Our own Jenny just wrote an article for the NY Times about a Montana senator who travels with his own beef and home grown purple barley. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/dining/senator-jon-tester-brings-dinner-from-montana.html?_r=1&src=dayp) He serves the barley in a bath of Cool Whip, which Jenny described as "weirdly good." We all have foods that we grew up with that taste good to us, but on description would seem strange or even inedible. What are yours?
Here's mine: my mother used to make a spinach dish that was basically a can of copped spinach, drained and mixed with a can of cream of chicken soup and a splash of lemon juice. I loved that dish, especially after I added a lot of lemon to it. I tried for ages making it with "real" ingredients, and it's definitely better with fresh or even frozen spinach. But there's something about that cream of chicken soup...I could never match, much less improve, the taste and texture profile. So it remains a childhood comfort classic--one that I almost never make, but of which I have fond memories.
My mother made sandwiches and crushed potato chips in it. Bologna, mayo on white bread with crushed potato chips or tomato, mayo and crushed potato chips. Not sure how weird it is but certainly not the norm, but it's really good, to this day I sometimes do it.
Ah, fried baloney ...on Pepperidge Farm white toast, with French's Yellow Mustard. For some reason, we used to eat this occasionally for breakfast. (And I'm talking Oscar Meyer balonEY. 'Bologna' and/or mortadella are totally irrelevant to this iconic sandwich.)
Speaking of which - another odd combo I loved as a child was baloney rolled up, or layered in a sandwich, with cream cheese. Preferably - in those days - Temp-tee whipped cream cheese in the magenta carton.
Also, cream cheese and olive sandwiches (green, pimento stuffed from a jar - the kind your mom always kept in the fridge to make martinis. Or at least mine did. Not for me.
I love this question, brings back some great memories of fun food. Glad to see I am not alone with potato chips on sandwiches. YUM! Yes, amysarah had to be oscar meyer bologna it was a staple in our fridge. This is such fun!
I used to do that all the time when I was growing up. Turkey with mustard and crushed potato chips (and sometimes even a little ketchup)! I still do it everyone once in a while!
My mother eats banana mayonnaise sandwiches. I never understood this, and frankly it sort of freaks me out, but maybe banana-mayonnaise-potato chip sandwiches?
My Mom used to make banana, peanut butter and mayo, Is that an Elvis thing? I love banana and peanut butter but could never quite get into the mayo on it, honestly never tried it. She also used to eat on white bread really thick slices of onion with mayo and crushed potato chips, now that I think about it crushed potato chips were a re-occuring theme in my life.
Cream cheese and dill pickles (the kind from the deli) on toast! My mom used to make them for us when we were little and I actually just had one for lunch today! Ooh, or fried bologna and cheese on buttered white bread - yummmy!
Poutine is with fresh cheese curds (on top of crspsy fries & gray) a national staple in Quebec, Montreal. I'm talking diner fries with gravy and a squirt of ketchup.
I had a memorable hot dog from a street vendor in Seattle once who served his franks with a generous schmear of cream cheese. Amazing! Great question drbabs!
and in the Acquired Taste Department: Homemade Gefilte fish. Never occurred to me -- until I generously offered it to someone and was declined--that the uninitiated wouldn't cotton to sugared, ground fish combined with matzoh meal stuffed into the fish's skin and boiled with onions, carrots and celery and a fish head. Yum.
Well there is the proverbial maple sugar on snow with a pickle side served in Vermont - with freshly baked donuts if possible. We had this as kids when we would come a-visiting to see our grandparents.
Wow how is it with a pickle? A sour pickle or sweet? My sister loves pickles so much she once asked the people at baskin robbins if they would make sour pickle ice cream. They said they didn't think it would sell. Clearly they have never been to Vermont.
I remembered this from a question bugbitten asked. Hostess Cupcakes and Hostess Twinkies from the freezer. Only ate them through high school. But it is tough to admit!
Black pepper on orange slices. My mom used to set out a plate after dinner most Friday nights and on holidays. Sometimes she'd add white grapefruit slices if she could find them.
We used to eat the grilled cheese and yellow mustard sandwiches too. They were great!
My mom also used to take deli ham and heat it in a pan with ketchup. For whatever reason, I really liked it.
Ahh, Sunbeam bread. You could tell it was the real stuff because it went stale in a couple days, just like bread. Like Thomas's protein bread, it's gone, yes?
My fav is to take two pancakes and put one piece of cheddar on each side an then put bacon or my favorite, turkey sausage links in the middle, this is especially great when your running out the door.
I grew up in a smaller Midwestern city and when mom dropped my friends and me off at the mall to hang out, we'd inevitably go to Wendy's for their Frostys and then dip their salty French fries in the cold chocolate dessert. My love affair with salty/sweet began there, I'm afraid!
My mom and dad have eaten fresh tomato with cottage cheese for years. I used to make fun of it but have to admit I've grown fond of the combination. I've never tried it, but I know a lot of people who like PB and tomato sandwiches.
my father in law had some pretty strange sandwich combinations. But my favorite of them all was his sliced red onion and softened butter sandwich. Yum!
My husband's weird fave is peanut butter, bacon and sliced yellow american cheese, on bread or waffles or pretty much any form of carb. covered in maple syrup and he's a happy camper.
