Nery and I treated ourselves to a once a year indulgence this weekend. Yesterday we went to our favorite Asian market for rice, coconut milk, filipino vegetables and other goods. Temptation got the best of us and we bought a Durian. We don't get them often because only she and I will eat it and they are expensive we bought a small one and it was $8.00. Luckily it can be frozen so we ate a little today and saved the rest to eat over the next week.
Durian is very much an acquired taste. It is a fruit with a strong smell and very different flavor, and it could double as a weapon.
I enjoy watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and am amazed at some of the things he will actually eat. The bugs, the fermented rotted foods he will put into his mouth not to mention organ meat that most of us would never get close to our mouths. But there is one food he consistently maligns and that is one of the most loved fruits of Southeast Asia, the Durian. On three episodes I have seen him with disgust on his face from the strong smell put a piece of durian in his mouth only to spit it right back out. I don't think he has actually ever swallowed any durian. Come on Andrew it is not that bad. I have watched him practically drink fish sauce in Vietnam and rave how wonderful it is. Now I like to cook with fish sauce but a little goes a long way and as far as smell the stuff really stinks, like rotted fish.
Yes Durian has a strong smell, I remember the first time I smelled it I was riding a bus in the southern Philippines and all the sudden was over come by what smelled like a pile of dirty diapers. I asked what is that stink? Someone on the bus laughed and said we are following a truck full of durian. I had heard of durian the Fruit that is reputed to "smell like hell and taste like heaven" but when I smelled it that day, I thought how could anyone stand to taste something that smells that bad?
Yes durian does have a strong smell and must be taken with an opened mind and a sense of adventure but so do many things we eat. How about blue cheese? When I was a kid and my parents would eat blue cheese I was disgusted because I thought it smelled like dirty gym socks. I was curious how they could stand it. I tried it and it did taste as bad as I thought it would but as years went by and I began to like many things I didn't like as a kid, I tried it again. Today I can eat blue cheese straight in fact I love it, but it does still smell in fact it stinks. So it was with durian, I did have a chance to taste it and even though the smell was strong the flavor wasn't that bad. I thought it tasted like garlic flavored carmel custard the first time I tried it. As time went on and I tried it again the more I tasted it the more I liked it. In addition to eating it straight, it makes great candy and ice cream, even fruit smoothies.
Andrew put aside your pre-conceived notions about durian and I think even you who can guzzle down worms, slugs, bats and all manner of unappetizing and smelly foods, I think you could learn to like durian.
