UniLang

Yeah, but you go to bed pretty early, too, right?

I think I might actually end up doing that.

Serving big pieces of meat is just weird to me. Like, how "people in the West" or whatever tend to just cook or fry only the meat in big chunks (like pork chops?) and serve it with some added vegetables/carbs of choice. And it's supposed to taste good? It doesn't, it's just meat then. I've personally always made it in the "Chinese way" (my own label for it, because it seems to be more common "in the East"..) by chopping the meat into smaller pieces and cooking it with the other ingredients.

And I really dislike being served e.g. poultry still attached to the bones. Like, am I supposed to prepare the meal again by stripping the meat from the bones while eating it? With a fork and a knife!? Should I use my hands? I just don't get it. And how some people just don't add some kind of sauce to their big pieces of meat? EW. SO DRY.

If you can't eat with chopsticks, don't serve it

Allekanger wrote:And I really dislike being served e.g. poultry still attached to the bones. Like, am I supposed to prepare the meal again by stripping the meat from the bones while eating it? With a fork and a knife!? Should I use my hands? I just don't get it.

When it comes to American food, when in doubt, use your hands.

Allekanger wrote:And I really dislike being served e.g. poultry still attached to the bones. Like, am I supposed to prepare the meal again by stripping the meat from the bones while eating it? With a fork and a knife!? Should I use my hands? I just don't get it. And how some people just don't add some kind of sauce to their big pieces of meat? EW. SO DRY.

That's exactly how I cook. I like big chunks of meat, and paultry with bones.

Don't you even like chicken wings? I can eat barbecue chicken wings all the time.

Allekanger wrote:Should I use my hands?

This is an easy question to answer in an Indian context!

Allekanger wrote:And how some people just don't add some kind of sauce to their big pieces of meat? EW. SO DRY.

Then don't eat them like that? And let them enjoy them as they will.

Like, I find it odd that people eat pizzas and burgers with forks and knives, but whatever, they have the right as much as I do to eat them with my hands.

Allekanger wrote:Serving big pieces of meat is just weird to me. Like, how "people in the West" or whatever tend to just cook or fry only the meat in big chunks (like pork chops?) and serve it with some added vegetables/carbs of choice. And it's supposed to taste good? It doesn't, it's just meat then. I've personally always made it in the "Chinese way" (my own label for it, because it seems to be more common "in the East"..) by chopping the meat into smaller pieces and cooking it with the other ingredients.

Same. Like steakhouses make no sense to me--and wouldn't even if their portions weren't super huge. A grilled hunk of beef is one of the least interesting things I can think to eat. Just the notion of eating 300 g or more in one sitting makes me feel a bit ill.

Allekanger wrote:And I really dislike being served e.g. poultry still attached to the bones. Like, am I supposed to prepare the meal again by stripping the meat from the bones while eating it? With a fork and a knife!? Should I use my hands? I just don't get it.

On the other hand, I love poultry on the bone. It's so much more juicy and flavourful when cooked that way.

The bones are (or the meat on the bones is) the best part! (Same with fish).

Here's a generic question (or a few generic questions): What, if anything, do you typically eat? If you had someone over for a meal, what would you probably give them? Does it depend on certain factors?

For me, a typical meal is essentially rice, a vegetable (usually stir-fried), and some kind of meat (most often chicken, but roast pork spareribs are also common). If we had people over for dinner, my parents would most likely make several kinds of vegetables and cook both fish and meat (possibly more than one type of meat as well). They would generally make more or less Malayalee food because that's the option that's least likely to disappoint guests (i.e. they don't really want to risk botching a non-Malayalee person's cuisine, and their Malayalee friends kind of expect Malayalee food anyway). What they specifically make, however, depends on who they have over, whether they can eat spicy food/how spicy they like their food, whether they have any specific dietary preferences or restrictions, etc.

Actually it depends on tastes, budget, and belief
I really love vegetarian food and fish so I most usually cook fish and vegetables. But I know most people find it boring so when kids are coming I force myself to cook huge meat and potatoes and I really dislike it.
Same for spicy food - my husband and I love it so we basically add it on our plate, not on the dish we share...

