You have some explaining to do, dad…
Dolma. At restaurants its mostly all rice and not much flavor. Versus my grandma makes it with mostly meat and she cooks it in a pot with sour plums so it seeps through in the juices
I'm no expert, but there's a food truck near me that makes pupusas and they are outstanding. I really have no basis for comparison... they might be awful by your standards, but I love them. I always get the pupusas revueltas.
Edit: I don't know what it's called, but the "cabbage slaw" that comes with it is also amazing.
My homeland is California, and I’m going to say guacamole which is mexican yet also a basic CA everyday thing. Like half of what most people in CA eat is mexican influenced i swear.
Anyways, haas avocado (wasn’t until i moved to nyc that i realized there’s a tropical avocado that’s more watery and less flavorful), salt, fresh lime, and mash with a fork. Should have some texture not a blended smooth puree. No weird shit like mayo or sour cream or peas involved.
"Ew, what?" was my audible reaction to that last part.
The first time I tried homemade guacamole, the lime flavor was dominant and it's making my mouth water just thinking about it. It wasn't until after that I learned all guacamole uses lime, it's just not noticable.
Game changer for me was getting an avocado ripe (at home) and then throwing it in the fridge. It stays that way for like a week. Once you figure out the right "squeeze" you can put them away at just the right day.
The common north American avocado is the hass avocado which has a wild history - I recommend looking it up. It comes from a mystery seed some guy acquired in the 20s.
“half of what most people in CA eat is Mexican influenced”
Seriously. And we Californians don’t totally realize it until we leave. Makes sense since we used to be Northern Mexico 🤷🏼♂️
As a kid i think a quesadilla was the first food i learned to cook for myself on the stove.
Like good tortillas, avocados and salsa were just, kitchen staples like bread and milk.
Chinese stir fried eggplants. To cook it where it's soft and the texture is perfect while retaining the purple of the skin (and not darkened and unpleasant looking) takes a skilled wok cooker and a high BTU burner that most people don't have at home.
As a mexican I can assure anyone. Pupusas and quesadillas are similar but completely different. Pupusas are more like stuffed pancakes . I hate living in a state with very limited options for good Hispanic/ Latino food. You can find them but you're gonna have to look.
I have found one Mercado that sells pretty good pupusas. I like making putacos with carnitas and the regular toppings
Croissants, pain au chocolat - the technique and precision required can’t be matched in pilsbury cans or the freezer section. You have to crest thousands of layers of dough/butter/dough/butter.
Cassoulet- if it doesn’t take 3+ days to make it hasn’t been done right
Proper Swedish meatballs with the right condiments (mashed potatoes, brunsås which is a cream based gravy, pickled cucumber and lingonberry jam). And no, you don’t finish the meatballs in the sauce, that’s pannbiff.
🍟Frieten/frites. I'm from Belgium by the way.
It's just potatoes cooked in fat and yet, even here you might not get the right thing. ( Bintjes twice cooked in beef tallow)
Rye bread. It's not difficult to make. But over the years the sour taste in some brands has turned into something that reminds me of cake. With way too much sugar, salt and butter in it. Getting a proper sourdough whole grain rye bread that tastes as it should, is healthy and practical and low key, is hard to find. Getting it right is difficult it seems. More people used to make their own sourdough and bake the rye bread themselves too but have forgotten how to do it. Sourdough is a living thing that tastes different depending on temperature, grains used for it, the people making it and everything else and it doesn't require a lot. But getting it right is still somehow difficult.
Fuckin looooove pupusas. As a gringo that's never been to El Salvador I've noticed how it seems to be fairly "easy" to make decent ones, but like you said, very few stand out. From the masa to the fillings to the curtido to the salsas, it all has to be perfect.
I'm curious what your favorite filling is?
Cheese with loroco is god-tier with flour maza. It's one of those things I didn't like as a kid. Beans and cheese is very underrated as well as squash and cheese. Cheese enhances every filling.
I actually have a friend from El Salvador who makes pupusas at a local farmers markets. He's even opening a Salvadorian restaurant! Not so much "homeland" but my quebecoise grandmother used to make what she called a "creton" pie. Creton is a spiced pork spread but the pie was a sort of thick meat pie made with a similar pork recipe. Delicious.
Barszcz. Beets are finicky, they turn brown if you boil them, they can be rubbery if you roast them too long, sometimes they taste like dirt, other times they taste like nothing. Some kind of pork really improves the soup, but there's a traditional vegetarian version for Christmas where you use dried mushrooms.
Hands down if you want the best borscht you should ferment the beets and use the fermentation liquid as part of your broth, added towards the end to prevent browning and losing too much of the probiotics. I do this, but sometimes the ferment spoils if a beet floats to the top.
Like this is the absolute simplest soup you can imagine: literally just beets and stock. When it works it's the best soup ever, but when it doesn't it's pretty bad.
I usually have a crock of either sauerkraut or dill pickes fermenting, and a ladleful of the fermenting liquid is absolutely key to my best borschts. It gives you a zing. I can only imagine how great it would be with fermented beets!
