Monthly Archives: March 2016

Food First: Barbecue Seitan Skewers

So a few weeks back, I took my friend out to Boerum Hill to eat at a Pan-Asian vegan cafe since she was vegan though I had never tried any vegan alternatives to the foods I usually eat. So coming into the restaurant, I looked at the menu and decided to go for anything that had an ingredient or description that was unfamiliar and the word Seitan immediately caught my attention especially with the BBQ letters in front of the word.12919340_1142340942465403_126593628_o

After doing research after ordering, I learned that seitan is supposedly Japanese for wheat gluten/wheat meat so it didn’t really excite me as much as I thought it would since it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. However since it was the protein coming from wheat, I wanted to see how it was compared to the regular proteins I consumed. Truthfully, it wasn’t that far off from expectations. While it had a very nice and soft texture and it had spices from the peppers on the skewers, it was a little lacking in flavor. It felt as if the richness and the juicyness had been ripped from my palate. It literally was as advertised, the very bland flavor of wheat but rewarding health benefits nonetheless which is important to me. The barbecue sauce was good though which puts its taste up a bit with the tangy and sweetness but the actual seitan didn’t do it for me. However, as long as it isn’t pungent like durian, I could definitely eat this but with a sauce preferably.

pork sisig

Sisig in in Filipino  means chopped up meat  that can be sauteed or fried in vinegar  soy sauce onions,  lemon juice, jalapeños and seasoned with salt, pepper, and other spices. The first time i ever hear of it or seen it was on a Filipino food truck called SIsig City where i also ate at their resturant. The Pork sisig came with a fried egg on top.  The dish was full of flavor  crunchy from the fried pok belly called lechon tangy from the vinegar, rich from the egg yolk, bright  and citrus from the lemon juice called calamansi , kick of spice from the jalapeno , a little salty from the soy sauce and sweet from the sauteed onions and peppers.

 

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Herring in Cream sauce w/ Onions

It was my first time ever trying such a combination Herring in sour cream sauce mixed with onions provided an interesting marinate to the salty herring. At first glance you only feel a sort of repulsion as you see the gray meat swimming inside the white sauce an a smell that can be picked up several feet away. After first learning this peculiar dishes Jewish background history i decided to man up and have a taste. To my surprise the initial taste was a nice chewy creamy texture, asweel as somewhat sweet and plenty of sour, to me it tasted just like a tuna dip. Although the first bites were on the good side, i have to admit that the after taste of this dish packs quite a punch. So i dont recommend going on a meeting or having a long conversation. but a quick wash of the mouth will do the trick.

Mangostino

mangostinoDuring my last trip to Colombia, I came across many fruits and vegetables that I had not seen before. One of them was this exotic fruit called Mangosteen, which I was fortunate to try. This fruit grows mainly in Southeast Asia and Southwest India, but apparently it grows in Colombia too. The flavor of the fragrant white flesh that surrounds the seeds of the Mangosteen is unique and very difficult to describe. This fruit is sweet but it has a hint of tanginess. Some people say mangosteens taste like a combination of strawberries and kiwis, but I just could not really compare it to any other fruit. All I know is that their taste is addictive and that you will find it difficult to eat just one once you try it.

Mango Tamarind Raspado

raspada

Ever on the lookout for “weird” food I came upon a shop in Indio, California specializing in raspados.  Menu all in Spanish.  No accommodation for gringos whatsoever.  So I had to order one, right?  Raspados, it turns out are nothing more than shaved ice with some sort of syrup on it and, in many cases, are not especially exotic, say a strawberry one topped with strawberries.  But then there are the ones that are muy mexicanos, such as the one I ordered.  Topped with mango, salty tamarind candy and chili it was  sweet, salty from the tamarind candy, and a little spicy from the chili powder.  The flavors careening all over the place: a bite of ice, a chewy salty morsel of the candy, the refreshing mango and the earthy chili.  Would I order it again?  Probably not, the flavor profile just doesn’t do it for me.  But I’m glad I tried it!

Di Palo

Di Palo’s has been over for many year now, and yet it is still attracting tons of tourists. Not only is this store located at Little Italy; also, it is filled with traditional products, and it is known for their authentic Italian groceries. Moreover, it is really close to my home, and usually I do not go there to shop for my Italian dish.

