Chocolate Seaweed

Chocolate Seaweed, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

My cousin the chef brought some unusual chocolates home from Korea, including chocolate-covered seaweed (shown here), chocolate-covered kimchi, and chili pepper chocolates.

My family had an impromptu tasting of these atypical treats after Boxing Day dinner.

White kimchi placed dead last, narrowly beating out chocolate seaweed for the bottom spot. Some tasters managed to swallow the chocolate chili pepper candy, which disappointingly tasted more like wax than chili pepper.

Comments

[Mnemosyne]

Chocolate and chili is usually a pretty tasty combination if you don't overdo the chili part. I have some Aztec Hot Chocolate made by Lake Champlain Chocolates that's pretty darn tasty and has only the smallest zing to it.

Here's a recipe for a Chocolate Chile Cake from NPR's The Splendid Table:

http://tinyurl.com/yyc5qn

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

I love chili and chocolate. Mole, chili cocoa, mmm. I'll have to try the cake. Thanks, M.

[zuzu]

Oh...my...

Chocolate covered kimchi?

[The Phantom]

All kimchi finishes last for me, along with other food I want no part of: pasta with squid ink, mussels, snails, wasabi. Apart from these things, almost anything goes. Get that kimchi away from me.

[cfrost]

Pasta with squid ink, mussels, snails, wasabi, Mole, chili cocoa, seaweed, yes, yes, and yes some more.

Kimchi – Oh. My. God.

The first time I tasted kimchi I was struck literally speechless and couldn’t respond to the woman who had made it and kindly offered it to me. It’s not really bad, but profoundly weird, like something the aliens would eat. Definitely an acquired taste.

[Tyler DiPietro]

I have a profound, probably inborn aversion to eating anything weird, especially after the Lobster Linguine I had at Eggspectation last week. Man, lobster bisque sauce on pasta? I'm putting in a prayer to Joe Pesci tonight.

[spork_incident]

I love chili and chocolate.

Mole'! Damned Aztecs!

But seaweed, and other things from oceans, covered in chocolate...ewww.

.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

>Man, lobster bisque sauce on pasta?

My brother, that sounds excellent.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

And no wasabi, Phantom? Heresy!

[The Phantom]

1984

Its just one of those things. I love almost any type of sushi or sashimi--could eat it every day. But no wasabi for me.

[Tyler DiPietro]

My brother, that sounds excellent.

It isn't, and in fact I predicted such. When I ordered it I could almost swear it said "marinara sauce" on the menu description, and I thought a plate of linguine with lobster meat sprinkled throughout would taste good. Lo and behold, it comes covered in lobster bisque sauce and tastes like utter crap.

Don't eat at Eggspectation.

[zuzu]

I should reveal that I have no issue at all with the taste of kimchi (though I cant' reconcile chocolate with it like I could with, say, Thai or Mexican food).

BUT.

I had a suitemate in law school -- when I lived in a regular grad dorm -- who cooked kimchi constantly. And I couldn't figure out what the fuck the smell was from beyond the other bathroom door was.

[Anthony Damiani]

I'm in Korea, but lamentably have yet to find chocolate kimchi.
What got the top spot, so I can go looking for it?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Anthony, the chocolate chili pepper candy placed first. The most popular flavor of choco-kimchi was definitely the red pepper. I think my cousin got these candies at a duty free store in Seoul, but I could be wrong.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

>Its just one of those things.

No worries. It's the sushi that's the important part, anyway. Deep-fried salmon tempura sushi at Sushi King on Granville in Vancouver, or deep-fried California Rolls at Goemon at Irving Street in San Francisco, say. Or, of course, Ebisu in San Francisco also.

>Excellent

It isn't, and in fact I predicted such. When I ordered it I could almost swear it said "marinara sauce" on the menu description, and I thought a plate of linguine with lobster meat sprinkled throughout would taste good. Lo and behold, it comes covered in lobster bisque sauce and tastes like utter crap.

Don't eat at Eggspectation.

Well I don't know this place Eggspectation, but I'll take your advice of course. Basically, I love lobster or crab bisque (the recipe is easy if you guys want to try it), but aside from that, it should be kept simple: if not in bisque then simply with butter (and the butter is half the flavor, of course).

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

Lobster Bisque (I use crab also), adapted 1984 style from a great recipe from Diana Rattray:

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 to 2 cups cooked lobster or crab meat, about 1 small lobster
* 1/3 cup dry sherry
* 1/4 cup butter
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 3 cups milk (nonfat, cream, or anything between)
* 1 teaspoon steak sauce (I use Pickapeppa sauce, from Jamaica)
* salt and pepper to taste
* sour cream (optional)

PREPARATION:
In a small bowl, combine lobster and sherry; set aside.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Blend in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly.

Continue cooking and stirring until mixture is thickened; stir in steak sauce and salt, pepper, and seasoned salt to taste. Add lobster and sherry; cover and simmer lobster bisque for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with a tablespoon of sour cream, if desired. Makes 4 cups of lobster bisque.

[Jamie Falcon]

Wow! That chocolate covered seaweed candy is probably one of the craziest chocolate confections I have ever seen. I wonder what the stuff would taste like? You should post some pictures of what it actually looks like, not just the box!!