In part two of my quest to review my culinary experiments while travelling, we will visit Slovenia, Scotland and Belgium. As I mentioned in part one of these culinary memories, sometimes your adventures will work out well and you will discover a new favorite dish, and sometimes that will not be the case. I have been fortunate that I’ve never tried anything that turned out to be utterly stomach-turning. Most of the time, the worst-case scenario was that the dish was easily forgettable. Gustave Flaubert once said, “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” I am reminded of this when I eat something that is a stretch for me, but another culture considers run-of-the-mill. I imagine that if you are one of those crazy guys on T.V. who eats any absurd thing someone puts in front of you, the feeling is magnified ten-fold. If my host asks me to celebrate the dawning of a beautiful new day by eating breakfast with them and trying their homemade sheep’s organ dish, then the important thing to focus on is the fact that I made a new friend who cares enough about me having a good vacation to share a family recipe with me.
Beef Tongue in Slovenia
This dish represents the most adventurous I have been, I think. In my defense, I did not order it. It was a surprise. I signed up for a culinary tour for Ljubljana (pronounced Loob-lee-ahna). This is the capital city of Slovenia and is a fabulous place. On my tour, a guide walked a small group of us (only 4 people) around the city and spoke to us about its history, architecture and food traditions. We stopped at four restaurants and were given a serving of food to try. The tour organizer had food selections planned in advance with each restaurant.
Please understand that I was quite stunned when the server placed plates in front of my husband and myself and the tour guide said, “This is beef tongue. This is a favorite delicacy here in Slovenia.” I have been to deli counters where giant cow tongues sat on ice with the taste buds still visible and everything. I am nauseated just thinking about it. This experience was not like that AT ALL.
My husband and I both hesitated to take our first bite, but we did not want to be rude. It was also hard to be inconspicuous in a group of only five people. The meat was very thinly sliced. If the guide had not told me what it was, I would never have known.
Final verdict: Delicious. It was extremely tender and well-seasoned. We both enjoyed it. Who the heck would have guessed?
Black Pudding & Haggis in Scotland
There are some foods known as delicacies in their home cultures that don’t sound good to my American ear, but that I feel obligated to try because they are so well known. Most Americans do not know much about Scottish cooking but, if they could name any dishes, they could likely conjure up Black Pudding and Haggis.
Black pudding is a blood sausage. The distinctive black color is because, well, blood cooks/dries black. Yummy, right? Obviously, many parts of the world eat the entire animal, including the blood. It is insulated Americans who struggle with the concept of using the entire animal and not letting any part go to waste. In Scotland, black pudding is a common side dish in a full breakfast. It often accompanies eggs, baked beans, grilled mushroom or grilled tomato as a complete meal that is hearty in the cold weather. You can see in the photos below, that we even found it on a breakfast buffet at an airport restaurant and on my plate one morning at our inn.
Final verdict: Nothing to write home about. It wasn’t as gross as my sheltered little middle-class American mind imagined but, it wasn’t particularly memorable either. It was a heavy, dense sausage without a distinct flavor. I typically put a piece of it on my fork with some eggs or baked beans just so the bite would have some flavor.
Haggis is sheep’s heart, liver and lungs cooked with oatmeal and spices. Traditionally, it was all stuffed inside the sheep’s stomach casing and cooked in there. These days, I am told most places use an artificial casing. I have no idea which version I ate. It comes out more textured than a mash. Again, the idea here is that no part of the animal is wasted, and it is hearty and filling in cold, rainy weather (which Scotland has a lot of).
Final verdict: It wasn’t gross, but I would never bother with it a second time. The particular version that I had was pretty heavy in both taste and texture on the oatmeal. As with the other Scottish delicacy described above, it was short on spices. No bold flavors here. I am proud to say that I wasn’t too snobby to try it but, I wouldn’t waste my time on it again. Although, the next time I am herding sheep in a thirty-degree rainstorm for eight hours, I may change my mind.
Bickyburger in Belgium
My favorite Belgian square, which I have written about before, is Markt Square in Bruges. In this square, there are two food carts parked daily. Some of the best food on our entire Belgian adventure came from these two food carts. I didn’t know what to try and I asked the gentleman inside the food wagon. He suggested something called a Bicky Burger. I asked no questions. I just said yes.
After sharing the burger with my husband, we decided to research it and discovered that it is a deep-fried patty made of chicken, pork and horse meat. Yup. Horse meat. A typical burger is topped with pickles, fried onions, a yellow Bicky dressing, a brown Bicky hot sauce and ketchup.
When I got home from the trip, my father informed me that he used to feed me horse meat when I was a small child. I have no memory of this. I can’t decide how I feel about it. On the one hand, the idea of eating Secretariat is upsetting. On the other hand,
Final verdict: It was friggin delicious!!! I loved, loved, loved my Bicky Burger! If I am lucky enough to travel to Belgium again someday, I will gladly order another Bicky. I don’t know what the name actually means, but in my house, it means YUM.
OK, let’s have them. Share your food experiments while travelling in the comments section.
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