Overrated food

"Can't stand cooked salmon, love smoked."

Where I live there's Hot Smoked and Cold Smoked Salmon, the Hot Smoked is of course cooked-Cold Smoked cured in a-------wait for it-----------cold smoke.

And of course both are brined first.

I had never heard of hot smoked salmon. How would you describe the taste and texture? Is it like a smokey-tasting cooked salmon or closer to cold-smoked salmon?

Hot Smoked Salmon looks like this

You can see it's been cooked because of the oil (it's a Sockeye which is a very oily fish) that's risen during the hot smoke-note that's a home done job not slick looking just delicious.

Like all Salmon though it's best eaten cold and letting the fish sit in the fridge for at least a day and often longer after smoking vastly improves the flavour for whatever reason.

Here in British Columbia we have 5 different species to choose from some are better hot smoked than cold and vice versa it's a real cornucopia.

Whatever one might otherwise think about salmon (smoked or not) cooking+ it is a crime against humanity (and salmon-ity). And that is +all there is to it.

W.

@bjd Salmon soup is... well, let's say it's just not my bowl of soup! Both the taste and the texture of the fish become utterly unappealing when it's cooked, and the smell is rather revolting, too. The best Norwegian fish soups (like the legendary Bergen variety) are made with white fish.

W.

#55 What about Norwegian salmon soup? It's delicious and the salmon is cooked a bit.

I agree with #50 about Croatian food. I don't remember anything I ate there except a mediocre pizza. The wine is terrible too.

I had good grilled meat and sardines in Croatia.

Do the Croats go in for grilled meat the way they do in Bosnia and Serbia? I have happy memories of some stupendous mixed grills in Belgrade and Mostar. Also of the delicious home cooking of the mother of a Bosnian friend, highly flavoursome meat dishes and pies, though I didn't come across anything quite like it in restaurants during my brief visit to Bosnia.

Ah, I deduce from Vinny @57 that the answer to my question is 'yes'.

Hi everybody, hehe, now you see precisely my point about why I feel like weirdo for disliking those foods. They are all very popular and probably for good reasons that escape me. The mango jam sounds delicious and if it wouldn't send me to the hospital, I am sure that I would love to try it! As it is, I have to content myself with peaches and other orange fruits instead. I am also mildly allergic to kiwi, which is very unfortunate. Mangoes are in the toxicodendron/sumac family and are related to certain poisonous plants that are common here in America. Reactiveness to toxicodendron plants is likely to be somewhat genetic, though lots of people are immune. I am actually more allergic to mangoes than I am to poison ivy (to which I just have an ordinary reaction). I'm also probably allergic/reactive to sumac which turns up in Lebanese foods sometimes, I have noticed. Obviously, I am in no hurry to test that theory. I just order something else.

Now onto more pleasant subjects, like why cooked salmon makes me want to vomit (joking!). Really, I want to emphasize that I don't want to offend anyone, because I know that I am in the minority about these things (hence, to me, they are overrated). The world is so much better because we all cook, eat and like different things. It is interesting how intense dislikes of foods are often linked to psychology and childhood. Of course, we also all know about the links between taste and smell as well. I had a horrible stepfather who was from near Seattle and who consumed a lot of salmon (cooked or smoked), so I probably developed a Pavlovian disdain for it. That aside, I also just don't like the smell of any of the foods I mentioned (aside from burgers, sure they smell good but they are still overrated). In the case of salmon, the oiliness is probably part of what I don't like. Why else can I tolerate salmon as fresh sushi/sashimi but not after its been cooked or sat out for a bit? The oils probably become more pungent during the cooking process and over time. Fresh raw salmon doesn't have that smell or oily taste. Anyway, it is very interesting to learn about the different cooking techniques. Norwegian fish soups sound very interesting too. I have, of course, heard of lutefisk from my Norwegian friends but have not yet been in a position to try it. Needless to say, I probably won't like lutefisk, but you do only live once.

About Croatia, I am going for just over a month with a Croatian friend/personal tour guide as host. My American friend will be joining us for about a week down on the coast for Split, Bol and Dubrovnik. They are both vegetarians, which should be interesting. My Croatian friend is actually experimenting with veganism to the extent that it is possible there. I, of course, am a happy omnivore and, yes, I am looking forward to lots of grilled meat and seafood. I cannot really comment on Croatian cuisine properly yet, because this will be my first trip and I so I am pretty open-minded, but I am sure that I will be full of information when I get back in late July.

My Croatian friend and I will really be traveling a lot. We will visit the big, famous sights and cities (Zagreb and surroundings and then basically the entire coast, from Istra to Dubrovnik with a lot of diversions) and also some more obscure places like less accessible islands, parks, and towns. We will also be hanging out with locals that my friend knows, so it should be a really cool, cultural experience. I would love to visit more countries in the region, but my native friend is a bit sensitive about that, so I am not sure if that will happen. Hopefully, this is just my first trip to the region.

I have a lot of friends from the Balkans and I visited Bulgaria in 2007, so I do have some idea of what to expect, but it could be entirely different. I remember the most interesting things that I ate in Bulgaria, where the food really was surprisingly good. Everything was very fresh. I remember having a soup made from a white cheese with a single pepper in the middle, which was unusual and tasty. I also had something called "monastery chicken" baked in a clay pot at Rila Monastery, which was awesome for sheer exoticness. It was definitely a country for carnivores. We were always served our meat dishes quite quickly compared to the poor vegetarians who would be waiting for their food for quite a long time. They usually had to choose between the national salad, Shopska salad, made of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and sprinkled with cheese or they had to make do with whatever vegetables were left over after the meat dishes were served. At one restaurant, I recall the vegetarian option being labeled as "vegetable hodge podge". Bulgaria might rank up there with the places listed as vegetarian hell on that other topic thread.

One thing that I know I will like from my prior travels is rakija. I have had some great bonding experiences over its enjoyment in Bulgaria and with Balkans expats over here. They all seem to light up when I mention my fondness for it. Something that I have never liked, but that I am suspending judgement on to try there, is goulash. I'll be in Zagreb for part of the time, and goulash as well as the generous use of paprika is apparently common in that area. There is obviously some cultural overlap with Hungary.

Over all, I get the sense that Croatian food is quite varied and regional, but perhaps within those regions it is more limited? As I've said, in just a few months, I will be able to come back with a proper report and much more specific information. I appreciate hearing about anyone else's experiences with it though and what I should keep an eye out for or avoid.

To keep things vaguely on topic, a related question is, are there any culinary destinations that are overrated? I don't want to offend anyone or be overly dismissive, but are there any places that are famous for their cuisine or for particular regional dishes, that you all have found disappointing in your travels?