Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Last night I bought avacados for the first time. I grabbed 2 of them along with 1 lemon. I've never made avacado anything before, nor have I eaten it. I will be chowing it down tonight after work.

I'm familiar with the method of disassembling it, but I'm not sure of a good way to eat it. Should I be cooking it, eating it raw, dipping it in something, putting some kind of sauce on it? What is your favorite way to eat them?

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

I'm pretty sure you can just eat them.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

PC,

Diablo posted a simple and delicious looking sandwich a little ways back. Grill up some chicken, slicke up avocados and some tomatoes, add a little salt and pepper and you're golden.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

I'm fairly certain there were some good guacamole recipes on here at some point if you do a search.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

I make my own guacamole all the time, but it's kind of 'fly by the seat of my pants' recipe. You'll need avocados (two is usually a good amount) that are softened. If they aren't soft to the squeeze, put them in a paper bag with an apple (the ethylene helps soften them) and let them sit a day or two.

You'll also need limes (or lemons), garlic, vegetables (I use tomatoes and bell peppers and scallions or red onions) plus a bit of heat (jalapenos or serranos), salt, pepper... and my secret ingredients: cilantro and cumin. Some people don't like these, but they really make guac awesome, IMO. Mash the avocado with the citrus juice and then mix all the other stuff in, to your taste. Avocados go brown fast, so the acid from the lemon helps stop this, but so will leaving the pit from the avocado in the dip (as odd as this sounds), as well as pressing saran wrap down onto the dip to stop air getting in.

Also good: avocado as a spread (like El Diablo's suggestion, on a sandwich, or on a burger), in a cool soup, and chunks of it in salad. It's kind of rich and fatty, so I think it's a bit plain and gross on it's own, so guac is my favorite way to go with these.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

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It's kind of rich and fatty, so I think it's a bit plain and gross on it's own

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depends on the avocado. some can be a little bland by themselves, but if you dress them up into guacamole, they're fine.

for some, all you need is salt.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Cut said avacado in halve (uhh, don't cut the seed)...

Twist and separate.

Poor on Soy Sauce.

Enjoy.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Avocado + ice + condensed milk + sugar + blender = goodness

http://www.food-management.com/image...omilkshake.jpg

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

What about that 70s classic the prawn cocktail? Cut the avocado into halves, take the stone out fill with prawns and Thousand Island dressing. Or you can use it in salad it also goes well with bacon or just on its own with a little balsamic vinegar.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

advice: use bacon avocados. smash it up, add some tomatoes and salt. use as chip dip. be stoked.

rj

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Cut in half. toss seed away. squeeze in a little lemon juice. sprinkle with salt. enjoy.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Sounds like a bunch of great ideas. Does anyone normally cook the things, or is it usually used fresh out of the skin?

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

I really enjoy avocados with sour cream on the side. Is this weird?

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

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I really enjoy avocados with sour cream on the side. Is this weird?

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No, I could really get into that.

Avocado shakes ARE delicious. They are fresh and kind of grassy tasting. I made an avocado mousse a while back, but it split on me. The top part was good. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Make sure it has softened a little.

Peel avocado.

Remove pit.

Slice.

Eat and enjoy.

Anyway, that is how I like them. Yum [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

[ QUOTE ]
advice: use bacon avocados. smash it up, add some tomatoes and salt. use as chip dip. be stoked.

rj

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What is a bacon avacado? If you meant use bacon with avacado, I'm all about that, for bacon is food of the Gods.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

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Cut in half. toss seed away. squeeze in a little lemon juice. sprinkle with salt. enjoy.

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This is like heaven!

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

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Cut in half. toss seed away. squeeze in a little lemon juice. sprinkle with salt. enjoy.

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Absolutely. Especially if you've never had one before, just go for the pure experience.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like a bunch of great ideas. Does anyone normally cook the things, or is it usually used fresh out of the skin?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't cook it.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

P,

Things I do with avocados:

1) Eat them w/ chicken breast.
2) Eat them on burger.
3) Eat them on sandwich (grilled or cold sandwich).
4) Make guacamole.

