If you had the opportunity to get ingredients you have no access to, what would you choose?

flyinglentris said:
Nice, but I have a long list of things I would like to have access to. Here are some on that list ...

Alligator Meat
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Australian Bee Honey
Bass (Large Mouth)
Bull Head
Canada Goose
Cockle Shell
Crappie
Caribbean or Florida Lobster
Conch Fritters
Fern Twirls
Grouper
Lefse
Mallard
Northern Pike
Pheasant
Red Snapper
Sea Turtle
Sun Fish (Fresh Water)
Walleye

.... and more ....
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Don't you have spiny lobster available in Cali? I can't imagine the taste being much different than our spinys. As for the freshwater fish you've mentioned, we have most of those here, but I wouldn't eat them. We had a problem with invasive Oscars, so the Gov imported and released Peacock bass from south America to control them. We call our sun fish, bream or blue gill.
 
Fresh fish and shellfish. Where we live in Leicester we are about as far from tge sea as you can get in the UK (I know other countries are much bigger). That means that the seafood we get here tends to be pre frozen or is a few days old. We lovr going to the coast for a few days and binging on the produce of the sea.
 
medtran49 said:
You can order fiddleheads from oregonmushrooms.com when they are available. Yes, some ferns are toxic, even fiddleheads must be cleaned and treated properly or they cause undesirable GI tract side effects. We ordered some once and neither of us was impressed.

The alligator, conch, lobster, and farmed sea turtle are available frozen.
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The season for Fiddleheads was early Spring. Thanks for the tip on where to order. They are like Asparagus - flavor is something you must acquire. But they can be spruced up in sauces and used as decorative garnishments.
 
CraigC said:
Don't you have spiny lobster available in Cali? I can't imagine the taste being much different than our spinys. As for the freshwater fish you've mentioned, we have most of those here, but I wouldn't eat them. We had a problem with invasive Oscars, so the Gov imported and released Peacock bass from south America to control them. We call our sun fish, bream or blue gill.
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Yes. You are correct. I can get Spiny Lobster here. Sun Fish in the upper Midwest (Minnesota) is also called Blue Gill.
 
There's lots of kinds of sunfish. I've caught almost every type.

From Wiki: . There are 27 species, including pumpkinseed, redear, warmouth, redbreast, longear, spotted, and green, as well as rock bass, crappie and bluegill. Fish in this group may also be called perch, bream or brim.
 
The Velvet Curtain said:
Fresh fish and shellfish. Where we live in Leicester we are about as far from tge sea as you can get in the UK (I know other countries are much bigger). That means that the seafood we get here tends to be pre frozen or is a few days old. We lovr going to the coast for a few days and binging on the produce of the sea.
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I've found this too in the Midlands. I used to get lovely fresh fish in London (Billingsgate market). I've only found one fishmonger about five miles away (I don't drive) and there is a fish van that comes once a week from Whitby, but it parks a few miles away for 30 minutes from 7 in the morning so not even a bus to get there.

Fishbox are appareny very good. Scotch produce frozen at source and delivered regularly.
 
Fresh cream would be nice but I am now virtually conditioned to using yoghurt as a substitute. I'm currently trying to persuade my daughter to post a few black cardamoms over from England but it's hard work.

When I arrived here almost 20 years ago, my list would have been almost endless but over the years many of those foodstuffs have become available (albeit at a price) or I've adapted to do without.
 
morning glory said:
I could post you some - but would they get through customs? Would I need to conceal them in something else? :laugh:
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Thank you for the offer. I may get back to you if my daughter fails.

I have actually had some sent by post before but they were hand carried from Mumbai to Bangkok and then posted from there.
 
EDIT: It was annoying that I had to use mail-order to get sumac. But, the thing that bugs me most is that there are no markets that regularly have uncooked duck. Yes, I can get cooked duck at my Asian market, and I can probably ask a butcher shop to order it. But, I can't just walk into a shop and have a few pounds cut and packed.

I would also love to be able to get Pacu fish, specifically for the ribs. That's right: here's a Brazilian fish that's prepared the way you might prepare pork or beef:

ribs_raw-700x470.jpg
 
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Wow, I'm really surprised that someplace like Whole Foods or Fresh Market doesn't have saffron. It's even in all the regular grocery stores here, although it seems like every time we buy it, either the cashier or the bagger or both are surprised at how much it costs for such a small amount.
 
medtran49 said:
Wow, I'm really surprised that someplace like Whole Foods or Fresh Market doesn't have saffron. It's even in all the regular grocery stores here, although it seems like every time we buy it, either the cashier or the bagger or both are surprised at how much it costs for such a small amount.
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Here, saffron is available easily in supermarkets although I do buy it on line as its cheaper. Generally, duck is available in a lot of supermarkets too.
 
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