What food tasted so great that 'someday' you will figure out the secret recipe?

I used to get these great anchovy mashed potatoes for lunch at a hotel where I worked. I think it was a can of anchovies thrown into the mixing machine. Some day I will experiment and find out what portions to use.

Just some crappy meat, a little flour, and him getting up at 4 a.m. to start it for a noon dinner. Nothing like it.

.
.
.
I only saw (and had) it ONCE in a small gasthaus in a tiny village outside of Nurnberg.
.
I've just recently found recipes for it online and may give it a shot.
.
As I remember, there were a lot of tiny-diced red, yellow, and green bell peppers in a
light brown, slightly spicy sauce.
.
.
.

...many of them in German. It seems to be ubiquitous and is considered quick food. I'll consider making it too.

;)

Anchovies got me close but still no luck. I'll probably find out later they just pour in a bottle of Robitussin and a teaspoon of used battery acid but I'll probably never know.

.
.
.
Amazing food. REALLY nice chef/owner with a background of, I believe, having
been head chef at a couple of the finer restaurants in town before he opened
his own place.
.
.
.
I used to stop to get some of his grilled asparagus to go. Finally worked up
the nerve to ask for the recipe (the only time I had done that before was
for stuffed mushrooms at a fine restaurant outside of Philadelphia. That chef
refused -- even though it probaly involved reducing a veal stock for 20 hours
or something else impossible to duplicate at home).
.
.
.
THIS chef's secret? Simply misting the asparagus with olive oil and sprinkling
it lightly with sea salt and then cooking on the barbecue grill. M-m-m-M-M-M!!!
.
.
.

Able to find and make them both. The eggplant dressing was lighter than cornbread but the herbs made it taste the same as regular Thanksgiving cornbread dressing. Thanks for reminding me, might make some for Christmas or New Year's.

EGGPLANT CASSEROLE

Yellow cornbread, without sugar, crumbled fine
Canned pimentos or ripe red bell pepper, diced medium
Yellow onions, diced medium
Celery, sliced thin
Olive oil, butter or ghee
Brown yard eggs
Cheddar cheese, grated
Parsley, fresh chopped or dry, a lot
Sage, rubbed, as much as possible
Rosemary, very small chopped leaves
Thyme, dry, a little less
Marjoram, dry, just a little
Seasoned Pepper (I use Lawry's)
Sea Salt or other salt
Chicken broth or any other kind

Coat baking pan with olive oil, ghee or butter. Start water boiling in a large pot. Preheat oven 450 degrees Fahrenheit.*

Cube unpeeled eggplant to about 2X2 inches. Add to boiling broth or water. Cook until soft until easy to mash. Mash in drainer to get rid of liquid. Save the broth.

Put it in your mixing bowl. Mix in diced pimentos, onions, celery, herbs and spices.

Stir cornbread crumbles into mixture at a ratio of 1 part cornbread: 4 parts eggplant. The consistency should be like well-moistened dressing/stuffing. If it's too wet, use more cornbread crumbles. If it's too dry, add broth. Add a whipped egg to help it bind together and toss in shredded cheese.

Pour it into your baking pan and cook until it is solid but not dry.

*Make sure if you use a glass pan that it is completely dry so it won't crack. A cookie sheet under the pan will help if one uses a lot of liquid to prevent boil over.

When I make this, the taste of the eggplant is hard to tell from the cornbread. But it has less starch and more soft vegetable matter, so it's not as heavy as cornbread dressing. It will slice into squares or crumble depending on the ratios you choose to make it with.

Treat it like you would cornbread dressing in a meal. Serve with pork or poultry, or have as a vegetarian dish.

I've been thinking of making a cookbook to sell because I've written hundreds of recipes over the years and people like my cooking, although I've greatly simplified my cooking. Let me know if this ends up tasting good to you. And I don't usually write down measurements, but sometimes do if someone requests that I do. Oh and Meow!And I hope DU3 has kitteh icons!)

The candy-coated popcorn that Sears used to sell hot about 30 years ago. Something about the combination of flavor, texture and sweetness was perfect. I could eat a whole bag of it without stopping.

Big Train Spiced Chai. No other brand comes close, in my opinion, and I can't figure out exactly how they get that flavor.

Kellogg's Concentrate cereal. We had it when I was a kid. For years I thought it was mainly wheat germ with sugar, but I've read about it and it was produced by a complex process.

Salat-eh-Olivieh, the rich Persian chicken salad. I've gotten the recipe and tried to make it, but it just doesn't taste like how it does in Persian restaurants.

