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?
HMGT 4989-Culinary Tourism-Spring 2016
Exploring New York's Exciting Food Landscape
The Little Italy in the L. E. S. is an interesting section of New York city. Its narrow passageways of streets and sidewalks, are richly filled with ethnicity and authenticity.
At Morgensterns Ice Cream, sampling the Durian Banana ice cream was an experience. I have never ever tasted anything like that in my life. I had to look this ingredient up, I needed a visual in order to understand what I was actually tasting. I found out that durian not only tastes weird, but looks weird and smells pretty pungent too. The taste of the durian was so overpowering that I could not finish the entire spoonful. So no, I was not a fan. I totally can empathize with Thomas. His statements regarding this ice cream, were my feelings too. He really nailed it. I thought the black currant sorbet was tasty, light and just sweet enough. The salted chocolate tasted common but it did have a nice creamy texture. I read Ariel’s comments about tasting the durian ice cream, and I found it enlightening. She stated that, she has always eaten durian it and liked it very much but was not crazy about the chocolate. Now, I am really beginning to understand what the term ‘Other’ means, when it comes to ethnic and authentic cuisine.
At Russ & Daughters, I sampled the Herring in cream sauce. It had an interesting taste, like a better version of a tuna fish salad. The herring had a fuller and fleshier taste than tuna, and the cream sauce tasted like a lighter version of mayonnaise flavored with sweet pickles and capers. Not bad, I would try it again with a cracker or on a salad.
I also tried an Italian dessert called Sfogliatella. It is a shell shaped, made with puff pastry that is filled with ricotta cheese. I am more familiar with eating French pastries, so when I tried the Sfogliatella I was surprised by how crisp the puff pastry was and how bland the ricotta cheese tasted. If plastic were sweet and you could eat it, it would probably taste like this. But I will say that I found the construction and composition of this dessert, quite impressive.
When we taste three different ice cream, I recognized other two easily, some how ordinary flavors. But when I taste the durian ice-cream, i thought it is was going to be a instant taste hit, that I will finally know about its so called “bad smell” which i didn’t get it. I had to take actually a couple of dip to try again, still it wasn’t smelling to me. Probably during process, it disappeared in the ice cream. I have also heard that there is not middle ground when it comes to durian fruit that ” love it or hate it” are the only options, but I am undecided. It was a new taste to me. I might like it after a couple of try. At this point it was a weak, mild taste that i couldn’t even find affiliation to any other taste that i know. I wasn’t able to form an opinion. Maybe I should taste the actual fruit itself, and can have an opinion how it really goes with ice-cream. When I tried ketchup first time at the age of 15, i didn’t like it either. But now i have always have a bottle in my fridge.
Russ & Daughters name was kind of familiar to me, but somehow I couldn’t remember how I know that name. Later on after class finished, when I was making my own tour around the neighborhood, and visited the area where i used to work, it suddenly hit me. Years ago, I used to stop by other Russ & Daughters on E. Houston St that they have this dried fruits and nuts jars on their window, to get some my bagel breakfast. I had other good bagels in that neighborhood, but what i used to like about this shop was, that there are alot of interesting food. On one side those dried fruits, nuts, other side all bagels and breads, jarred, cured fishes, fish eggs, spreads. It is heaven if you are a fish lover, but i can only tolerate smoked salmon when it comes to eating fish. It was good thing for me to take this tour, because I wasn’t aware history behind the Russ & Daughters.
When i grab one of those sfogliatelle – by the way i didn’t know its Italian name- i said ah mini lobster tails. I love any puff pastry deserts. Turnovers, lobster tails, elephant ears, but they have to be daily and should not be stored in the fridge. Either they get toughen or soften. I like the crunchy, crumbly texture from the shell and creamy fluffy texture from the center. This sfogliatelle were in the fridge sometimes, not only their shell even filling hardened. If they were right away from the oven, i am sure they would be delicious.
Over all, it was a fun tour. I enjoyed it very much.