Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Here is a pic I found of a street vendor in Ecuador serving up roasted Cuy (guinea pig). It's the national dish -- yum yum. Like lorax says, see their little roasted grinning mouths. Shrimp on the barbie have only one handle - the tail. The Cuy has 5 - four feets and a tail.

Please note the 3 pups depicted under the Cuy are not for consumption!!!

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Yeah, that's the stuff. Looks like the Cuy stands in Latacunga to me.... It's always better when they have the stick still in them, because then your hands don't get all greezy.

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Now you guys are going over edge! :) !!!!
In all fairness, I guess I'd have too be OK with it though, I ate rodents too. When on timber farm in Virginia as kid, my family killed and ate squirrels, me included. :) Guinea pigs? i had a pet guinea pig. woaaaaahhh! :) It is nice to see what other cultures will eat, and what Americans will make a pet out of, too funny! :)
Gino

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

I JUST ate a big ol' plate of frog legs. No big deal, I know, but thought I would share.

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

I LOVE frog legs - didn't have them in years. I heard bad things about them & haven't seen them in markets here.
What's up w/ frog legs?

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Parasites in its guts! This is main reason why people refrain from eating it. :ha:
The legs are ok if you cook them well, especially with a dash of brandy. Yum...

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Pete,

Did you gig those frogs yourself? I can get them here but only frozen. And they are great - esp buffalo style - ribbit!!!

Dan

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Gino, go to page 1 and read all the way.... Maybe you will change your attitude towards food by then! :ha::ha::ha:

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

I just had to share this . . . . . Since I'm not working, I just got up at 11AM, then I checked my mail and nana messages. Dang, wouldn't you know it, my wife just came back from shopping, stayed around for a while, then back out again, but interrupted me to tell me that my breakfast was ready just before she went out the door. I say dang, because how dare she interrupt me in the middle of my banana sessions.

Anyway, I went to the table and saw what she made me: Grilled Rib-Eye steak - medium rare; two eggs - basted medium; garlic fried rice; 2 Philippine mangoes; teremisu cake; and fresh ground, brewed Kona coffee. So, I guess I will forgive her.

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Does she make house calls?

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It's good t' be the king.

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She made you a churrasco? You lucky dog!

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Weird, isn't it? That's why I thought that I'd share . . . . . in this forum, even.

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Yes, but only at my house. She's real finicky.

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Chong,

Describe the garlic fried rice. I'm so sick of potatoes with steak. Sounds interesting.

Dan

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Gladly Dan,

Ingredients:
- Crushed(really hard) 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. Removal of husk is optional.

- 3/4 tablespoon cooking oil (bacon grease optional)

- 4 - 5 cups of leftover cooked rice from refrigerator. (Or newly cooked rice, but you will find out why it's better if it's cooled down. Though, after some practice and the right tools, you will be able to use newly cooked rice right out of the pot.)

- pinch of salt to taste

- Optional, 1 egg

Procedure:
- (Wash hands first!) With wet hands, crush the lumps of chilled rice to separate the grains. Wet hands as often as needed to keep the grains from sticking (family secret!). Do not pour water directly into the clumps of rice unless you know exactly how much to put in without making the rice too soggy.

- Place wok or dutch oven(Pre-spray with Pam, optional) on stove and set heat to low-medium. Add oil and spread oil in wok with rubber spatula, or by tilting the wok around until the oil covers most of the wok surface.

- Add garlic and turn often until light golden brown.

- Increase heat to medium to medium high. Add rice and salt, and stir/turn over quickly until oil has been distributed, more or less evenly. Reduce heat to medium and cover.

- Reduce heat further if the rice get too dark too quickly(burned). Stir/turn over often, or as soon as the cover gets hot (or sooner), until the rice is hot.

If one has the patience, e.g., like my wife, you can keep the heat at medium-high, but you have to keep turning the rice over every few seconds to prevent the rice at the bottom from getting burned.

OPTIONAL:
Just prior to removing from the stove, increase the heat to medium high, and crack an egg over the rice, then continue turning over the rice quickly and evenly to spread the egg around the rice. Remove from the heat as soon as the egg is no longer transparent.