I've been known to eat an entire can of anchovies in one sitting...that's not weird, is it?
My Dad would do two things that shocked us as kids - and these were both 4 am insomnia snacks - either a THICK slice of onion smeared with peanut butter (no bread required) or and onion and liverwurst sandwich with loads of yellow mustard (which I love but not at 4 am)
Sliced Vidalia onion sprinkled generously with salt & drizzled completely with lime juice.. need to take a minute to hold the slice to eye level & 'observe' the salt begin to dissolve and then scarf it down.
My grandfather, a lifelong NY-er (except for his first 5 years in Russia,) sometimes ate a sandwich of sliced white onion and Limburger cheese with brown mustard, on rye bread. (Does Limburger still exist? Really smelly stuff - the durian of the cheese world.) He always had a beer with it, though it was very rare he drank at all. Haven't thought about that in a very long time. Good, if smelly, memory.
amysarah, I would love to meet your grandfather. I'm a stinky, smelly cheese guy myself. The stinkier the better. And almost as runny as a poached egg. Bring it on!!!
pierino, I'm a big fan of stinky, run off the plate cheese too...but as a small child, my grandfather's love of Limburger/onions seemed unfathomable. Was happy, however, to eat the rye bread - always the real deal, still warm from the long gone German bakeries of Yorkville. Anyway, I'd love to meet up with him too, but he's been gone for many years.
ditto here with whole cans of olives... & baby corn, & hearts of palm, straight out of the can, theres a certain je ne sais quoi element of comfort when doing that!
i dont think this is weird at all, but my American friends all seem weirded out, so here goes: mozzarella, black beans, chipotle mayonaise, guacamole, and pickles sandwich :)
Feeling inadequate (as usual) the state of Arizona recently picked the official state food, the Chimichanga (I don't make this stuff up). A chimichanga is nothing more than a deep fried burrito. Phoenix and Tucson both lay claim to it in the way that the origin of the French dip sandwich is open to dispute in LA. Except that a French dip tastes one hell of a lot better.
Back when the word "calories" wasn't even in my vocabulary, peanut butter, banana and mayonnaise (really Miracle Whip then), on toast, was a favorite. I thought I was the only one who ever ate that because none of my friends had ever heard of it. I'm happy to read here I wasn't alone! I also enjoyed grilled peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.
Sliced reen olives (the generic ones with the pimentos inside) and cream cheese sandwiches. Also next time you get fries, try sprinkling them with sugar - tastes JUST like fried dough from the carnival! And I'm with Bevi on the sugar on snow/SOUR pickle combo. And you can't forget gran's homemade donuts and black coffee to go with your sugar supper.
Richard Nixon ate cottage cheese with ketchup on top every day for lunch. (Why do I remember that factoid, when I can barely remember what I ate for lunch today?)
My husband's grandmother made a dip with cottage cheese that was somewhat like a flavor she remembered from her childhood in Czechoslovakia. Cottage cheese with deli mustard and diced onions. It sounds weird, but is delicious with a kick and a bite from the mustard and onion. Many people look at it oddly when I serve it but anyone who tastes it loves it.
My mom used to make us elbow macaroni, mixed with large curd creamed cottage cheese, which melted just slightly from the heat of the pasta. That combo isn't so unusual – basically a version of classic Jewish egg noodles with pot cheese…but the part that made it sublime: we’d sprinkle it with sugar as we ate, a little at a time, so it was still crunchy in every bite. Sweet, a little salty, creamy, chewy, crunchy, cheesy…
I made it for my own kids once when they were young – big build up about how it was my childhood favorite lunch. Their reaction? Decidedly ‘meh.’ Apparently, it's not DNA-linked.
my mom made that too, been thinking of reserecting. it was called in our house, broad noodles cheese and butter. made with pot cheese, yes its large curd very dry cottage cheese more similar to farmers cheese- some butter salt and pepper. i loved to put ketchup on it! can't get pot cheese anymore...
My mom always made us ramen noodles (without the soup, just the.noodles) mixed with butter and soy sauce. She called it Chinese noodles. When I had morning sickness that lasted all day, that was the only thing I wanted to eat some days. We also often had pasta mixed with diced tomatoes and sour cream. Lots of salt. And last, when I was younger, I loved ham and butter sandwiches.
All these responses have jogged my memory. Mom used to love cottage cheese on top of 1/2 cantaloupe with black pepper sprinkled on top. There were no pepper grinders in our house in those days! And it really was/is tasty.
Also she would fry sauerkraut which we put over mashed potatoes. Tried to reproduce it for my Dad after Mom passed, and it was awful. Mom had it work.
Growing up we ate fresh blueberries tossed in sour cream and topped with spoonfuls of sugar, preferably brown that had hardened just a little bit. My Dad still eats PB and mayo sometimes with bacon; still makes me shudder. Okay and since we are confessing, us kids would argue over who got to chew on the strings that tied the roast beef once it came out of the oven!
DrBabs, your answer reminded me of something. When I was a kid my mom's go-to potluck dish (for backyard cookouts, picnics, etc) was general tso's chicken from the supermarket deli mixed with a jar of salsa. People went gaga for it and everyone demanded the recipe. It amused her to no end.
