My List of Five Things to Eat Before You Die

I've never done a meme before, and I was excited when Ximena of Lobstersquad tagged me for this one. A food blogosphere event!

The Five Things To Eat Before You Die meme was dreamed up by Melissa of the Traveler's Lunch Box in response to  Fifty Foods to Eat Before You Die, a list that was put together by the BBC. Melissa felt the food blogosphere could put together a better list where many more cuisines and foods were better represented, and she is in the process of compiling a master list of Things To Eat Before You Die based on everyone's response to this meme. You can see the list here.

My personal top five (at this moment -- I reserve the right to have a different top five in the future) are:

Steamed blue crabs

The proper way to eat steamed blue crabs is from a table spread with newspapers with an enormous pile of steamed crabs in the middle.  Good places to do this are at a table outside on a hot summer night, or maybe at a table in a screened-porch on a summer afternoon. Outside is essential because this is a messy process. Cold beer is a traditional accompaniment.

To eat the crabs, pull off the claws and legs. Suck any little bits of meat from the body that come off with them. Crack the claws and eat that meat. Turn the crab over, find the "tab" on the under side and pull it off. Pull off the top shell. Pull off the bottom shell. Crack what is left in half. Brush away the dead man's claws. Pull out and eat the imcomparably sweet crab meat.

Eating crabs should be a long and leisurely affair. Something that causes you to linger over the table. Let's have no talk about how much effort all that crab picking is. It's supposed to take a long time.

Mussels

Particularly the mussels that my sisters and brother and cousins and I gathered as children from a rocky stretch of the Rhode Island coast. These were generally smaller than cultivated mussels and the meat was always sweeter and firmer than any mussels I have ever tasted since. During the summers of my childhood they were always prepared the same way: steamed open and served with garlic butter into which we dipped the mussels.

Gathering the mussels was a daily ritual when we visited my grandparents in the summer. Each morning we would drive to the beach, spend the morning swimming, and then eat a picnic lunch. After lunch we were not allowed to swim for one hour (doing so we were told might cause cramps which would cause us to drown) so instead we collected mussels from mussel beds located in the tidepools between the granite boulders in an enormous field of boulders further down the beach.

We would climb out over the rocks and down into the tidepools, plastic buckets in hand. The tidepools were protected from the rough surf and were their own world of sea life -- snails, hermit crabs, starfish, tiny blue crabs, and thousands of mussels attached to the rocks. We'd gather mussels and carry them home covered in sea water. Once home the mussels had to be scrubbed and debearded (always done by the kids, never the adults) and then cooked.

Every mussel I've eaten since childhood has been compared to these mussels. No matter where I have them or how they're cooked, no mussel is ever as good.

Corn on the Cob

The more recently your sweet corn has been picked, the better it will be. The best corn (in my opinion)is grown near the ocean in Rhode Island. Buy it at a farmstand on the way home from the beach. Boil briefly and bring to the table. Apply much butter and salt. The ears with the smaller kernels are best, sweeter and more tender.

The corn will taste even better if you are tired from a day spent at the beach and your skin is a little tight with a tiny bit of sunburn and from salt and sand that was not completely washed away by the outside shower at the bathhouse, and you know that when you get up tomorrow after falling in your bed tonight, your day will be almost exactly the same as it was today. Which makes it perfect.

Artichoke

My favorite vegetable and one which I can never get enough of. I love it in any form and would happily eat it day after day. Unfortunately, I have never had the chance to eat artichoke day after day. Someday before I die I hope to visit Castroville, California, the artichoke center of the world, for the artichoke festival a place where I might spend an entire day eating artichokes prepared in every possible way.

Fresh Caught Trout Cooked Over a Fire

My other entries are all things I've eaten in the past and hope to eat again, but this is something I have read about and hope to eat before I die.

