Foods To Try Before You Die
By James Raiswell
There are some foods in the world that are simply too spectacular not to be tasted at least once over the course of a lifetime. And while the most interesting culinary delicacies usually hail from remote locations in the farthest reaches of the globe, have no fear: We've sourced out a handful of the best delicacies and suggested exactly where you can enjoy these palatable treasures.
So, for the adventurous eater, here are our picks for the foods to try before you die.
Cambodia
Is this a cure for arachnophobia? Probably not, but in the remote town of Skuon, Cambodia, fried spiders are served as daily delicacies and are known to be among the best in the world.
The spiders (a species known locally as "a-ping," which are about the size of your palm) are bred in holes in the ground or captured in the wild and killed. The spider is then breaded in a mixture of MSG, sugar and salt, and fried in oil with chopped garlic until the legs turn rigid, at which point the meat in the abdomen is no longer runny.
Eating spider is not dissimilar to eating lobster or crab, only you won't need a nutcracker to get past the exoskeleton. You'll find some good meat inside the legs, but the best stuff is considered to be the white meat inside the spider's head. Locals are also divided as to whether the abdomen meat (which contains the spider's eggs, organs and excrement) is a real delicacy or downright inedible.
Japan
What's not to love about a poisonous fish? You've probably heard stories about the inherently lethal qualities of this exotic Japanese delicacy, and we're here to tell you that these stories are all true. The Japanese blowfish (or fugu) is so deadly that a misstep in the preparation can release a poison into the meat that is 1,200 times more deadly than cyanide; each fish contains enough poison to kill 30 adults. The worst part: Death by tetrodotoxin is not a pleasant way to go. You'll remain fully conscious, but will be paralyzed until you eventually suffocate.
That being said, eating fugu should only be done in the best restaurants in Japan, where it is served by specially licensed chefs - the only ones legally allowed to prepare it. Eating the fish's liver and ovaries (where the poison glands are located) is strictly forbidden, but to complicate matters, one of the best parts of the experience of eating fugu is enjoying the unique sensation on the tongue provided by very small amounts of the poison.
And therein lies a nasty little catch-22: Enjoy the dish properly and risk death or play it safe and miss out on the experience.
In any case, you're well-advised to try fugu only in Tokyo's best restaurants.
China
Rest assured this name is a bit of an exaggeration. While these particular Chinese-style eggs have been preserved for periods of time ranging between weeks and months, none are kept for as long as 100 years.
To make century eggs, the Chinese take duck, chicken or quail eggs and sink them into a mixture of clay, ash, salt, and lime, then wrap them with rice straw and keep them in baskets or jars. Over time, the clay mixture hardens to a crust, while the acid introduced by the lime juice acts as a preservative to prevent the egg from spoiling. After a period of three or four months, the eggs are released from their casing and are ready to eat.
The experience of eating a century egg is more about how the egg looks than how it tastes. The egg yolk adopts a dark green color, while the egg white turns dark brown. The yolk itself has a strong, creamy taste, while the egg white tastes similar to when it's fried up and served over easy.
Serving a century egg is done in different styles. The Chinese will eat these eggs as a side dish or as a topping for a regular omelet. The Japanese have also latched on to this prized dish, serving it as an hors d'oeuvre chunked with slices of pickled ginger or with tofu, soy sauce and sesame oil.
You'll find the best century eggs at the Donghuamen Night Market in Beijing.
Japan
A much safer Japanese delicacy (at least as far as the eater is concerned) than fugu is odori ebi, which roughly translated means "living" or "dancing prawn." Odori ebi is a type of sushi that still contains live baby prawns that wiggle their antennae and legs as you eat them. The prawn is dunked in sake to intoxicate it before it's dipped into a special sauce and gobbled down. It's an incredible delicacy that you'll find only in Tokyo.
El Salvador
Iguana meat is a delicacy from the forests of El Salvador that has recently been making its way onto an increasing number of North American plates thanks to the prevalence of immigrant communities in the USA.
Iguana flesh has a reputation as a cure-all meat, fixing everything from colds to sexual performance. While we can't attest to its value as a curative, we can tell you it's regarded as a different but pleasant alternative to chicken; it's a bit stronger-tasting and tougher, but has similar taste characteristics.
