I'll gobble up pretty much anything.
But I do have my limits.
All people have culinary limitations.
Some menus, as fabulously touted as they are, just don't do it for everybody.
Everything popular is not everybody's cup of tea... or cake, for that matter.
Redditor Complete-Sweet5222 wanted to discuss the menu, so they asked:
"What is the most overrated cuisine?"
I won't do french cuisine. No snails. No way.
That's just me.
Fancy Schmancy
Chrissy Teigen Cupcake GIF by Billboard Music AwardsGiphy"Fancy cupcakes. Every ‘designer’ cupcake I’ve had has been incredibly dry. I just don’t get why they charge $5-$10 per serving, but the quality of the cake is below a Walmart sheet cake."
ThoseArentCarrots
"I make cupcakes sometimes. Over baking and day old baked products tend to dry out. A lot of the fancy desserts take time to build, which means the cupcakes have been sitting out for a while."
Stinkerma
Shock
"Not really a cuisine per se, but ‘shock food.' You know those giant milkshakes with whole slices of cake and candy on top, or quadruple cheeseburgers with so much cheese it’s running everywhere. It’s just not practical/tasty and really only exists to get a cool picture."
viillanelles
"I made the mistake of getting one of those milkshakes exactly once. It was fun to get and then you realize you just paid 20 bucks for a normal milkshake and grocery store sheet cake."
ceigetank
Be Simple
"Complicated burgers. Some a good but others have far to much on to eat without disassembly or using a knife and fork."
MedicalUprising
"Also I hate when they have overly elaborate names. I want to verbally order a cheeseburger, not the ‘big wet sloppy double daddy burger.'"
Guava_
"I totally agree. I hate being embarrassed to order something. There used to be an ice cream shop that had funky names for sizes. I had to stop going because I could not stop giggling at having to say 'no, I don’t want a zinger, I would like a zooper.”
bakay138
Premiums...
"Our family has been restaurant investors for 40 years. High end French cuisine using offal or organ meats."
"These dishes are pushed because the costs of these types of meats are very low and produce a huge profit margin. Also, the lack of experience with guests cooking these types of dishes for themselves mean very few patrons complain about authenticity. Usually a chef will throw his/her twist in the menu."
"Most customers can tell the difference between a great pizza and a mediocre one. They'll remember a great steak - but a restaurant may be paying huge premiums to fly that Waygu in from Japan or for your Flintstone tomahawk. Whereas, a local butcher shop will gladly unload offal and such with glee due to low demand. You'd be surprised as to how little we paid for cow brains for example."
rayrayrayray
No Silver?
gold GIFGiphy"Gold-flaked cuisine."
bushbeanbuddy
"God, why did it take me so long to realize you were talking about literal flakes of gold? I read this three times and thought, 'What a weird way to describe fried food.'"
bygollyollie
Gold is meant to spend not eat.
Price Point
Excited Winnie The Pooh GIFGiphy"The most expensive dishes. 'Yeah, man these diamonds sautéed in truffle oil and emerald dust are good, but do you have a cheeseburger?'"
gmen_forever
For All...
“'Something for everyone' restaurants. Anywhere where the menu has a ridiculously extensive offering. If I’m flipping multiple pages and not even halfway, I just know everything is about to taste questionable."
low_power_mode
"Several of my local Mexican restaurants have 8-page menus. All the dishes use some combination of tortillas, cheese, peppers, onions, avocados, beans, chicken, and beef, it's just the proportions and presentation that differ from one to another!"
MatttheBruinsfan
Pork Scents
"No cuisine, but I am sick of the whole 'bacon life' meme. It was funny for a couple of decades, but enough already. Bacon 'flavored' anything is disgusting."
SirReal_Realities
"One time in college I ordered bacon flavored popcorn."
"When I popped it in the communal microwave it smelled so awful that we had to open all the windows and evacuate until it had aired out enough for us to Febreze the rest away. It tasted like death. A couple guys threatened to beat me up if I popped any more. Some things just don't need to be bacon flavored. Popcorn is one of them."
Waffle_Maestro
Portions
"Rather than pick on a specific nationality or style of cuisine I'll talk about presentation."
"Any restaurant where portion sizes get smaller as the price goes up is the very height of epicurean pretentiousness. Like if they actually serve you enough food to be satisfied, it might as well be McDonald's."
"I spent a lot of years working in restaurants, and the ironic thing is what's on your plate is by far the smallest expense in serving that plate to you. There's no reason for tiny portions other than pretentious do*chebaggery."
McFeely_Smackup
Shrimp Then?
"Lobster. It’s fine, it’s just not really worth it’s cost imo. I also like eating it in things rather than by itself. The lobster rolls I had in Maine were much better than lobster straight up."
babythrottlepop
Food should be more affordable.
Do you have and foodie quibbles you'd like to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
Cooking is an art.
And it's not one I'm talented at.
It is something that can be taught, thankfully.
But just like anything else there are always people who hold the keys to the success of some.
There seems to be withheld knowledge that some cooks need to hear.