I picture trout pulled from the cold and crystal waters of a trout stream somewhere in the western foothills of the Rockies, and cooked in a cast iron frying pan over a fire made of gathered wood. The trout is tender, moist, and sweet. After dinner we sit around the campfire and as the evening grows dark we sit under the vast open sky glowing with thousands upon thousands of stars as far as the eye can see.

We then retire to our cabin with indoor plumbing and a comfortable bed. Campfires are fine, but camping does not figure in this fantasy.

The five people I am tagging with this are:

Rebecca of Eat   (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Lindy of Toast   (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Cin of A Few of My Favourite Things  (Melbourne, Australia)

Sher of What Did You Eat  (Davis, California)

Anne of A Good American Wife

A note: You don't need to be tagged! Go ahead and compile your list and then send it to Melissa.

Comments

[lobstersquad]

Wow. That´s a lot of wonderful food, and great moments. I like that.
I wasn´t allowed to swim after lunch, either, but for TWO hours. It seemed to take forever. Now, if anyone suggested that I swim inmediately after lunch I´d think they were demented.
I hope I´ll have the chance to eat blue crabs some day.

[Christine]

YUM! I love everything you chose, though I haven't tried the steamed blue crabs and the way you described eating it had me drooling and yearning. Corn on the cob is one of my favorite things in the world. What you wrote about it had me smiling. :)

[ann]

mmmm... steamed blue crabs! they truly are delicious.

[Will]

Baltimore Tradition right there -- Steamed Crabs in the center of the table -- covered in Old Bay -- just a beautiful thing.

Pick, pick away!

When I was little, we had distant relatives come into town and eat crabs with us -- they didn't know what to do with them -- and I was so confused by that because I was raised eating them the way we do.

[Mrs. S]

You have excellent taste in food. I have yet to try the trout thing myself, despite living basically a stone's throw from the Rockies, but if I am ever camping in that general area I promise you I will try it.

[Michelle]

This is wonderful - your writing and stories evoked so many memories (like the trout, since I'm from Colorado - though we oftentimes did the same for breakfast!). And I love the description of the crabs! Being a crab biologist - I love hearing what people call all the insides that I have to dissect out for my experiments (especially "dead man's claws"!). Wonderful post and such a neat idea for a meme!

[Rebecca]

Your descriptions are so lyrical, it's like I'm tasting everything right along with you! Now I have to revise my post (again!) to make it more lyrical and evocative. The only thing I haven't tried that's on your list is the trout, and I would like to. I actually used to work at the Wheaton Crab House, in Wheaton, Maryland, so got plenty of chances to eat crab in the way you describe.

[sher]

Fabulous list!!! We ate our blue crabs like that on the Gulf Coast too. And we took our time and ate, all the while talking to everyone at the table. I knew it was time to stop when my fingertips were wrinkled. Hey, I'm looking forward to doing this meme!

[Lindy]

Yes-everything you said-including the trout- though it's been forever since I've had that indulgence. As a kid, I spent a summer in Idaho, where there were people who fished-yet did not eat fish! They would give us their fresh caught trout, the crazies! We had all we could want.

Except-to my intense regret-I've never had the Baltimore crab thing. My daughter lived in Maryland for a couple of years, in Takoma Park- and though I visited, and we went to Baltimore, and ate well there- she and the then boyfriend, now spouse, are vegetarians- hence no crab....sigh.

Thanks for the tagging. I had been having computer problems- so I did my list via comment to Melissa's post. I think I want to add all the stuff on your list, though.

[Lindy]

PS. BTW, I loved what I saw of Baltimore. I was particularly taken with the Museum of Visionary Art. Also, as a fan of "Homicide:Life on the Street" and "The Corner" (Books and tv versions) I was very fan struck and dorky, and visited locations.
But then they moved to Cleveland. Which has its own charms-especially the amazing food market.

[angela]

I love, love, love mussels. The are called moules in French and they are by far my favorite dish. When I was in the south, I had some of the best every and the only ingredient I am sure of is creme fraiche. They were fantastic!

[Anna]

artichoke festival? then there is a heaven on earth . . .

