International Food Battle Thread

[General Stalin]

I home make my own pizza with ingredients from the grocery store. I only eat out pizza if I have no other option or if it's truly high grade.

That's how I feel about steak. I rarely get steak when eating out simply because I've never had a steak at a restaurant that tastes better than steak I make myself, and it's grossly overpriced no matter where you go.

Cooking my own steak is a painstaking process, and it has to be just right. Though the satisfaction of sitting down and eating it is all worth it. Like with good wine. Good outside steak usually costs upwards of $60+.

I actually don't do a lot to my steak. Less is more for me.

-I rub both sides liberally with salt, black pepper, and a few drops of olive oil and let it sit for a minute.

-Pour maybe a tablespoon of olive oil in my cast iron pan, let the pain and oil heat up until the handle of the pan is warm to the touch.

-Place the steak on the pan and cook each side for about 3-5 minutes tops (depending on how thick the steak is).

-I check doneness by cutting into it and examining the color.

-When it's just rare I take it off and let it cook itself for a few more minutes on the plate so it's about medium rare.

As long as the outside is seared just right, it's the best fucking thing ever. I audibly sigh when eating it even when I'm alone.

 

[Comte De St. Germain]

^Try marinating and smoking it. Coal BBQs are a truly holy instrument.

 

[Snowplow]

Well here is my standing offer to all who doubt the sheer greatness of the Chicago Deep Dish; if you are a member of reputable standing and visiting Chicago I will take you out for a Lou Malnati's butter crust deep dish as my treat. Although if you still don't like it you may end up getting dropped off somewhere to get the full Chicago experience! :angel:

But I eat pretty light in the summer too, it's brutal trying to work after a hearty meal in the heat.

 

[GlobalMan]

When I get back to Chicago I will meet you at Lou Malnati's. Lou doesn't know what he's getting into.

 

[Comte De St. Germain]

Well Snowplow I'll try to make it out in March. Better keep that promise damn it.

 

[GlobalMan]

Great Comte you come too. I will bring takeout from Spacca Napoli to pass around to the poor souls eating there.

 

[bootyhuntah]

I can't decide whether to put thai or italian food first on my list, but I'm surprised by the wide love for mexican food, can anyone back that up?

There must be more to it than what we know mexican food as in Australia - the same shitty beef mince, beans, chili and corn mix slopped onto some kind of bread, with the only difference between dishes being the way the tortilla is folded.

I can confirm that Mexican food in OZ is highly depressing and not at all respresentative of what you can find in Mexico. It's quite bastardized to suit the local (bland, sorry...) palate. There is one exception though. I found a place in Melbourne in Kensington that does respectable Mexican tacos (and flan) and they make their own corn tortillas the old-fashioned way - nixtimilization. Yes, I'm a food nerd.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaur...eviews-La_Tortilleria-Melbourne_Victoria.html

 

[bootyhuntah]

This is something that nobody really does like Texas. BBQ. Low and slow baby.


Beef brisket, with a dry rub.

Had this stuff in Austin from a BBQ food truck called John Mueller Meat Company. Top 2 briskets of all time. A good brisket needs to be smoky, moist and fatty, tender, with a nice chewy and crispy bark on the outer edge.

Beef brisket at Killen's in Pearland, TX is pretty phenomenal as well. One of the most manly, delicious, and unique foods you will ever eat. And you won't find it many places outside because it's so hard to get it right and the traditions from here are lost in translation...

 

[Snowplow]

Great Comte you come too. I will bring takeout from Spacca Napoli to pass around to the poor souls eating there.

That isn't too far from my crib.....how have I not heard of this place? I might have to make a stop this weekend, you know, for research purposes....

 

[GlobalMan]

^They make a great authentic neapolitan pizza, at least it was when I was there a couple years ago.

Honestly looking at Lou's online I have to say that looks like one of the better deep dishes, the butter crust sounds like it would greatly improve on the standard deep dish crust.

 

[Saweeep]

French food is pretentious and over rated.

 

[britchard]

I think cuisines should also be ranked on how high/low test they are

Highest: Eastern European, UK, American, Oz, German, Mexican, Indian

Lowest: French, Japanese, Italian

If you can't stomach a nice, spicy curry you shouldn't call yourself a man.