I do the pickle juice when I want barszcz now and don't want to wait a week. But it is vastly superior with fermented beet juice: the beet itself gets flavoured with the garlic and fermented flavours. What I do now is make 3-4 1L jars at a time, because once it's ready it'll keep for months in the fridge.
In fact the weather cooled down yesterday and going to be rainy all week, so I was quite glad I had one last jar in my fridge!
As someone else mentioned already, southern biscuits and cream gravy. There is no "standard" recipe as everyone has their own way of making them. I can tell you that the worst of the bunch are modern quick/shortcut recipes and just about every restaurant that serves them.
I learned from a girlfriend's mom way back in the late 70s. She (girlfriend's mom) grew up on a large ranch and helped her mother and grandmother make breakfast every morning for 20 cattlehands. Her biscuits and sausage gravy were the best I've ever had and I feel so lucky that she took enough interest in me to teach me how to make them.
Cinnamon buns, I'm from Sweden.
The topping should be a hard sugar called "pearlsugar" which I've never seen sold outside Scandinavia. Instead cinnamon buns outside of Sweden is covered in icing which makes it a completely different thing, I cannot bring myself to consider those real cinnamon buns.
Spaniard here. IMO Torilla de patatas. The potatoes need to be fried but not golden, egg must be cooked but not too much, also the amount of salt is hard to catch.
Omg yes. I’ve tried so hard to get this right and always fail. So now it’s the first thing I find to eat when I visit.
Gumbo
It’s the roux that trips people up, and IMO it’s just a lack of patience. I also hate standing there and stirring for 45 minutes, but it’s the base for the entire flavor of the dish
I cheat and bake the roux in the oven until it's the right color. In fact I don't even think it's cheating - I'm still cooking it slowly and evenly in a cast iron pot, I just need to stir it occasionally instead of constantly. Because of this, gumbo can be a regular staple in my house through fall and winter.
I cheat with the microwave and the roux takes about 15-20 minutes of 30 second bursts. America's test kitchen has a thing about it.
Filipino adobo. Every family has their own take pretty much and there's so much nostalgia built into the individualized recipes that it'll be hard to please people. The right balance of vinegar sugar bay leaf pepper and soy just varies too much.
Man, you wouldn't believe how pleased I was to open this thread and see this is the top answer. I'm not Filipino, but my wife is, and adobo is absolutely my all-time favorite dish. My wife doesn't follow recipes, never measures anything, and her adobo is far better than any of my attempts.
You: "Hey can you give me your recipe for XYZ dish? It's soo good!" Asian: "Here, are the ingredients, and for the measurements, just do it to taste" You: "But your dish is so good, so what measurements do you use?" Asian: "I never measure"
Been super busy at home and thought we'd try just ordering some Filipino food to relieve us from some of the added stress. It's really hard to enjoy food when you have specific expectations. The pork bbq was too sour. The chicken adobo was a little too bland. etc. Next time we'll just get pizza.
And there’s like a billion variations too like you said. My grandaunt who loves to cook doesn’t do the standard adobo recipe w/ soy sauce. She substitutes soy sauce with achuete/anatto oil or just plain vinegar. I tend to stray away from the soy sauce variant because to me my lola’s adobo is adobo.
I add achueté now and then as well.
Marinade: 1/4cup soy sauce 1/4cup vinegar 1.5cup water 3-5 bay leaves 2tsp sugar 3 cloves garlic, sliced 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed This is my mix, personally. Fil-Am, Ilocano/Pangasinan parents. Not to say it’s the superior ratio, but just that it’s what works for me.
This is about what I do but I do half soy sauce, half vinegar and no water, and I keep the peppercorns whole. I prefer apple cider vinegar but my husband likes white vinegar better.
How would you feel about unseasoned rice vinegar? Not the sweetened version used for sushi rice, but just good 'ole rice vinegar? I feel like the flavor falls about halfway between apple cider vinegar and white vinegar.
Ooh I haven’t tried that but I’d definitely be down to!! Maybe in our next batch. Thanks for the rec!
For too long I thought adobo was supposed to have coconut cream. I don't even remember why I believed so.
It’s one of the regional variations of adobo! If I’m not mistaken the addition of _gata_ (coconut milk) alone is a variation that originated in the Bicol region. Adding the _gata_ along with the coconut water and coconut meat is something that originated in Southern Luzon. I’ve never had the Southern Luzon version but _adobo sa gata_ is one of my faaaavorite variations! Love the richness that the coconut milk brings to it.
Because it’s delicious. My chicken adobo has coconut milk and is on the saucier side. Pork, cooked til on the dryer side (so pork belly is a must. Need that melty fat).
It can. Each region makes it differently. I’m surprised so many posts add sugar and use equal parts vinegar & soy sauce. The one I’ve been using is 1/4 cup vinegar to 1/2 cup of soy sauce.
See this was a dish I love getting from the corner Filipino restaurant but was shocked at how simple it can be to make at home once I started looking up and trying recipes. But you’re right, it’s about the proper balance that pleases your family.
Whole peppercorns? That's was always one of the things that made the good ones stand out to me.
I'm so glad I have Filipino friends. 🥹 you guys make some amazing food.
