DogHill Kitchen from Food Buzz  put this blog post up yesterday, so I thought about doing it too! This is a list of a hundred foods every omnivore should try and it comes from Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste.

In my 21 years in the restaurant biz I have come across quite a few of the items on this list, but I am amazed at the number that I have not set my lips onto, or about 32 of them to be exact. Just to be accurate about some of those on the list I was unsure about I ran a few Google searches to confirm that I have or have not consumed them, such as Nettle Tea and Pho. I have linked a few of the recipes and food items to wiki or other sites for further reference.

It turns out that after a few searches I was determined to find out if I had actually tasted more of them than originally thought. Pho for example I was not sure about, but it turns out that I have had this Vietnamese rice-noodle soup a few times many years ago in New Orleans Oriental restaurants. Carp is another one I was not sure about, and after some quick researches the most notable carps are goldfish and koi, but I have not eaten any of them either! Aloo gobi was another one I could not remember, and it is a combination of potatoes and cauliflower with a dry curry spice, it is a Punjabi preparation, don’t remember having ever eaten it either.

A few other curiosities on this list are Epoisses, from a particular region in France and is a pungent unpasteurized cows-milk cheese, nope, never had that one, I’ve had Limburger, but that is from Germany. Steamed pork buns, nope. Bagna cauda sounds really good, it is an Italian dip made with garlic, anchovies, olive oil, butter, red wine, and sometimes cream and is eaten by dipping in raw vegetables, but nada, never had that either. What about Salted lassi? A North Indian drink from the Punjab region made with yogurt sweetened with honey, salt, and spices and blended until frothy, never had it! Fugu, aka Puffer Fish, no! Prickly pear, aka nopales,  or flat cactus spines, turns out I have eaten these a few times. Umeboshi is dried or pickled fruits and popular in Japan for breakfast or lunch snacks, never had that one either. Paneer is a Persian cheese found in many Eastern Indian cuisine preparations and I have not tasted that one either. Poutine is a French dish similar to cheese fries, but uses fresh cheese curds and brown gravy and other ingredients in variations. I have had cheese fries but I’ve never had this exact preparation! Kaolin, not sure what this is all about,  but my searches turn up a lot of clay and mineral references, so no, never cooked with or eaten this one either. Currywurst sounds great, but never had it either. Louche absinthe, does Pernod count? If so then this one is a yes!  Gjetost another cheese and looks interesting, but nope! Baijiu a Chinese alcoholic beverage, no, but I would like to taste it however. Lapsang souchong  is a Chinese black tea I may have tried but cannot recall. Tom yum turns out is one of those big pots of broth soup that is shared at the table and I have had this at the Vietnamese restaurant in New Orleans a few years ago. Pocky is a popular Japanese snack food, cannot remember ever having that either. Rose harissa are rose petals, and I never remember ever had these in any form.

If you’d like to play along, here are the rules:
1. Copy the list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: post a comment on Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

The Omnivore’s Hundred List

Those I’ve eaten are in bold.
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (I’ve had alligator, does that count?)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (Lucky Dog)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut 
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette 
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini 
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong 
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Sunday we found ourselves with two bunches of over-ripe bananas and decided the best thing would be to make some banana bread. One bunch of the regular yellow variety and the other a bunch of the sweeter baby Costa Rica variety. Well, my all time favorite banana bread is a Coconut Banana Bread  that I have been making for 25 + years that I found in Bernard Clayton’s Complete Book of Breads cookbook that my mom bought in the 1970’s and gave to me many years ago. A new 30th Anniversary Edition is now available and in print, but I still like my old copy. Monique took a recipe for Banana Bread from the Healthy Eating Cookbook, but also added a cup of chocolate chips to hers.

On with the banana bread battle. So the two of us started with making our two separate banana breads, mine the Coconut Banana Bread and hers the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Both were preped up and ready to go into the oven at the same time at 350 degrees F for an hour. The coconut one came out first at the hour mark, but the chocolate one stayed in for another 15 minutes or so as it was too wet. We allowed them to cool on the bread rack for about 30 minutes and then sliced them and quickly enjoyed a delightful afternoon tea with the sweet tea breads.

And the winner is… it’s a tie! We cannot eat one piece of banana bread without the other, each has it’s own great qualities and flavor profile. The toasted coconut flakes always pair well with the banana bread, and the softened chocolate chips in the other one melt well with the banana bread too!

On occasion we have no idea what we are going to have for dinner and it comes down to whatever we happen to have on hand either in the pantry, refrigerator or freezer, mostly in all three. We happened to have some tilapia in the freezer so we decided to prepare that in some fashion for dinner last night. When I got home from work I set the filets into some thawing water and proceeded to cobble together the Tuscan Italian inspired dish.  Just something I threw together with available ingredients, and quickly set up this dish from prep to dinner table in under 45 minutes.

Toscana di Tilapia

Ingredients

Procedure Steps

This sage plant is into it’s third growing season and has survived through two winters here in the Piedmont Region of North Carolina. We bought this plant at the Wake Forest Herb Fest in the spring of 2006 and it has grown bigger and better with each passing year. It never turns brown or seems to fade at all, growing year round, it really is a hearty plant. One of the fond memories of travels in the southwest states of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and western Texas is the abundance of sage brush. It seems so proflic and seems to thrive in dry climates as well. This makes for a perfect plant in our yard as we are still under a moderate drought condition for our neck of the woods.

So it’s not surprising to find out that common sage (Salvia officinalis) is a small perennial evergreen shrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers, and is native to the Mediterranean region. Some people use sage for it’s essential oil, the word sage itself is derived from the Latin word “salvia”,which means “to heal”. Today there is a debate as to the use of sage for medicinal purposes, but it has been known for uses as an antifungal, astringent, antispasmodic, estrogenic, hypoglycemic, and tonic.¹ Some folks have been known to dry the leaves, roll them up and smoke them, especially in the southwest regions where it is plentiful in the wild. Bees are also attracted to the sage flowers and they are always a welcome sight in any garden.

 Culinary Uses ~ How many of you have ever made a sage stuffing? I bet many a Thanksgiving Dinner has included it with the roasted turkey meal and all the trimmings. How about Sage Derby Cheese?  I love this cheese, it has a great sage undertone and I have stuffed poached pears with this cheese, it really goes well with fruit as a dessert. Sage also pairs well with pork such as with a roasted pork loin. Another recipe that was famous in my kitchens is Roasted Pork Loin with Cornbread Apple Stuffing, and I don’t have to tell you that this stuffing uses a lot of sage, oh, and some apple brandy too! Sage can also be found in many a sausage recipe, the Germans and English are famous for adding it to their force-meat.

Here are a few comments from Dave’s Garden web site on sage:

On Oct 15, 2007, 1botanist from Scranton, PA wrote:

Sage is easily propagated during the mid-summer. I now have many new shoots that are taking great. Sage is also wonderful in the kitchen, especially stuffing. I love sage so much, I named my dog after it.

On Mar 25, 2007, WUVIE from Hulbert, OK
(Zone 7a) wrote:

Sage is always welcome in my garden. I was a bit worried about it over winter, as we had some pretty severe ice storms. Thankfully, it not only made it through the rough weather, but is now bounding back, bursting with new foliage. I’ll be planting more sage this year. What a pleasant plant!

¹Applied Health: http://www.appliedhealth.com/nutri/page8453.php