DrBabs, your answer reminded me of something. When I was a kid my mom's go-to potluck dish (for backyard cookouts, picnics, etc) was general tso's chicken from the supermarket deli mixed with a jar of salsa. With toothpicks so people could eat like an appetizer. People went gaga for it and everyone demanded the recipe. It amused her to no end.
This thread is conjuring up all kinds of weird taste memories. In college i worked at a small supermarket. Saturday lunch usually consisted of fried pork rinds, cottage cheese with the fruit next to it, and a bottle of strawberry yoo hoo. Yum?
I'm so glad everyone is having such fun with this thread. Maybe this is where we started being creative cooks...by experimenting with food combinations, even unconventional ones.
I have recently been using pineapple and cucumber together - in japanese nori wraps, or tortilla wraps, or as the base for a salsa. But I also like a bit of ketchup on toast with strawberry jam.
Must look at that recipe pierino, speaking of spam, my Mom sliced it and pan fried it until it got a crispy crust and served it with over easy fried eggs and toast. I have to admit I liked it. Have not had spam since I was a child but your comment triggered a memory.
Okinawa loves Spam sushi- grilled crusty then put on top of rice with a strip of nori to hold together. I think the airport sells erasers in this shape.
My mom made Spam salad sandwiches. Grind Spam, dill pickles and mix with Hellman's Mayo. Spread it on bread or toast. We liked it better than ham salad! I made it a few weeks ago and my sister was thrilled!
I have a recipe I engineered back in the very early 1970's. It's a mixture of hamburger, tunafish, onion, and relish.
1 1/2 pounds ground round
1 (6 ounce) can tuna packed in oil, drained
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
seasoning salt and pepper to taste
6 hamburger buns, split
Directions
Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat. When grill is hot, lightly oil the grate.
In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, tuna, onion, and relish. Season with seasoning salt and pepper to your liking. Form the meat mixture into 6 patties.
Place patties on the hot grill, and cook for 6 to 9 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Serve on buns with the usual toppings.
sometimes this is hard to hold together, works much better now that they have the package tunafish that you don't have to drain! If using canned tuna fish drain it completely it holds together better! I know it sounds weird but is absolutely delicious!
you can find the recipe under beefuna at all recipes.com
Vanilla Ice Cream, date syrup, halva, and..... tahini paste (sesame paste). It doesn't sound weird to me at all, it's delicious. But when I wanted to serve it to a friend, she gave me a disgusted face... until she tasted it. Great question!
OK, this is probably too bizarre, but I just read Mark Bittman's article about the demise of the Twinkie (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/twinkies-the-undead-snack/?hp), and it reminded me of what I used to make as an after school snack. Raw spaghetti dipped in chocolate sauce (probably Bosco or Nestle Quick at the time). Crunchy, starchy, sweet, chocolatey. I remember climbing up on the kitchen counter to find the thinnest spaghetti.
Drbabs... Capital idea! Try toasting the spaghetti before dipping..Toasted spaghetti rocks. I cant help sneaking those when I use them for Indian food. The nuttiness would be AWESOME paired with chocolate.. Now I just HAVE to make some today!
Love peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches! Also a great combo in a salad is fresh strawberries with thinly sliced red onions with a cream/sugar/vinegar dressing.
So did we! Only without the pepper, and my mom used elbow macaroni. There was a method to eating it: we sprinkled the sugar on a little at time as we ate, so it was still crunchy in every bite. (Seriously, this was like #1 lunch back in the day.)
a book came out last year, women author subject is What do you eat when your alone, a whole book of all these great concoctions! me, sardines and well, sardines!
I just made a batch of shitake "bacon"...roasted 4 oz. sliced shitakes that were tossed with some olive oil s+p at 400F for about 25-35 minutes. I left them on the counter when done and the next thing I knew, my husband was spreading a brown rice black sesame cracker with homemade chocolate nut butter and putting the shitake bacon on top.
Sadly, I did not try the shitake bacon on top of the cracker spread with the homemade nutella. I highly recommend the shitake bacon though. I like to sprinkle it on just about anything savory I make...grain and greens with beans etc. To add to the weird combos, my mother used to make a toasted sandwich consisting of whole wheat bread spread with peanut butter with a slice of cheddar cheese on top. She then slid it into the toaster oven until the cheese was melted. I cringed and refused to taste it but I suspect it is delicious. My grandmother also used to serve my brother scrambled eggs with applesauce when he was a kid; he loved it.
When I was a kid PB& J sandwiched at my school came with a slice of cheese on it, not in it but on top. No one knew why. But today I like sharp cheese and jam sandwiched.
I love tomato pie, thick crust pizza with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese served at room temp. I don't think this is weird but most people who have not grown up with it do.
Fig infused vodka with a side dish of stilton (preferably from Harrods, London). I also love dipping my toast with strawberry jam in ketchup for breakfast.
I go to a nearby market during lunch with a salad bar and a "hot bar." The combination of caesar salad and something they call "buffalo tofu" is really good. I think its the anchovies in the caesar dressing with the hot chili / toasted sesame oil that does it. And the cool creamy with hot spicy. Mmmmm, getting hungry....
