Food Aversions ...

It is curious to me that they are always spoken about together. I cannot abide licorice but cannot imagine a ragu Bolognese without fennel and nutmeg.

Me neither. I don’t even like the smell of the wild fennel that grows as weeds locally. I’m about the only Greek who doesn’t like ouzo. I’ve searched far and wide for Italian sausage that has minimal or no fennel (I did find one that works: “Sicilian” at our local meat counter)

This topic reminded me of another aversion: sweet with savory. I mostly avoid sugar, but especially with meats, such as sugary Cantonese dishes like General Tso’s, most Thai food in the US, fried chicken wings with a sugar glaze, many BBQ sauces. A bun with noticeable sugar can ruin a hamburger.

I am reminded that we had these Peruvian empanadas. Beef filled beef patties dusted with sugar, that were were scratching our head about, but we enjoyed them! But we are not averse to sweet-savory.

New place that took over the Jamaican place!

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i don’t like black licorice or licorice root.

I like anise and fennel seed.

Anise and fennel seed have grown on me as I have gotten older. I didn’t like anise when I was a kid.

I don’t like the fennel vegetable much.

I like fennel in sausage, salami and porchetta. I like Pernod in seafood stews

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For me this is more specific: fruit with meat. Just NO. :joy:
(Thing tagines with apricots, pork chops with apples, and anything else where you can check those two boxes off as primary ingredients :rofl:

@shrinkrap re sugar on a pasry with savory filling – the first time I ate Moroccan b’stilla I was NOT expecting a good dose of powdered sugar in my mouth from the pastry top to be followed by spiced chicken :rofl:

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And thats one of my favorite combinations. I have a recipe for turkey thighs braised with prunes that I make regularly

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Silver Palate’s Chicken Marbella uses dried prunes, too. And brown sugar. Wonderful dish.

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I don’t like pork chops with oranges or apples .

but I love duck with currants, cherries, apricots

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I eat mussels only if I cook them myself, the key being that they are not overcooked.
I don’t eat green peppers as I can’t digest them.
I can stand the smell of cinnamon.
I don’t like anything dusted with powdered sugar, or with sugar crystals on top.
I cannot eat anything with any type of chili. Can’t stand the pain, and can’t digest it.

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I used to love having duck a l’orange when I went out to eat with my parents. It’s been decades since I’ve seen it on a menu!

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with you on almost everything!

but, while i love fennel seeds, don’ t like anise. and i do often use fennel as an aromatic when making soup. keeps better than celery, which too often winds up in compost.

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My mom has the same aversion to green bells. She can afford reds, oranges and yellows, so it’s an easy avoidance.

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Hmm. I love braised turkey thighs. I’ll have to try with prunes.

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I get it. Anise, fennel and licorice are distinct, yet ppl lump them together.

..

Different strokes.

Well, the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum…

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Indeed

I think its in the 90s edition of Joy of Cooking

I forgot that I have had alligator (at a great Cajun restaurant that was in Spokane) and it was a ‘blackened’ dish with grits…quite good. I did have some reindeer/caribou jerkey, not remarkable at all. Somewhere in Lapland I have a Sami reindeer herder relative.

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I very much like this fennel salad: slice fennel bulb, celery, and sweet onion. Add lardons of hard salami and batons of cheese (I like pepper Jack for this). Add a bit of fennel frond but only if you like it. Toss it in lemon juice and olive oil. It is great fresh and crunchy and quite different but still good the next day when it has softened.

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