Food Thread – 9/15/2024

Oysters and Salmon

Our normal host for this thread, Mr. CBD, is taking the day off from writing about food, presumably because he is currently researching the subject. There is a good chance that his research involves oysters, which he mentions in most every one of his Food Threads.

I share his gustatory passion for oysters. On a recent trip to Florida, I had baked oysters as an appetizer at one dinner, then I followed it with fried oysters as my entrée. When the plates were being cleared, my wife jokingly asked the waiter if the restaurant had any desserts that featured oysters. He said they could improvise if needed.

So where are the desserts or sweet & savory dishes involving oysters? How about an oyster sundae?

Anyhow, it seems inconsistent that I love oysters served any style (including raw), and I also love crustaceans, but as for finfish, I can take it or leave it. If fish is blackened, fried, smoked, or covered in a sauce, I generally like it, but if it’s just oven baked, I’d rather pass.

My wife, however, loves salmon. One thing she does that makes it more palatable to me is a simple, homemade dill sauce. Her quick recipe is equal parts mayonnaise and sour cream mixed with dill seasoning to taste. (She uses Spice Hunter Deliciously Dill.) The dill sauce is then slapped on a piece of salmon that was cooked in the toaster over. It’s quick, easy, and very good.

Artisanal Bologna

As homogenized as this country is, it’s still fun to seek out local food specialties. One of the unexpected treats that I found when moving to East Tennessee is artisanal bologna. And it’s good!

There are numerous trendy and semi-upscale restaurants hereabouts where homemade bologna is featured as a protein, and where “artisanal bologna” sandwiches are on the menu alongside gourmet sandwiches and burgers.

Pit smoked bologna is also a thing here.

Any artisanal bologna fans out there?

Do any of you still pan-fry bologna like in the Depression-era, and serve it as the featured meat in a meal?

Nostalgia for Defunct Food Products

What defunct foods from your younger days do you find yourself nostalgic for?

As we all know, Kaboom cereal pretty much defined Ace’s childhood. Are any of you nostalgic for Kaboom or other discontinued cereals?

I felt very space age eating Breakfast Squares at the bus stop if I slept too late to have a bowl of cereal. (Selling shelf-stable brownies as a breakfast item was a brilliant marketing move by General Mills.)

What other discontinued foods do you recall fondly, or otherwise?

Cooking for a Crowd on Short Notice

You find out on short notice from your spouse / child / in-laws / etc that a crowd is descending on your house, and you’re going to have to feed a dozen or so people. What can you prepare on short notice, with little effort, that will feed the crowd, and have them praising the meal?

An option that I am usually provisioned for is a pot of red beans and rice with smoked sausage. There are usually several cans of Louisiana-style, creole red beans in my cupboard at any given time, and I likewise have several packages of Texas-style smoked sausage in the freezer.

I can grill up the sausage in a heartbeat, cut it up, and throw it on the stove top with the red beans. In a separate pot I can boil up some rice, and I might even make some homemade garlic toast.

Not a bad meal in less than an hour to feed the crowd.

What is your quick, feed-the-mob meal?

Mushroom Chive Toast

Look at this tasty treat that my wife whipped together, literally, for a recent party.

It’s chopped, sauteed, baby bella mushrooms mixed with cream cheese, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, a dash of tabasco, spread on sliced French bread, sprinkled with chives, and baked.

It was a crowd pleaser, and since it used a baguette, I consider it French cooking.

Are Cupcakes the Most Consistently Disappointing Treat

I’m guessing there must have been a good cupcake somewhere in my life, or else I wouldn’t have bought so many over the years, only to be consistently disappointed.

I’m clearly a slow-learner, since it took me a long time to understand that most cupcakes are just flavorless, dry pieces of edible sponge, topped by frosting, which is sometimes then decorated with candy confections. I wouldn’t eat a serving of just frosting and candy, but that seems to be where the action is in a cupcake.

To be fair, there are also a lot bad full-size cakes that are similar, but there are also great cakes that are moist and full of flavor even without the frosting.

Any cupcake fans want to set me straight?

What other foods and treats always look good, but so often end up being disappointing?

Throckmorton’s First Law of Live Music: If There’s an Upright Bass in the Band, It’s Probably Going to be Good

Let’s swing on out of here with an old Bob Wills tune about eating.

Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel are joined by four original Texas Playboys in performing “Roly Poly.”

Roly Poly
Eatin' corn and taters
Hungry every minute of the day
Roly Poly
Gnawin' on a biscuit
As long as he can chew it it's okay
He can eat an apple pie
And never even bat an eye
He likes anything from soup to hay
Roly Poly
Daddy's little fatty
I bet he's gonna be a man someday

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 04:00 PM

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