How chefs deal with ingredients they won’t eat

We all have a few foods that we just do not care to eat, and chefs are no exception. Unlike the rest of us, however, they often have no choice but to use ingredients they find distasteful. Some chefs find alternatives to the despised items, while others search for ways to make the off-putting flavors more palatable. Elisa Ludwig of the Philadelphia Inquirer asked several chefs how they cope with ingredients they do not like, and the answers are enlightening. 

I was surprised by some of the foods that the interviewed chefs disliked. Mark Tropea of Philly restaurant Stir hates raw tomatoes. “I’ll be honest. Even the ripest, most unusual heirloom doesn’t do it for me,” he says. He finds ways to work them, however, along with anchovies, another ingredient he finds distasteful. He uses anchovies in salad dressings, tapenade, or bagna cauda, where its flavor can be subdued with a heavy dose of garlic. 

Co-op chef Paul Silva similar find anchovies off-putting and he’s no fan of  blue cheese, either. He’s learned to tame the cheese’s strong flavor by adding items like creme fraiche and fresh herbs to the dip his restaurant serves along side wings. “Sweetness helps, too. We put honey and corn syrup in the [chicken] wings, so that kind of cuts down on the pungency,” he says.