Your five favorite flavors

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Originally an ILE thread, but what the hey.

1) Buffalo Wild Wings' Spicy Garlic wing sauce. I don't normally like storebought condiments that aren't fairly tried-and-true and multipurpose, like ketchup, mustard, etc. And I especially don't like storebought buffalo wing sauces, which too often seem to miss the whole idea of buffalo wings. But friends had gone on about Buffalo Wild Wings for years, and I'd never lived near one -- and then I passed by one in Cincinnati, when we'd just had lunch and had already made plans for dinner. So I bought some of their sauce. It's amazingly good, and I use it both as a condiment (for French fries, burgers, etc) and as the sauce it's intended. Half the time when I do so, whatever it is I've cooked is just an excuse to have the sauce.

2) Duck. The king of meats. When I did my "use every part of the duck" thing, I made a "duck and kidney pie" -- like a steak and kidney pie but with duck thigh meat and, of course, duck kidneys. I have earned my mouth's eternal gratitude.

3) Indiana apples. I've been discovering a lot of local apples lately -- Arkansas Black, which sort of tastes the way you figure Red Delicious is supposed to; Crispin, which I know is like the best-loved apple of the UK or something but isn't grown many places in the US; and Honeycrisp, which I don't even know how to describe. Crispness goes a long way with me when it comes to apples.

4) That sort of sour taste that really dark chocolate has. I know we call it bittersweet, but the thing I'm talking about is more of a tanginess, from (I assume) the acidity of the cacao. It seems to be part of what makes dark chocolate a more complicated taste than milk chocolate -- the baseness of the milk must counter that acidity. I was a little disappointed in "dark milk chocolate" (milk chocolate with a much higher proportion of cocoa than milk chocolate usually has) because although it was very good, it lacked that sourness. More and more, I think that love of milk chocolate and love of dark chocolate are two entirely separate loves.

5) Blueberries. Disappointingly, since Indiana is known for blueberries, we only had access to local ones for two weeks this year -- but the frozen wild blueberries we get at Kroger are better than any fresh blueberries I've bought in a grocery store. Pies, muffins, duck, truffles, pancakes, you name it, blueberries are great in it.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 12 October 2004 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

1) Pumpkin. Speaking of which, it's that time of year again. I need to find a good pumpkin bread recipe.

2) Anise. It's something of a specific flavor, though.

3) Salt. Is there anyone who doesn't like it? Goes especially nice with margaritas. Having a little bowl of kosher salt out on the table is permission for me to drop pinches on my tongue.

4) Ginger. Ginger might be now what "sun-dried tomatoes" were a decade or two ago, a food porn ingredient to have on your menu to make people excited, even if it wasn't necessarily good for the meal. Although (a) sun-dried tomatoes are easy to get wrong, whereas ginger is reliable, and (b) I am a total sucker for ginger. Those ginger chews from Trader Joe's? Any type of ginger cookie or cake? A fourth helping for me, thanks.

5) Yeast. OK, perhaps not the flavor of yeast, but I've become totally addicted to the smell of yeast, especially after it's been fermenting for a while. And smell is the better part of flavor. So. There.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

1) Caramel, which supplanted chocolate sometime last year as my dessert ingredient of choice.
2) That mix of vanilla, egg, flour, sugar, and salt that is raw cookie dough. No need for chocolate chips, just hand me the spoon.
3) That excellent parmesan cheese tang, with the gritty texture bits.
4) Dripping (beef, pork, chicken, duck, goose - I'm not picky).
5) Green olives and cream cheese

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

1. Heat. Maybe this isn't a "flavor" but I love any and all kinds of heat from food. Thai spice/heat is different from Indian is different from Korean, etc. I love it all, especially when your lips go numb, your nose starts running and you're like, "It's so painful... but it's so good!"

2. Dark meat from poultry.

3. Fresh Rosemary and thyme. Love them together on just about anything. I always think of Thyme as the woman (looks delicate) and Rosemary as the man (smells woody), and they got married in my head and won't ever be separted.

4. Strawberry.

5. Tapenade.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 10:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Casuitry - we're weirdly, weirdly aligned:

Pumpkin.
Anise.
Ginger.
Cilantro.
Belgian Ale.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Aww. I don't really like cilantro, though. And I'm mildly allergic to hops, I think. But otherwise, yes.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm always glad to know of another cilantro non-fan. I absolutely loathe the taste, and it's so trendy that it drives me away from going out to eat certain cuisines.

I've got to give this five flavors thing some thought; I probably won't post my five until the weekend.