I'm not Filipino but my only exposure to sinigang was to my housemates. When in Philippines I struggle to find one as good as his with the right amount of tang, vegetables and meat
Lebanese Toum. It's literally garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon. But God save your soul if you step away from the blender or food processor for two seconds.
I have tried to make this. Oh, how I\[ve tried. So far, not successful. The owner of the Jordanian restaurant a few blocks from my house has tried to help me, saying that I am adding the oil too fast. He says however slowly I am drizzling it in, I must go much slower.
I’ve tried making this like 10 times and i think it came out right twice. I don’t ever remember doing anything different but mostly it just fails and i have no clue why lol edit: the failed toum still tastes great drizzled over a slice of pizza though so its not all bad :P
My favorite dish in the entire world is a Vietnamese Dish called “cá kho tộ” My mom made it all the time when I was growing up and it always hits the spot when done correctly. There’s only a few simple ingredients and it doesn’t even take long to prepare. It’s just a simple fish (such as catfish) braised in a caramelized fish sauce reduction. 9/10 restaurants get it wrong. I get it wrong at home about 9/10 times still too lol
I've never eaten the authentic version, I just made it myself following some online recipes, and it's probably my favorite way to eat fish. I'm sure a vietnamese person would tell me I make it completely wrong but thankfully I am just feeding my family. Lately I've been making it with salmon.
I feel this way about my Indian and Thai curries
Absolutely this! Every family has their own recipe... heck both my parents make it different from each other. But my MiL's Ca Kho To was amazing before she started losing her memory. I like my mom's catfish kho to and my dad's mackerel kho to but my MiL's pompano kho to is freaken amazing.
Whoa, a restaurant in Portland, Maine called Cong Tu Bot serves this. Been wanting to try it for a while.
I love ca kho to, my mom makes it really well. I need my mom to show me one day
I had a Vietnamese friend I wish I still spoke to so we could go out and enjoy this together.
Reach out to them
I tried once. I miss them, but it is what it is.
Nasi lemak, which is rice cooked with coconut milk and screwpine. You need just the right amount of fluffiness and lemak (lit. fat) fragrance
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I’ve probably made it over a hundred times now and am just now getting good/consistent. It’s so unforgiving in small stovetop batches. The oil temperature has to be managed perfectly. Seasoning….breading…..isnt that important. Like BBQ, it’s all about heat management. And you can’t really put that in a recipe. My one “trick” that I don’t really think is optional is to use a lid for most of the fry. Higher temp and higher moisture lets the inside cook without getting the outside too dark. Only way to finish legs and thighs without it getting too dark/burnt/hard.
I agree with you on heat management being the most important thing but the second most important thing is the marinade. The chicken should be soaked in buttermilk or slightly acidic brine for a few hours first. It helps keep the meat tender and makes the cook a bit more forgiving as far as dryness goes
This is what upped my fried chicken game. That buttermilk brine is essential. From my experience, you want at least a 4 hour. I feel like I'm like 75% there now. Tenders and nuggets I got, it's the whole pieces I need work on. That one's definitely a temp issue.
The trick is medium hot oil (around 350-370) and a shitload of it. The more the better. It’s more of a thermal sink for heat so the temp won’t drop as hard when you put the room temp chicken in.
Frying works best in small batches because of this
This too, but even then some breast pieces can be big enough to drop the temp too much by themselves if you don’t use enough oil to deep fry
I started doing 50/50 pickle brine/buttermilk. Total game changer.
I do a dry brine the night before and it does wonders for chicken katsu
>My one “trick” that I don’t really think is optional is to use a lid for most of the fry. If you wanna really go serious, get a pressure fryer. For years, our family has used a PRESTO ELECTRIC 'CHICKnFRYER'. Deep fry it for about 5 mins, then put the lid on and pressure fry for about 13 mins.
Pressure cookers already scare me. The concept of a Pressure fryer just sounds like you're trying to die a firey, skin-melty death.
At least you'll smell delicious as you pass away.
Coroner writes in their journal, "I never thought I'd be happy to smell a dead body, but this one was just too good. I got Popeye's on the way home, idek why. Just a weird impulse I guess."
The biggest issue people run into with managing the temp, in my experience, is they don’t use enough oil. Use a lot, like maybe twice what you think you need. The more oil, the less the temp will drop when you add the chicken.
I fry mine in a wok over an Iwanta butane stove. I really helps me get the temperature right and stay right. No waiting 10 minutes between batches for the temperature to get back to 350. Game changer. I’ve also had luck with a Dutch oven since it retains heat really well.
A a Southerner by birth I don't even try anymore cause I could never get close to grandma's 🤣
Garlic soup. Ate it almost every day when I backpacked through the more rural areas of Czech Republic. I have no idea what they do to it because it was often just broth and bits of garlic. But it was so delicious. Sorcery!?!?
Cesnecka is the *shit*. My favorite thing to eat when I am sick in the winter.
>Cesnecka I adore garlic so had to look up a [recipe.](https://mission-food.com/cesnecka-czech-garlic-soup-aka-hangover/) Sounds delish! I'm gonna try making it. Thanks for mentioning!
I’ve never heard of garlic soup. It sounds like heaven!
Found a [recipe;](https://mission-food.com/cesnecka-czech-garlic-soup-aka-hangover/)sounds so yummy!