Okay, a peanut butter, avocado and alfalfa sprout sandwich on whole wheat bread. This was from a hippie restaurant called "The Stomach," Portland, Oregon in 1970. I can still picture the place, with its tall, steamed-up windows and plants hanging everywhere, but this is the only food item I remember having there. As kids, my brother and I tried all sorts of variations of peanut butter sandwiches: peanut butter & pickle, peanut butter & cucumber (the best!), peanut butter and tomato, even peanut butter and canned sardines on rye!
Eggs (any style) topped with a generous shot (or two) of soy sauce. It's how my peeps (the Viet) eat their eggs. My white friends always looked at me kinda weird whenever I did this.
My mom loves white rice and black beans(99%Brazilians eat them everyday)with a twist:lime juice.And her greatgrandfather used to drink coffee with a spoon of butter.My father likes molasses with yuka meal.Actually in Brazil,especialy up north,we have yuka meal with just about everything...I guess this sounds pretty weird for you guys.
HalfPint, Mensaque, hardly anything sounds weird here on food52! Answers to this question have given me some good ideas. Coffee with butter? In Tibet they drink tea with yak butter. Eggs with soy sauce? Delicious!
This is going to sound awful BUT it's great and nobody will guess what's in it .. I gave it to a friend who teaches at the Florida Culinary Institute and he couldn't guess what was in it, and loved it... Here goes-- 2 cukes, 1 clove garlic, 1cup sour cream, 1 can campbells green pea soup--unbelievable!!!!Serve chilled, thin if you want
My mom would make what she called "Eatmore" whenever my dad was away for the night on business. It consisted of spaghetti, ground beef, a can of tomato sauce and and canned corn.
Here's mine: my mother used to make a spinach dish that was basically a can of copped spinach, drained and mixed with a can of cream of chicken soup and a splash of lemon juice. I loved that dish, especially after I added a lot of lemon to it. I tried for ages making it with "real" ingredients, and it's definitely better with fresh or even frozen spinach. But there's something about that cream of chicken soup...I could never match, much less improve, the taste and texture profile. So it remains a childhood comfort classic--one that I almost never make, but of which I have fond memories.
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Yes the fried bologna definitely, hmmm... maybe our Mom's are related.
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My mother made sandwiches and crushed potato chips in it. Bologna, mayo on white bread with crushed potato chips or tomato, mayo and crushed potato chips. Not sure how weird it is but certainly not the norm, but it's really good, to this day I sometimes do it.
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Sdebrango - our mothers must have been soul sisters! I thought I was the only one who ate this. Sometimes Mom fried the bologna first.
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I will put crushed potato chips in any sandwich I eat - I love the extra crunch and salt.
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Ah, fried baloney ...on Pepperidge Farm white toast, with French's Yellow Mustard. For some reason, we used to eat this occasionally for breakfast. (And I'm talking Oscar Meyer balonEY. 'Bologna' and/or mortadella are totally irrelevant to this iconic sandwich.) Speaking of which - another odd combo I loved as a child was baloney rolled up, or layered in a sandwich, with cream cheese. Preferably - in those days - Temp-tee whipped cream cheese in the magenta carton. Also, cream cheese and olive sandwiches (green, pimento stuffed from a jar - the kind your mom always kept in the fridge to make martinis. Or at least mine did. Not for me.
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Oh boy.. I always do that when I have chips lying around.. (dont crush them, simply add them as a layer though)
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I love this question, brings back some great memories of fun food. Glad to see I am not alone with potato chips on sandwiches. YUM! Yes, amysarah had to be oscar meyer bologna it was a staple in our fridge. This is such fun!
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I used to do that all the time when I was growing up. Turkey with mustard and crushed potato chips (and sometimes even a little ketchup)! I still do it everyone once in a while!
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My mother eats banana mayonnaise sandwiches. I never understood this, and frankly it sort of freaks me out, but maybe banana-mayonnaise-potato chip sandwiches?
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My Mom used to make banana, peanut butter and mayo, Is that an Elvis thing? I love banana and peanut butter but could never quite get into the mayo on it, honestly never tried it. She also used to eat on white bread really thick slices of onion with mayo and crushed potato chips, now that I think about it crushed potato chips were a re-occuring theme in my life.
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PB&J with Fritos! Add that to chips in the sammich list - delicious!
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Toasted english muffin with cream cheese & bacon. Also, french fries with brown gravy - yum!
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Poutine? (French fries and gravy) This is served in many Vermont diners.
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How could i forget the cheese curds?
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HA! In Canada these aren't weird combinations at all....but rather normal!
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HA! In Canada these aren't weird combinations at all....but rather normal!
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Cream cheese and dill pickles (the kind from the deli) on toast! My mom used to make them for us when we were little and I actually just had one for lunch today! Ooh, or fried bologna and cheese on buttered white bread - yummmy!
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Fried egg sandwich with pickles and mustard.
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All praise to cooks with cats and pickle fingers.
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Poutine is with fresh cheese curds (on top of crspsy fries & gray) a national staple in Quebec, Montreal. I'm talking diner fries with gravy and a squirt of ketchup.
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Poutine is definitely up there.
