Posted on 10/11/2010 8:00:54 PM PDT by Bean Counter
With the holiday entertainment season upon us, it's time to compare notes about what the worst Party fare anyone has ever encountered. There are innumerable Culinary Disasters to relate out there, so why not start early and avoid an Entertainment Faux Pas of your own?
My wife and I worked for a title insurance company in Portland, Oregon for a while back around the turn of the Century, and we had numerous opportunities to experience some of the most goat-gagging recipes that people came up with for office pot-lucks and various event parties.
Some remain legendary, and my wife and I were dredging up a few of them tonight, hence this post.
Our joint vote goes to our Dearly departed former co-worker Rose, who presented the Staff with her personal offering of a very creative Jello mold; the recipe follows....
1 Package Lime Jello
1 Can Tuna Fish in Oil (it's important...)
Frozen Green Peas
Prepare the Jello per the box. To help cool it, add the frozen peas to the hot/warm jello (but make sure it is not hot enough to cook the peas...). As the Jello starts to set, add the partially drained Tuna, pour into the mold of your choice, and refrigerate until set.
To serve, turn the mold out onto a dinner plate, and the residual tuna smell will draw plenty of flies to garnish with...
The Tuna in Oil is important because when served, and as the mold warms to room temperature, the residual oil in the tuna adds a marvelous rainbow sheen (that contrast nicely with the fly wings) to the melting jello and the mostly raw peas....this recipe is obviously about the texture but don't discount the aroma...
I saw all the different Soju’s, Dog ju, snake ju and so on.
I had it before. Bought it off a cart piled head high with the stuff. Had to heat it up with a lighter to be able to pull a chunk off to gnaw on.
“Chicken livers.”
I love it when Rumaki is served because so many people don’t like chicken livers — so there’s more for me! Yum. When the Thirteen Coins restaurant was in Anchorage in the ‘70s, they had the best chicken liver omelette.
Lima Bean Loaf?
God Help us.
I honest to God thought that was a cooked buzzard’s head. Ick!
Ooh, nonpareils with the little colorful sugars on top? I bet they loved that at the emergency room!
After following Oreos with several shots of Jagermeister, a group of us was standing around talking when one of my friends suddenly turned, threw open the window, stuck his head outside and puked black. Good thing we were on the first floor.
It was one of those situations where... if the Jagermeister would have come first, you would have thought twice about the Oreos. But the Oreos were first and then 30 minutes later, the Jagermeister opportunity presented itself after everyone had forgotten about the Oreos. :::shudder:::
I took the bus from Chuncheon to Kangneung (now called Gangneung) once and they had a lady selling the stuff in a stall at the bus station. She was heating one up for a customer so they could fold it up and put it into a tiny plastic bag. That stench almost asphyxiated me.
I survived it so God must want me around a little longer to annoy all the liberals I live with out here in Nor. Cal.
Someone shared their tripe stew at work with their ethnic group, which as I recall was Hispanic. I was the only white person and they were so excited I try it. It was horrid, but I felt I had to be polite and choke it down. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
My neighbor recently died and I was remembering her kindness and generosity. About once a month she’d bring us over baked goods. You’d think kids would scarf down cookies, etc. They usually ended up in the garbage. It didn’t take us long to figure out not to bother trying them. Maybe she was secretly trying to get rid of us. My mother did make a comment she was such a good neighbor for putting up with us. Hmmmm....
*I honest to God thought that was a cooked buzzards head. Ick!*
LOL! Now that would be nas..ty!!
AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!
BRAIN FLOSS!!! BRAIN FLOSS!!!!
You are a cruel, cruel man, Joe...
bump
I have one more to relate.
I used part of my GI Bill to attend culinary school several years ago, and we had a few real dingbats in various classes. One still haunts me to this day.
There was this on 18 year old tenderoni who was trying to fake her way through the school; I think Daddy was paying the tuition. We were in the Deli where students are allowed a bit more freedom and creativity to produce dishes that will be sold and served in the school’s Deli.
This babe trots over to the butcher shop, and persuades the assistant Chef to show her how to debone four rabbits. She brought them back over to the deli, put them in a roasting pan, and proceeded to drench them in Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup, right out of the #10 can. Into a hot oven for an hour or so and Voila!!
Chocolate rabbit. Not Mole’ sauce mind you...Hershey’s frickin’ syrup.
The Chef in charge of the Deli made her eat some and then throw the rest away. It smelled as disgusting as you can imagine, and only she knew what it tasted like....
It was definitely a WTF moment. It was at a party. I should have picked up on the kids giving me the “Don’t eat that” glare. I asked, “What’s this?” after I swallowed it. The guy with us said, “Ummm, I don’t know what you call it, but you know that thing next to the liver?” I asked, “The gall bladder? Bile?” “Yes!” he said enthusiastically. “Yes! Yes! Bile! It is very bitter.” I agreed and stuck to the red pepper/fish sauce paste. But, later, when I asked the kids why they didn’t stop me, they said, “We couldn’t say right in front of everyone, ‘Hey, don’t eat that!’”
Also, something else pretty revolting, which I didn’t eat, was balut. I came home from work and smelled something pretty disgusting. My Vietnamese roommates and their friends were eating balut, which I believe were fermented, partially developed duck embryos. I passed on those, as I did later the orange-colored, fried duck intestines at a Cantonese restaurant (the real thing).
The stuff looked good.
I had never had a viet sauce I didnt like.
Yeah, these folks were lao and hmong, but the larb gai and the green papaya salad were excellent...
I had no idea what horror lay ahead... LoL
No blood cube in the special soup?
Actually that taste fine.
Its like shredded green papaya(like spaghetti) with crushed cherry tomatoes in the fish sauce with the hot little peppers. Oh and crushed peanut on top.
Addictive!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.