Old food items

[Deleted]

All of us have bought things that never seem to get used. Sometimes they wait for years on the shelf.

Why do we do this?

I know that one terrible mistake that I make is to sometimes buy items in foreign countries -- either that I know I like and can't find at home, or that I really want to try. The problem is that they become "treasures" when I get home, and I can't bring myself to use them.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

And what's with these purchases along the lines of "I don't really care for this, but it's a really good deal and I might change my mind about the product in the future"?

Sometimes, good things just get lost at the back of the cupboard, and that is a real tragedy.

[bazfaz]

Bottles of foreign booze are the worst offenders. i recently threw out a bottle of Mekong whisky that I mistakenly thought guests would enjoy before a Thai meal. And then there was the bottle of fig liqueur from Tunisia, quite nauseous. But the worst, the most disgusting, was Tic-Tac, from El Salvador, described as El Licor National. Poor El Salvador.

[bixaorellana]

Tic-Tac ~~ cackle. I keep envisioning a clever hard plastic bottle with a flip-up lid. Orp.

This is so embarrassing. Even as I type I'm trying to squelch the image of the plastic-wrapped mystery pastes I brought back from the Yucatan in 2004?. One or two have had the decency to grow mold so that I could legitimately throw them away.

[Kimby]

I brought home some precious saffron threads from a trip and have not been able to bring myself to open the cunning round clear plastic container and use some. How long does that stuff keep, anyway?

[lagatta]

Just use them. You need a paella. Your avatar could star in one.

[Kimby]

NOOO!

[Deleted]

I will often buy things because of the beautiful containers,tins,bottles,labelling that they are packaged in. Often it is a foreign food item. I don't always use the contents for a long time if ever, but I end up saving many of the tins etc. for storing other things like loose tea or coffee.
I hate plastic containers and ugly labels on products.

[traveler63]

Mine is pasta, I always seem to buy something exotic and then put it in the pantry thinking I will do something with it, and you guessed it, reach for the old standbys. Dumb!!!!

[Deleted]

To properly honor one of my unused treasures, I bought some frozen Madagascar crabs parts and am boiling them with my Zatarain's crab boil.

[auntieannie]

My brother cannot bring himself to eat the delicious christmas cookies mom gives him in a tin every Christmas.

He will stuff himself silly at my mom's but with "his" cookies, he will look at them adoringly for months until they are completely dry and unedible. Then mom will somehow retrieve the tin and throw its contents in the bin, to my brother's protests that he meant to eat them.

[bixaorellana]

Aug 4, 2009 18:19:10 GMT kerouac2 said:

To properly honor one of my unused treasures, I bought some frozen Madagascar crabs parts and am boiling them with my Zatarain's crab boil.

*nasty flash of envious hatred*

Annie, your brother's thing is really extreme! I can see holding off slightly, knowing that the cookies will be gobbled once the tin is opened, but to let them go stale!

The horror! The horror!

[spindrift]

My nastiest old food items live in the freezer. Over the years my daughter filled up my 3 drawer freezer until I could only just squeeze in the cat's milk, frozen peas and the odd packet of unsalted butter.
I know I must empty that freezer and take the contents to the dump but (a) it'll be a big effort because it's all so heavy and (b) I'm too paralyzed by the horror of having to go through it all to even start.

[Don Cuevas]

I used to buy all types of dried chiles while visiting Mexico. I had a part of a library shelf unit devoted to jars of variegated chiles. I seldom used most.

Before we moved from Little Rock, AR, we gave all the chiles away to the Mexican family living downstairs.

Now that we live in Mexico full time, I still have a number of dried chiles, but nowhere near as many as before. I can get most of them any time I want, so why hoard. But I still use them sparingly and infrequently.

Doña Cuevas just made up a pot of soaked Chiles de Árbol to strain and spray on her plants to ward off the inexorable wave of saltamontañas or chapulines (grasshoppers.) She will have to apply it after every rain.

