What food do you miss that is hard to get? I always ask for fettucini alfredo

[applegrove]

(the real kind) when at an italian restaurant. Today I lucked out and they had it off menu. Usually you can't get it. Probably some health kick restaurants are on since butter is out these days.

[Chan790]

1. It's not just the health thing...

it's a lot like the pesto thing. Remember when everything on your trendy Italian menu had pesto...it got gaudy and tacky, so chefs moved on to the new fads and they'd just about refuse to serve pesto.

Alfredo went a lot the same way...my brothers are both restauranteurs and my mother was a chef for years...they kind of roll their eyes at the request, mostly because people would make disgusting requests.

"Hey can I get alfredo sauce on my stuffed shells? Also the grated Ricotta Salada? And I noticed they're vegetable-stuffed...can I get just cheese?"

I felt my cholesterol spike just typing that quote.

[applegrove]

2. LOL! Must be great to have a high culinary IQ. Me, not so much..which is why I eat out so much.

[Denninmi]

3. I got hooked on a chicken and eggplant dish at the local Chinese takeout.

It's very simple, just chicken breast, chunks of Asian type eggplant (the long, thin ones), and onion in a brown sauce that is basically just broth, soy or black bean paste, garlic, ginger, and possibly a little tiny bit of Hoisin sauce.

The last 3 times I tried to order it, they didn't have it. Told me its still on the menu, but they never seem to have eggplant on hand. Probably cut back on the ordering due to the economy, and dropped some of the less frequently requested items.

Oh well, I should just make it at home, its simple but SO good.

[applegrove]

6. I love hoisin sauce. Especially on mu shu pork. But I'll ask my local chinese restaurant

if they have your eggplant dish. Sounds delish.

[JuniperLea]

4. Horniman's Tea...

It's just not the same anymore.

[applegrove]

5. LOL!

[JuniperLea]

21. That was my reaction the first time...

My great grandmother offered me a cup!

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. I guess you could say fettucini alfreado since I live in the atlanta area and we don't have

too many italian restaurants here.
In fact I really don't know of any except for the strip mall pizza type places.

[Chan790]

11. Ha! Really?

If you know where I can get a business loan to open one, I'll have the siblings on a bus tomorrow. They're old pros in their 20s...my mom made us work summer breaks from age-11 on.

[RebelOne]

25. You have to be kidding. I live in the Atlanta area

and there are hundreds of Italian restaurants that are not strip mall types. We have many of them up here in Woodstock.

[GoCubsGo]

8. Kiszka

a.k.a. Polish blood sausage. Hell. Can't get ANY decent Polish food in these parts.

[Chan790]

12. I could mail you one.

The kosher butcher near my house does all sorts of weird kosher eastern-European meat stuff like that...you'd probably do best to look at your local kosher butcher. Yeah, even in SC I'm sure you have a local (U) or (K) meat man.

[6000eliot]

19. Who stole the kiszka?

[Odin2005]

9. Lipton sparkling green tea.

I love that stuff, but they seem to have stopped making it! :grr:

[dimbear]

10. Real root beer.

It's carcinogenic or something weird like that. So good, cold as winter.

[Major Nikon]

35. You can find root beer extract that is close to the original recipe

Check your local homebrew stores. A good one should have root beer extracts. Some of these have sassafras root as an ingredient with safrole removed (which is the carcinogen).

Once you have the extract, making homemade root beer is quite easy. Sugar, extract, filtered water, yeast. Mix in a clean 2 liter plastic bottle and leave out on the counter for a couple of days.

[snagglepuss]

37. I absolutely can't believe that there is such a thing as root "beer" as opposed to

root beer soda. I am really shocked. Does it taste like A&W root beer?


Welcome to DU :hi:

[Major Nikon]

39. It depends on what extract you use

If you use an extract like Zatarain's or McCormick's, you'll get something pretty close to commercial root beers like A&W, but these extracts have a lot of artificial flavors(as do most commercial root beers). I've had mixed results with products from home brew stores with wide variances in flavors. A couple of days ago I ordered all three extracts from this company, so I'll be trying them out.
http://homemadesodacompany.com/http/homemadesodacompany.com/rootbeerandsodainstructions.aspx

I like to ferment in the bottle, which produces more traditional results. You can also make root beer syrup and carbonate with a seltzer bottle or club soda, but this ups your costs a bit. You can also make birch beer, ginger beer, and sarsparilla more or less the same way. To make ginger beer simply grind up peeled ginger root(about 1/2 the size of your thumb) and heat with water and sugar on the stove until the sugar dissolves, then allow to steep for an hour or so. Filter with cheese cloth, allow to cool, and then ferment in a plastic 2 liter bottle. Makes the best ginger beer (ginger ale) you've ever had.