 

[vinman]

I really think it's time to stop pedestalizing pizza. It's nothing more than cheap dough covered in cheap cheese. Sure it's delicious, but it's the culinary equivalent of Filipino girls - cheap, easy, fun, satisfying in the short term, but ultimately unfulfilling. Truly great meals require good quality meat, good quality vegetables and good quality company.

Pizza sucks.

It's comments like this that make me wish they'd bring back dueling.
"I demand satisfaction. Pistols at dawn, Sir"

:fuckthat:

 

[Ringo]

Brazil has some of the best shit in the world.

Coal roasted coalho cheese


Fried cassava


Arroz carreteiro


Tutu de feijão (crushed beans with bacon and sausage)


Feijoada


Barbecued picanha


Pão de quejo (cheese puffs)


Bolo de fubá (corn cake)


Brigadeiro (condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate sprinkles)


My favorite - carrot cake with hard chocolate icing

 

[Ringo]

And oh - Italians may have created pizza, but we perfected it.

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[Rocha]

I think cuisines should also be ranked on how high/low test they are

Highest: Eastern European, UK, American, Oz, German, Mexican, Indian

Lowest: French, Japanese, Italian

If you can't stomach a nice, spicy curry you shouldn't call yourself a man.

Agreed, spice maniac is my middle name))). I put loads on everything I eat.

But regarding Eastern European, and at least Russian/Ukrainain, Polish or from the Baltics is in no way heavy on spice. Quite the contrary. The only thing I recall beeing very hot is the russian mustard, much more than all the other variants that I tried, like eg. Dijon, American, English, Portuguese, Romanian, Bavarian...

 

[General Stalin]

Taking up plow man on his offer for some Chi town deep dish. As for New England eats - any of you folks dwelling in or around Boston - I'll be there in late October lets get some lobstah rolls and clam chowdah

 

[Tresor]

Khachapuri

Khinkali

Pkhali

Chakapuli

Tabaka

Churchkhela

Tah chin

 

[bootyhuntah]

I really think it's time to stop pedestalizing pizza. It's nothing more than cheap dough covered in cheap cheese. Sure it's delicious, but it's the culinary equivalent of Filipino girls - cheap, easy, fun, satisfying in the short term, but ultimately unfulfilling. Truly great meals require good quality meat, good quality vegetables and good quality company.

Pizza sucks.

It's comments like this that make me wish they'd bring back dueling.
"I demand satisfaction. Pistols at dawn, Sir"

:fuckthat:

I'm more than happy to officiate this duel and/or throw a rock at your opponent to distract him ;-).

 

[911]

I home make my own pizza with ingredients from the grocery store. I only eat out pizza if I have no other option or if it's truly high grade.

That's how I feel about steak. I rarely get steak when eating out simply because I've never
had a steak at a restaurant that tastes better than steak I make myself, and it's grossly overpriced
no matter where you go.

You're right General Joe. One exception though is French places that you might find in some big cities,
where steak is more reasonably priced, and steaks are served with a great sauce, pepper, bearnaise
or a special house sauce like the one pictured below from the famous L'Entrecote restaurant:

I love my home-grilled T-bones, but French steak-frites rules because:

1- great sauce, that's nearly not that easy to fix at home
2- great fries, dipping them in the sauce and steak juice raises
the fries bar experience to stratospheric levels.
3- great wines. Objectively speaking, France has the best wines in the world,
and a great variety from white to rose to red to sparklng to dessert wines and cordials
4- great desserts. Once again, the best in the world as far as variety and quality

Beyond steak, France has great variety, from alsatian sauerkraut to Provence mediterranean dishes
to buckwheat crepes in Bittany, and wines, cheese, bread, incredible variety and quality in that bundle.

Best breakfasts/brunch: USA. Just a great tradition - pancakes with maple syrup,
egg dishes with bacon and sausage, hash browns, eggs benedict, waffles.
Can't be topped if you're hungry and overslept after a long night out.

Honorable mention: UK - great sausages, but less variety (pancakes, homefries, etc).
Switzerland, for a fantastic brunch dish called croute au fromage (served mostly in the
French part of the country), which is a glorious ham and cheese sandwich dipped
in white wine and cheese, grilled, then topped with fried eggs -covers all the brunch bases-.
It's what every ham sandwhich wants to be when it grows up: