I thought it might be interesting to go over a few food combos that sound just terrible when mixed together, yet go great together when a third food is involved.
This will be one of those famous "user participation" posts you read so much about in Blogger's Digress. As we did in Bag O' Links, I'll add any additions left in the comments to the list ASAP. The rule is, two of the foods have to evoke a "Yuck!" when mentioned together, but go perfectly well when a third food is introduced.
Probably the classic is ketchup and grape jelly, or any kind of jelly or jam. Can you imagine eating a bite of jellied toast, then tossing a spoonful of ketchup into your mouth? Yuck! Or eating some french fries with ketchup, then suddenly eating a teaspoon of grape jelly? Uck-yay!
Then you'll be sitting there eating some scrambled eggs with ketchup, and halfway through the chew you'll take a bite of the jellied toast, and there's your ketchup and jelly. And, amazingly, they go perfectly together because of the scrambled eggs.
And there's another small anomaly in the same meal. Would you mix ultra-sugary and ultra-salty foods together? Not usually. Yet there you are, chewing on the ultra-sugary jellied toast while stuffing another piece of ultra-salty bacon or sausage into your mouth, again brought together by the eggs.
Another oddity is pepper on bananas. You never see anyone peppering a banana, just because it would look too weird. In secret, or in the confidence of a mate, perhaps. I wouldn't know, I've never tried. It would just look too weird.
Yet I've peppered tons of bananas in my life. Sliced, on sandwiches. As soon as you add the bread and mayo, the pepper just seems to magically fit and the results are delicious. I'm not sure I'd eat a banana sandwich without pepper, just because it adds so much to the taste.
And here's one I bet you've never tried. How about munching on some barbecue potato chips... then washing them down with chocolate milk? Doesn't sound very appealing, I admit. We're back to that salt-sugar clash.
But, assuming you like egg salad sandwiches, the next time you have one, buy a bag of BBQ chips and your favorite brand of chocolate milk. It's just amazing how well the three go together.
How about garlic bread and soy sauce?
"Yuckypoo!"
Exactly. But there I was the other night, eating some garlic 'Texas Toast' with some Chinese eggrolls, dunking the garlic bread in the soy sauce on the plate. Somehow the eggrolls magically tied everything together.
If you have your own favorite food quirk, toss it in the comments and I'll slap it on the list. If you'd like to include an accompanying blurb like the above, please do so.
Reader Suggestions
And we have our first entry. Due to the horrid, repugnant food combo this person mentions, I'm going to shield him with anonymity so that he might retain what shred of self-decency he has left.
I always have liked ketchup on a pile of cottage cheese, on a bed of iceberg lettuce.
I sure wish I'd eaten breakfast before reading that. I may never eat again.
I read someplace that Nixon did too.
Or vote.
Mmm, a delicious cold shrimp salad! And you've got to have a good cocktail sauce, right? But, rather than use those standard boring ingredients for the cocktail sauce, Alan has a recipe that uses...
Fanta orange soda?
"Yuck!"
I didn't say this post would be pretty.
He admits he hasn't had the nerve to try it, but Big D has a recipe for a natural, homespun Italian dish featuring good ol' pasta and garlic.
And yogurt.
Say, Bird Dog, are we breaking any "endangering the public health" laws with this post?
But Big D's not through horrifying us. Say, you know what makes for a tasty breakfast cereal? Some Quaker Oats with a dash of cinnamon. That cinnamon really makes the dish, doesn't it? Oh, and don't forget to add the apple juice the night before so it turns into a thick, pulpy mass by morning. Bon app�tit!
Well, now that Big D's finished grossing us out, it's JoeC's turn. Hey, how 'bout a big platter of delicious smoked sausages? Plus, we've got some exquisite barbecue sauce here for you to dunk them in. And... here you go, sir, and please enjoy your meal. Oh, wait � you forgot your packet of grape jelly.
Santay offers a few tantalizing suggestions, but I confess I'm quite disappointed in the lad. He teases us with his scrumptious "sardine and anchovy casserole", then he dangles the ever-popular "meatballs cooked in red currant jelly" in front of us � and doesn't include the recipes! Show us mercy, good Santay!
Oh, wait. You were!
Our own Cap'n Tom describes what he calls "Heaven on earth":
Some dehydrated eggs on dehydrated mashed potatoes, smothered in dehydrated gravy mixed with Red River sewer drainage water strained through an old Navy sock, salted with a half-inch of sea salt and slowly roasted over a can of Sterno.
YUMMMMYYYYY..........
For those of you scoring at home, boat people are a little different than regular people.
Speaking of pepper on bananas, LS takes it to a whole new level:
The first time I tried habanero peppers it was a habanero jelly on sliced bananas.
Ay, chihuahua!
They go together like you wouldn't believe.
Caramba!
