[Sca-cooks] Slimy was Re: Seljuk/Rumi/Sufi Cuisine

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Apr 30, 2010, at 2:26 AM, aeduin wrote:

> Sea Cucumber.
> 
> aeduin

Nope. Maybe we're differing on the definition of slimy, but I've got the dictionary on my side. Something slimy should have a coating of slime or, by extension, other mucilaginous or viscous coating, right? If you touch the item, and your hand comes away with a coating of something slimy?

Gelatinous-textured foods that don't have such a coating include pig's feet, oxtails, various heads and ears, Chinese white fungus, some black fungus, Jello, aspics, sea cucumber, the swim bladders of various fish, vesiga, cooked bone marrow, and a host of others.

Oysters aren't even gelatinous; they're rather crunchy when raw, if you're not of the "swallow them whole" school... which I never understood, myself...

Zucchini can acquire a mucilaginous layer on cut surfaces, as can okra, maybe things with sassafras/gumbo filé in them. The skins of fairly fresh, possibly even live, fish?

Oh, and rotten foods often have slime on them, but I'd hope we're not eating them just to establish where our tolerance level for slime is...

I'm just opposed on principle to arguments being supported by repeating untruths (political theater run by former direct mail advertising executives, anyone?), even if it's for reasons of convenience or simplicity. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for Kiri not to like oysters, and it may even be something about their texture, but the slime thing could not be it. Yes, it's such a little thing to make a fuss over, but we all live in a world that has, especially lately, been materially altered in a negative way by the active propagation of untruths. This one is actually pretty passive and harmless, but I think if more people got into the habit of calling shenanigans when they hear an obvious whopper, we'd all be better off in dealing with the bigger ones we get in the media on a daily basis.

Adamantius, drinking his non-slimy coffee...








"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls, when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter