Don’t Knock It Til You Try It
Bizarre, contests, food July 11th, 2009In my last post, I asked you to tell me what your favorite gross food combinations were. You didn’t disappoint. I told you I would pick one disgusting combination and award a Junk Drawer magnet for best worst one.
Since there were so many icky combinations, I decided to put some of them to a taste test because I’m nothing if not adventurous. Or stupid.
The ingredients:
- Cheerios cereal
- Pre-cooked bacon
- Peter Pan peanut butter
- Italian bread
- Minute Maid orange juice (concentrate)
- Sweet pickle slices
- Breakstone’s cottage cheese (Eek! I’m gonna eat it!)
- San Georgio elbow macaroni
- Welch’s grape jam
- Whole milk and spaghetti sauce (not pictured because I’m a dumbass and forgot to put them out)
For my journey, I started with the combinations I thought were gross, yet intriguing, and moved toward the ones I thought were sure to make me hurl.
First up, whole milk and orange juice concentrate, suggested by Babs Beetle. She says "I used to half fill a glass with orange juice, the kind you have to dilute with water, then top it up with milk and wait for it to curdle – about 10 seconds. Once it was all lumpy I would gulp it."
I put about 2ozs. of concentrated OJ in a glass and then filled the rest with whole milk and stirred.
This stuff is delicious! It reminds me of a place that may still be popular in shopping malls called Orange Julius. I’d forgotten all about it until I drank this. My recommendation is to make sure you do use full-fat, whole milk and perhaps add crushed ice. It’s extremely rich, though. You have been warned.
Grade: A
Next items: Orange juice and Cheerios cereal, offered up by Jenny, who wrote: "I guess I discovered this next thing when one day I poured a bowl of Cheerios and then discovered we had no milk. So I put orange juice on top and … WOW! IS THAT EVER GOOD!"
I took the rest of the concentrate and diluted it to make regular OJ. Poured it over the Cheerios and dug in. It was a fairly enjoyable sweet treat for breakfast, but the OJ gave it a biting aftertaste. Think of it as a candy bar in a bowl. With a kick.
Grade: C+
Next, we have the peanut butter-related combinations.
First, peanut butter and sweet pickle slices. Heather says, "I like peanut butter & pickle sandwiches, but the pickles have to be hamburger dill slices."
I have to admit I thought this was pretty high on the gross scale. To me, pickles should only be eaten straight up or on a burger. Let me tell you, this stuff was divine. The savoriness of the peanut butter, mixed with the sweet and tart flavor of the pickles, makes for a surprisingly good combo. And who doesn’t want a little crunch in their sandwiches?
I took a good four bites out of it, but had to discard it because I had a lot more to eat. If not for the calories, this one would have been completely finished off.
Grade: A+
Our second bacon-related combination is the one I believe was mentioned most often in the comments — bacon and peanut butter. I had such high hopes for it. I think you’re all familiar with my bacon addiction. What could go wrong?
Here’s what can go wrong. Apparently my bacon addiction is so bad, I now need 10x the bacon to get the same delirious reaction to it as I once got. I couldn’t taste the bacon! Did I make it wrong? How many slices should I have put on? Five are pictured here. All I tasted was the peanut butter. I’m so depressed.
Grade I wanted to give it: A+
Grade it got: D
Damn.
Now here’s where I encountered my first feelings of trepidation. The very idea of mixing grape jam and macaroni is so completely bizarre to me, and when I combined them in a bowl, I wanted to throw it out before tasting it. But I soldiered on.
Just look at it. Think about it. Does it look appetizing? No. Would you want to eat it? No. How did I like it? I didn’t. IT. IS. NASTY. Grape jam belongs on only one thing. Toast. Period.
A woman named Kathy suggested this and I wish she had a blog so I could link to it, and you could all go over and tell her she needs to have her head examined. Or her stomach.
Grade: F
For our last test, I spread my culinary wings. I don’t recall ever having eaten cottage cheese in my life. Why? Because to me it looks like yogurt that’s a year past its expiration date.
SewDucky suggested this concoction: "… cottage cheese, heated, with either pistachio pudding or spaghetti sauce mixed in. Everyone thinks I’ve lost my mind."
Everyone is correct.
I still have the aftertaste of this dish, and not a good aftertaste. I would characterize the flavor as sort of like manicotti filling, without the benefit of being enveloped in a blanket of pasta and being flavorfully-seasoned. Couldn’t take more than two bites. Warming it up did not help.