[Deleted]

Besides old dried chilis I have some spices that are more than a decade old.

[bixaorellana]

Go ahead ~~ open that bulging can!
abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/eat-expired-food/Story?id=8765766&page=1

I like the 1st comment, from "weaselwise". He doesn't seem to realize that the baddies have been attacking his brain cells for some time.

[Deleted]

What about items that are still sealed and are refrigerated. I ask because I found a jar of unsealed goose fat a friend brought back from London.(the expiration date is 2008). Still,if it's unopened wouldn't it still be ok?

[cristina]

I bought a whole bunch of fleur de sel when I was in Paris last month, one box meant for my mother who lives on the other coast from me.

She reminded me this week that when I was in London 5 years ago she had asked if I would buy her some Bird's Custard Powder (a childhood memory for her). I did buy it. And it is still in my pantry.

If I mail it now will it still be OK? Or should I wait another 5 years?

p.s. I am planning a trip to see her next month. Please remind me to pack the salt.

[imec]

Bird's was a staple in my house as a kid too. Check the ingredients - it ain't exactly custard despite its name (I think it's mainly cornstarch and sugar). Good though!

[cristina]

Nov 10, 2009 4:12:10 GMT imec said:

Bird's was a staple in my house as a kid too. Check the ingredients - it ain't exactly custard despite its name (I think it's mainly cornstarch and sugar). Good though!

ha ha! thanks! I should probably just move it into my suitcase now, right?

[hwinpp]

I think if the goose fat doesn't actually smell rancid you can use it, Cas.

[Deleted]

Yes, the goose fat should still be fine.

[Deleted]

Thank you guys. I will tell MrC. that the foodie authorities here said it was ok.

[Deleted]

We're not the ones poisoning ourselves.

[cristina]

I moved in May, after living in the same house for 16 years. I concluded that I should move more often because it forced me to get rid of things I should have tossed long ago.

I had spices in my cupboard that were definitely more than 16 years old. They just got shoved in the back and forgotten about.

My new kitchen is smaller so I need to be more diligent. Fortunately, smaller also means (for me) that I can see everything more often.

[Kimby]

Herbs and spices are my weakness too.

Instead of buying small quantities in tiny jars at exorbitant prices at the grocery store, I go to a whole foods store that sells herbs and spices in bulk, and buy WAY TOO MUCH.

I can't possibly use that amount before its quality goes down, but the price is so good and it's too easy to dig in with the scoop and take too much.

I finally got smart enough to at least put a date on the container so I can toss it if it's really old when I find it in the back of the spice cupboard.

But basically, I just use more if it's pretty old, and lots more if it's really old. ;-)

[lagatta]

I found a little bag of "papa seca" in my pantry - that just means dried potatoes in Spanish but refers to Peruvian potatoes freeze-dried (as they have been for many, many centuries) in the cold and high altitude. Dunno whether I bought them or someone gave them to me. They'd probably last 1000 years to be unearthed by some archaeologist who would speculate about ties between the peoples of the St-Lawrence Valley and the High Andes, but I should make something with them. About all I found was this typical stew:

There is a chicken variation (in Spanish) and a pork variation (in English). Wonder what ancient Peruvian peoples used? Cuy? Some other meat or fowl?

I doubt I'd make it as is as most friends don't like sweet in meat dishes, but follow the general idea. I'm inclined to follow the Spanish directions and soak the papa seca all night. The dried potatoes are like hard little stones - I don't think soaking for half an hour would be enough.


