Aubergines and Pickled Onions
There’s an interesting (sort of) meme starting up on Robert Scoble’s blog. Following his dip into U.S. Presidential politics with John Edwards, Scoble gets back on-topic with a thankfully short post, “I Hate Eggplant”.
A treat for Scoble: Eggplant Sandwiches.
Eggplant is an old British name for what we Brits now call aubergines — at least among the ratatouille set. I can tell Robert that naming them aubergines — for which I blame the French — does nothing to improve their flavour.
As for my pet culinary hate, it’s got to be pickled onions.
I suppose my real complaint is with the vinegar, a quite appalling liquid concoction, composed of an alcoholic beverage gone rankly sour. Onions I like, but soak them in vinegar and the result is a product worthy of the dark arts.
The weird thing, though, is that the only time I found aubergines / eggplant palatable was when they were fried and served with ever-so-thin slices of … pickled onions!
Is this a case of the mathematical law that two negatives make a positive?
So what foodstuff do you think should never have been invented by the Almighty, let alone the hand of Man?
Aubergines or eggplants have a third name as well – brinjales (from India, I think). The reason most people don’t like them is because they don’t know how to prepare them. They should be sliced and then salted and left for at least an hour, preferably overnight. This draws out the bitter juices which can then be scraped off and you are left with a vegetable that tastes absolutely wonderful, especially when used in Greek cuisine (those Greeks know how to cook – real, solid food that fills you yet with excellent taste highlights supplied by the judicious use of spices and herbs).
The (alleged) food that should be banned from this world is the cucumber. Not only do I dislike its pathetic attempt to taste like a watermelon, but it also detests me – giving me near-terminal indigestion. Anything that is so clearly not intended for human consumption should be left completely alone.
By Clive on January 19th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
And yes, you may edit out that “the” in the last sentence. When will I learn to check carefully when changing the wording of a comment?
By Clive on January 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Clive: Cucumber sandwiches are one of my favourites on a hot summer afternoon. So cooling. Not to mention they are the one dish I can make without burning something.
By John Evans on January 19th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Only one thing I refuse to eat. Not counting monkey brains and such.
Lima beans.
The combination of texture and flavor is, for lack of a better word, gross!
Whoever was the first person to pluck them, eat them, and go pluck some more must have been either desperately hungry or trying to get the taste of an alcoholic beverage gone rankly sour out of their mouth.
By prying1 on February 10th, 2007 at 6:44 am