Also curious about things that are the other way around where they look really good but taste awful.
I used to have a tuna casserole recipe that came out of the oven completely grey. Grey fish, grey peas, grey cheese. Very tasty. Quite oily though, so probably best if I don’t rediscover the recipe.
I remember absolutely hating the look of sorrel soup
.Its murky bowl of swamp water
Congee. It’s a Chinese rice dish. It’s not bad tasting, but it has all the looks and texture of regular boiled rice with equal parts runny snot. It even more closely matches the “runny snot” impression if it’s correctly salted.
Pork Shumai. Also Chinese, but actually delish AF. But like so many other Dim Sum foods, it also looks - if made correctly - like it’s dripping with gelatinous snot.
Chicken’s feet. Also Chinese, these are braised in soya sauce until they look like little clawed grave markers of an incompletely-buried avian body. You’re not Chinese if you don’t eat these with absolute gusto. Meanwhile I’m thinking if the barnyard poop indelibly buried in each crevice of that clawed monstrosity.
Sauce: married to ethnic Chinese first-gen for the last twenty years. I’ve been exposed to a lot of Chinese foods, especially those from the Canton region.
I’m going to say Sviðasulta með rófustöppu. You take sheep head and turn it into whatever this is and serve it with a mashed orange beetroot and it’s A+ category food.
Jesuschrist, looks like the texture wasn’t applied correctly.
Sheep’s head, or sheep’s brain?
The former is fine.
The latter screams spongiform encephalopathy.
Most British food, haggis, black pudding, kidney pie. Also tried marinated intestine once in Shanghai and got addicted to it, so now I’m always on the hunt for authentic Chinese restaurants that serve it.
Basically most offals or paste-like foods.
.
No, I’m not a wendigo lol
There’s a pie in that soup, isn’t there - digger?
Hungarian cuisine All of it
I frequently watch videos of people from outside the US trying biscuits and gravy for the first time. Every one starts with “I’m not trying that disgusting slop” and ends with “I want to eat this every day for the rest of my life”
Random pic from the Internet for reference.
This was my experience with poutine before and after visiting Canada. No one truly gets it until they’ve had it. The real stuff. Not shredded mozzarella over fries.
White cheddar cheese curds/squeakers over fries with piping hot brown gravy poured directly over.
Now I live in Canada and eat it all the time.
Got a picture because that sounds awesome.
Edit: NVM I saw the other comment
I have not found a better hangover cure than biscuits and gravy.
Well, except moderation of course, but you know… the everything.
Hashbrowns covered in chili, cheese, and sausage gravy. Aka the waffle House smothered hashbrowns
Waho is almost cheating, everything there is great hangover and drunk food
For the looks good but tastes awful category I’d go with fondant.
Haggis
Anything Scottish. Stovies (basically stewed leftovers) most closely resembles cat vomit but is honestly delish 🤌
Poutine
As a Canadian: fuck, no.
Poutine isn’t visually unpalatable in the least. It’s just fries with curds and gravy. Unless the kitchen did a total hash of the dish and fucked it up six ways to Sunday, there ain’t no way it looks bad.
It’s even better with extras in it, like pulled pork, wiggly bacon chunks, or chopped onion greens.
Ghanaian Shitto sauce. Silly name, looks like the output of extreme gastro-intestinal distress, but is an absolute God-tier condiment.
looks like the output of extreme gastro-intestinal distress
I love the way you describe it, ha ha. It seems to be pretty spicy, from what I’m reading?
Scrapple.
I first had it at a diner in Philly. I tend to try things I might not get a chance to try elsewhere and so I asked what scrapple was. I was told it was better not to know and just eat it. Delicious.
Scrapple is parts. Sliced thin, fried up crispy, served with maple syrup. Mm mm mm. It’s still parts though.
everyone I know who grew up in that area despises scrapple. I think it’s just PR and tourism keeping it around haha.
My sister would buy scrapple and immediately cover the ingredients with black marker.
Escargots
Escargot is just a medium for butter.
And garlic. Yum!
Durian looks like it would be good, but it’s awful. The garlic aftertaste is the worst.
Durian is top tier. By far my favorite fruit. I even love the smell now (found it repulsing at first try, but came completely around on it over time)
Definitely polarizing though - people seem to either love it or hate it.
I found out after I tried it that there are different varieties. The one I had smelled kinda like rubbing alcohol but tasted somewhat like honeydew