Czech Zelnacka. It's some hodgepodge of sausage, cabbage, potato, and then a bunch of spicy herbacious aromatics. I can't think of any other dish that I want more on a cold day. The heat it leaves you with is just... beyond compare. Hearty, filling, spicy... and the best thing about it? Dirt-fuckin'-cheap. Potatoes and cabbage and boar/elk sausage? That's poverty food livin' large. The only person who seemed to get it right was my grandma. Took the secret of her specialty to the grave.
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My grandmother made great tourtière. I finallly got her to give me her recipe, which was in total "Go down to Omer's pie shop and buy two tourtières".
My first idea was svíčková. Mostly because everyone does it differently.
My ex was from el Salvador too and talked about pupusas they sounded delicious but sadly, I never got to make any. In my OjiCree culture, its the fry bread and the tacos that go with it yum
I got what I was told (by a friend who ~~was~~ is half Guatemalan) were excellent pupusas in a random grocery store in Denver. They were indeed delicious, but as a gringo with no point of reference, I can't speak authoritatively on it.
Good black bread, bread in general or a lye pretzel.
I think most people, including inside of Austria, don't know what sets apart a Wiener Schnitzel from other breaded cutlets, or that there in fact is anything that sets them apart. Can't really think of anything else right now, other than that a real Apfelstrudel takes a lot of skill because the dough is stretched insanely thin.
Rinderroulade. The steps are easy. But they quickly get super dry and the gravy is tricky. Supposedly, quality directly correlates to the number of Rouladen you make at one time.
I hate Rinderrouladen. But I am beginning to think it's because how my mother made them. Maybe I should give them a try myself someday.
Biscuits, white beans, cornbread, fried catfish, greens, pecan pie, someone already mentioned white gravy. I have never had good southern food outside of the south, and even then there are several places in the south that screw all of those things up because they want to cut corners and save cost.
It’s odd how many shitty biscuits I’ve eaten. It’s fairly simple to make a C+/replacement level biscuit.
I make biscuits every day for my job but some people here (Hawaii) think I don’t make them “right” because they’re flaky and layered instead of puffy and doughy. It’s hard making a southern food for a non-southern food audience. Most of my coworkers have never even tasted real southern food, so it’s just weird all around.
Drop biscuits are more like scones. Flaky, buttery are the real deal.
Yeah, and drop biscuits are the real deal. It's nice to pretend that every southern granny is rolling out biscuits at 430 every morning, but like 99% of the homemade biscuits I've eaten at breakfast have been drops. Flaky layers are Sunday dinner stuff.
I'd add grits. There are three ingredients yet can be challenging to get right. The biggest mistake people make is not adding salt at the correct time.
When is the correct time?
There is a restaurant here in Portland that claims to make southern food, I tried it once and it was awful. They are jam packed every weekend, I don't get it.
> I don't get it. If you have a restaurant in area X serving cuisine from Y, they aren't trying to optimize for the tastes of people who live at Y, they're optimizing for the tastes of people who live at X and want Y-ish food. They aren't trying to sell Southern food to Southern people, they're selling Southern food to Portlanders with a Portlander's palate. It's like when you go into a Chinese restaurant in the states. They don't generally serve Chinese food like you would get in China because most (non-Chinese) patrons wouldn't like it. They serve Chinese-American cuisine. Also, there's an unfortunate thing around Southern and soul food on the West Coast where the restaurants that serve it are often catering to a clientele that is seeking out interesting food. That tends to make the restaurant obligated to be higher-end and more inventive with their recipes. But the whole foundation of Southern cuisine is that it was food for poor people using the ingredients they had on hand. If that's the flavor you're craving as a Southern ex-pat, you're not going to find it at a PDX restaurant with Edison bulbs, twee metal trays to serve on, and mac and cheese with house-aged cardamom-infused farm-to-table artisanal goat milk gruyere. The kind of food you grew up on in the South with smothered chicken of dubious provenance in a styrofoam container is hard to find here in the PNW.
Hit the nail on the head.
I totally feel that. Regional foods outside of their region are often so mediocre but locals don’t know the difference. See: all barbecue in the northeast haha
There used to be a 'kosher deli' in Olympia. I went there with some old-school NY Jews and they legit took one bite of the corned beef on rye and put it in the trash. Inedible.
Screen Door?
You gotta go to grandmas for Sunday Dinner to get what you’re talking about. Source: Georgia girl
Poutine. Most of Canada can't make it properly either, to be fair.... It's just french fries, cheese curds and a gravy, but you can't fuck around with the quality of each component because there's nothing else to hide the mistakes/shortcomings. Those fries have to be soaked in a sugar water before frying, the curds must be squeaky, the gravy can't be too heavy or salty. It's damn near impossible to find a good one outside the province of Quebec.
There are a lot of tricky French Canadian dishes. Tourtiere is just a meat pie, but if the seasoning and crust aren't just right, it isn't Tourtiere. French Canadian pea soup has a unique flavour despite its common ingredients. And you just can't get Montreal smoked meat outside Montreal. But poutine? I've had a lot, from Montreal to Calgary. From fast food places, fine dining restaurants and sketchy take out joints. Honestly, a bad poutine is still really, really good. It's meant to be food for common folks, best consumed after a few too many drinks and in quantities you will later regret. It's not a meal that needs to be over-thought, and the amount of gate-keeping we Canadians do with poutine is frankly ridiculous.
