what are the foods you're snobby about?

Yknow, I guess I am a snob about octopus/squid. It has to be really good, and accompanied just so; I won't accept lesser substitutes. Once you've had the best, it's kind of hard to go back.

― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Tuesday, July 3, 2012 2:09 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

that reminds me, deep fried octopus/squid is only ever good one it's at one point of texture on the spectrum between chewy and rubbery

Right, which is why I mostly prefer it grilled. I have only had one or two instances of fried calamari that was truly delicious and worth eating. Otherwise it was chewy material ensconced in "fried" which is not desirable.

I'm at a loss as to what would be precooked before going on a BBQ grill anyway (except, as D says, potatoes I guess maybe). Surely no one would precook meat?

Some folks slow-roast pork ribs and finish them on the grill, otherwise, not sure what.

A lot of sparerib recipes involve doing most of the heavy lifting in the oven and just finishing them on the grill to get a sticky saucy glaze. xp

I tried grilling potato slices once, sliced 'em really thin, the surfaces bubbled and the starches burned before the insides got cooked

Yup, am mostly talking about ribs and potatoes, but was once served weird crispy rubbery flavorless chicken pieces by someone so paranoid about undercooking that the pieces were boiled first.

Potatoes don't like direct grilling much, and don't even try if you don't have a lid on your grill, but very small new potatoes if well-oiled can work out ok. Indirect grilling work better, but keep the potatoes small, the fire relatively hot, and your patience intact. I like smoking bigger potatoes, or just putting them directly in the coals, with or without foil. Big baking potatoes into the coals get taken out when they are black and ugly, then scooped out and mashed: yum. I am currently looking into getting or building a tandoor or something like it (real charcoal tandoors are expensive as hell and not great quality for the money; a Big Green Egg is even more super-expensive but well-made and much more versatile) -- I think that's where I'd be doing my potatoes!

Have gotten into long barbecue bore arguments with Euros who insist that my smoker is all well and good for American barbecue, you cannot get crispy-but-edible-and-not-burnt ribs without precooking and then direct grilling -- these arguments usually end when I serve them ribs done at relatively high temperatures (compared to my smoker, anyway) indirectly on the Weber.

LL, the best squid/octopus I've ever had was the wood-grilled octopus at Taxim (Greek place) in Wicker Park. I found the restaurant as a whole to be hit-or-miss, but that dish is fantastic.

I had no idea big green eggs were so expensive!

There are less expensive kamados out there, but some of them have serious quality issues. I have also heard interesting things about the Broil King Keg (http://www.broilkingbbq.com/grills/keg/landing.html) which is significantly less expensive and supposed to be good...

somebody's selling a used one about an hour away from here. I suppose one day I'll luck out and find someone has left one on the curb next to their trash.

Can't think of a single food I feel this way about.

That's really sad!

i cook potatoes (either wedges, half fingerlings, or thin round slices) on the grill in a foil packet. works fine.

Beer comes close. But I'll drink damn near any beer, not just the best stuff.

Wait, I'm a Popsicle snob.

I like all food to be made with care and attention, but otherwise I'm not that particular.

Yeah, foil packets are cool, as are any kind of pan. Oil remains important. I think we all agree that pre-cooking is barbaric.

Is there not an outdoor cooking thread we could revive?

maybe not SEO oriented enough but

Lets talk of BBQ...grilling and what not.

I'm sort of snobby about cheese, butter, chocolate, tea, beer, jam, probably some other things too - in the sense that consuming low-quality kinds makes me sad and I go out of my way to acquire high-quality kinds.

I'm not snobby in the sense of judging other people's taste though.

truffle oil

my opinion of you drops if you use it

and lots of other things, but none come immediately to mind

im not snobby about any food but it really bothers me when people are, especially if they're in my kitchen. sometimes good ingredients are too expensive and you have to cheap out, like, i know parmigiano reggiano is better but it's expensive and can rarely bring myself to shell out for it

what do u use instead

"truffle oil"
i had truffle fries once and thought it tasted exactly like garlic fries. everyone told me i was mad. am i mad? i feel like i'm missing out on some royal fry experience, like a dude with an eyepatch going to see avatar.

you're not missing out, truffle oil is royal BS

tomatoes - gotta be in season, local. if I can't smell it when I'm cutting it up, it's dead to me.