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When I was little we used to go to a place that had hot dogs with peanut butter on the kid's menu. I still love it today as an adult!!
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My brother used to eat that!
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I confess I often find myself wanting to order from the kid's menu. Don't have the nerve.
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Homemade Cheddar Macaroni with Crisp Bacon and Maple syrup drizzled over the top!
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I had a memorable hot dog from a street vendor in Seattle once who served his franks with a generous schmear of cream cheese. Amazing! Great question drbabs!
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As a Seattle resident I can vouch for this. Now I always bring cream cheese to summer bbqs.. a hot dog isn't the same without it!
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As a Seattle resident I can vouch for this. Now I always bring cream cheese to summer bbqs.. a hot dog isn't the same without it!
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ice cream with pretzels. Oh, yum.
and in the Acquired Taste Department: Homemade Gefilte fish. Never occurred to me -- until I generously offered it to someone and was declined--that the uninitiated wouldn't cotton to sugared, ground fish combined with matzoh meal stuffed into the fish's skin and boiled with onions, carrots and celery and a fish head. Yum.
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I have to agree on the gefilte fish. I can't imagine anyone who hadn't eaten it all their life even giving it a try.
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Well there is the proverbial maple sugar on snow with a pickle side served in Vermont - with freshly baked donuts if possible. We had this as kids when we would come a-visiting to see our grandparents.
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Wow how is it with a pickle? A sour pickle or sweet? My sister loves pickles so much she once asked the people at baskin robbins if they would make sour pickle ice cream. They said they didn't think it would sell. Clearly they have never been to Vermont.
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Sour is traditional.
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We used to eat dill pickle ice cream in Colorado--but it was a Mom &Pop kinda place, not Baskins Robbins
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I love a jam and hard cheese sandwich. With potato chips of course!
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My mother mixed canned tomato and canned nsplit pea soup and called it Puree Mongol. It was delicious.
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I have cookbooks with this soup (Joy of Cooking, I believe) -- how many of these are cultural icons of another generation (our, our parents)?
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Banana and mayo sandwich.
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Wow, this is really fun. And I thought my mom was the only weird one. I wonder what our kids will say about us?
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My mom always made us grilled cheese sandwiches with sweet pickle relish and yellow mustard...Delish!!!
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My mom always made us grilled cheese sandwiches with sweet pickle relish and yellow mustard...Delish!!!
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I remembered this from a question bugbitten asked. Hostess Cupcakes and Hostess Twinkies from the freezer. Only ate them through high school. But it is tough to admit!
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What were the names of those butterscotch fingers with the maple/vanilla icing? I loved those with potato chips!
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Loved those butterscotch things from Tasty Kake
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Peanut butter sandwiches with mint chutney.
Salt & pepper sprinkled on toasted bagel with Marmalade
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Black pepper on orange slices. My mom used to set out a plate after dinner most Friday nights and on holidays. Sometimes she'd add white grapefruit slices if she could find them.
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We used to eat the grilled cheese and yellow mustard sandwiches too. They were great!
My mom also used to take deli ham and heat it in a pan with ketchup. For whatever reason, I really liked it.
And fries with gravy are the bomb!
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How about baloney and American cheese on Sunbeam bread with yellow mustard and sweet pickle relish?
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Ahh, Sunbeam bread. You could tell it was the real stuff because it went stale in a couple days, just like bread. Like Thomas's protein bread, it's gone, yes?
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I'm pretty sure they still sell it in New Orleans.
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How about baloney and American cheese on Sunbeam bread with yellow mustard and sweet pickle relish?
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Pass the India relish, please. It seems to be going, going, gone, now that Heinz 57 is down to about 4.
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My fav is to take two pancakes and put one piece of cheddar on each side an then put bacon or my favorite, turkey sausage links in the middle, this is especially great when your running out the door.
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My daughter likes Tillamook cheddar with Nutella.
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I grew up in a smaller Midwestern city and when mom dropped my friends and me off at the mall to hang out, we'd inevitably go to Wendy's for their Frostys and then dip their salty French fries in the cold chocolate dessert. My love affair with salty/sweet began there, I'm afraid!
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Oh god, how those Wendy's Frostys haunt me! The not-quite-chocolate taste...And yes, always with french fries.
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Yes! I used to love McDonald's fries dipped in a strawberry shake.
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My mom and dad have eaten fresh tomato with cottage cheese for years. I used to make fun of it but have to admit I've grown fond of the combination. I've never tried it, but I know a lot of people who like PB and tomato sandwiches.
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I've always loved tomatoes and cottage cheese. It was best with warm tomatoes straight out of the garden.
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my father in law had some pretty strange sandwich combinations. But my favorite of them all was his sliced red onion and softened butter sandwich. Yum!
My husband's weird fave is peanut butter, bacon and sliced yellow american cheese, on bread or waffles or pretty much any form of carb. covered in maple syrup and he's a happy camper.
I've been known to eat an entire can of anchovies in one sitting...that's not weird, is it?
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A can of anchovies in one sitting? Not at all weird in my book...LOVE IT!!
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I think your dad-in-law was making a "New York Onion Sandwich." My own dad loved those. They seemed to pair well with a pack of Lucky Strikes.
