Have you bought any useless products?

[Baz Faz]

When making certain Thai dishes I need the coconut flavour. I used to be able to buy 200 gram blocks of creamed coconut, cut off the amount I wanted and store the rest in the freezer. I can no longer find these blocks in shops (I can buy online but I don't want 12 packs). There are cans of coconut milk or cream which are expensive and I don't usually want a whole can. Then I saw tubs of coconut fat (whatever it was called) and bought one. Useless. The chicken curry I made had no taste of coconut. Reading the small print on the label last night I saw that it boasted it was flavourless. Well, perhaps I could use it for stirfrying. Last night was the night for trying this. The wok needs to be hot for that process but when I added a lump of this coconut fat it was as if I had lit a bonfire. Smoke billowed everywhere. I quickly closed the kitchen door as there is a smoke alarm just outside. I opened windows (hello rain) and the dining room door. Even so the kitchen and dining room were hazed with a fog of coconut smoke.

In a fury I have thrown away the tub.

The only other purchase I have thrown away was Tic-Tac which I bought in El Salvador and which had a label that boasted it was El Licor Nacional. It was beyond vile. Actually, now I think back, I believe my sister-in-law drank it. She would glug down anything.

[OnlyMark]

Usually when moving to a new country I periodically buy stuff from the supermarket/shop that is unfamiliar to me. Either it is something I've never heard of or it's supposed to be something I have. In 90% of the cases it gets tasted and then thrown away. Sometimes I turn up trumps and continue to buy and use it but it is not often.

[auntieannie]

Baz! you should have said! I'd have brought you some. you can find creamed coconut from a healthfood shop. at least mine does carry them.

[Baz Faz]

Annie, there is a health food shop almost opposite our house and all they have is cans of coconut milk. I expect I could ask them to get some.

[Hedonista]

Today I wanted to make a truffle and chanterelle mushroom sauce to go with roasted veal rib. Paid 11 euros for a single black truffle in a tiny jar and it was useless and tasteless, even when blitzed up in beef stock and heated. Anyway, the sauce ended up very tasty.