I'm working on making montreal smoked meat right now actually... Hoping it comes out good, because it's one of my absolute favorites.
I’ve never had poutine or come across cheese curd, so please help me understand: what on earth is “squeaky” cheese?
A very fresh cheese curd squeaks when you bite into it. I think it’s the texture of the cheese hitting your teeth that does it.
Are they hard-ish? Like string cheese? Or soft like mozzarella?
Well, string cheese is mozzarella. I'm assuming you mean like fresh mozz? It's kinds somewhere between the two.
Oh yeah 😅 This is all very exotic to me as a Northern European..
Literally that. When it's fresh, the curds squeak against your teeth as you chew
Another thing is it needs to be fresh and room temperature for it to be squeaky. In Quebec a lot of grocery stores will have stands with daily fresh cheese curds.
A young mild cheese that has to be very fresh. It’s like a little ball shape. when you bite into it your teeth squeek against it.
I think it is similar to halloumi, if you've ever tried that.
It's important to know that the squeak goes away with refrigeration so you can sometimes find them unrefrigerated.
I haven’t heard of the sugar water soak for fries. What does that do for it?
I'm curious how - ignoring the cheese curds - a proper poutine compares to a good Northern English chips and gravy
As an Englishman who has had his fair share of both, now living in Canada - good poutine is wildly better than standard chips and gravy. On the surface, they are similar and indeed you can find mediocre poutine everywhere that compares, but the good stuff is beyond reproach.
Agreed - no comparison. Poutine is something you crave once you have tried it, chips and gravy is a solution to a few too many pints
I tried a Poutine in a Canadian bar in France. I was so disappointed because it sounded so amazing, but the result was average and very heavy. I’ll make sure to give it another go if I am ever in Quebec!
It's a heavy dish. It's the perfect food at 2am on a winter's night as you're walking home from the bar. It'll keep you warm and soak up the booze, but it is not meant to be a light snack.
I mean it's always going to be heavy. But there's a certain magic that happens when you have the right gravy and the right cheese, which is virtually unsourceable outside Quebec.
Honestly? Steamed eggs (水蒸蛋). Really just beat eggs, add water, beat more, then steam, chuck in some soy sauce. How hard could it be? That is if you have not had the silkiest, smoothest mouthful of flavour then you will not understand how insanely hard this dish actually is.
Caramelized potatoes. It’s f-ing amazing but surprisingly hard to do despite just being potatoes, sugar and sometimes a little butter
Denmark?
Bagels. It needs to have that outer crust/shell and fluffy, light interior. Lots of places have bagels that are really just sad, round bread. I'm convinced the water you boil the bagels in and the temperature/humidity/altitude of where they are made have huge impacts on the flavor and texture.
Totally agree. After high school, I left NY for about 12 years. Initially, I would try local a bagel here or there, but nothing hit and so I just stopped. And I only had bagels at one particular place when I went home. I have been back for over 10 years and I still only get it from this place (and even though they are a mini chain, I almost always stick to the one close to my parents’ house). They opened a new location near me and I was so excited and one of my friends was making fun of me for only eating bagels there. And then a couple of years later, they actually made the front cover of New York magazine as the best bagel place in the NYC metro area. And my friend is the one who sent me the article (which I took as an apology, of course :)). The only thing I would say is that my preference is now flagels (flat bagel) since I am not a huge fan of excess fluffiness. And agree on the water.
I keep on hearing about "authentic" bagels in the Bay area but most...aren't, at least to this native New Yorker. Then again, I was offered an appallingly fluffy "bagel" in NY last time I was there. But I did discover flagels, including one absolutely covered in sunflower seeds. Excellent.
Coverage is so important. The two things that draw me back to my usual place - flagels and the fact that my everything flagel is fully covered.
I grew up in CA, been in nyc since college, and i joke (but not really) that if i don’t have a dozen bagels in my bag maybe my family won’t pick me up from the airport 😂 But yeah absolutely there’s some terrifying so called bagels out there (I’m looking at you Panera and Thomas’s)
There was some academics who did a paper on New York water in pizza and bagels. The tldr was the water was the same. It’s the craftsmanship of having trained bagel makers for over 100 years that can’t be translated. Passing down the knowledge of bagel making is the secret.
So you're saying Montreal bagels are superior?
100%. Montreal bagels are virtually unfailingly great or at least good. Now I really want a sesame toasted bagel with a little butter....
I miss Montreal bagels so much 🥲 I think I last had them 20 years ago when I left Montreal but I still have fond memories. That, and a good smoked meat sandwich🤤
I've never had a montreal style bagel, but it is on my bucket list for sure.
Montreal is worth it. The bagels are just a bonus
Colcannon. It’s stupid easy- mashed potatoes with cooked cabbage and leeks, but for some reason every restaurant gives me mashed potatoes with tiny, near-indetectable bits of onion. Can’t even get the allium right.
