Julia and I asked for your favorite weird food combos, and you DELIVERED. From more than 1,000 submissions—which ranged from the absolutely not weird (French toast and ice cream) to the curiously delicious (cereal with iced latte) to the viscerally upsetting (oh, you'll see)—we picked out three. These are the best of the best—which is to say, these are also the worst of the worst.
Combo #1: Canned sardines with condensed milk
Woof. This one scared me. Canned fish is already risky business to begin with, then to pair it with a sticky-sweet milky substance is just adding fuel to the fire. So straight into the fire I jumped, buying not just one can of sardines but SEVEN different kinds. And yes, I tried all of them, dipping each bite into a bowl of condensed milk, and feeling bolder and more maniacal as the tasting progressed.
And guess what? I really got into the flavor combination! It reminded me of something I grew up eating and cherishing—a sweet Taiwanese tinned fish called "Old Fisherman Roasted Eel"—so by the end of the tasting, I was fully amped to get cooking. One thing I decided could elevate this pairing was adding some sort of a crunchy texture into the mix.
To make the canned sardines less...mushy...I breaded each filet in cornstarch then fried them in peanut oil until golden and crispy. I took the condensed milk and mixed in equal part Sriracha and a squeeze of lemon juice, whisking it until it resembled a smooth mayo-based special sauce. The result? Absolutely fantastic. In the moment, I gave it only an 8.1/10 but in retrospect, I'd recommend this combo 10/10.
Combo #2: Cheetos, chocolate milk, and chocolate pudding
I was so looking forward to this combo because I love Cheetos to no end, and I love chocolate (like 99% of the world's population). But *spoiler alert* this turned out to be the one I felt most lukewarm about. No matter how hard I tried, cheese and chocolate just don't have chemistry together in this context.
I will say that in my adventure, I found a new flavor of Cheetos that is surprisingly unique: Torciditos, a Mexican import, speckled with visible flecks of seasoning that tastes like a fancy flower married a smoky chile and lived happily ever after in cheesy domesticity. The texture is quite special, too: lighter than the densely crunchy Cheetos, but not as airy as the puffy variety.
After a couple of failed attempts at making mug cakes with Cheetos powder and chocolate milk, I turned to inspiration from one of my favorite Japanese snacks: chocolate covered corn puffs. The eureka moment happened when I realized that it's not so much the cheese and chocolate that taste great together, but that corn and chocolate taste great together. So I melted down some chocolate chips with coconut oil for a good melty consistency, then covered my various Cheetos in it. The winning combo has some chili flakes on top for depth of flavor: smoky, spicy, crunchy, chocolate-covered goodness.
Combo #3: Cinnamon raisin bagel and sliced American cheese
Straight off the bat, this one didn't sound so terrible. I, for one, adore cinnamon raisin bagels (maybe even more than I love an everything bagel *gasp!*) and celebrate all processed melty cheese products. I mean, remove the conventional taste buds that you've been indoctrinated by and gaze upon how good this looks:
To be completely honest, this combo really didn't need to be taken to new heights—it was pretty satisfying as is. But since we're playing this game, I decided to really jump off the cliff by making the ultimate schwasted-stoner-drunk-food mash-up: a cinnamon raisin bagel breakfast sandwich with Sriracha-condensed milk spread, peanut butter, a sunny-side-up egg, melty American cheese, crushed Cheetos dust, and more Sriracha on top.
How did it taste? I think you'll just have to make it yourself to know for sure.