I've gotten very lazy. This week I made fish chowder (and the mess it made of my kitchen reminded me why I don't do it more often) but I generally have a handful of regular things I make often. These include:

• Pan-fried fish with a green veg and sometimes pasta
• Pasta (usually with pesto, sometimes with mushrooms or fake meat)
• Käsespätzle
• Fake gyros (TVP "chicken" in a pita with yoghurt or ranch dressing)
• Burritos
• Quesadillas
• Tuna salad

I used to make polenta or pizza (with premade crusts) fairly often but I've fallen out of the habit.

One thing most of the dishes I make have in common is that they don't require frequent trips to the store. If I have a green vegetable, it's usually zucchini or kale, because those last week in the fridge. The fish and the TVP live in the freezer, as do the tortillas.

I'm not sure what I would make for a guest because it's been so damn long since I've had one.

When I have guests over, I make something they probably never had before. Like vegetarian haggis, East African stew, soup from a foreign country, a Mongolian pasta dish, something Amish with a fancy sauce... I also theme the place, like I put on matching clothes (if I have) and put on some music from that country in the background. I spend quite some time researching authentic dishes
Most authentic everyday-dishes don't contain loads of expensive ingredients, they often have very few ingredients, too. The biggest plus is, that if I mess it up, they won't notice I also always have some matching hot sauce on hand, if the guests like their food spicy, but I never serve spicy food by default.

linguoboy wrote:TVP "chicken"

Why do you prefer TVP to real chicken?

voron wrote:

linguoboy wrote:TVP "chicken"

Why do you prefer TVP to real chicken?

It freezes better and it doesn’t aggravate my gout.

awrui wrote:East African stew, soup from a foreign country, a Mongolian pasta dish, something Amish with a fancy sauce...

What are any of these things?

vijayjohn wrote:

awrui wrote:East African stew, soup from a foreign country, a Mongolian pasta dish, something Amish with a fancy sauce...

What are any of these things?

Exactly

Here in Greece, similar to other Southern European countries, people have an early breakfast (toast or bread with jam or honey, or cereal), then a large lunch at any time between 1 and 3pm. That is followed by a siesta, then a usually light evening late in the evening, betwen 8 and 10pm, depending on the family.

Greeks often eat out at an ουζερί (ouzeri) or a ταβέρνα (taverna). At the ουζερί it is traditional to order several small shared dishes, rather than individual dishes. Meals are social events that can last several hours, as Greeks like to take their time with their food and drink. At tavernas, however, people will order individual dishes and share a salad or side dish. In recent years, there has been a decline in eating out due to the economic crisis.

Where do you usually eat? Do you eat at home? Where at home do you eat? In the kitchen, in your room, in a dining room, or in some other room? How often do you eat out (i.e. outside your house)? Where do you go when you do, and what do you eat there?

In our house, we have a dining room attached to the kitchen and another dining room separated from the kitchen by doors. Normally, we eat in on the table in the room attached to the kitchen. If we have a lot of guests over, then we use both dining rooms instead. On relatively formal or special occasions, we use only the dining room separated from the kitchen. We rarely eat out, although we eat a pretty wide variety of cuisines when we do (American (i.e. either burgers or steak), faux-Italian, Indian, Chinese, slightly Americanized Chinese, or Korean, or less often, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, Ethiopian, Mexican, Peruvian, Cuban (or at least vaguely Central/South American), Brazilian (if you count a Brazilian steakhouse where meat was pretty much all that was on offer...), "Mediterranean" (this usually means Lebanese or vaguely Middle Eastern, or in one case, a strange combination of South Asian and Middle Eastern, and I think Egyptian in another case), Greek (have not had this in a very long time now), or Iranian). EDIT: Oh, and I usually have a good sense for whether a restaurant is good enough to try out or not. Also, I forgot the Nepali restaurant we went to once.

Interesting stuff
At home we usually have lunch in the kitchen, listening to music (or the radio).
I like it when we're 5 (us 3 + my husband's children), it makes the tiny kitchen table crowdy
At work I bring my dish (bento) everyday and have lunch with my colleagues. I usually cook vegan, low-caloric lunches for me (based on vegetables and fruit only).

We don't have real "French" food - though I tend to make an effort to cook meat when all the kids are here - we mostly have vegan meals but sometimes treat ourselves with fish. I love to cook Malagasy, Indian, Italian, Moroccan, East-Asian, Belgian, German, Estonian... Whatever inspiration I have!

france-eesti wrote:I love to cook (...) Belgian (...).

Which Belgian dishes do you make?