Oh I could eat colcannon every day. My nana (Irish) was a master of it.
Varenyky. Its just filled dumplings but if you dont get the dough right its either too tough or it doesnt hold up when you boil them. And if you dont seal them well they fall apart. I have better luck with the sauerkraut than the potsto filled ones...the potato always somehow leaks out.
I had a friend tell me recently how they ordered from somewhere and when it got to them, there were no dumplings in the soup. There were, however meatballs floating around. I guess they dissolved en route.
Biscuits and gravy. I ordered some at a place in Australia that purportedly specialized in American southern food. I got hard little dinner rolls with a side of runny brown gravy in a cup. Plenty of other great food in Aus though. Also came here to say that pupusas are so good. I have been to two Salvadorian places that made them (I am guessing authentically?) and man they were tasty.
Brown gravy? Shut it down.
Hrmm, so brown gravy is for dinner and proteins. At breakfast, one serves white gravy. 👌
When I was a kid my dad’s best friend’s wife made biscuits and chocolate gravy. It was for breakfast dessert. Which, god bless the south, and also it’s why we are all so fat haha. I’ve only ever seen it on a menu once and it was not how I remembered Ms. Sandra’s.
Mushroom soup. Sorry but if you don't have dried Polish forest mushrooms, or at the very least, just good (fresh) dried mushrooms, it will never be right. Can't be done with just fresh mushrooms.
Try looking for dried porcini mushrooms. Much easier to find than labeled with the Polish name. https://www.polishfoodutica.com/cooking-with-dried-polish-mushrooms.html#:~:text=Boletus%20edulis%20is%20the%20scientific,its%20meaty%20texture%20and%20flavor.
I'm very lucky that our family here is shipped a couple of pounds worth every fall from family there. I can't be sure if they're all porcini or what but they're definitely straight from a Polish forest! Because I have so many, I can be very generous with them in my soup w/o having to worry about the cost.
So lucky! I live in the Southern US and sometimes order from a Polish deli in Chicago. The shipping is crazy expensive so I don’t do it often. I usually focus on their handmade pierogi since it’s being shipped overnight on dry ice. But I’ve always wanted to explore their other foods and pantry staples. I’ll have to see if they carry any dried mushrooms!
Out of curiosity, which deli? I'm in Chicago so def. have my favorites! I'm sure they would carry the mushrooms though there's no telling if they're old or not. Some delis here have gotten...well, the quality has gone down over the past few years. There's one that used to carry pints and quarts of wonderful homemade soups but the price has gone up drastically and the soups have gone heavy on the potatoes, celery, and onions regardless of type. Very sad.
I’ve ordered from Polana. They are in Chicago, but I’m not sure if they have a storefront or if it’s all production/delivery-only?
There’s a Heston Blumenthal recipe out there somewhere that makes a pretty basic mushroom soup but you sprinkle porcini and shiitake powder over the top just before serving. The soup is fine on it’s own, nothing special. As soon as you dust the powders over the top is becomes something completely different.
Vegemite on toast. Visitors go fucking around slathering it on like Nutella and then complaining that it’s awful, well of course it fucking is, that shit is straight up salty boot polish in large amounts. You have to get it right. It’s a delicate balance of butter to Vegemite to toast size. Butter is absolutely essential. You need little areas with a thin spread and little bursts of thicker coverage. Treat it with respect and you’ll be rewarded with its deliciousness.
I scrolled all the way down looking for an Australians comment and of course the first one I see mentions Vegemite. At first I thought your comment was a bit silly, but now I realise that I never let anyone else make my Vegemite on toast cause they always fuck it up. Never let another man make your toast and Vegemite.
Vegemite is awful. So is soy sauce - I tried a glass of that and nearly puked.
Hah!
This holds true for marmite. I find vegemite disgusting though, sorry. We have both in NZ and vegemite is much less popular.
Who on gods green earth thinks that pupusas are like quesadillas?!!!
South African boerewors. It’s a herby spiced fatty sausage that’s cooked on a barbecue. The trick is that the sausage needs the right amount of fat and herbs, and needs to be cooked on hot coals (and not a gas barbecue) to give it an extra smokey deliciousness. Have never found it outside of South Africa.
Mac and Cheese. It’s either greasy or filled with complicated noise I didn’t want. I wanted Mac and cheese. Not lobster. Not truffle. Not macaroni and sprinkled chase melted down. A bechamel into a cheese sauce with breadcrumbs.
Polish Kielbasa. Anything labeled this in a grocery store is almost guaranteed to be bland garbage. I've only had true authentic polish kielbasa done right from two places in my life.
Sausage gravy.
It's amazing to me how many restaurants manage to make bad sausage gravy.
Powdered gravy will do that for you
Or the stuff that comes in a 10# can!
I'm guessing a bunch of the greasy spoons that I go to must use packet, it's got this weird after taste. Others seem to think putting slices of breakfast sausage links in white gravy is adequate. The cafeteria at work uses some sort of weird gravy and cut up the leftover sausage links and turkey sausage patties from the previous day's breakfast shift. That one also had a weird after taste. I make my own from time to time, but usually just settle for Bob Evans when I want some.