[Anne]

What a great list of fresh, regional foods. Esp. love your corn description. It makes me want to rent a beach house!

Thanks for tagging me. I had a lot of fun doing this. Like you, my 5 foods change depending on the day.

[Mary]

What a wonderful list! I've never tried blue crab but it seems like it's totally worth all the effort. Hopefully you'll make it out this way for next year's artichoke fest.

[Tanna]

Delightful answers. Intriguing how food is tied with our memories of family, friends and fun.

[julia]

Hi! Your blog looks great!
Wonderful list + I really enjoyed the stories that came with it; love your writing!
glad you added artichokes, they're the best! unfortunately I as well haven’t had them for day after day after day… but I do devour them often, just with a simple vinaigrette and some sea salt...yum!
that artichoke festival sounds great…! =)

[aria]

exlnt list! mussels, most definately and the trout cooked over a fire is drool inducing. yumyumyum...

[gattina]

fresh corn in season... I love that!

[Lydia]

I love everything on your list. All together, it would make the perfect last meal!

[Cin]

Thanks for tagging me!!! I love all the foods you've listed and especially love the detailed description on how to eat crabs - one of my favourite foods!

[Julie]

Ximena, 2 hours is even worse than 1 hour. I don't know that I would have lasted. I hope you get to eat blue crabs too and the next time you are in the States please report directly to Baltimore and we'll make sure you get some.

Christine, I'm sure you'd love blue crabs and I think you also should report to Baltimore as soon as is possible for the eating of blue crabs.

ann, aren't they? I lived on the west coast for a while and I know there are those who love Dungeness crabs but for me they never held a candle to blue crabs.

Will, the pile of crabs in the middle of the table Is a tradition and if you're going to have a tradition, I'd say that's a pretty great one.

Mrs. S, when and if you do go camping in the Rockies, please have a trout for me. Then let me know how it was!

Michelle, fresh caught trout for breakfast sounds even better than trout for dinner. I think that most people call crab gills dead man's fingers but we always called them dead man's claws. I also remember as a child believing that they were poisonous because some other child had told me they were.

Rebecca, I hope that endless crab dinners were one of the perks of working at a crab house.

Sher, that sounds very familiar. Also eventually I have managed to get so much crab boil on my lips that they actually begin to hurt.

Lindy, Idaho! Yes, that would be a place of crystal trout streams. I can't believe there were people who were giving away their fish but how great for the recipients. And I'm ashamed to admit that I STILL haven't been to Baltimore's Visionary Art Museum. But one of these days. I'm also only just watching The Corner which is a pretty powerful series.

Angela, I'll bet you are getting some fantastic mussels! You are one lucky woman!

Anna, yes, an artichoke festival would definitely be heaven to me. Perhaps the only thing better would be to have a garden full of endless artichokes at your disposal.

Anne, thanks. Corn was always one of the big summer highlights of my childhood and there was lots of competition to see who could eat the most.

Mary, I highly recommend blue crab if you ever have the chance. And I'm looking forward to attending the Artichoke Festival one of these days.

Tanna, thanks, and yes, food seems to be very tied up with the circumstances under which you first tasted it.

Julia, thanks. Good to hear from another artichoke fan. Artichokes with a simple vinaigrette and sea salt sounds wonderful.

aria, the trout cooked over a fire is one of my favorite food fantasies. Definitely drool worthy.

gattina, me too! I'm just buying corn for what will probably (sadly) be one of the last times this year. But there's always next year.

Lydia, I agree that all of those things together would make a wonderful meal. In fact, for me, it would be just about the perfect meal.

Cin, your welcome for the tagging and I'm looking forward to your list!

[zp]

i had fresh trout in spain once. i'd say it was almost as good as the trout you've read about.

[topless]

She was, a little sister now, my sophomore topless sunbathing year in your hands and a.

[hhijyxxag]

I didnt even close their latex mattress last day, but the warddeactivation was pointless.