Grade: D
I hope you enjoyed my little taste test. You’ve all been so good waiting patiently for me to announce a winner.
******* Drumroll please *******
Winner in the category Worst Food Combination I Never Thought I’d Like: Peanut Butter and Pickles
Winner in the category Word Food Combination I Wouldn’t Eat Again For Any Amount of Money: Grape Jam and Macaroni
I’ll contact the winners shortly. As soon as I clean up my kitchen and explain to my husband why the garbage is full of half-eaten sandwiches and mushy things.
Stumble it!
July 15th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Well, you just saved me the $5.00 or $10.00 I would have spent on lunch. So, thanks for that. I guess.
Canucklehead’s last blog post..Going Greek! (part 3)
July 15th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Well, I was reading this while deciding what to make for dinner…but now I am not hungry. Also, what could we do with the pickle juice?
VetTech’s last blog post..I Can Get What with this Video Game?
July 15th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Somehow I ended up with heartburn just reading this post. I probably should have read it after dinner because now I’m thinking I may not want much more than a salad. I also can’t get that scene out of my head from Heathers where Veronica suggests mixing orange juice and milk together to make Heather Chandler throw up. You and Babs must both have stomachs of steel, or either Heathers was wrong about the upchuck factor, take your pick. Anyway, my hats off to you for trying everything.
July 15th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Well, I’m sure you got to be the guinea pig on this experiment! Nice job. Have you ever had mayonnaise and banana sandwiches? Try it on your next experiment!
CrAzY Working Mom’s last blog post..My morning started out normal but quickly changed…
July 16th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Canucklehead! Sorry. But, yes, you should be thanking me. New diet solution: Read Kathy’s blog when she talks about food. I was checking out some of your most excellent Greece pictures last week. What an amazing trip you had. Also, I want whatever camera you have.
VetTech — Sorry (see diet tip above). I’d dare you to drink the pickle juice straight up. There must be someone in the world who’s done it.
Staci — Wow, I forgot all about that scene in Heathers. Great flick. Why can I never find that on TV? Hey, at least we didn’t put acid in it. Isn’t that what killed the other Heather? It’s really very good, the OJ/milk combo. Swear to God. I wouldn’t steer you wrong.
Crazy Working Mom — I cannot have a mayo and banana sandwich because the very thought of eating a banana makes me urp. I wish I liked them, as they are so nutritious and would make a nice afternoon snack. If I wouldn’t hurl.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
in light of Kathy’s “bacon addiction” lol, I thought yall would get a kick out of this odd bacon product.
http://rollingpaperdepot.com/juicy-jays-sizzlin-bacon-p-438.html#top
July 17th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Kathy I bow down to your blogging spirit. My stomach shriveled up at that first item, although I did enjoy a good Orange Julius at Olag’s in the mall, back in the day.
And the pickles and peanut butter? Hell to the no. I hate bread and butter pickles, would this work with a dill pickle?
cardiogirl’s last blog post..The book of questions, Volume 51
July 19th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Anthony R — Awesome. And I guess it helps you decide what kind of munchies to have when the time comes.
cardiogirl — Yes, it works with dill pickles. In fact, I got it wrong when I prepared it. Although I loved it with sweet pickles, I’m told by Heather it should have been dill. Does that make you want to try it?
July 21st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I love peanut butter and bacon sandwiches! I demand a retest.
carol at A Second Cup’s last blog post..Aging With Grace: Something To Think About
July 25th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Next time you go to McDonalds buy some french fries and a hot fudge sundae. I get funny stares when I do this and a lot of “gross”, but it’s the best discover EVER> Dip those fries into the ice cream and fudge.
Not sure i would have been brave enough to try the bacon and peanut butter tho…lol
August 1st, 2009 at 5:32 am
Looks delicious! Now I crave ice cream.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:56 am
carol at A Second Cup — I’ve had a craving for PB and pickles the last couple days. I’m willing to try the PB/bacon one again, but not until I drop a few more pounds. Bacon is deadly for me.
Muse — Oh, yes, I’ve done that already. You’re right. It’s a food match made in heaven.
October 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 am
These would be perfect for an on-training diet for boxers.
April 22nd, 2010 at 6:19 pm
You are so brave.
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