I am really big on trying new foods. Here’s a short list of foods that I’ve eaten for the first time lately:

Ramps: The Restaurant has been getting ramps in. We sautee it in a cast iron pan or grill it, chop it and add a small bit of it to the duck confit risotto. It’s an amazing vibrant green color, looks like a leafy scallion and tastes like concentrated garlic meets leek. They are in season right now and for another month or so. Here’s a recent NY Mag piece about them.

Salsify: Another ingredient at The Restaurant. It looks look like a long, skinny parsnip covered in dirt. It’s a root vegetable with the texture of parsnip (less stringy, though) or celery root. There are good, but I don’t know if they are worth the prep work (your hands get really dirty and sticky when peeling them). They are supposed to have a faint taste of oysters, but I don’t get that. Maybe because I’m not a supertaster.

Sweetbreads: I am against veal. I have never purposely ordered it, but I will try a bite if someone else does. But I figured if I am going to be a chef, I have to put away my food convictions and try everything. So I ordered veal sweetbreads as my meat course at L’École. It’s extremely tender, pretty silky and tasty. From what I understand, they are extremely perishable and you need to take care when prepping them (they need to be soaked in acidic water or milk). It’s a luxury along the lines of foie gras.

Meurgez: Vincent brought over some of these Moroccan lamb sausages to my house warming party. Juicy, spicy, flavorful. Ah, it’ll be hard to go back to regular sausages.

Have you tried anything new and noteworthy?