― William Crump (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Mind you, my top five are just my top five of the moment -- although duck, blueberry, and dark chocolate are pretty consistently highly-rated.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Rosemary
Clove
Jamaican jerk sauce/rub (combination of spicy and pungent)
Red wine with oak (vanilla) and tobacco finish
Lamb

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Garlic
Caramel
Raspberry/Blueberry (I change my mind a lot)
Ginger
Really really really ripe tomato

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Ruebperry

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Precisely.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Seconded--A really ripe tomato is a thing of beauty--homegrown, yum.
It seems we shoud get more that 5 flavors, it's too hard. I need 5 sweet, 5 savory, 5 liquid!

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

It's true - then I could add really good tequila, oaky bourbon, and peanut butter.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll make German Green tomatoes (they stay green, I don't mean "unripe German tomatoes") my #6 -- I don't usually like raw tomatoes, but these are an exception.

Peanut butter is not a liquid!

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

no, but it's sweet.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

william -- "it's so trendy that it drives me away from going out to eat certain cuisines." -- like mexican?

― Remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

(err, that's on cilantro)

― Remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Remy, Mexican is one. Cilantro seems to have taken the place of parsley in the salsa at just about every Mexican restaurant I've been to lately. Indian is another; or I should say, I had a very bad Indian restaurant experience that involved cilantro in every freaking crevice of every freaking dish. It shows up a lot as a garnish at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Memphis, but they're cool about leaving it off.

It tastes like eating soap.

― William Crump (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Ooh, and extra super double sharp cheddar.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I felt absolutely the same way about cilantro for a very long time. It always tasted like soap, like an accident. And one day my girlfriend cooked me a lemon-cilantro bisque, and the curtains sprung open, the room was illuminated, and suddenly I enjoyed it.

Now that you point it out, however, I realize it's weird proliferation in ethnic cuisine. I can very much see how irritating it would be to find it on so many menus.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 14 October 2004 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I can handle cilantro in small doses, but yeah, soap.

Melon also causes some reaction where it tastes like metal, and is very off-putting.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 14 October 2004 03:41 (twenty-one years ago)

apparently, if cilantro (coriander) tastes like soap it means your mildly allergic to it. I can't stand it either.

― Vicky (Vicky), Thursday, 14 October 2004 06:34 (twenty-one years ago)

My sister loves cilantro and once said, "If the color green had a smell, it would smell like cilantro." She may have been high at the time, I'm not sure...

Luna, if you like wicked sharp cheese, try Cabot's Hunter's Chedder. It's "Seriously Sharp." And it comes with a cute plaid label. Like what hunters wear, I guess.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Thursday, 14 October 2004 10:43 (twenty-one years ago)

1. apple: calvados, hot cider, sauteed apples in an omelette, baked apples and some pork, caramel apples, apple pie...
2. bourbon
3. garlic
4. peppers of all variety and intensity
5. vinegar

I think I'm just in a mood, because all these flavors have a pretty heavy "tang" factor. garlic and some hot peppers would cut right through this wicked cold I've got.

what a tricky question!

― mayo apetrain (mayoape), Thursday, 14 October 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

In no particular order:
garlic
a fresh homegrown tomato straight from the garden bitten into like an apple while standing in the sunshine
salt/vinegar (I'm cheating!)
smoked gouda
lemon

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Friday, 15 October 2004 04:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Anchovy/olive - that excessively salty and savoury taste that you only appreciate when you're an adult.
Chips/roast potatoes - fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside.
Pomegranate - some mind say a needlessly complex fruit, but tastes like nothing else. Sweet and bitter at the same time.
Very rare steak - the blood still cool in the middle. A slice right across, with all the flavours combined. Yum.
Cheddar strong enough to make the roof of your mouth hurt.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 15 October 2004 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)

do you have violent/crazy tendencies? i just imagine someone ripping into raw steak and drinking pomegranite juice (which tastes to me like battery acid, but it's very nice to cook with)...

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Friday, 15 October 2004 11:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know, maybe I prefer very strong tastes...

although my favourite cheese is morbiere, which is very subtle indeed.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 15 October 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

msg! Doritos and ramen both have it and babies prefer it.

― nora (nora), Sunday, 21 November 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

melted brie on top of asparagus
thinly sliced apple and crunchy bacon
another vote for ginger in anything
punkin' pie or curried pumpkin soup
grilled chicken hearts

― nora (nora), Sunday, 21 November 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

oh wait, the grainy-ness of old amsterdam cheese

― nora (nora), Sunday, 21 November 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I meant to ponder this and post mine days ago!

1. Pesto
2. Shrimp
3. Lime
4. Vine-ripened tomato
5. Smoked Pork

Honorable mentions, aka #6-10: a perfectly grilled ribeye seasoned with nothing but salt; fish sauce; hot french fries with ketchup; roasted green chilies; ginger/lemongrass combo.

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 21 November 2004 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, tough one to narrow down. Currently garlic, chilli, mint, flat-leaf parsley and red wine vinegar.

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 22 November 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Pour those over lamb, and now we're talking.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 22 November 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

malt vinegar
garlic
lemon
orange
chilli

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 22 November 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

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