Mexico
If the idea of eating mushrooms bothers you, then corn smut - or huitlacoche, as it's known in Mexico - probably isn't for you. Corn smut is a mold spore that attaches itself to maize and attacks the normal corn kernels, turning them into distorted, mushroom-like tumors. They are considered a delicacy in Mexican cuisine, where the spores are harvested while still immature and sold for more than the value of the corn itself.
When the spores are cooked, they have a flavor described as mushroom-like: sweet, savory, woody, and earthy. They're often used to flavor Mexican dishes like tamales.
It could be because of its name that corn smut really hasn't caught on as a delicacy in North American and European diets, but if you've ever had Mexican truffles, you've eaten corn smut.
There are a slew of delicious exotic foods you need to try before you die, but use this list as a starter's guide to some of the more interesting treats you can find around the globe. And remember, when it comes to food, there is always one rule of thumb to follow: Try anything once, because you never know what delicacies you may stumble across.
By James Raiswell
The best steaks aren't always the top-dollar buys in the world's finest restaurants. While Kobe and Wagyu beef are excellent, they have their share of competitors. Look for restaurants who obviously go above and beyond in their attention to detail. Do they age on the premises, for example? And who selects the cuts of meat for sale?
The finest steaks are those that are aged, seasoned and cooked to perfection.
Metropolitan Steak House, Seattle, WA
Metropolitan's main focus is on prime beef and the restaurant has built its reputation on delivering the best of the classic cuts: filet mignon, New York peppercorn steak, porterhouse, and Delmonico.
Chefs here personally select each cut that will be served and choose only the best corn-fed USDA prime meat that has been dry-aged. The meat is then seared over high heat using imported mesquite charcoal - the Iron Wood of the world.
Metropolitan's prime porterhouse is a combination of the best, most tender and flavorful cuts, and also happens to be the biggest piece on the menu. An excellent meal!
Peter Luger's, Brooklyn, NY
Leave your pretenses at the door. Peter Luger's is not a place where you sit down to wine and dine in style. This is a steakhouse first and foremost and it makes no bones about it.
The service here is brusque, but undoubtedly delivers some of the best steaks in the U.S. There's good reason Zagat's has rated Peter Luger's the best steakhouse in NYC for 23 straight years.
Owner Sol Forman dry ages all meat on the premises and he and his staff hand-select each piece personally. The result is a buttery, silky textured steak that melts in your mouth - it can't be beat.
When you go, plan to share: The steak for two (a porterhouse) is large enough to serve a small family and is backed up by a mean creamed spinach and fries.
Aragawa, Tokyo, Japan
This is undoubtedly one of the finest restaurants in the world.
Tucked away in the Shinbashi district of Tokyo is Aragawa, and the staff here is so fussy about their steaks that they serve nothing else and every cut is delivered to the table with only pepper and mustard.
Reservations are nearly impossible to come by, but the Kobe steaks - sourced from only one local farm - are beyond comparison and a real treat at $370 per serving.
Queue de Cheval Steak House, Montreal, Canada
One of Canada's best steak houses, the Queue de Cheval is known the world over for its prime cuts of meat.
Every steak on the menu is hand-selected from corn-fed animals and each cut dry-aged for 35 days in the restaurant's meat lockers. As you make your order, you are personally shown your steak before it's put to the fire.
The Queue's bone-in, 18-ounce filet mignon is truly an unforgettable and exquisite experience.
Al Muntaha Restaurant, Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai
Take one of the express panoramic elevators up to the top of Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai and one of the first things to greet you is a magnificent view of the Arabian Gulf and its coastline. At 200 meters above sea level, the view is breathtaking.
Take a seat at one of the restaurant's tables and the next to greet you is a list of some of the best Mediterranean cuisine money can buy. We recommend the Australian Wagyu striploin. A 300-gram piece sells for about $170, but the cut is cooked perfectly, giving it that buttery, beefy taste that only comes from the best Wagyu - truly a fine dining experience.
La Cabaña, Buenos Aries, Argentina
Take one bite of La Cabaña's 35-ounce Bife de Costilla (prime rib steak) and you'll see why the Argentineans are the most prolific meat eaters in the world. Here is Buenos Aries' finest steak and some of the best in the world.