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yes! also paired well with a pipe. And a beer.
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My Dad would do two things that shocked us as kids - and these were both 4 am insomnia snacks - either a THICK slice of onion smeared with peanut butter (no bread required) or and onion and liverwurst sandwich with loads of yellow mustard (which I love but not at 4 am)
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@aargersi, your Dad and my Mom, she was the queen of thick sliced onions any way she could get them.
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Sliced Vidalia onion sprinkled generously with salt & drizzled completely with lime juice.. need to take a minute to hold the slice to eye level & 'observe' the salt begin to dissolve and then scarf it down.
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The butter and onion sandwich....the original NY cucina povera.
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The butter and onion sandwich....the original NY cucina povera.
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My grandfather, a lifelong NY-er (except for his first 5 years in Russia,) sometimes ate a sandwich of sliced white onion and Limburger cheese with brown mustard, on rye bread. (Does Limburger still exist? Really smelly stuff - the durian of the cheese world.) He always had a beer with it, though it was very rare he drank at all. Haven't thought about that in a very long time. Good, if smelly, memory.
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amysarah, I would love to meet your grandfather. I'm a stinky, smelly cheese guy myself. The stinkier the better. And almost as runny as a poached egg. Bring it on!!!
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pierino, I'm a big fan of stinky, run off the plate cheese too...but as a small child, my grandfather's love of Limburger/onions seemed unfathomable. Was happy, however, to eat the rye bread - always the real deal, still warm from the long gone German bakeries of Yorkville. Anyway, I'd love to meet up with him too, but he's been gone for many years.
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you might love my anchovy butter recipe on my member pg. That and some toasted sourdough and i am a wicked happy camper.
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ditto here with whole cans of olives... & baby corn, & hearts of palm, straight out of the can, theres a certain je ne sais quoi element of comfort when doing that!
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Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches...
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Bosc pear and chunks of parmiggiano cheese Watermelon and bacon
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Yes pickles and peanut butter!!! So good! My mom introduced me to this and I'm hooked!
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i dont think this is weird at all, but my American friends all seem weirded out, so here goes: mozzarella, black beans, chipotle mayonaise, guacamole, and pickles sandwich :)
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I think that sounds pretty tasty, maybe with some crushed frito's!!
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Boxed macaroni and cheese made with powdered (organic, maybe) cheese, served with Patak's hot lime or garlic pickle.Very addictive!
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Feeling inadequate (as usual) the state of Arizona recently picked the official state food, the Chimichanga (I don't make this stuff up). A chimichanga is nothing more than a deep fried burrito. Phoenix and Tucson both lay claim to it in the way that the origin of the French dip sandwich is open to dispute in LA. Except that a French dip tastes one hell of a lot better.
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Is it Phillipe's in LA that had the great French Dip sandwiches? Used to go for luch fairly often when I lived out there.
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Phillipe's is the one that get's credit for it but it's open to argument. Still it's a hell of a lot better than a chimichanga.
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Here's one from my creative 14 year old budding chef. Next time you have a hot dog try Nutella instead of the usual condiments. Shockingly delicious!
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Back when the word "calories" wasn't even in my vocabulary, peanut butter, banana and mayonnaise (really Miracle Whip then), on toast, was a favorite. I thought I was the only one who ever ate that because none of my friends had ever heard of it. I'm happy to read here I wasn't alone! I also enjoyed grilled peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.
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I still love PB and mayo.
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Sliced reen olives (the generic ones with the pimentos inside) and cream cheese sandwiches. Also next time you get fries, try sprinkling them with sugar - tastes JUST like fried dough from the carnival! And I'm with Bevi on the sugar on snow/SOUR pickle combo. And you can't forget gran's homemade donuts and black coffee to go with your sugar supper.
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Hot chocolate and cheddar cheese (for dipping). Seriously.
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This sounds AMAZING!I'll try it!
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Totally forgot about my butter and sugar sandwiches on wonder bread. GREAT after-school snack.
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hey, I used to get that in my school lunch box... In Mumbai! Love it!
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Really!? i always thought it was an Italian delicacy. ;)
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Hello mrslarkin i used to have sugar on top of freshly made roti with lots of ghee and rolled like a wrap...
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My mom's "go to diet lunch" was cottage cheese topped generously with French dressing! I can't figure out how it kept her so slim..
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Richard Nixon ate cottage cheese with ketchup on top every day for lunch. (Why do I remember that factoid, when I can barely remember what I ate for lunch today?)
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My husband's grandmother made a dip with cottage cheese that was somewhat like a flavor she remembered from her childhood in Czechoslovakia. Cottage cheese with deli mustard and diced onions. It sounds weird, but is delicious with a kick and a bite from the mustard and onion. Many people look at it oddly when I serve it but anyone who tastes it loves it.
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My mom used to make us elbow macaroni, mixed with large curd creamed cottage cheese, which melted just slightly from the heat of the pasta. That combo isn't so unusual – basically a version of classic Jewish egg noodles with pot cheese…but the part that made it sublime: we’d sprinkle it with sugar as we ate, a little at a time, so it was still crunchy in every bite. Sweet, a little salty, creamy, chewy, crunchy, cheesy…
I made it for my own kids once when they were young – big build up about how it was my childhood favorite lunch. Their reaction? Decidedly ‘meh.’ Apparently, it's not DNA-linked.
