So The Biscuit was intrigued after seeing Food Network’s super mouth and host of Bizarre Foods, Andrew Zimmern, struggle to eat - of all things - a piece of fruit. He’s consumed turtle guts, rooster testicles, beating cobra hearts, rotten tofu and other malodorous munchies, but he could not handle the notorious durian, perhaps the oddest fruit in the world.

The Biscuit had once planned to use the durian as a stink bomb in high school, but had no luck finding one. But of course, Grand Asia Market in Cary, N.C., a store for everything from the Orient, had dozens of them. And after seeing such an experienced eater fail to swallow a bite, The Biscuit wanted to take a try.

It was… well, after multiple people tried it, The Biscuit decided their faces could tell you everything you’d ever need to know about the so called “King of Fruit.”

Here’s a slide show with some informative captions and good music documenting a person’s first taste of the thing. Hopefully it will answer any questions you might have. If not, ask away. Enjoy!

In a competition running deep into the night, we have found a winner. Yes, the results surprised The Biscuit too. The venerable Irish Breakfast tea easily defeated the swank Silver Needle and also earned the black tea conference a place on top, at least for this year.

A panel of 3 judges (The Biscuit was not one of them) scored the teas using the following guidelines found at The Simple Leaf :

Dry Leaf Appearance (See / Touch / Hear): 2 points
Wet Leaf Appearance (See / Touch): 1 point
Smell / Aroma (Smell): 2 points
Liquor Color (See): 1 point
Flavor (Taste): 4 points

Considering those numbers, the Irish Breakfast beat on the Needle 23-13.

You can buy the tea online from Tea Zone or check out their nice little shop in Somerville, Mass.

There’s a lot more fun stuff in store in the next few days or so. You’ll get to see The Biscuit and a host of other people react to their first bite of Durian, which is amusing to say the least. Keep eating!

So we’re down to the final round. It looks like Tea Zone has swept with two flavors, Silver needle and Irish Breakfast. Here’s the bracket:

The Biscuit is in a rush, so check back tomorrow for the results along with how we decide the champion and where you can get the teas.

So we’re heading to the final four! Here are the results and some photos from the tasting:

In the final round, we’ll discuss the rules we used and how the teas were rated. Check back tomorrow!

So the results are in from the first round of tasting! Check them out below:

With every round I’ll try to give some more fun information, so here are some quotes about each tea’s flavor:

Tea Zone Raspberry Green: It smells like Gummi Bears.
Republic of Tea Green Tea: This smells just like Play-Doh and tastes even worse. It’s just plain bad.
Tea Zone Grapefruit: Oh my god, this is… this is mash potatoes. It smells like Thanksgiving. Tastes like bleh.
Lipton: Probably my urine from the other teas combined would taste better than that.

Tea Zone (loose leaf) is dominating in nearly every conference but the Fruit/herb. Can Celestial Seasonings hold out? Check back tomorrow to see who will make it to the next round!

To coincide with March Madness (good season, Tar Heels), The Biscuit has decided to set up his own tournament of sorts, complete with a bracket. However, there are no basketballs in this challenge but, instead, an assortment of teas.

The Biscuit has accumulated sixteen different types of the drink and over the next few days will determine with the help of Jordan Wingate (a man with British citizenship, so he knows a thing or two about the nation’s favorite thing to sip on) which one is the best.

Check back each day to see the progress, review the rules, learn a thing or two about what makes good tea and, of course, take part in all the excitment.

Here are the match-ups (divided into conference based on type):

Which do you think will reign supreme?

The Biscuit, along with some friends, visited No. 1 Panda House in Durham tonight after reading about the restaurant on another local blog, Chapel Hill, China.

The place was supposed to be good, and it definitely did not disappoint with its new flavor combinations.

Taking Chapel Hill, China’s advice, we asked for the Chinese menu so we could try something new. We had to ask for some help picking out the authentic Shanghainese cuisine. Unfortunately, the main attraction, the pan-fried pork buns, were only available during the weekend for lunch.

The servers were great, and they gave us lots of ideas based on what we wanted to try. This concept has come up before when The Biscuit eats Chinese, so don’t forget to ask if there is an alternative menu in Chinese with additional dishes. Hopefully the wait staff can help you negotiate through all the foreign characters. Usually you’ll find dozens and dozens of more things to try.

“Uh, something chicken?” got us San Huang, an unusual cold dish of boiled chicken topped with cilantro and an intricate, vinegar-y dark “secret” sauce that was surprisingly tasty and new. The dish was strange enough, at least to my American palatte, that I predict the flavor combinations would impress any judge on Bravo’s Top Chef.

The entrées were also divergent from the usual American-Chinese flavors of garlic, onion and General Tso, which made them so interesting and satisfying.

The Biscuit recommends the Lion Head casserole (scary sounding, right?), which is four large, soft meatballs of ground pork, water chestnut and so on (not really sure about everything) in a brown broth with lettuce. It reminded The Biscuit more of the polish dish golumpki that his aunt used to make. With its texture and taste, it seemed like something you’d find in an eastern European restaurant.

The whole baked fish with green onions was quite good too. Everything had completely new flavors from typical Far East fare.

Besides the food, The Biscuit really enjoy its conversation with the staff who shared some old Chinese traditions about eating. Apparently, the best part of this fish is right behind the eye, which seemed to be true, and the bone has to be removed to get to the meat on the fish’s other side - otherwise, if you flip the fish, the boat that caught it will flip over and sink.

In honor of these legends, The Biscuit has compiled a list of other old Chinese food proverbs from philosophers and poets. Enjoy and expect a lot of new and interesting content soon.

Chinese food proverbs

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it. - Lao-tzu

The way you cut your meat reflects the way you live. - Confucius

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. - Confucius

Tea tempers the spirit, harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens the thought and prevents drowsiness. - Lu Yu

The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table. - Confucius

Coarse rice for food, water to drink, and the bended arm for a pillow - happiness may be enjoyed even in these. - Confucius

Cutting stalks at noon time, Perspiration drips to the earth. Know you that your bowl of rice, Each grain from hardship comes? - Cheng Chan-Pao

Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible. - Cantonese saying

The Biscuit’s roommate recently challenged him to cook a meal using whatever he could find in the dorm room. Well, here it is, the results of the competition.

Watch it to see what I came up with using, among many things, beans, bacon and sweet potato pancakes.

The recent issue of Esquire just chose Allen & Son Barbecue as the best place to get a chopped pork sandwich in the country.

The Biscuit enjoys Allen & Son, the little joint on Millhouse Road, but a lot of others, including Bill Harmon from last week’s interview don’t. They find local rival eatery, the BBQ Joint, to be superior.

Perhaps a local barbecue battle might ensue in a few weeks? Durham might jump in with Bullock’s and the Q-Shack as well to see who rules when it comes to BBQ.

Thought readers might find Harmon’s description of the Red Pig interesting, so here’s the audio clip:

 

 Describing the Red Pig, Concord, N.C.: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download