Delicately seared on a spit and served with a bold Argentinean Syrah, the Bife de Costilla at La Cabaña is second to none.
Ekki Bar & Grill, Four Seasons Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
The menu at Ekki Bar and Grill is simple and varied - designed to be a take on contemporary New York-style cuisine. The chefs here pair their unique culinary skills with the best seasonal ingredients to produce some of Tokyo's finest entrées.
One of Ekki Bar's winners is the grain-fed, beef rib-eye. It's a departure from the Kobe and Wagyu beef more commonly preferred in Japan, but holds its own when cooked and seasoned to perfection and complemented by the best selection of new-world wines.
BLT Prime, New York, NY
You just know that any restaurant that features its dry-aging room as its dining room showpiece is serious about beef.
It's all about steaks at New York's BLT, be they Kobe or Wagyu or certified Black Angus or USDA prime.
The New York strip loin isn't the most expensive offering, but it's the best buy by far. Paired with the perfect sauce - three mustard, red wine or Roquefort - and married with generous sides, it's a meal you won't soon forget.
Gaucho Restaurant, London, England
Seek out London's Gaucho Restaurant fro Argentinean food done as well as the best in Buenos Aries.
As you enter Gaucho, and walk down the unique wrought-iron staircase, you can't help but salivate at the smell of meat firing on the open grill. Sit down and order the signature beef dish Churrasco de Lomo. It's a wonderfully tender and slim-cut steak that's opened and turned out before cooking, which gives it a chance to delight in its olive oil and garlic marinade.
La Relais de Venise, Paris, France
No one should go to Paris without tasting steak frites at least once and Le Relais de Venise serves the city's finest.
The menu here is limited - in fact you'll have almost no choice - and the servers barely tolerate you asking for any level of doneness other than rare. What arrives, however, is sublime. A romaine salad with walnuts and horseradish to start, followed by the beef, which arrives sliced and served with a secret herb-butter sauce with, of course, excellent fries.
The best steaks don't always have to be the priciest. When ordering the finest steaks, make sure they are selected with care, aged to perfection and seared to bliss. Marry your perfect cut with a winning marinade or best sauce and you have a meal fit for a king.
Here are some of the resources used within. Enjoy!
By Tanya Steel
There are few foods as iconic as the hamburger. Golden, glistening chopped beef sandwiched between two pieces of bread is as potent a global American symbol as Marilyn Monroe.
In The Hamburger: A History, author Josh Ozersky traces the origins of the "National Food of America,"from its much-debated origins (was it invented in Wisconsin, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Oklahoma, or Kansas?), to its quick rise to national prominence via Billy Ingram's White Castle, and the McDonald brothers, who created "the Model T of food, systematizing the process." Ozersky includes the wisdom of everyone from Margaret Mead to Thomas Hine to Ken Kesey in analyzing why this humble sandwich has reached mythic proportions; the few hundred million of us who love hamburgers will find this an interesting read.
By Michael Y. Park
"I'm going to eat your liver with a locally farmed watercress salad."
The UK's resident bad-boy chef and primary candidate for anger-management classes, Gordon Ramsay, said that he thinks that there should be a law in Britain targeting chefs who use non-local and out-of-season fruits and vegetables.
You'd think it typical Ramsay bluster, like spitting in a beleaguered TV contestant's food, but the guy's apparently dead serious, and has spoken to Prime Minister Gordon Brown about it.
Ramsay's plan is to fine chefs who use fruits and vegetables that aren't locally sourced and are out of season. Today's chefs, he said, have become lazy and faddish, and without a law, "the whole thing will spiral out of control."
The benefits, he said: cutting down on carbon emissions, importing less food, and improving food standards.
"I don't want to see asparagus on in the middle of December," Ramsay told the BBC. "I don't want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home-grown."
So far, reaction from British farm groups and nutrition organizations seems to be that, while Ramsay has the right motives, actually forcing people to eat locally and in season by law seems a tad drastic.
One thing's for certain: For political and economic reasons, it'd be impossible to even entertain the thought of such a law in the U.S.