Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Foie gras -- I remember the first time I hate it I was so disappointed. To this day, I'd much rather have a good country pate than foie gras or anything made with it.

I've thought hard here; maybe I just got a crappy brand(tho I remember it being $$$) truffle oil. Meh.

I'm with Crystal on the truffle oil. I LOVE truffles, especially truffle cheese (http://www.murrayscheese.com/prodinfo.a ... 0024900000) but the truffle oil I've had is generally terrible. My personal vote for overrated is canned san marzano tomatoes. Blame Rao's cookbook, but I've tried every brand I've ever come across and they're not as good as Hunt's.

Hi,

The New York Times published an article in 2004 on truffles seeming to agree that they are all overrated. Link to"Just Purse Your Lips And Whisper 'Truffle' The article states this about truffle oil, "The most popular form is white truffle oil, even though it's also the most synthetic: all white truffle oil is made with artificial truffle flavor."

The article is less kind about black truffles.

San Marzano tomatoes are not the same as DOP San Marzano Tomatoes from Campania. These are very expensive and I have only seen one can in my kitchen, a gift. I really can't remember since they were used for a margherita pizza.

Tim

Truffle oil is really over the top. The truffle salt I have is real truffles in salt and that is very nice indeed. Fois gras somehow refuses to go beyond my soft palette. Guess it is scarred from all the Velveeta .

Mary

I actually like truffle oil. However, it's very volatile, and I think that most people may be using rancid truffle oil. I got a small bottle of black truffle oil from Far West Fungi and it was quite good on the things I've used it on. Kris, who hates mushrooms with a passion, will tolerate truffles.

That being said ... truffle-oil french fries at food carts in Portland? Yes, definitely over the top.

How did I forget: Black Beans? I can never figure out the attraction. IMO, they have no taste and a lot of noise. I had never heard of them until a coupla years ago, and I lose my mind when I see them used in Mexican food. Black beans are Cuban, I think, but definitely not Mexican. They must have a great ad agency/press agent.

KSS,

They do. I think their appearance in Mexican food is due to our fair city here; in San Francisco taquerias, the black beans are generally vegetarian while the pinto beans aren't, for customary and historical reasons. When the taqueria when nationwide, it took the black beans with it.

Plus, most Americans can't tell the difference between Mexican, Cuban, and Brazillian food anyway. It's like the Italian broccoli in all of our Chinese-American food, and the French artichokes in our Italian food. It's a melting pot!

FWIW, I like black beans. But then, I like most kinds of beans.

So, call me a traitor to my Italian background, but I feel this way about balsamic vinegar (commercial, not the real deal). Give me a kick-ass red wine, white wine or champagne vinegar any time.

Hi Lindsay,
I'm with you on the foie gras. Also pork belly. What's with the super fatty stuff? Don't get me wrong, I love pork, duck and even a bit of fat (butter, bacon, cream, crispy poultry skin come to mind). Call me a cretin, but those two things just don't float my boat. Foam on entrees just seems silly to me, and I feel about white chocolate being called chocolate the way Frank protects his Chili. Whew, what a relief to get that off my chest.