The closest I've come to cooking an avocado is putting some slices in a sandwich and grilling the sandwich.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Avocados also make an excellent addition to a salad.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Side note: I am allergic to avacados, but they are worth the pain.

They are that good.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

oh man, i just went and had an all organic blt with avocado. jesus christ my stomach is like "THANKS MAN! [censored] YEAH!"

rj

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Guacamole
2 avacados
1 small onion, finely chopped
a few roma tomatoes, chopped
a few cloves (more if you like it, less if you don't) of garlic, minced
cilantro, finely chopped
the juice of one lime (good size, like a ping pong ball)

Seed the avacados & lightly mash them in a bowl, add everything else & mix it up good. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Guacamole
2 avacados
1 small onion, finely chopped
a few roma tomatoes, chopped
a few cloves (more if you like it, less if you don't) of garlic, minced
cilantro, finely chopped
the juice of one lime (good size, like a ping pong ball)

Seed the avacados & lightly mash them in a bowl, add everything else & mix it up good. Add salt & pepper to taste.

[/ QUOTE ]

On the way home from work, an hour ago, I picked up 2 roma plum tomatoes, one small onion, and one head of garlic. I'll be using lemon instead of lime though.

Aside from the guac, I'll be doing a little sampler of other suggestions. I will post pics and give the report when done.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Since I started dating my latin GF, ive found that avacados go well with anything... on steak, with rice, in sandwiches, by themself. If they arnt ripe, and your impatient, put them in a paper bag and seal off the top to speed up the ripening process.

If you like tuna, make yourself a nice tuna salad and maybe throw in some cocktail shrimp or crab meat to mix things up. Serve the tuna/shrimp/crab meat salad scooped into an avacado half. Garnish with a lemon. Nice little refreshing appetizer that looks as good as it tastes.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

The easy way to do it is cut it in half and remove the pit. Fill each half with vinegar, oil, salt, and some mustard to taste. Eat with a spoon.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Cut in half and remove pit...add some lea and perrins sauce, and you're good to go.

Soy sauce can be used if Worcestershire sauce can't be found

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Well, here it is fellas. The avacado sampler as prescribed by OOT.


Here is the whole meal. I decided to eat outside because it's hot as a bastard in the house and my cell phone camera sucks, so some natural light would help the pics a bit.
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8762/ap1hj3.jpg

I knew I was definitely going to try the soy sauce, and the worcestershire sauce made it as a last minute entry as well.
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/239/ap2qg1.jpg

On the plate I have the guac, cleverly stuffed back inside the skin, along with chopped avacado with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I have a spoonful of sour cream on the side as was another idea brought to my attention in this thread.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6703/ap3in8.jpg

About the sandwich: Italian sesame seed bread with chicken,cheese, bacon, avacado, and tomato. That one big sunovabitch. I think it weighed like 2 pounds.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8312/ap4qg7.jpg

In side bowls I had plain hopped avacado for dipping in the sauces, and a handfull of tortilla chips for the guac.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2865/ap5xv5.jpg

Here's the guac. Is that about what it should look like. It's the worst picture of the bunch, but give me some feedback about the ratio of onion:avac:tom, the best you can.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7236/ap6nb4.jpg

The sammich was fillin' me up quick so I stopped for a break and took another quick pic. The chips ended up on the plate so I could divide the plain chunks up into the 2 bowls and drizzle each of the 2 sauces on them.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3240/ap7di2.jpg

I'll post a review of the flavor combos tomorrow. Right now it's time for some pokah!

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

THE REVIEW

1) Sandwich - Wonderful. The avacado acted both as a moistening condiment and a great flavor addition. It sure does make it big and dense too.

2) Chopped with lemon, S&P - This seamed to be the correct "keep it simple" way to eat avacado, not as an ingredient of a larger dish. The lemon added a perfect brightness to the flavor.

3) Plain, Chopped with soy sauce - This seamed a little salty to me. The flavor was definitely good, but I think the saltyness was a little overpowering for the delicate, mild, flavor of the flesh. It may be my own fault as I drizzled the soy on instead of going for a more controlled dip, where I could have been more careful with the amount of soy going onto each bite.