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my mom made that too, been thinking of reserecting. it was called in our house, broad noodles cheese and butter. made with pot cheese, yes its large curd very dry cottage cheese more similar to farmers cheese- some butter salt and pepper. i loved to put ketchup on it! can't get pot cheese anymore...
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My mom always made us ramen noodles (without the soup, just the.noodles) mixed with butter and soy sauce. She called it Chinese noodles. When I had morning sickness that lasted all day, that was the only thing I wanted to eat some days. We also often had pasta mixed with diced tomatoes and sour cream. Lots of salt. And last, when I was younger, I loved ham and butter sandwiches.
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All these responses have jogged my memory. Mom used to love cottage cheese on top of 1/2 cantaloupe with black pepper sprinkled on top. There were no pepper grinders in our house in those days! And it really was/is tasty.
Also she would fry sauerkraut which we put over mashed potatoes. Tried to reproduce it for my Dad after Mom passed, and it was awful. Mom had it work.
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Growing up we ate fresh blueberries tossed in sour cream and topped with spoonfuls of sugar, preferably brown that had hardened just a little bit. My Dad still eats PB and mayo sometimes with bacon; still makes me shudder. Okay and since we are confessing, us kids would argue over who got to chew on the strings that tied the roast beef once it came out of the oven!
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Anita is a vegan pastry chef & founder of Electric Blue Baking Co. in Brooklyn.
added 4 months agoDrBabs, your answer reminded me of something. When I was a kid my mom's go-to potluck dish (for backyard cookouts, picnics, etc) was general tso's chicken from the supermarket deli mixed with a jar of salsa. People went gaga for it and everyone demanded the recipe. It amused her to no end.
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Anita is a vegan pastry chef & founder of Electric Blue Baking Co. in Brooklyn.
added 4 months agoDrBabs, your answer reminded me of something. When I was a kid my mom's go-to potluck dish (for backyard cookouts, picnics, etc) was general tso's chicken from the supermarket deli mixed with a jar of salsa. With toothpicks so people could eat like an appetizer. People went gaga for it and everyone demanded the recipe. It amused her to no end.
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This thread is conjuring up all kinds of weird taste memories. In college i worked at a small supermarket. Saturday lunch usually consisted of fried pork rinds, cottage cheese with the fruit next to it, and a bottle of strawberry yoo hoo. Yum?
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I'm so glad everyone is having such fun with this thread. Maybe this is where we started being creative cooks...by experimenting with food combinations, even unconventional ones.
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I have recently been using pineapple and cucumber together - in japanese nori wraps, or tortilla wraps, or as the base for a salsa. But I also like a bit of ketchup on toast with strawberry jam.
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When I was having physical therapy for my knees a few years ago, one day one of the therapists who was Hawaiian brought in nori wrapped sushi rolls filled with Spam. I had that in mind when I came up with this http://www.food52.com/recipes/search?c=1&recipe_search=tiki%20taco%20tuesday.
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Must look at that recipe pierino, speaking of spam, my Mom sliced it and pan fried it until it got a crispy crust and served it with over easy fried eggs and toast. I have to admit I liked it. Have not had spam since I was a child but your comment triggered a memory.
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Oh yes!!! fried Spam sandwiches....my brother's favorite!! And isn't Spam Hawaii's State Food?
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Is it really, wow!! When I think of Hawaii I don't think of spam. Amazing.
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Wikipedia says that it's so popular there that it's known as "Hawaiian Steak"!!
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Okinawa loves Spam sushi- grilled crusty then put on top of rice with a strip of nori to hold together. I think the airport sells erasers in this shape.
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My mom made Spam salad sandwiches. Grind Spam, dill pickles and mix with Hellman's Mayo. Spread it on bread or toast. We liked it better than ham salad! I made it a few weeks ago and my sister was thrilled!
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I have a recipe I engineered back in the very early 1970's. It's a mixture of hamburger, tunafish, onion, and relish.
1 1/2 pounds ground round
1 (6 ounce) can tuna packed in oil, drained
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
seasoning salt and pepper to taste
6 hamburger buns, split
Directions
Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat. When grill is hot, lightly oil the grate.
In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, tuna, onion, and relish. Season with seasoning salt and pepper to your liking. Form the meat mixture into 6 patties.
Place patties on the hot grill, and cook for 6 to 9 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Serve on buns with the usual toppings.
sometimes this is hard to hold together, works much better now that they have the package tunafish that you don't have to drain! If using canned tuna fish drain it completely it holds together better! I know it sounds weird but is absolutely delicious!
you can find the recipe under beefuna at all recipes.com
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Vanilla Ice Cream, date syrup, halva, and..... tahini paste (sesame paste). It doesn't sound weird to me at all, it's delicious. But when I wanted to serve it to a friend, she gave me a disgusted face... until she tasted it. Great question!
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I don't know why but these days I am going crazy behind dill pickles and chocolate by eating them together.
