Writer’s Block: Eat, Drink, Be Merry

~ Bon Steele

Mushrooms. On or in *anything*
And therefore, by extension – green bean casserole. How anyone can take something as inherently fantastic as the green bean and muck it up with fungus is simply beyond me.

45 thoughts on “Writer’s Block: Eat, Drink, Be Merry”

  1. I like green beans. I like cream of mushroom soup. I like fried onions. How the three can be put together and result in something so absolutely disgusting bewilders me to this day.

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      2. I don’t think I’ve ever been subjected to it.

        There might have been that one time, where I learned a lot about moderation from seeing 2 extremes all at once, but I wasn’t forced to eat it or anything, so I didn’t.

        I am sooooo glad that everyone making my Thanksgiving food has been fairly sensible about green vegetables.

        (What I love is that at the big gathering with my in-laws’ family, there’s plenty of raw celery. Raw celery is wonderful, IMO, and if you eat enough of that, you don’t feel bad for not touching that weird thing that has something green under cheese.)

      3. I tried it of my own free will because, like I said, I actually like all three ingredients and didn’t expect it to be foul.

        Auntie didn’t often serve raw veggies or salad at big gatherings, but did often have salad , especially in the summer, if it was just the two of us. The only raw veggies at most meals were sliced onions and tomatoes that were served almost more as a garnish, and raw jalapenos that you ate with peas or greens instead of picked pepper sauce, if you wanted.

  2. All mushrooms? Truffles, morels, shittakes…fresh or dried are different, oyster, regular button? None? I just find it all, a little sad. To have excluded an entire kingdom from your food regimen. 😦

    Now, green bean casserole and I have some issues with each other. Cause my dad thinks it traditional to use campbells msg laden soup. Cause that’s all they had on the Mayflower, thus…traditions are born.

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    1. It has never really been the flavor so much as the *texture* of the mushroom that disgusts me.

      Because it is slimy. Much like oysters and other snot and the like. Errgh.

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      1. Ah, well if it’s slime…then yes, there are some methods of preparation you should shy from. I personally like the flavor of mushrooms more than the texture, that earthy/protein musky flavor is a nice added touch. I often use some oil and cook down mushrooms, since they’re 90+% water it concentrates the flavor dehydrates them and…whoila, where there is no water, there is no slime. They become more chewy and the flavor is increased. If you do it well they even brown some and that increases the flavor even more.

        Oysters? BUT! but! It’s the king of the sea almost. It’s a crustacean that tastes slightly like it’s watery home. Fried? They’re chewy and have a nice crispy crust. Raw, there’s just something about a squirt of lemon a dash of hot sauce or horseradish with that musky sea salty blob. Then beer!

        I’ll let you hold off on the oysters though, you’re entitled. What about Oysters Rockafeller? Bienville? Laments into his palms that you wouldn’t even let me try to sway you with booze and well prepared oysters.

      2. Some booze and a kiss…maybe. But..ew, otherwise. 😉

        never had much use for seafood. its only just recently that i began to develop a taste for much from the sea. small steps. i like tilapia, orange roughy and mahi mahi.

        it would take a LOT of booze for oysters, though.

      3. If you’re starting to try sea food, try scallops. I used to be very leary of seafood for just about the same reasons as you, but have recently started trying more, and I’m glad I did. I freaking LOVE scallops.

        Favorites so far:
        Scallops
        Salmon (baked with a layer of shredded cheese)
        steamed shrimp in lemon pepper
        tilapia
        freshwater trout

        And most of these can be combined with pasta alfredo for some awesome.

      4. Salmon is a no go. Oily, greasy, slimy. Plus, it’s a PINK fish. It’s like eating the skank-Barbie of the swimmy world. Just, ew.

        Shrimp is also out because I once had to devein 10 pounds of that stuff. I am only just now able to bear the smell of it.

        I will give the scallop thing a try next time I am out eating fish. I am also going to try some sushi because The ‘kins LOVES sushi-fishy.