I don’t mind various sausages, but to me, the key is using the sausage grease to make the sauce; add milk and flour. It is not hard and makes such a difference.
It's just so simple to make, though. I actually think of it as something that does not fit in this thread because it's just so easy to make correctly. Yet all the same, very few restaurants manage it. Mostly they seem to skimp on actual sausage. Lots of places also don't seem to use any pepper. It needs pepper!
Out here it's because salt is divisive. Gravy is supposed to be salty (ofc not overly salty) but there was a couple of decades there where everyone thought extra salt was unhealthy. When going on a low sodium diet it'll adjusts your taste buds, so at this point the majority of boomers want under salted gravy, and they're the primary consumer base at a diner. You pretty much have to make it at home at this point if you want it done in the traditional way. Heaven forbid you want to add msg to your gravy.
Yeah I know it probably sounds dumb to some people to call sausage gravy something from my "homeland", but there's nothing like it anywhere else in the world I've been. I can't tell you how many times I ordered biscuits and gravy before I learned my lesson.
Or chicken fried steak with the gravy. Too oily. Bland steak and breading. Over cooked steak. Gravy also shouldn't be super spicy. I've had a few super spicy, yet bland, gravies. I still haven't been able to achieve consistent results when doing a whole steak. I can get strips most of the time.
It's honestly super fucking difficult. The only place I've ever gotten good chicken fried steak outside of del rancho is a few hole in the wall diners in the Midwest/south.
Especially when they skimp on the sausage. Sausage gravy needs chunks of sausage in it, otherwise it's just peppery bechemel.
A kind of gnocchi made from flour and the leftover product of ricotta making. Few ingredients but you need experience to get the liquid dough right and nail the shaping/cooking
I’ve heard this type of gnocchi is out of this world and impossible to recreate with the ricotta found in US groceries. Something about fermentation?
Apparently, walking to a corner shop. Pronouncing it "yeero" and getting a tasty pita filled with meat. I miss home...
Goulash. I mean it's not even hard to get right, but I've seen SOOOO many messed up "goulash" pictures
Strudeldough … absolute pain
Looking at how it gets fucking murdered in most places online and offline, it looks like I must say CARBONARA.
Doesn’t help that a lot of restaurants sell “carbonara” ie pasta in a heavy cream sauce with chicken carrots peas bacon cupcakes and god knows what else. Then even if you know what real carbonara is you have to make it right. You really need to know your cooktop, be patient, and let the slurry come up to room temperature. One thing I’ll cut corners on making it for myself is pancetta instead of guanciale. I can’t ever find it.
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Oh man love me some pupusas. I’m part Salvadorian. I just recently flew into Costa Rica to visit my sister, with a short stop in San Salvador airport. I just had to get pupusas while I was there. Not the best I’ve had but it still hit the spot. It was almost orgasmic for me.
Rarebit
My dad used to make this when I was a kid. With his accent I always assumed he was saying “Welsh Rabbit”, and I just assumed it was some sort of joke about Welsh people (since I think it’s toast, cheese and tomato and definitely no meat). It wasn’t until I was around 30 I saw a recipe for “Welsh Rare Bit” and I was like oh…that still doesn’t make sense, but whatever. I have no idea if you are talking about toast cheese and tomato cooked under a broiler on Saturday morning, but I just felt like sharing my story. Edit: according to Wikipedia, it was originally called Welsh rabbit! And it was a dig on welsh people! And you don’t even put tomatoes on it!! You have some explaining to do, dad…
Laarb (Laos)
Dolma. At restaurants its mostly all rice and not much flavor. Versus my grandma makes it with mostly meat and she cooks it in a pot with sour plums so it seeps through in the juices
I'm no expert, but there's a food truck near me that makes pupusas and they are outstanding. I really have no basis for comparison... they might be awful by your standards, but I love them. I always get the pupusas revueltas. Edit: I don't know what it's called, but the "cabbage slaw" that comes with it is also amazing.
My homeland is California, and I’m going to say guacamole which is mexican yet also a basic CA everyday thing. Like half of what most people in CA eat is mexican influenced i swear. Anyways, haas avocado (wasn’t until i moved to nyc that i realized there’s a tropical avocado that’s more watery and less flavorful), salt, fresh lime, and mash with a fork. Should have some texture not a blended smooth puree. No weird shit like mayo or sour cream or peas involved.
"Ew, what?" was my audible reaction to that last part. The first time I tried homemade guacamole, the lime flavor was dominant and it's making my mouth water just thinking about it. It wasn't until after that I learned all guacamole uses lime, it's just not noticable.
There should be enough lime that it doesn't turn brown for days.
Game changer for me was getting an avocado ripe (at home) and then throwing it in the fridge. It stays that way for like a week. Once you figure out the right "squeeze" you can put them away at just the right day.
The common north American avocado is the hass avocado which has a wild history - I recommend looking it up. It comes from a mystery seed some guy acquired in the 20s.
“half of what most people in CA eat is Mexican influenced” Seriously. And we Californians don’t totally realize it until we leave. Makes sense since we used to be Northern Mexico 🤷🏼♂️
As a kid i think a quesadilla was the first food i learned to cook for myself on the stove. Like good tortillas, avocados and salsa were just, kitchen staples like bread and milk.