So why not just spill the olive oil?
Let the people cook!
So the rest of us can feast.
Redditor CessnaBlackBelt wanted to get some thoughts on the culinary process out of chefs, so they asked for cooks to chat:
"What's your most gatekeeping culinary opinion?"
I've always been told to focus on the cleanliness of the kitchen.
Hope that helps.
Changes
Dan Levy Comedy GIF by CBCGiphy"If you change a recipe when you make it, you’re not allowed to rate it in the reviews without making the original. Nothing worse than someone rambling about the 14 changes they made to a recipe, and then giving it a 3 star."
Slickness81
Big Secret
"Anthony Bourdain was right: butter is the secret ingredient."
Redditforgoit'
"Butter makes it better' is the first rule of cooking, followed closely by 'an ounce of good sauce hides a pound of mistakes."
TheArmchairSkeptic
"My dad was a chef. He taught me earlier on the the secret to tasty food is to use as much butter as possible and never let anyone know. That’s how why it’s a secret."
str4ngerc4t
Safety First
"I think EVERYONE (both food service workers and general public) should take a food safety course."
ADryMuffin
"Yes please! The way my mother treats a fridge as a general purpose container with uncovered raw meat touching the sides of other things and keeping vegetables straight on the shelves with no containers or even some bowls... it hurts."
MapedMod
"100% agree. Worked in food service a lot when I was younger, even if it's boring it's really informative. Learning food safety also helps you recognize quickly when you go to a restaurant and it's not following safety procedures."
"My biggest pet peeve is still glasses and takeout boxes facing the wrong way."
otakuoccultist
Sabra?
"If your middle eastern/Mediterranean place serves bad or bland hummus I’m not even going to bother with the rest of your menu. If you can’t get the basics right don’t waste my time."
Anduinnn
"Love the episode where Gordon Ramsay has the store owner try his hummus and she agrees that it’s better, then he reveals it was just a Sabra brand he bought from the store. Timestamped link to the episode: https://youtu.be/t3WVCKwZry4?t=1952"
homeboi808
Lighten Up
long island smile GIF by Brimstone (The Grindhouse Radio, Hound Comics)Giphy"Burning stuff doesn’t make it Cajun."
HanMaBoogie
"Oh I have another one just because it's spicy doesn't make it Cajun you crap bag chip companies."
tyedrain
Burning isn't a thing. I've tried to pass that off before.
Be Sharp
Animated GIFGiphy"Most people's knives are so dull as to be next to useless."
Nbjaj2576
"I got a sharpening stone a couple of year ago after getting a really good knife for Xmas. It makes a huge difference. There's nothing more tedious and demotivating than trying to cut vegetables and meat with a blunt kitchen knife."
punky67
Too White
"If you don't allow chicken to brown when you're pan frying it, just don't."
TwoLittleNeedleMarks
"I have to take over for my mother when she cooks chicken and I’m around. Granted, she has to make a lot, but she crowds the pan so much that the temperature drops and many pieces aren’t touching the pan, so they all come out milky white."
homeboi808
"My mother in law cooks chicken in the microwave. I have to leave the house."
give_me_two
'calibrate'
"You cannot trust your oven thermometer. Get a separate one and use it to 'calibrate' your oven. Mine will tell me it's hot about 100 degrees before it's actually at temp. Very annoying."
AttackOfTheThumbs
"When my family moved into our new house we didn't know this was a thing."
"We didn't realize what was happening until we baked half a bowl of cookie dough, only for them to need several minutes more than the directions said, then we baked the second half of the bowl for that long and they were nearly burnt by the time we pulled them out."
SconiGrower
Idenity
"I'm of the opinion that you can do whatever the heck you want with food but if you fundamentally change a dish you have to change its name."
"It's all about expectations."
"If I go into a restaurant and order a carbonara, then when it arrives they say 'oh we make it with pepperoni snack sausages and cream cheese', then it's no longer a freaking carbonara... it's not necessarily gatekeeping but things are called things for a reason. Imagine the chaos if we just abandon this... come on people."
broom-handle
Opposites
So Good Julia GIF by HBO MaxGiphy"LEMON and LIME have two very different flavors. My entire family seems to think that they taste the same and will substitute one for another."
Hack-A-Byte
Well now I feel ready to get into the kitchen.
What's on the menu?
Not all foods can be served in varying degrees of temperature. But some have a sort of multi-tasking consumption ability.
Certain foods MUST be hot, and others cold as ice.
And then some... you can eat any moment of the day and at any temp.
I love those foods.
RedditorFattyGobbleswanted to talk about the best of menus, no matter how it's prepared, they asked:
"What food tastes great cold as it does hot?"
Chinese food.
I can eat chinese food frozen.
OK, that's exaggerating, but it is just as good cold as hot.
That's a scientific fact.
Aloha
"Those sweet Hawaiian rolls." ~ tsundereed
"King's Hawaiian is the brand name. They are the sh*t." ~ OnTheEveOfWar
Giphyphyllo dough
"Baklava." ~ t1dogsandweights
"As long as you use store bought phyllo dough, making baklava from scratch is actually not particularly difficult."
