Bizarre Foods.

Sorry Mr. Zimmern, but today I really have to use this title. Yes, today I'm cooking some bizarre foods. This is the best way out of the same old routine and get some excitement in our lives. But first we have to determine what do we consider "bizarre foods". Basically I think that we tend to call bizarre all foods that we are not used to. Yes we have a tendency to eat what we are used to, even if it is bad for us. We tend to make and remake the same recipes, eat the same things over and over again, without trying to open up to new foods or recipes. We eat a lot of fast food, and processed foods, and we try helplessly to convince ourselves that somewhere in there, there must be something good for us. Not true. All studies confirm that processed foods are not good food, and that there is a lot of things out there that we can eat: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean meats and a whole new world of recipes that we should try and enjoy. One easy way to change a bad eating habit is to be open to other cultures and the way they eat. Lately we seem to have opened up a little, we eat sushi, Mexican food and Chinese food.. but it's all somehow sanitized. These  dishes are not the same in their country of origin. We always end up bending the recipes to make them suitable to our taste. It seems that we consider ourselves the "culture of reference", but why should we? We eat cheese, we love cheese, but some cultures in Africa and Asia, way older than ours, don't know cheese at all, and may consider it bizarre. Some may consider a food "bizarre" simply because they never experienced it. So my question is: "How can we say with certainty that a food is bizarre?" Do we really know what goes into a hot dog? or into the fast food that we love so much? Other cultures know for a fact that food doesn't always come from a supermarket or in a plastic container. I've traveled around the world and seen many examples of cultures and peoples living on the fruits of their land: they eat what they grow in their fields and the animals they raise. They eat everything and nothing goes to waste. So have the courage to experiment, don't let anything (texture, color or smell) hold you back. Try everything at least twice, just to make sure that you really don't like it, but I'm sure that you'll find many things out there, that you thought were bizarre, delicious and that you'll ask for seconds.

OXTAIL STEW

                                                       

Guess what I found at the store the other day? Yes, I found oxtail. To tell you the truth, I've never seen it before in my life. Actually, I remember vaguely that when I was maybe 6 years old, I was at the butcher's with my uncle, who pointed out that the small bones on the butcher's counter were "oxtail". Of course, at that age, I couldn't even understand what was that. So, years later, here I was standing in front of the meat display case looking at oxtail. I was amazed that what I was looking at was not the skimpy little pieces of bone barely covered by meat, as I remembered it from my childhood, but a huge chunk of meat, like the osso buco cut. So, without any hesitation I took the oxtail home. I went directly to my sources: Julia Child cooks it in a minestrone type soup. The Egyptian Julia Child, Abla Nazira, browns it with onions and a bit of tomato paste. Other books don't even mention oxtail. So I guess I'm on my own on this one. And here's what I did. You'll need:

4 lb oxtail

3 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture

2 tsp sumac

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp oil

1/2 bag frozen pearl onions

Beef stock as needed (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 can (6 oz) tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste

The first thing I noticed is that oxtail is very fat, so I removed all the fat I could see. Now, mix the meat pieces with the onion/garlic, salt and pepper and sumac. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

When you're ready to cook the oxtail, put the flour in a shallow dish, and lightly toss the oxtail pieces in it. In a nonstick skillet large enough to hold all the pieces in one layer, heat one tbsp oil and start browning the oxtail pieces in it on all sides. Remove the meat to a platter. In the same skillet, add the second tbsp of oil and cook the leftover marinade. When it's browned, it will need only a couple of minutes, add the pearl onions still frozen and stir. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of beef stock or water. Stir the tomato paste in 1 cup stock. Return the oxtail pieces to the pan, add the tomato mixture. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Let simmer until the meat is fork tender. You may need to add some more liquid until the oxtail is done. Serve over mashed potatoes, pasta or rice pilaf.