Quirky Cooking: Get Creative In The Kitchen

Quirky cooking means your cooking can explore the tastes of the world without leaving home. Yep, go international. You can toss away the measuring cup and spoon and trust your eye and your taste buds. There’ll be the odd disaster with quirky cooking, but you’ll never create something new or dynamic by being safe. Whatever quirky cooking means to you, you can do it your way.

Quirky Cooking Flavours To Inspire
Now don’t fret if you haven’t heard of some of these quirky cooking flavours. And it doesn’t matter that they’re not in your quirky cooking cookbook. Any quirky cooking chef worth their salt knows that the sourcing journey is half the fun.
> Saffron is the rarest spice in the world, more valuable than gold. So if you’re using saffron in your quirky cooking, your guests better be the flavour of the month.
> Grains of Paradise are a must if your quirky cooking has an African or Caribbean base. It’ll be hard to guess what’s spicier, your creative cooking or the chef.
> For the creative cooking of curries, chutneys, stews and soups Amchur Powder is a must have. Unripe mangos are ground into the fine powder that gives that sought after sour taste.
> The hotter the country the more common the use of spices. Give Berbere a try. Popular in Ethiopia and Eritrea, berbere is a mixture of chilli peppers, garlic, basil, korarima, rue, ajawain, nigella and fenugreek.

Five Awesome International Quirky Cooking Meals
Sure, some of these will raise an eyebrow or two. Perhaps a nose will be scrunched. But quirky cooking is not traditional. Don’t invite Mr Meat and Potatoes. Tell Miss Green Salad to stay at home. Unless of course they come wide-eyed, open minded and taste curious. So here are five quirky dishes from around the globe that You Can Try at home.
> Cuy. It’s one of Peru’s most famous dishes. It’s roast guinea pig. And it’s delicious.
> Haggis. A sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, minced and mixed with onions, suet and seasoning. Guaranteed to put Scottish hairs on your chest.
> Blood Sausage/ Black Pudding. Loved from Africa to Asia to Europe. Congealed blood cooked up with suet and breadcrumbs and stuffed into sausage skin. Perfect with bacon and tomato for brekkie.
> Huitlacoche. Mexican swear by the flavour of these blackened fungus covered corn cobs.
> Salo. This Ukrainian delicacy is essentially smoked fat. Of course it has to age and be eaten with rye bread.
> Steak tartare. This is a rare French gem. And by rare we mean rare. Raw ground beef served with onions, capers, raw egg and seasoned with brown sauce.
And while you’re quirky cooking, document your successes and disasters in a quirky cooking cookbook. That way, your quirky cooking won’t be forever hit or miss.

So if you know a quirky cook, follow our recipe and get them an awesome quirky cooking gift.