Relishing the Thought

Today’s Daily Post Postaday is all about weird food combinations, specifically…

“Bacon and chocolate, caramel and cheddar… Is there an unorthodox food pairing you really enjoy? Share with us the weirdest combo you’re willing to admit that you like — and how you discovered it.”

Mwa ha ha ha!

This is a chance to talk about my favourite topic, food and the extra bonus of being able to share with you one of my favourite and weirdest food combinations.

Though I admit weird is entirely relative, to some people daring to put pickle in a cheese sandwich is the height of avant-garde cuisine, but I dare to consider myself quite eclectic in my culinary tastes.

Anyway, are you ready for my weird combination?

It’s strawberry jam with chilli.

Yep, you heard me, a wonderful hot and fruity mix of chilli’s and strawberry. It is perfect as a relish for a beef or chicken burger, or hot dog come to think of it.

Firstly, it is worth mentioning that the chillies are prepared with the jam, they are not just sliced up and added afterwards, and you of course have to get your mix right to get just that perfect combination, but trust me it is gorgeous.

The chilli jam is not something that I created myself, but something I discovered. I was on holiday in Tenerife, and I am not sure if you are familiar with Tenerife but like a lot of other Mediterranean tourist destinations there are a lot of pub-like restaurants that line the beach. A chance for an Englishman to get a warm beer, a pie and chips and watch one of the hundreds of football matches that happen to be occurring at any god-given minute.

I’m not entirely sure what it was that made us go in to this one restaurant in particular. There was nothing that stood out about it, really, not against all the others we had already passed. We entered and sat down, and we looked at the menu. There was the usual assortment of stereotypical English pub meals, and a fairly impressive range of burgers. Well, being a slave to a large lump of beef in a bread roll, I looked to see what options they had.

There was one that stood out, not for the aforementioned strawberry and chilli combination but just because it mentioned that it came with a hot salsa that I should “try if I was brave enough”. Well maybe I felt my ego had been challenged or maybe it was just that I like spicy food, don’t know but I ordered it.

When the food arrived it didn’t look any different. It wasn’t waving a little flag saying “Be aware this burger will alter your perception of fruity and spicy forever.” But when I bit into it, it certainly did. It took me a while to figure out what the taste was. The heat part was obvious, but what was that sweet taste with it. After several minutes, I figured it out.

The taste of that burger was the highlight of the holiday; I couldn’t stop taking about this burger or that relish in particular. So much so, that I vowed that I when I went back to Tenerife I would find that restaurant again and I would have another one of those burgers.

You know what? We did go back to Tenerife and we did find that same restaurant that was still selling the same burgers with that same chilli strawberry relish.

Should a burger relish become one of the main reasons for visiting a place? Not sure, but it is. I could just learn how to make it myself, but i know it wouldn’t be the same. No imitations.

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