500 Favorite Foods

[Ingrid]

I wish I could eat Greek food. But it hates me.

[Lesley]

84. Sorry if this one has been done - but I don't think it has...

Mother fuckin Chili!!! Especially in the beginning of fall. SHIT that is good stuff in the early cold days. Rob makes an awesome chili - we are going to have a chili cook off for Halloween this year I think - or around then.

[BillyG]

Obviously, I agree with chili. NO BEANS. I love when it starts getting cold. I make chili and tortilla soup damn near every week.

[Abraham Smashington]

BEANS

[Martin]

Not again....

by the way, anyone wants the Almond Croissant recipe?

[Shit Dickface]

yesplz

[BillyG]

I do just as much as I don't Martin. But yes, please. Might have the lady do some for Thanksgiving.

[IggytheBorg]

83. Gyros I love them, lamb in a pita with some tzatziki and roughage...APPROVED

But please. . . hold the onions. The one drawback to gyros is that you can't eat them one handed, which makes it hard to read (I often eat lunch alone when I'm on the road, & reading is how I pass the time).

Anyway, on to 85. Nevada Annie Harris' 5 Alarm Chili

We'll count Lesley's as an endorsement of Rob's chili specifically. I hope to see a post explaining its greatness. But this stuff right here? Got the recipe from "Heat Wave: The Best of Chili Pepper Magazine". It's a collection of hot & spicy recipes. There's a couple chilis in there, but none comes anywhere near this one. It's got a list of ingredients long as your arm; standard stuff like ground beef, onions, tomatoes & chili powder (a cup & a half of chili powder, no less), and some more unusual ones like chopped celery, bay leaves & beer. I have tried lots of chilis in restaurants, & made numerous ones at home from recipes gleaned from varios sources (including a Texas Cookbook), and none compares to Annie Harris' championship recipe. I had a friend I used to see maybe twice a year. For him I started an ongoing tradition, "Chili in November", where I make a pot sometime that month. When it was finished I'd call him, & no matter where he was or what he was doing, he'd come by my place, spoon in hand. This shit developed a FOLLOWING.

Of course, I do tweak the recipe a bit (says 1 "or more jalapenos; I scratched out the "1" and underlined - twice - the "or more"; I usually use oh. . . .5 or 6). Oh, and Billy would love it because it's Nevada style, which means no beans. Not that I have anything against beans, it's just that this recipe works so damned fine w/o them.

[Abraham Smashington]

I always use beer and bay leaves in my chili. EPIC.

[IggytheBorg]

[*chiliconnissuerfist*]

[Abraham Smashington]

So you do it in a giant pot or crockpot?

[BillyG]

A CROCKPOT?! CHILI!?

*faintfist*

[IggytheBorg]

Big honkin' pot. Way too much stuff (4 lbs of ground beef, to start) to fit in my crock pot. I do have crock pot chili recipes I'm lookin' to try, though. I figure at least one of them's got to be at least serviceable.

[IggytheBorg]

86. Appenzeller Cheese

While Emmental is your classic "Swiss" cheese to most people, Appenzeller looks kind of similar. It's got holes, but as many as Emmental. And the wheels it's made from are much smaller. It's also drier & harder in texture. But the most crucial difference is it TASTES much, much better IMO. An assertive, sharp, Gruyere-like flavor up front, with perhaps some musky, almost smoky undertones (due, I expect, to the aging), it has an almost fruity aftertaste. The Swiss are notorious quality control freaks, so any imported Swiss cheese from Switzerland - of any variety - is going to be good. But IMO, much as I like Emmental & Gruyere (and I do), Appenzeller is second only to Tete du Moine in the Swiss cheese hierarchy. Even my wife, who usually can't stand the imported cheeses I'm so fond of, likes Appenzeller. Believe me when I say, that's got to mean something. Do yourself the favor if you've never had any and check this cheese out.

Also, I am concerned that I'm not seing more frequent posting by more of you here (this thread is not nearly as Full of Vin as I would have expected, for instance). I KNOW you fuckers like to eat. Where are all the posts glorifying those foods? I got plenty left, but it's gonna be hard indeed to get to 500 at this rate.

[Martin]

87. Poudding Chomeur (Unemployment pudding)

Here's very very classic Quebec home dessert. The name might says it's cheap, but while is cheap to do technically, to make it really awesome, you need a whole can of maple syrup and cream (the cheaper versions went with a caramel and water base.. ugh). And it's stupidly easy to do, and you can feed an army ( or 4 Robs, or 1 Nerdious) with it.

It's flour, eggs, maple syrup and cream. That's pretty much it. And it's DELICIOUS. A classic dessert for every season but summer.