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OK, this is probably too bizarre, but I just read Mark Bittman's article about the demise of the Twinkie (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/twinkies-the-undead-snack/?hp), and it reminded me of what I used to make as an after school snack. Raw spaghetti dipped in chocolate sauce (probably Bosco or Nestle Quick at the time). Crunchy, starchy, sweet, chocolatey. I remember climbing up on the kitchen counter to find the thinnest spaghetti.
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Drbabs... Capital idea! Try toasting the spaghetti before dipping..Toasted spaghetti rocks. I cant help sneaking those when I use them for Indian food. The nuttiness would be AWESOME paired with chocolate.. Now I just HAVE to make some today!
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Love peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches! Also a great combo in a salad is fresh strawberries with thinly sliced red onions with a cream/sugar/vinegar dressing.
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We used to eat bowtie pasta with cottage cheese, sugar and black pepper as children.
My daughters used to love Tillamook cheddar cheese slices with Nutella.
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So did we! Only without the pepper, and my mom used elbow macaroni. There was a method to eating it: we sprinkled the sugar on a little at time as we ate, so it was still crunchy in every bite. (Seriously, this was like #1 lunch back in the day.)
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Grilled Cheese sandwiches with powdered sugar dusted on top. The sweet and savory combination of sugar and cheese is excellent!
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a book came out last year, women author subject is What do you eat when your alone, a whole book of all these great concoctions! me, sardines and well, sardines!
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Chili with a peanut butter sandwich on white bread- a specialty of school district 205!
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I just made a batch of shitake "bacon"...roasted 4 oz. sliced shitakes that were tossed with some olive oil s+p at 400F for about 25-35 minutes. I left them on the counter when done and the next thing I knew, my husband was spreading a brown rice black sesame cracker with homemade chocolate nut butter and putting the shitake bacon on top.
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But testkitchenette you must have tried one, how was it? Oh, gee, i'll just go try it!!!
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oooh, that sounds good!
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Sadly, I did not try the shitake bacon on top of the cracker spread with the homemade nutella. I highly recommend the shitake bacon though. I like to sprinkle it on just about anything savory I make...grain and greens with beans etc. To add to the weird combos, my mother used to make a toasted sandwich consisting of whole wheat bread spread with peanut butter with a slice of cheddar cheese on top. She then slid it into the toaster oven until the cheese was melted. I cringed and refused to taste it but I suspect it is delicious. My grandmother also used to serve my brother scrambled eggs with applesauce when he was a kid; he loved it.
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My wife makes a toasted sourdough open face with rubbed garlic, mayo, thin slice of lemon, small slice of pickle and a sardine.
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When I was a kid PB& J sandwiched at my school came with a slice of cheese on it, not in it but on top. No one knew why. But today I like sharp cheese and jam sandwiched.
I love tomato pie, thick crust pizza with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese served at room temp. I don't think this is weird but most people who have not grown up with it do.
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Fig infused vodka with a side dish of stilton (preferably from Harrods, London). I also love dipping my toast with strawberry jam in ketchup for breakfast.
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I go to a nearby market during lunch with a salad bar and a "hot bar." The combination of caesar salad and something they call "buffalo tofu" is really good. I think its the anchovies in the caesar dressing with the hot chili / toasted sesame oil that does it. And the cool creamy with hot spicy. Mmmmm, getting hungry....
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Peanut butter sandwich, dill pickles and tomato juice. Can't explain it
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Okay, a peanut butter, avocado and alfalfa sprout sandwich on whole wheat bread. This was from a hippie restaurant called "The Stomach," Portland, Oregon in 1970. I can still picture the place, with its tall, steamed-up windows and plants hanging everywhere, but this is the only food item I remember having there. As kids, my brother and I tried all sorts of variations of peanut butter sandwiches: peanut butter & pickle, peanut butter & cucumber (the best!), peanut butter and tomato, even peanut butter and canned sardines on rye!
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Eggs (any style) topped with a generous shot (or two) of soy sauce. It's how my peeps (the Viet) eat their eggs. My white friends always looked at me kinda weird whenever I did this.
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Spinach,bechamel,&parmesan cheese gratin,with olive oil and ketchup on top and a side of cream crackers and a huge glass of coke.
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My mom loves white rice and black beans(99%Brazilians eat them everyday)with a twist:lime juice.And her greatgrandfather used to drink coffee with a spoon of butter.My father likes molasses with yuka meal.Actually in Brazil,especialy up north,we have yuka meal with just about everything...I guess this sounds pretty weird for you guys.
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HalfPint, Mensaque, hardly anything sounds weird here on food52! Answers to this question have given me some good ideas. Coffee with butter? In Tibet they drink tea with yak butter. Eggs with soy sauce? Delicious!
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How about savory pumpkin and jerky beef?
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Sounds awful but is GREAT! Peanut butter on hamburger!
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This is going to sound awful BUT it's great and nobody will guess what's in it .. I gave it to a friend who teaches at the Florida Culinary Institute and he couldn't guess what was in it, and loved it... Here goes-- 2 cukes, 1 clove garlic, 1cup sour cream, 1 can campbells green pea soup--unbelievable!!!!Serve chilled, thin if you want
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My mom would make what she called "Eatmore" whenever my dad was away for the night on business. It consisted of spaghetti, ground beef, a can of tomato sauce and and canned corn.
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