I confess!

While trying to catch up on some blog reading the other day, I came across a fun meme on David Lebovitz's great blog.  He has basically compiled a list of his various culinary confessions and thrown it open to the rest of us to confess ours.  So... here go mine:

I do not own a rolling pin – if something needs rolling, there’s always an empty wine bottle around.

I have never made a soufflé.

Back home, I once inadvertently served a vegetarian friend soup made with chicken stock.

I can easily leave a bar of chocolate on the shelf until it goes stale.

I have lost many perfectly good bars of chocolate by “saving them” too long!  (see above)

I will not eat bananas but I love banana bread.

I used to think oysters were overrated.  I don't any more!

I don’t think I could stomach eating a durian, even for scientific purposes.

I do not make my own mayonnaise, nor do I think I will start doing so any time soon.

I love cheese above all other foods.

I have been known to eat spoonfuls of Hellmann’s mayo straight out of the jar. 

I have never baked bread in my own house (only on a baking course).

I have been on a baking course!!

My mother’s chicken curry was the best thing in the world ever, even though it was sweet and very mild and pretty un-curry-like.

I’ve always hated mixed tinned fruit.

I’ve eaten sweetbreads but I doubt if I’d do so again.

I have eaten horse meat (in a salami-style sausage) and I’d do it again.

I own a springform pan but have never used it.

2 years ago I didn’t know what fleur de sel or dulce de leche were. 

I have never made a béarnaise sauce, a hollandaise sauce or, in fact, any sauce that can separate.

I will happily eat salted butter on its own, in slices.

I think leaving crumbs in the margarine/jam/Bovril should be an offence punishable by death.

I have been known to dice garlic by hand to avoid washing the garlic crusher.

I use gravy granules.

If there is no apple sauce available, I have been known to eat roast pork with apricot jam.

I would not eat reduced-fat croissants, even if my survival depended on it.

I always eat the fat on my meat - in fact, it's the best part. ;-)

Whenever I go home, I bring back a supply of Aromat.  It is basically salt and MSG and I grew up eating it on everything.  MSG rocks. 

I have a set system for washing up.  It drives me insane when somebody washes the pots before the glasses.

For me, the best part of a high-end meal is the amuse bouche.

I would choose a starter over dessert.

I would choose a cheese trolley over almost anything.

I love to eat with my hands.

It's not Christmas unless I've had roast gammon with aspic, warm potato salad, melon and grape salad, and seven layer salad.  This was what my mom made for as long as I can remember and I plan to do the same.

I own Nigella's Feasts but have never made a single recipe from it.

Even if I am bursting at the seams, there is always space for ice cream.

The only two things I ever crave are Coca-Cola and cheese.

I drink cheap, sweet sparkling wine and I love it.  What can I say - I grew up on Babycham...

I always save the best thing on my plate for last. 

So... 'fess up!  What are yours??

Comments

[Stephanie]

I keep meaning to do this, but never get 'round to it.

Horsemeat? Really???

[Jeanne]

'Fraid so... But you really can't taste WHAT meat it is once it's had the salami treatment applied to it! It's just salty and fatty and tasty... I must also add that I didn't read the label before buying it and Nick was idly reading it a week or so later when we had already eaten half. He refused to touch another slice, but I could see no point in letting half go to waste! I mean, it wasn't going to bring back the horse! :o)

[Ronni Bennett]

I'm with you on cheese and ice cream, and in recent years I seem to have lost my taste for chocolate. In fact, we agree on a lot about food, but this untutored American has some questions:

1. What is amuse bouche?

2. What is durian?

3. Good grief, there is Hellman's in London and South Africa???

As to your last item, I have a friend who eats the best first. Reason? Just in case he dies mid-meal, he doesn't want to have missed something really good.

