Another use for my French Press

Alan, I don´t know if you ever had the "pleasure" of tasting real Yak butter, but it will sure leave you with a different impression. Even fresh and from a dzomo [cow-yak crossbreed] it tastes a bit "cheesy". Tibetans often call it "sweet" but "aged" Yak butter is beyond my words. Imagine preparing your tea with a piece of overripe Stilton [+ salt, soda, sometimes a little sugar] and though aged Yak butter is a completely different animal you get an idea of the real stuff.

Karsten [Geragama Ceylon in tazza]

Ah.

<chuckle> Perhaps like real French Brie or Camembert?

So, basically, I should wait until my butter is turning pretty colors to get an idea of the real stuff?

AP

Alan, I´d leave it to my imagination, as so often a little can go a long way. BTW: As much as I enjoy trying all kinds of "funny" foods wherever I go and happily fell in love with some of them I loathe tibetan country style butter tea. While Lhasa style tea [fresh butter-salt-sugar] can be close to drinkable at times, country/nomad style butter tea ranks up there on #3 of my personal most-vile-food-ever list, but hey ... chacun à son goût.

Karsten [Eastfrisean blend in tazza]

Another gizmo similar to a tea press is a milk frother. I suppose the grating might be finer. It is a little more squat and wider than a tea press making it more easy to churn. It seems a little more heavy duty. If I was going to this much trouble I think I would use a blender.

Jim

Alan Petrillo wrote:

Indeed.

But when something intrigues me I'll give it a try at least once. At worst I can rank it right along side the Durian as the most vile food on the planet.

AP

I was thinking the same thing, but with regard to pulled tea, which I'd also like to try. If the idea of pulled tea is to whip air into the tea then a blender would absolutely be the best tool for the job.

AP

It's not just tea. It's tea with butter.

But, it's not tea with just ANY butter. It's tea with yak butter.

And it's not tea with your average run of the mill everyday yak butter, no. It's tea with rancid yak butter.

Somehow I cannot see this as being a great thing.

--scott

In terms of taste it certainly it doesn´t come even close to the average run of the mill love at first sip sort of beverage or something you´d expect Starbucks to sell one day. In terms of providing you with the necessary fluid, [limited] minerals and warmth/calories to survive in that crazy high altitude climate where you don´t have much else to choose from it really works miracles. I´m still traumatized from some of the cups I´ve had and personally prefer a combination of a nice red tea w/ sugar and one or more healthy bars of fine swiss chocolate in any kind of harsh climate. A kind of live saving combo for the terminally spoiled.

Karsten [Ossi blend in gaiwan]

Karsten, this left me wondering what the other two are.

Alex

Alex, hehe, easy one:

Alltime #1: Cambodian spider brandy

Take a bottle of cheap local booze, preferably home made, gulp down half the bottle, go and collect some bird spiders, from under your bed, in your cupboard, under the house, ... , cram them into the bottle until full, close hermetically and let the potent mess soak for a couple months. Nice with a game of poker among friends.

Alltime #2: Hakarl / Iceland

Catch a decent greenland shark, cut into pieces, bury in gravel for a couple months, hang pieces to dry for some more months, cut into little cubes, enjoy. You can smell this stuff miles against the wind.

These exquisite delicacies are among the very few things I didn´t even dream of trying.

Anyone else with special exotic dislikes ?

Karsten [Twinings Earl Grey/2nd fl. Assam blend in tazza]

[snip]

Eek!

I've read about this stuff. The commentary I've heard is that "it smells like the men's room at a British pub.

Well, let's see.

1: Durians.

If you like this fruit then you are more than welcome to my share of it. I know people who like them practically worship them. Crack one open, and you'll fill the room, or more likely the entire building, with the overwhelming stench of rotten onions and stale cheese. The meat is like slimy custard with little stringy fibers in it. There is a flavor rather like bananas with almonds behind the stench, but the one time I tried it I just about threw up, and I'm not motivated to go back for a second attempt.

2: A French cheese which I hope to never encounter again. I was served this stuff at a Liberation Day dinner in St. Die des Vosges, France. I don't know what it was, and I don't really want to either. It was a soft cheese related to Brie or Camembert, both of which I like. It smelled like a barn yard. As far as what it tasted like goes, well, take a wash cloth, wash your butt with it, then stuff it into a Ziplock baggie and let it marinate for a couple of months, preferably growing lots of black mold, and then you can get an idea of what this stuff tasted like. If it weren't for the wonderful wine served with it, I'm sure I would have hurled it all over the table.

3: Carp cooked in the Blau style. I encountered this little gem while I was living in Ansbach, Germany. You might as well just serve up a plate of river bottom mud. While it isn't as vomitously nasty as the first two items, I certainly won't order it again.

AP

That is so nasty, I think I am going to have nightmares about it.

I generally like very disgusting food, and have a particular fondness for preserved fish, so hakarl is near the top of my "to try" list (just below lutefisk).

I really, really hate sea cucumber. Slimy and crunchy at the same time.

Ringring ...

Worship. That boils it down real clear. I absolutely love durians. Found myself hunting down rare species all over Malaysia and was thrown out of 2 hotels for ignoring their bans. Ah well, this one might be interesting for fellow durian buffs:

Enjoy ! Karsten [Earl Grey / Assam blend in ugly honking mug]

Hah! looks like you "discovered" the Muenster cheese, fromage de Muenster:-))

One probably has to grow up with it to like it...

As a school kid I often munched a whole one for dinner. My dad poured cumin and beer over his slices.

Next time you are in France, try Tripes a la mode de Caen, chances are you will regret its not the Münster cheese;-)) (I hate them!, boudin comes next, beurk!)

roland