Good Eats
One of the hardest things about immigrating to a similar culture/country is one that gets completely overlooked in advance- food. Even more so than moving to a different state, you just can’t get the same things. The beef is different (American beef is corn-fed, and therefore a fatty, delicious slice of animal cruelty), the soda is different (because it uses sugar instead of.. oh… high fructose corn syrup – all fail King Corn!), and you can’t get Stove Top™® for less than ten dollars. And even if there are products from familiar brands, they’re not necessarily the products you know and love – it’s confusing, and upsetting to even the least of comfort eaters.
Oh sure, your palate adjusts, and things start tasting good… in time. And while I’ll never get on with slimy-gross Yorkshire puddings (hint – weird layered bread things), I’m getting less shuddery at blackcurrant, and will go to town on the lovely beef. I’ll always miss cheap freezer burritos, pizza rolls, and pickles (Yes, you can’t get a jar of pickled dill cucumbers off the shelves here. Yes, it is ridiculous), I’m getting over my love affair with Spaghetti-os… at least.
And tonight, I get to treat myself to THE taste of home, America’s equivalent of the curry house – Mexican food. There’s a restaurant and a half nearby (one of which is a mobile taco stand), so we’re going to check out and see what’s what. I don’t know if it’ll actually tick any boxes, but at the very least, it’ll be nice to have a proper, non-kit-meal fix for what *should* (if I hadn’t moved) be a regular dietary staple. At the very least, it’ll be a change of scenery… can’t fault that.
I don’t much like Yorkshire pudding – but if it’s slimy, then it’s been cooked incorrectly, it should be crisp throughout…
Every time I’ve had one, the bottom has quickly absorbed moisture from other things… not enjoyable. Als, I think it’s something about the way the pastry is layered that contributes to this being weird!
It’s not a pastry and it shouldn’t be layered either – it’s actually a batter (flour, eggs, milk, salt – no fat, hence not a pastry) that should be baked in a hot oil to form a cup shape as it rises. As I said, I don’t much like them, but I don’t like any batter. I do think that wherever you’ve had them, they’ve either been reheated rather than freshly cooked, or they haven’t been cooked in preheated tins with the oil. A bit like you should never have soggy fries, but soggy fries do sadly exist.
Could be most true, most true. And it also doesn’t help that the place in a meal that it’s fulfilling was once filled by lovely rolls and buttermilk biscuits, which are superior in every way. *grins*
heh, I’m not a fan of US biscuits either, so I’m equal opps in terms of not likely such things with my gravy! Give me potatoes or meat with my gravy… (And lets celebrate having different tastes!)
Gravy is the food of love, hee hee.