Thursday, April 02, 2009

Caimitos, Cherimoyas and Squid Balls

‘Twas another night of wonderful food at Lao Sze Chuan last night.

This time, we tried something different and ordered the Hot Pot in which a cauldron of boiling, highly-flavored stock is placed on the table. Then lots and lots of raw food items are brought out along with various dipping sauces and you get to dip your selections into the stock and sort of design your own meal. Sort of like the Szechuan version of fondue.

It was a huge amount of food. Here is one plate of food consisting of:
Greens, shrimp, squid, tripe, tofu, tofu skins, fish filets, squid balls, fish balls, mussels and bok choy.
Here is the cauldron with two types of tasty stuff boiling away.
Not pictured is a platter of sliced beef and lamb. It arrived much later for some unknown reason.
Our friend, Ken, is a fan of tropical fruits and he had just received a shipment of caimitos and cherimoyas from California which he very graciously shared with us.

What is a caimito you ask?

What is a cherimoya? I hear you say.

Okay, I’ll show you.

Here is a photo of a caimito (the little fruit) and the cherimoya. Mark Twain once wrote that a cherimoya is “the most delicious fruit known to men.” I might have to agree with him.

It has a white, custard-like flesh that tastes like a combination of bananas, pineapples and strawberries with a very perfumey sensation. I loved it and will buy one whenever I see them.

The little caimito, on the other hand, had a very subtle taste sort of like rose water. However, once cut open, it looked pretty scary.

Afterward, we had our usual durian fruit smoothies. I even asked the server if I could taste a piece of pure durian fruit and I have to say that it was so unbelievably vile, it made me laugh uncontrollably.

Tripe, squid balls, caimitos, cherimoyas and durian.

What a wonderful evening.

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6 Comments:

At 4:33 PM , Blogger Lorraine said...

Ok, so the squid balls...were those balls of squid or the balls of squid? (Do squid even have balls?)

That one fruit looks terrifying. I am always astonished to think of the first person who opened up something like that and said, "Yeah, let's eat this!"

 
At 7:34 PM , Blogger QuotidianEditorialist said...

Lorraine asked the same thing I was going to. LOL.

That caimitos looks very much like "used jellyfish" inside. :P reminds me a bit of that balut egg as well. I will say, however, that the cherimoya sounds lovely.

Love that you share your culinary adventures with photos. :)

 
At 8:57 PM , Blogger Miss Healthypants said...

The caimito really looks disgusting!

But I soooo want to try a cherimoya!!!! :)

 
At 9:43 AM , Blogger Br. Jonathan said...

Lorraine: Those were balls of squid rather than the balls of squid. But at Lao Sze Chaun, one never knows.

MHP: It will be my quest to find us a cheremoya to enjoy.

 
At 11:48 PM , Blogger MaryRuth said...

mmmm....cherimoya! Those are so good. Try looking in an Asian or Hispanic market. Never heard of the other one though...I'll keep my eyes open for that.
So the durian smoothie is OK, but the fruit itself is not? that's weird.

 
At 8:26 AM , Blogger Barb said...

You are so very brave in your culinary adventures. Me, not so much! I do love seeing what you are up to though!

 

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