And the pizza from a place called Top Pan Pizza on Central Avenue in Phoenix in 1978 - best pizza I have ever had, period.

Was the candy coating the same as hard-candy mixture, but sprinkled on the popcorn when the mixture is still in the soft stage?

It was kind of a sweet syrup that had a buttery flavor, and when it cooled a little it hardened to a thin coating, similar to "Screaming Yellow Zonkers" except served hot. It's been over 30 years so I can't quite picture it but I can remember the smell of it, a buttery, slightly caramelized smell, like it was yesterday. I don't know what they used to flavor it but I've never smelled anything exactly like it since.

Found this at food.com & there's a picture, too:

http://www.food.com/recipe/candy-coated-popcorn-153154

I'm sure it would taste just as good without the food coloring. Thanks for the recipe!

the chocolate chip cookie recipe......

Wait, I already know that one. It's still great!

I grew up in the Yorkville neighborhood on Manhattan's upper east side. We used to get great pastries from Bauer's on Lexington Avenue. I've had dozens of linzer tarts since then but none were near as good. (Their chocolate covered oak leaf cookies were great too!)

secret recipe for their chip dip. Not the standard salsa, but this one must have mayonnaise for a base, but it's got a punch to it that wowed me the first time I had it.

Now, I've gone to eat there just to have their chips and dip.

It's not a cheese dip, either, as I've tried to find something like it online, but so far, no match.


A couple of others, though: Olive Garden's Stuffed Mushrooms, a tomato bisque from the Dupont Hotel in Delaware, a Oriental Salad from BJ's Brewery in CA, a small Italian place whose Tomato and Cucumber Salad Dressing is/was divine, and the balsamic dressing from California Pizza Kitchen. Oh,, and one I forgot: this absolutely wonderful Cashew Chicken from a Thai place in SoCal. My one regret to coming back east was leaving all those restaurants behind.


OTOH, I've never found a restaurant yet that could infuse a Chicken Cacciatore with as much flavor as I make it myself. :)

My mother and I have been trying for years to get it right. My theory is that we'll have to bottle Bayonne, NJ tap water to get it right.

And I'm also trying to figure my other late grandmother's recipe for stuff cabbage. Its fun trying.

I haven't been there in probably a decade, but back in the 70s I used to love that stuff. I even got a gallon of it once - probably about the last time I went.

Don't know if they even still have it or if my tastes have changed (I can't stand a lot of processed food anymore - and bottled salad dressings are one example - too chemical tasting compared to homemade)

still love the KFC original too, have seen recipes but never really tried them as my fried chicken is damn good

All I remember is it started out with heating the spices (one of which I know was mustard powder) and walking into the house when she was making it (the sauce, not what she would cook with it) would immediately cause your sinuses to unclog and your eyes to water and if done in bulk would likely require a hazmat suit with breather.

Yet somehow, it tasted fantastic on chicken and pork.

Dump a can of anchovy fillets into a small saute pan.
Stir them around for a few minutes and they will LIQUIFY!
Best way to use them in a Caesar salad or mashed potatoes, or whatever.

Add a little dry white wine and it makes a great salad dressing for dipping leaves of Belgian Endive.

amazing. Must have been a combination of the oils and the salt that made it taste so good.

Anchovies are used in real caesar salad (you actually rub the anchovies all around the wooden bowl you mix the caesar salad in). My mom likes them on pizza.

Damn, I loved that sandwich as a little kid - I'm sure it was totally bad for you but just delish with a chocolate shake. And you ordered from a phone at your booth.

It was kind of like a deep-fried cheese sandwich - had some sort of great coating, white bread and a cheese food not unlike Velveeta. YUM!

Had it on a trip to Canada; best cereal I ever had. It's sort of a swiss-style muesli\granola, and someday I'm going to duplicate the recipe right.

Banana pudding from Magnolia's in Bloomingdale's... There was an actual online recipe for that and was really really easy... the best banana pudding recipe EVER!

3D burger was. That sauce was great. When I was in college, once a week a bunch of us would go to HoJo's and pack down 2 of them. Dorm food was really bad back then.

I don't have any idea what was in the sauce but I loved it.

Cheese fondue with shrimp and crab.

a vegetable broth with spices. Then at the end of the night you add noodles to the broth and eat it as soup. My favourite all time fondu has to be Mongolian Hot Pot. I had a few tastes of it as a kid and never forgot it. Some day I'll try it again.