      5. I tried sushi for the first time recently. One piece was good. The rest tasted like slimy asshole. But you may like it. You seem to have a somewhat broader enjoyment of food than I do, outside of seafood anyhow.

      6. You need to come over for dinner more often. This seafood issue is crazy to me. Mind you I grew up in Baton Rouge and seafood was more easily had than in central Texas.

        There’s just…too much to say. Too many products and animals from the sea that are wonderfully nutritious and a wonderful nonslimy addition to the diet. 😛

      7. Like I say, I am willing to give most things a try. But…there would have to be alot of wine before anything like oysters (clams, etc.) would come near my lips. *bleah*

        OTOH, I have had an amazing variety of game meat. My Mama’s family is from East Texas. If it walks, crawls, flaps, and slithers in those woods, I’ve likely seen it on a dinner plate.

    1. i give you…the jhorror of the casserole

      Ingredients:

      1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular, 98% Fat Free or 25% Less Sodium)
      1/2 cup milk
      1 tsp. soy sauce
      Dash ground black pepper
      4 cups cooked cut green beans
      1 1/3 cups French’s® French Fried Onions

      Directions:

      MIX soup, milk, soy, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in 1 1/2-qt. casserole.

      BAKE at 350°F. for 25 min. or until hot.

      STIR . Sprinkle with remaining onions. Bake 5 min.

      For a festive touch, stir in 1/4 cup chopped red pepper with soup.

      Reply

      1. Re: i give you…the jhorror of the casserole

        I ususally don’t use the milk or soy sauce. Prefer making it with freshly sauteed(sp?) shrooms. And I like the celery soup better. Still has a smooth creamy flavor, but isn’t quite the same texture.

      3. Re: i give you…the jhorror of the casserole

        Since Sonny Bryan’s has it, I eat it on occasion. I find that adding a little BBQ sauce makes it more interesting.

        My brother-in-law, on the other hand, used to think that casserole was the only way to enjoy green beans. He has since learned the goodness that is fresh steamed green beans. He still insists on the casserole for Thanksgiving, though.

      1. I don’t know why yams/sweet potatoes yak me out so much… they seem like just the sort of thing I would normally enjoy.

        I mean, I can handle turnips, for crying out loud. And I love pickled beets. I’m all about the weird stuff. But not yams.

        Y’know what else I don’t like that just drives people up the wall? Catsup. I love tomatoes and all that, but catsup is kinda gross to me.

        Weird, no?

      2. Re: Yams, yes.
        Re: catsup, no.

        Catsup is the Devil’s ….well, let’s just say it is what comes out when he wants to make wee lil Devils.

        Catsup….ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

    2. Texture bothers me around the 25th bite or so.

      I can eat yams, just not as much as sometimes get fixed for me on the theory that I have more appetite than the folks almost twice my age….

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  8. GBC as dictated by original recipe: gee-ROSS! I’ve never actually eaten it: I couldn’t get past the appearance problem. I would, however, eat Alton Brown’s homemade version, which does not sacrifice a single tin can. I’d leave out the onions, though: ew.

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  9. Giblets. I won’t eat giblets. Ever since I found out what they were when I was a kid, we never had it again. My mom even knows to make two kinds of gravy, I just can’t do giblets.

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    1. Agreed. Remember that commercial years ago?
      “There’s things in the gravy!”
      Fire trucks, ambulances show up…”Things. In. The GRAVY!!!”

      Heh. My exMIL used to put boiled eggs in her gravy. *shudders* Who screws up perfectly good gravy with eggs?

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  10. No mushrooms!?!? Oh, you poor unfortunate soul. If you feel like a bit of an adventure sometime we can go have some good tea at Formosa, and they have a dried mushroom appetizer with the texture of beef jerky.

    GBC is to me incredibly gross mostly because the beans are cooked into mush. Your green beans lightly sauteed in balsamic vinegar sounds lovely.

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