Educating your palate

Faith

I'm quite unadventurous and boring when it comes to food generally. When I eat out, I don't want to risk ordering something I mightn't like, so I stick to the same few things every time. I don't have the budget for fancy cooking at home either, and it's so hard to make interesting things for one person. So as a result, I have quite an uneducated palate, which I'd like to change. How does one go about educating their palate on a budget?

Honey-ec

Tapas or taster menus are always a good bet, but to be honest, the easiest way to do it is just to make a point of trying everyone else at the table's dish when you are out for a meal.

Talliesin

When eating out, you could go for something adventurous for the starter and a reliable for the main, so if the worse comes to the worse you aren't going to have ruined the whole meal.

For eating in, expensive things in small amounts can be managed on a budget that can't stretch to full-on indulgence. Again, having something relatively adventurous as a starter can be the way to go. Enough scallops, as an example of something relatively pricey, to make a main would set you back a lot, but enough for a starter would be a lot cheaper; still not something to go for every day, but not enough to break the bank on its own either.

Some very interesting things are actually pretty cheap. Hearts for example cost very little for the amount of meat you get and are very yummy. Poussin can be got pretty cheaply (around €3-4 each in my generally rather pricey local shop, 1 serves one person), quail are less than 4 for a tenner (2 serves one person) and other types of fowl are worth always looking at the prices for times when they are quite low. Guinnea-fowl tend to be pricy but sometimes you can see them going quite cheaply. And you can boil up the carcasses of any of them to make a good stock, which is pretty much free if you've already eaten the birds.

Indeed, just about anything is worth a scan of the prices for surprise bargains.

And of course, don't forget the current darlings of the dinner-party set; Lidl.

The Sweeper

Go around the supermarket fresh section, and buy something you normally wouldn't.

Buy something that you either don't know the name of, or that you've seen a lot but never eaten. The internet is a massive resource for cooking - get your ingredient home, google it and then figure out what you're going to do with it.

It might mean another trip to the store, but as you build up store cupboard basics like herbs and spices, you'll find your whole eating experience becomes more interesting the more you use additional flavours.

watna

Do your friends cook much? I find our friends in NZ are quite in to cooking but my friends at home were a lot less adventerous. We regularly go over to each other's house for dinner and often they'll have spotted an ingredient at the veggie market, will buy it and then find a recipe around it. That way we're all trying something new but in a format that they know is going to work (most of the time!). Recently they bought kafir leaves (lime leaves) which I'd never tried. They made a Thai curry but with the kafir leaves and it was yum.

It's made me a bit more adventerous in what I buy - especially if we're having friends over because I'll make the extra effort. My palate has improved a lot from living in NZ - because of the people we associate with and because the restaurants are a lot more varied here. I've got quite in to Malaysian recently. I also order the same things at restaurants because I like what I like and I want to enjoy my meal but as was said above, I order different starters, just to try and taste everyone's meals!

Do you have a veggie market near you? We're lucky in that here they're all run by Chinese people so you do get some unusual things. They're quite eager to tell you what they are though. Maybe you could pick up one thing at the market (or as MAJD says above the fresh section of your supermarket) and find a recipe for it. Once you start trying new things you'll know what you like and can incorporate it in your own recipes. If you do one a week you'll have loads in no time!

ntlbell

Faith wrote: »

I'm quite unadventurous and boring when it comes to food generally. When I eat out, I don't want to risk ordering something I mightn't like, so I stick to the same few things every time. I don't have the budget for fancy cooking at home either, and it's so hard to make interesting things for one person. So as a result, I have quite an uneducated palate, which I'd like to change. How does one go about educating their palate on a budget?

What you could do and I have done in the past is order the dish I like and ask the waiter if it's possible I can taste the dish that I'm unsure about they'll bring you out a sample of it normally at no charge...

Why is interesting food for one not interesting? just make it for two and bring it to lunch? have the next day..freeze it etc etc

keane2097

Good thread - some great ideas. Hope to hear some more...

acorntoast

Specialty food suppliers at say farmer's markets will let you try before you buy - olive stands, cheese mongers etc.

It's a while away, but you could try this out in June.

rockbeer

Travel

The Sweeper

I have to admit, on the restaurant thing, I'm terrible for only ever picking something that I'm certain I'll enjoy. Part of it is because I don't eat out that much, and when I want to eat out, it's usually because I feel like treating myself.