Pricing wise it may be more reasonable to tourists that is only visiting once or twice, but overall I think it is a little bit too much compare to other local Italian places that sell those products also. On the other hand, the history that was explain by one of the owner was very informative, and we all might feel that we are there while the man was telling his story. However, I did not felt I was welcome into the place at all, and it is more like you can help yourself. The smell and aroma was really intriguing similar to being in Italy.

We were not offered to get to taste, and that was very disappointing. Will I go back? …No, not a chance.

 

Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream

Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream is located at 2 Rivington Street at L.E.S (Lower East Side). It is a new American ice cream parlor and their focus is serving texture-driven small batches of ice cream that has a renewed attention to flavor and palate. The owner and founder of this ice cream parlor is Nicholas Morgenstern.

The three flavors that we tried during our culinary tourism tour was durian banana, salted chocolate, and black current. My favorite was the durian. Growing up, I ate durian so I am used to the taste and the smell. When you take a bite of the durian banana, you first taste the durian because it was very overwhelming and the after taste was banana. After a while of eating the durian banana, I didn’t taste the banana anymore and all I tasted was durian. The ice cream was soft and creamy. Next flavor was salted chocolate. I don’t like chocolate ice cream and to try it salted did not help me like it one bit. It was weird and it did not taste like chocolate. I liked the black current second; because once you take a bit of it, it was sour. I couldn’t taste the flavor really, because all I tasted was a sourness.

I’ve never been to Morgenstern’s and I’m glad we got to experience this place during our tour. I hope to return when I am around the LES area and try more of their “exotic” flavors.

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Banana Durian Ice Cream

I’ve never experienced durian before.  I’ve only heard the horror stories of its description.  And the horror stories that people actually enjoy it.  What I gathered about it from others’ experiences is that it smells like rotting meat and doesn’t taste much better that that.  I was skeptical; how could a fruit taste like rotting meat?  Why would it?  Why would people continue to incorporate it into their menu if it was such a disgusting fruit?  This internal debate led me to try the ice cream.  Oh my god.  They were right.  They were all right.  I thought it couldn’t be that bad because the ice cream had banana in it.  I trusted the good people at Morgenstern’s to not assault my tastebuds (at least not in a negative way.)  It was the worst thing I ever tasted.  The flavor was strong and pungent; any chance the banana had at coming through was masked by the durian.  It tasted off.  Like really off.  Like the milk used in the ice cream was left in the sun for a few days before it was churned.  Never again.  I tried something new; but at what cost?

Chelsea Market: Seed + Mill

During our tour around in Chelsea Market, Erik and I came across an interesting shop called “Seed + Mill.” Behind the glass were chunks of cake made out of grinded sesame seed called “Tahini.” Something I was not familiar with.

Tahini is a nutty, creamy paste made out of sesame seeds. It has a texture of powdery peanut butter. Tahini is a pastry paste used in the Middle Eastern. Countries in the Middle Eastern use this ingredient to prepare hummus served with pita bread. Behind the glass window were a couple of different flavored Tahini cakes. I tried a sample of cranberry tahini, pistachio but my favorite was the sea salt chocolate. The texture and taste of the Tahini, kind of reminded of a candy we have back in Mexico called Mazapan. The Mazapan is a soft powdery candy made out of almond paste and sugar but there is only one flavor to it. Next time, I return to Chelsea Market, I am bring back with me a pound of sea salt chocolate tahini.

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Chelsea Market Tour

One place that caught me and Christley attention was the Manhattan Fruit Exchange. It is packed with tons of incredible ingredients that you might not find and regular supermarket. These items that we find were phenomenal crazy!

Like cardone, which is also called the artichoke thistle, and who know it is part of artichoke family?! Ugly Fruit? Look more like rotten that no one will want to buy for $2! Kiwano Melon which is cross between cucumber, zucchini, and kiwifruit, in addition, it tastes more like a banana after it is ripen. Buddahand is actually a distinct fruit in the citron family. Its skin can be use for candy in dessert. Passion fruit I use it to make bubble tea majority of the time because of the awesome smell it gives out, but the actual fruit itself is cute-small yet UGLY! Pepino melon in Spanish mean sweet cucumber, but in a eggplant family. Yes, WOW!

Great experience throughout the Chelsea Market tour!

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