- Serve hot.

Note: This is probably why you may not see very many Philippine restaurants around. Although uncomplicated, the procedures are so lengthy and so much drama, even for a simple fried rice recipe. Imagine what it's like for our version of the Spanish Paella, or the Leche Flan. Then there's one of my favorite cakes, no flour in this one, Gateau Sans Rival. The name says it all. I'm so glad I taught my wife to cook!

I thought this thread was for Weird Food?

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

To the uninitiated, Churrasco is a weird food, and to many North Americans, the idea that it's a breakfast meal, as opposed to a lunch or dinner, is definitely weird.

Chong, I think you're bang on for the reason for not so many Filipino restaurants, and I'd add to that that it's the reason you don't see many Bolivarian Andean (ie Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) restaurants either. People here are used to good food served slowly, but everywhere else it's go go go! I personally think it's better to linger over dinner, but then again, I'm weird when I'm in NorAm.

If you'd like, Dan, here's the Ecuadorean take on Garlic Fried Rice, called Chaulafan Al Ajo. Watching it being done properly is like good theatre.

- Crushed (hard) 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic, husk removed,
- a dash of achiote-flavoured oil
- as much leftover rice as you have in the fridge (and here it's always the leftovers)
- a pinch of salt
- green peas, about a handful
- an egg (optional, but usual)
- any of the bits of chugchucarra or fritada you might have laying around.

Crumble the rice with clean wet hands into separate grains. Toss in the peas and the bits of pork.

Heat the copper bowl (or wok) to medium with the achiote oil and until the oil crackles when you flick water in, then throw in the garlic and sautee until it's golden-brown.

Now, increase the heat, throw in the rice mix and salt, and toss it until it's evenly coated (with the achiote oil, this is easy because it stains the grains a red-brown colour). Keep tossing until all the grains have a uniform colour, then return the pan to the flame, reduce the heat back to medium, swirling (but not tossing), until everything is hissing and spitting. If it gets crispy at the bottom too fast, reduce the heat and add a bit more oil. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

The egg option is done in the same way as Chong describes, except that since this whole exercise is done without utensils in Ecuador, you throw the egg in and then toss the rice to coat it. This is why a large copper bowl is used - the two big handles make it easy to flip the contents about.

----

Chong - is the Leche Flan something to the effect of layers of cream and gelatine with a bit of cakey stuff? If it is, then it's the same thing that we call Tres Leches here. Muy yummy!

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Beth, you didn't explain Churrasco. So here what I know about it. There are Brazilian restaurants in the Orlando area and they specialize in them. Churrasco is simply broiled meat, more specifically beef steak, but can also be applied to other meats. So, that's why I didn't think it weird but for the breakfast part, if that. If my wife were to have served me the dried fish, e.g., sardines, filleted sheephead(fish), bacalao, jack mackerel, etc., which she usually does, those might be considered weird.

Leche Flan is made from Eggs, Milk, scrapings of lime rind, and Caramel. There is no flour, gelatine, nor starch. Picture Cream Brulée . . . .it's close. I hate it everytime my wife uses starch, thinking that I wouldn't notice it.

You didn't ask about the cake Sans Rival. I'm going to tell you what they're made of anyway - Eggs, butter, cashew nuts, and sugar. No flour, starch, or gelatine, either. Because of the butter, this cake needs refrigeration. Very rich!

But then, again, these two aren't weird, huh?

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

Ah, see, and here Churrasco is specifically a Rib-eye steak, grilled or fried, with two eggs broken over it sunny-runny, served on top of a mound of fried rice of some description, and with a side of either potatoes or patacones.

I knew about the Sans Rival, it's one of my favourites ever.

Re: Weird Food - Care to share?
 

There's a wonderful Brazilian place in the Wash., DC suburbs (or at least there was). They come around with huge pieces of various grilled meat on skewers, and slice your choice(s) on to your plate. Delicious, but you have to starve for a day to be able to eat all you can.

www.greenfieldchurrascaria. com