4) Plain, Chopped with worcestershire sauce - There was something missing here. I like the smokyish taste of worcesterhire, but it didn't seam to meld just right with the avacado IMO. It wasn't terrible by any means. It just was lacking something.

5) Guac - Delicious. I'll be making this often. Once I started scooping with the chips, I had to pull myself away from it to continue with the others. The lemon, tomato, onion and garlic is a supreme combo with the avacado, making a great dip.

6) Sour Cream - Loved it. I liked it more with the lemon doused rather than the plain. It presented multiple layers of mellow and sharp sourness, & multiple layers of mellow and sharp creamyiness. Awesome.

7) Plain with & without Salt - Another poster said sometime you need some salt and sometimes you don't, depending on the particular fruit. I can see this being the case. I will say that the avacado is delicious on its own, but I can understand how some could be a little bland and need a little sprucing up because of the overall mildness of the flavor.


A big thanks to OOT for hookin' me up with some great ideas for my first avacado experience.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Very cool.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Try growing an avocado plant instead of throwing out the pit by inserting 3 toothpicks equi-distant around the midpoint of the circumference of the pit (after washing pit). Put water in a vessel, a glass or small vase will do, so that the toothpicks cause the pit, root side down, to be suspended in the chosen vessel.

Make sure that the water level in the vessel covers the root end (you can pretty much try and leep the water level just below that of the toothpicks) so that the root end does not dry out. The pit will develop water roots and eventually split apart allowing a stalk to grow up. You can maintain the plant in water only for a very long period and/or you can eventually plant same in a pot for growth.

Maintain in a sunny window in winter. In summer you can move it outside understanding that this plant needs to have moisture.

The foliage is not at all spectacular, you will not grow any avacados (unless you live in the tropics) but it is a pretty cool looking thing to see especially when you maintain it in water and not transplant it into soil.

Chicks dig guys who grow plants!

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Pretty cool. Yeah, the Soy Sauce gets a bit on the salty side...You gotta really like salt for that one.

I'm a salt freak. I actually go for the Soy & Salt sometimes...

Crap, now I want one. Sorry stomach, you's in for some pain today [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

I think I saw something about growing the plant from the pit on Good Eats. I didn't know that it wouldn't produce any avacado fruit though. It would be cool to see it grow, but if it's not going to give e some avacados, I wouldn't go through the effort much past the novelty of the experiment.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

[ QUOTE ]
5) Guac - Delicious. I'll be making this often. Once I started scooping with the chips, I had to pull myself away from it to continue with the others. The lemon, tomato, onion and garlic is a supreme combo with the avacado, making a great dip.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like to slice the avocado into smaller cubes in its skin before removing it and mixing it with the other ingredients. I prefer lime juice to lemon juice. I will also add some finley diced hot peppers and a little bit of green peppers. The ratios look good.

Also, if you want to store leftover guac overnight, the secret to keeping it fresh is reducing exposure to oxygen, so cover it in wrap, but make sure the wrap is pressed directly aginst the guac.

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

P,

Great post and pics. I am buying some more avocados this weekend!

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Try spreading it on toast with salt and pepper. Great little snack

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

Tried the Avocado w/ lemon & salt. Not bad.


Threw some on a burger today with Muenster & BBQ sauce...[censored] delish!

Re: Help me prepare my first avacado.
 

My wife mashes up avocado with a bit of lemon, a touch of tabasco and some mayonaisse. She then takes off the shells and de-veins them. Finally she spreads the avocado mixture onto a piece of bread, tosses on a bit of sea salt, arranges several shrimp on top before grinding some black pepper over it and putting on the top piece of bread.

It's good if the bread is toasted too.

She usually serves me this avocado and shrimp sandwich with a bowl of very cold gazpacho soup. The soup is nice and crunchy because she sprinkles small chunks of cucumber, capsicum, onion, and tomato over the top.

Lunch really doesn't get much better than that.