pasta sauce in a jar - don't see the point if you can make a far better pasta from fresh ingredients.

coconut milk - so far i've only found that Chaokoh brand is the best. all those Thai Kitchen things and ugh they're so gross.

bbq - Mr Veg is a great bbq'er, which has made me dislike almost every other bbq I come across. all those bbq chain restaurants, etc, just yuk. not to say that there isn't great bbq out there, but when homemade is so good, you don't need to go anywhere else. someone at work bought in a crockpot full of store-bought marinated tritip and I had to refrain from throwing the whole thing out the window, lol

salad - don't put fucking candied anything in my salad, don't cover it in cheese, don't you DARE use iceberg ends and don't drown it in dressing. I hardly ever buy premade salad anywhere, even in restaurants, I'd so much rather make it myself at home.

I'm not snobby about anything in New York, but in Michigan I sure as hell am. Iceberg lettuce everywhere, things on plates without sauces or garnishes, everything coated in mild cheddar, impossible to get half the ingredients you want at any given moment, not nearly enough garlic in anything.

Also people saying "brusketta."

Everything my family members brought to our reunion was SOOO BLAAAAND. The guac had no onion, scallion, lime, garlic, or heat. The potato salad had no discernible salt or pepper (I had to under-season so people would eat it). After like three days there I have to just crunch down on a clove of garlic to remember that I'm alive.

try going to cuba :(

apples and apple-based foods

wait i thought 'brusketta' was how it was supposed to be?

I think its "broosschetta"

softer s sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqp_0B3zq1E

endorse (privately)

fresh organic vegetables and fresh baguettes

good canned italian tomatoes (san marzano) and imported pasta

having different types of olive and cooking oil, ditto vinegars (no you cannot substitute red for rice) and peppers (i realize my five types of salt is excessive)

non-junky trail mix and granola (ie just walnuts, almonds, berries)

low sodium stock

oat cereal vs flakes

do not endorse, act out privilege and get snobby about
'
fucking w/ asian food w/o tools, w/o ingredients and w/o skills

homemade mexican that costs 4x as much as the taco shop that uses non-certified organic from mexico

do not endorse:

bread that is good for longer than two weeks, pastry that is more than 12 hours old

orange juice with pulp

pseudy pizza with random things on it ≠ haut cuisine

they sell a cold dough at trader joe's that you can cook in a weber grill

enables you to do these cucina italiana things which are close to that interpretation of italian pizza

http://lacucinaitalianamagazine.com/article/le-mani-in-pizza

btw italian pizza kinda sux but different conversation

bruschetta is Italian so it should be a hard k sound but I always say "sh" because I feel a bit wanky if I don't? I dunno why, for years in the UK people pronounced "chorizo" like it was Italian and I didn't mind making a thing of pronouncing that slightly less wrongly

fish and chips: requires incredibly greasy, heavy batter, and ketchup and not tartar sauce and a damn slice of lemon

whoa now hold on there

ketchup on fish n chips?

Yeah that's some crazy talk - malt vinegar only!

Oh god sorry, brusketta is the right way, I meant the opposite. Got caught up in that rant I was having. Sorry for the confusion.

do not really endorse imported pasta, i make it sometimes but in the end dry pasta is dry pasta.

Oh my god I am so snobby about potato gratin. A perfect food to get snobby about

I'm not snobby about roasting a chicken but I've roasted so many and feel a 10-minute salt water pre-boil is a necessary step.

really??

i will cover it in kosher salt and let it sit, wrapped up, for 24-48 hrs

i dont think i've ever heard of that pre-boil technique

is that sort of like a quick brine or what

who's being snobby now

who's snobbing who?
take another look now, baby
who's snobbing who?

Snobby about beer, olive oil to an extent, see no need in using horrible supermarket sea salt as opposed to maldon, when a box of maldon still lasts me a year. Always try to have good soy and fish sauce.

I am snobby about meat and fish but don't have a non-supermarket butcher or fishmonger that is handy for me.

if it's dinner time, i basically have to have perrier. even if i'm eating like top ramen slathered hot sauce, i still want perrier on ice.

also i'm a pickle snob.

I just finished lunch -- two tomato sandwiches -- and thought snobby thoughts as the juice ran down to my wrists.