Carapulcra con Pollo

Ingrediente
- 200 grs. de Maní tostado molido.
- 500 grs. de Papa seca.
- 1 Cebolla picada.
- 3 Dientes de Ajo molidos.
- 1 Hoja de Laurel.
- 3 Cabezas de Clavo de Olor.
- 1 Paquetito de Galletas de Vainilla.
- 1 Cubito de Caldo de Pollo.
- 2 Cucharadas de Ají Colorado licuado.
- 2 Cucharadas de Ají Amarillo licuado.
- 2 Cucharadas de Azúcar.
- 1 Pechuga de Pollo cortada en trozitos.
- 7 Tazas de Agua.
- Aceite.
- Sal, Pimienta, Comino,
Aji-no-moto y Sillao.
Preparación
El día anterior, escoger bien la papa seca, tostarla y dejarla remojar durante toda la noche. En una olla, freír la cebolla y el laurel con aceite, agregar el ajo y el ají colorado, sazonar con sal, pimienta, comino y rehogar; añadir el maní, la papa seca, el clavo de olor, el ají amarillo, el agua, el azúcar, el cubito de caldo, aji-no-moto, las galletas de vainilla molidas y dejar cocinar. Mientras tanto, macerar el pollo en sillao por cinco minutos, freírlo en una sartén con aceite, hasta que dore, retirarlo y echarlo a la olla, cocinar a fuego lento hasta que la papa seca tome punto. Servir con arroz graneado.

Carapulcra de cerdo (Pork carapulcra)

The Carapulcra is an ancient dish; maybe the oldest Peruvian stew. It contains dried potatoes, chillies, peanuts, cumin and, in this case, pork (it can be chicken or both). Originally, the carapulcra was made in clay pots; this custom is still kept in Chincha, a city in Ica (south of Lima) and in some restaurants. In Ica, the carapulcra is served next to the sopa seca (dry soup) – in despite of its name; it’s not a soup but a special way to cook the spaghettis (we’ll see it later). Return to the age of Incas with this recipe for 8 people.

Ingredients:
400 g (14 oz) of dried potatoes (papa seca)
1 kg (2.2 lb) of pork chop (without bones)
100 g (3.5 oz) of toasted and ground peanuts
50 g (2 tablespoons) of ground garlic
3 tablespoons of aji panca in paste (in the link you’ll know how to make the paste)
2 tablespoons of aji Mirasol in paste (the same for this)
1/4 cup of red vinegar
1 cup of dry white wine
3 ground soda cookies
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 litre (4 cups) of beef stock (it can be made with a bouillon cube)
1 cup of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of port wine
Preparation:
Brown the dried potatoes in a frying pan. Soak immediately in water for 30 minutes.
Cut three quarters of the pork in big pieces; the rest in small ones.
Mix the vinegar, pepper, cumin, aji panca, aji mirasol, garlic and salt. Use this mix to marinade the pork for 30 minutes.
After it, fry the big pieces of pork until it gets brown with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. Remove them and fry the small pieces in the same oil.
Pour the remaining oil in another pot; add the other 1/2-cup and the rest of the marinade ingredients. Fry for 2 minutes on a medium flame.
Add to this preparation the stock, the wine, water and the dried potatoes (previously removed from the water).
Cook on a low flame, stirring occasionally, for 90 minutes. Add the pork and cook 30 minutes more until all gets cooked.
When it’s finishing, add the peanuts, the ground soda cookies and the port wine.
Serve with white rice (or, as we’ll see, with sopa seca).
Note: Some people, to emphasize the sweet of this recipe, add a little of chocolate (we recommend Sublime with peanuts).
***

[imec]

lagatta, this sounds really cool. I've never heard of these potatoes - where do you get them?

[lagatta]

One can buy them in most any Latin American foods shop here. The butcher's around the corner (who are Argentine) also carry them. aloimeansyummy.blogspot.com/2009/10/specialty-food-stores-in-winnipeg-z.html

Some of the shops have very strange combinations of food origins! I don't think that is quite common enough a food item outside Peru for you to find it in the "international foods" aisle at Loblaws (a big supermarket chain).

[imec]

I'll try El Izalco (I think they're Salvadoran) - due for another visit there anyway - great pupusas and tamales.

[Deleted]

This does sound wonderful lagatta. You make reference to a "link" in the recipe,I don't see.
I'll never forget my father finding a box of French's freeze dried "Instant" Potatoes in the cupboard and jeez,he freaked. I will never,ever,forget.