Hand in hand with the 'treat self' feeling is usually 'comfort food'. I'm terrible for nearly always ordering the same three things - calamari if I know it's good in the place I'm in; carbonara if I'm anywhere Italian and something with a lot of chili in it if I'm somewhere new. In Indian restaurants, it was always a lamb madras with something including spinach on the side. (Not that I can find the sort of British Indian fusion food I was used to in Australia - plus side is my waistline shows this lack of indulgence.)

antoniosicily

It's really simple: go cook yourself with some fresh produce.
You will learn how to recognize if something is fresh and how to spot bad-quality meals which, if you live in Dublin, are pretty easy to catch.

Minder

I'm curious to know if your dinner out on 09/10th was an effort at broadening your palate or a typical meal that you would order. Tiger prawns in garlic butter, monkfish, celeriac mash, wilted spinach, crab bisque and a bite of venison - hardly the palate of an unadventurous diner.

Being adventurous when eating out is fairly simple, the challange will be to try and cook a meal for one at home that will be interesting and different. What will you use for inspiration? Some of the cookery books on the shelves are a useful mix of eclectic recipes - favourites pulled from a wide range of food cultures. I'm thinking of Rick Stein's Food Heroes for example. Tonnes of recipes for starters, main courses and desserts - there are french, asian, spanish, traditional english and indian influences. If you haven't seen the books, have a flick in a bookshop.

I think it is much easier to decide on a menu (for want of a better word) and source the ingredients for that meal - as opposed to buying a basket of ingredients and then looking for a recipe that will fit.

What sort of meals would you typically cook at home?

Mr Magnolia

If I see something on a menu that I've never tried before I'll definitely order it. It's generally a safe enough thing to do if you're in a decent restaurant. Always keep an eye on the specials, they're usually something that a chef enjoys cooking or something damn tasty.

From a practical point of view, think about what you're tasting and which flavours are evident or prominent, it may be a herb, a spice (etc.), or a combination, if you're unsure then ask. Decent waiting staff will be delighted to assist you as you appear to be taking such a keen interest in what their food. I was very guilty (and still am occasionally) of putting food into my mouth and thinking 'Mmmm, that's good' without thinking about what's actually good ie. the flavours I'm experiencing and how they work [or don't work] together.

Also, from a cost point of view, I couldn't recommend lunch menu's at the top restaurants highly enough. The quality of food and service is every bit as good as the evening á la carte menu but at a fraction of the price. Most restaurants have sample menus available online for a look too.

Faith

ntlbell wrote: »

Why is interesting food for one not interesting? just make it for two and bring it to lunch? have the next day..freeze it etc etc

It's not that it's not interesting, it's just much more difficult to scale down a recipe for one person, and I hate eating the same thing more than 2 days in a row. My freezer is the size of a letterbox, so freezing is unfortunately difficult. Once I move to a place with a bigger freezer, it will be easier.

Minder wrote: »

I'm curious to know if your dinner out on 09/10th was an effort at broadening your palate or a typical meal that you would order. Tiger prawns in garlic butter, monkfish, celeriac mash, wilted spinach, crab bisque and a bite of venison - hardly the palate of an unadventurous diner.

It was a mixture of both. I love prawns and garlic, so the starter was an obvious choice. I'd tried a small bit of monkfish before in a fantastic seafood restaurant before and liked it, so I decided to try it as a main ingredient. The celeriac mash, the crab bisque and venison were all experimental. I do like to try other peoples dishes alright.

Minder wrote: »

What sort of meals would you typically cook at home?

This is largely where my problem lies. The only meats I really buy are beef (even then I stick to mince and steak) and chicken. This is largely due to A) being on a student budget, having a tiny freezer, and C) cooking for one. I tend to cook very basic meals - stir fries, shepherd's pie, lasagne, roast chicken, that kind of thing.

I've just gotten Cooking Guide for my Nintendo DS which is very interactive and clearly laid out. It scales recipes too, which is handy. I'm going to try and cook a few new things every week with that and see how I get on!

Thanks for all the advice, folks, it's really helpful.

Asiaprod

Stock up on condiments and herbs/spices. Two I use a lot and are found in most Japanese homes are Oyster sauce and fresh ginger.
Use the Oyster sauce in stirred fried vegetables, with fish or prawns dishes, all very yummy.
Fresh ginger ground down is added to any meat dish to give it a bit of a tang. Great in humble beefburgers. Don't forget the Garlic. Nice one for this is to coat the entire garlic bulb in a little virgin olive oil and bake in the oven.
A good olive oil is a must, use it to make simple spaghetti sauces of just oil, chill peppers and the shell fish of your choice.
Buy a cheese you would not normally buy. Use it with herbs as a stuffing for grilled/oven baked chicken breasts.