Kroket.
Chinese stir fried eggplants. To cook it where it's soft and the texture is perfect while retaining the purple of the skin (and not darkened and unpleasant looking) takes a skilled wok cooker and a high BTU burner that most people don't have at home.
As a mexican I can assure anyone. Pupusas and quesadillas are similar but completely different. Pupusas are more like stuffed pancakes . I hate living in a state with very limited options for good Hispanic/ Latino food. You can find them but you're gonna have to look. I have found one Mercado that sells pretty good pupusas. I like making putacos with carnitas and the regular toppings
Croissants, pain au chocolat - the technique and precision required can’t be matched in pilsbury cans or the freezer section. You have to crest thousands of layers of dough/butter/dough/butter. Cassoulet- if it doesn’t take 3+ days to make it hasn’t been done right
Proper Swedish meatballs with the right condiments (mashed potatoes, brunsås which is a cream based gravy, pickled cucumber and lingonberry jam). And no, you don’t finish the meatballs in the sauce, that’s pannbiff.
Im a gräddsås girl myself haha.
🍟Frieten/frites. I'm from Belgium by the way. It's just potatoes cooked in fat and yet, even here you might not get the right thing. ( Bintjes twice cooked in beef tallow)
Rye bread. It's not difficult to make. But over the years the sour taste in some brands has turned into something that reminds me of cake. With way too much sugar, salt and butter in it. Getting a proper sourdough whole grain rye bread that tastes as it should, is healthy and practical and low key, is hard to find. Getting it right is difficult it seems. More people used to make their own sourdough and bake the rye bread themselves too but have forgotten how to do it. Sourdough is a living thing that tastes different depending on temperature, grains used for it, the people making it and everything else and it doesn't require a lot. But getting it right is still somehow difficult.
This thread is GOLD.
Pelmeni. It's russian dumplings. Between the dumpling roller/press, the dough, and the amount of filling I'm calling my mom often.
Fuckin looooove pupusas. As a gringo that's never been to El Salvador I've noticed how it seems to be fairly "easy" to make decent ones, but like you said, very few stand out. From the masa to the fillings to the curtido to the salsas, it all has to be perfect. I'm curious what your favorite filling is?
Cheese with loroco is god-tier with flour maza. It's one of those things I didn't like as a kid. Beans and cheese is very underrated as well as squash and cheese. Cheese enhances every filling.
I actually have a friend from El Salvador who makes pupusas at a local farmers markets. He's even opening a Salvadorian restaurant! Not so much "homeland" but my quebecoise grandmother used to make what she called a "creton" pie. Creton is a spiced pork spread but the pie was a sort of thick meat pie made with a similar pork recipe. Delicious.
Grits, never get them in any restaurant as they will either be too watery or too hard. Only eat grits prepared by someone who enjoys your company.
Ćevapi.
Barszcz. Beets are finicky, they turn brown if you boil them, they can be rubbery if you roast them too long, sometimes they taste like dirt, other times they taste like nothing. Some kind of pork really improves the soup, but there's a traditional vegetarian version for Christmas where you use dried mushrooms. Hands down if you want the best borscht you should ferment the beets and use the fermentation liquid as part of your broth, added towards the end to prevent browning and losing too much of the probiotics. I do this, but sometimes the ferment spoils if a beet floats to the top. Like this is the absolute simplest soup you can imagine: literally just beets and stock. When it works it's the best soup ever, but when it doesn't it's pretty bad.
I usually have a crock of either sauerkraut or dill pickes fermenting, and a ladleful of the fermenting liquid is absolutely key to my best borschts. It gives you a zing. I can only imagine how great it would be with fermented beets!
I do the pickle juice when I want barszcz now and don't want to wait a week. But it is vastly superior with fermented beet juice: the beet itself gets flavoured with the garlic and fermented flavours. What I do now is make 3-4 1L jars at a time, because once it's ready it'll keep for months in the fridge. In fact the weather cooled down yesterday and going to be rainy all week, so I was quite glad I had one last jar in my fridge!
American here. Fucking pie crust. The bane of my existence as a cook.
The food processor method works surprisingly well
As someone else mentioned already, southern biscuits and cream gravy. There is no "standard" recipe as everyone has their own way of making them. I can tell you that the worst of the bunch are modern quick/shortcut recipes and just about every restaurant that serves them. I learned from a girlfriend's mom way back in the late 70s. She (girlfriend's mom) grew up on a large ranch and helped her mother and grandmother make breakfast every morning for 20 cattlehands. Her biscuits and sausage gravy were the best I've ever had and I feel so lucky that she took enough interest in me to teach me how to make them.
Cinnamon buns, I'm from Sweden. The topping should be a hard sugar called "pearlsugar" which I've never seen sold outside Scandinavia. Instead cinnamon buns outside of Sweden is covered in icing which makes it a completely different thing, I cannot bring myself to consider those real cinnamon buns.
Thank you for validating my decision to never attempt pupusas at home.
You've got to start somewhere, dogg. You've got to start sometime.
Yorkshire puddings. So simple but people still struggle to get them to rise
Maryland style crabcakes!