My recipe is pretty simple. 5 oz of sugar, a little less than 2 liters of filtered water, root beer extract (amount depends on brand. with Zatarain's or McCormick's I use a little less than 2 Tbs), and 1/8 tsp baking yeast (or ale yeast from the homebrew store). Put all ingredients in a 2 liter bottle, give it a little shake, and put on the counter for 2 days. When the bottle gets as hard as a commercial 2 liter pop bottle, it's done. Store in the refrigerator to slow down the fermentation. Don't store too long or you'll have a bottle grenade which makes one helluva mess and is at least as loud as the name implies. If you use more than 5 oz of sugar, you may want to heat the water and sugar on the stove to dissolve or it may not all dissolve in the bottle. Just make sure you cool it down to room temp before you ferment.

[dimbear]

41. Wow. That is old school.....

Keep us posted. :)

[dimbear]

38. We used to make that when we were kids, let's see, about a hundred years ago.

What I remember most vividly about that was the damn bottles exploding. Exploding pretty violently.

Fun times.

[Major Nikon]

40. I had the same experience

My dad was a home brewer and made root beer and other traditional soft drinks for us kids. Back before you could get plastic bottles, we used glass bottles with a capper, and occassionally you did get a bottle grenade.

[MiddleFingerMom]

43. There's a GREAT Three Stooges episode where they're making home-brewed beer...

.
.
.
... and all their bottles start asploding.
.
.
.
Hilarious and heart-breakingly SAD at the same time. They're making
Panther Pilsner beer (I think a reference to "Panther Piss").
.
.
.

[midnight armadillo]

13. I miss anything with gluten in it.

:cry: availability be damned.

[rrneck]

14. country ham. *snif* nt

[applegrove]

15. My dad used to buy ham that was smoked the old fashioned way. Really good.

[AsahinaKimi]

16. I can buy anything in San Francisco

well except ..maybe FUGU (Japanese puffer fish)

Its illegal here

[hobbit709]

20. i don't eat cut bait, especially not neurotoxin laden cut bait.

My attitude is that if it comes out of the water it has to be pasteurized.

[AsahinaKimi]

23. hmmm..while I admit I would NEVER try Fugu...

I love Sashimi and have been eating since I was old enough to hold a pair of chopsticks. Still alive, kicking and breathing. Oh and, the flavor of fish, soy sauce and that wonderful wasabi zing is amazing! Incidentally I don't eat beef, pork or lamb. The main reason is I am allergic to it, and it would probably kill me.

[Denninmi]

31. Believe it or not, we have great sushi places in metro Detroit.

Back in the good old days (80's, 90's) of the auto industry, there were a lot of Japanese execs and employees of various auto industry related companies here, and they created the demand for good, authentic sushi and other Japanese dishes.

Love sushi.

[AsahinaKimi]

34. Glad you enjoy it!

We have so many kinds of Asian Restaurants here, I never get bored. I just had Nasi Lemak the other day. Malaysian Dish with Coconut milk mixed into Rice, then fried. Great with pineapple pieces, and veggies.

[oneshooter]

17. Rocky Mountain Oysters. Hard to find , delicious when prepared right. n/t

[EOTE]

26. I haven't had the balls to try them as of yet.

I'm guessing I would if they were offered to me now. I've heard they're fantastic.

[oneshooter]

27. Skinned and sliced about 3/8"thich, battered and fried. Yum!

The secret is to get the young calf ones. Those from a full grown bull are to rank.

Serve with a shrimp cocktail sauce and enjoy.

[Javaman]

18. A very particular type of roll that is only made in the NYC area.

it's calls a Miami roll.

If you know what this is, you will know why I miss it.

[blogslut]

22. Fresh Sugarcane

When I was little we would walk to the grocery store and piece of it for ten cents. There's just nothing as wonderful as the flavor of raw Sugarcane.

[oneshooter]

28. Cane sugar in it's purest form!! n/t

[meegbear]

24. I was in NYC last weekend and ate at Patsy's ...

an Italian restaurant made famous cuz Sinatra used to eat there all the time. I had their Fettucini Alfredo as my main course.

WOW! The best I ever had. Period.

[applegrove]

30. Sounds great.

[Rambis]

29. Scotch eggs

[raccoon]

32. Caramel cake. nt

[KG]

33. Four fried chickens and a Coke. And some dry white toast.

:P

[Major Nikon]

36. Real grits

Most restaurants that serve them use hominy grits and make them so runny you can suck them through a straw.

Nothing like home made, slow cooked grits served with a bit of butter, except next day grits chilled in the ice box, sliced, and fried till crispy brown.

[WildEyedLiberal]

42. Don't kill me, folks... but faggots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_%28food%29

They're British - a meatball/meatloaf-ish dish made of offal. They're better than haggis and I miss them because they are impossible to find in the US.

[Joe Fields]

44. Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar cheese.