[Jeanne]

Hey Ronni

Glad you stopped by! And here are the answers to your questions:
1. An amuse bouche is a small, complimentary appetiser serverd at fancy restaurants before the hors d'ouvres. Because they are so small, the chef can let his creativity run wild in terms of flavours and textures and I often find them the most exciting part of the meal.
2. A durian is a big, thorny fruit from southeast Asia that known for its creamy, gelatinous flesh (shudder!!) and its pungent smell, which has been likened to smelly feet or limburger cheese. See where I'm coming from with this one??!
3. Oh you bet there is!! I grew up on Hellmans and for many years I wasn't even aware there WAS another type of mayo! And yes, we buy huge jars of it here in London too. Now I buy it as much for the taste as for its lack of artificial ingredients...

I like your friend's philosophy :-) It also means that you won't be too full to enjoy the best part!!

[angelika]

Ooohhh Jeanne ! How have you made me laugh. And I agree on many items, I confess. I am just thinking about writing my very own confessions as well - as soon as I have worked thru the heaps of work to be done right now. And: welcome home and back to foodblogging ! Take care, angelika

[Craig]

If you really want to cheat with the apple sauce, but a bottle of purity apple food for babies. Its better than ANY bought apple sauce!

So that's my secret out.

[Anna]

Hi Jeanne,

Hmmm, this has set me thinking. I definitely agree on several points, but I am sure I must have various idiosyncrasies food-wise which I need to confess. This may distract me from my working day ahead!

[Jeanne]

Hi Angelika
Glad that made you chuckle! I certainly enjoyed writing it... And I keep thinking of more to add, but I think I have to preserve SOME of the mystery! ;-)

Hi Craig
Purity apple! Yes!! I remember absolutely loving that as a kid (and I mean a big kid, not a baby anymore!) And I do agree that it's better than any apple sauce...

Hi Anna
Yes, it is strangely compelling, isn't it!! I couldn't rest till I'd confessed all ;-)

[Anna]

I won’t drink instant coffee (unless I have to be ultra-polite), but I love piercing the foil on the top of a jar of instant.

The smell of a bagel toasting can make me SO hungry.

My last meal would have to include freshly baked scones, home-made jam and clotted cream.

Every year after eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (cooked by my husband), I say “Wow that was a really delicious thing to eat, and so easy to cook. I don’t know why we don’t have them more often.” We then don’t eat them again until the Shrove Tuesday of the following year.

Ditto mince pies and Christmas.

I like Marmite, but prefer Vegemite (less salty).

I eat an old-style Sunday night tea, consisting of foods like crumpets, scotch pancakes, malt loaf, and whatever cake I have made at the weekend.

I have never cooked a roast dinner.

My favourite instant pudding is affogato – make an espresso , tip it over some good vanilla ice-cream – two of my favourite things in one glass!

I have obsessive purchasing disorder when it comes to baking equipment (do I need anymore biscuit cutters? – why, yes I believe I do).

I once rinsed, steamed and served to my husband a vibrant green head of broccoli, which was the habitation of a vibrant green, broccoli-coloured caterpillar (still alive and well and on the plate).

I was a teenage vegetarian (thinking it might go down well on any dinner date with Morrisey). My first non-vegetarian meal was poached salmon and vegetables.

I HATE it when you go to a smart restaurant and you find a wine waiter has been put in charge of pouring your wine, and the wine has been put on a special bottle table a good long, long way from where you are sitting. I want to pour my own wine thanks very much, and I also hate it when they refill you glass every two minutes in an effort to empty the bottle quickly.

I love making lists.

[Jeanne]

Hi Anna

Aaaah, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist the Lure of the List!! And isn't it cathartic!! :P

Clotted cream!!! How could I have left that off my confessions-of-a-cholesterol-girl?? To be Mrs Morrissey - noble aspiration indeed. I was dead set on being Mrs Billy Bragg but was never socialist enough, I fear...

I feel an "80s music confessional" list bubbling up!!

[stef]

i have to think of my list, but your confession about MSG reminded me that when i was a little kid i'd sprinkle MSG on the palm of my hand and start licking away. addictive stuff!

[Eddie]

I love your confessions, we all have them.I have 3 rolling pins and can't find them. Cookies...need I say more.
kathyireland.com is a great site. Love the info, love the solutions, love the recipes, love her.