"Just layer the dough sheets in a baking dish with melted butter and a nut/cinnamon mixture, slice it, bake it, and then pour the syrup over it just as it is out of the oven. The sound of it crackling when the syrup is poured on is just. Wow. One shouldn't eat it just then, though, because you want to wait for the syrup to be fully absorbed." ~ HootieRocker59
Soups on...
"Soba noodles. Cold soba in the summer is refreshing, and hot in the winter to keep your warm." ~ Sasazaki222
"Soupy noodles in general seem to fit the bill (at least from my Japanese standpoint). Soba, udon, hiyashi chuka/ramen... I'm starting to get hungry." ~ sassafrankimberly
"I get the soba sauce and noodles from my local H Mart and then just takeout tempura from the Japanese place near me when I want soba. Incredibly low effort for the payoff, and you can totally make an individual serving size fresh a few nights in a row instead of a large one for your family." ~ waterfountain_bidet
The Best of Life
"Chocolate." ~ CupOk3383
"Many years ago I found myself in Madrid visiting a friend. I didn’t know this before hand, but if you ever get the opportunity to go to Madrid, stay up all evening eating tapas and end the night with hot chocolate. My initiation into this involved going down to a basement level establishment in central Madrid around 3 in the morning,."
"Walked past a guy stirring a huge pot of chocolate, aromas of cacao beans and flickers of candle light bouncing off stone walls escorted me to a solid wooden table. Sit, talk, drink amazing chocolate. If there was a choice to live in a world with either chocolate or coffee. I choose chocolate." ~ bayous2mountains
That Hour
"2 am snacks." ~ TheFriendlyDrunks
"I’ll crush 11 Oreos and a glass of milk at 2am no problem." ~ letsgobruins
GiphyWhy do things taste better at 2am?
The exact hour we should NEVER eat?
It just all goes down so smooth, though.
It's All American
"Pie." ~ anb1017
"I don't think anyone enjoys hot and cold pie equally but I do think both sides have large and loyal fanbases. I'm team cold." ~ basedlandchad14
GiphyBOOM. Delicious.
"Soft bread." ~ frenchjolynekujo
"I mean this works a couple ways too. Like a piece of bread and butter, with good bread, and a quality butter, is delicious on its own Toast that up first, BOOM, delicious! But a fresh slice, from a fresh baked loaf thats still warm, well." ~ Aksi_Gu
Such good dairy...
"Cheese." ~ Yippyskippyhippy
"I like (almost) every kind of cheese more when it's melted. But my mother hates when cheese is melted on anything but pizza. Like, years back, she asked if I would make her a sandwich when I was going to go make one for myself."
"I said sure, made them both, heated them just enough to melt the cheese, and she reacted to it in disgust. Not in a rude way, I don't even remember if she asked me to remake it or not, but I was left always remembering that she cannot stand melted cheese." ~ waltjrimmer
Meats
"Ham."
~ Sceptile4president
"Among meats, also chicken and corned beef. As for ham, I sometimes cut it into 1/2 inch slices and broil on each side. It's supposed to be for sandwiches, but I snack on them cold. Only works with cuts from a 1/2 ham, pre-cut ham slices are too thin. Does anyone else hate that pre-cut ham slices are slicing off the best part before you buy your rump end ham?" ~ JustaRandomOldGuy
Just gimme...
"Brownies." ~ SpectralDM
“'A nice warm brownie' and 'a nice chilled brownie' sound equally delicious in ways most other foods do not." ~ TheAndorran
GiphyBrownies.
Eat brownies, wherever, whenever, however you can get them.
And pasts, pasta is great in all states.
I love carbs.
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You can deduce plenty about people just from the things they have in their home.
Not that I rummage through people's homes... much. But there are certain items that are present or missing that let you know there may be trouble in some areas of a person's life.
For instance... all writers have pens. It's a thing. And a computer. And they have books, because they read and research.
If they're missing more than one of these items, it's a poser.
Redditor Tarrabyte__ wanted to send up the red flags we should be on the lookout for when rummaging in kitchens. There are just somethings only a bad cook would have.
"What food in someone's cabinet screams, 'I'm bad at cooking?'"
There are basics to every field and desire.
You have to have the basics or not have what doesn't belong.
Poisons
"I’ve seen someone store their bleach, dish soap, and bath soap right beside the potatoes." ~ jcn143
GiphyDr. NOOOO
"My mom has had a can of Dr.Pepper flavored beans in the cabinet for about 6 months so I’d have to go with that." ~ mini-maggit
"I bought those once more as a novelty. They weren't good. It's like the sauce is supposed to be made with Dr Pepper. But they just tasted bad. So be glad she left them in the cabinet and didn't serve them to you." ~ Acrobatic_Succotash
"You might be surprised how many BBQ recipes call for some kind of dark soda in the sauce/marinade. Dr Pepper, Cola, Root beer; I've seen everything from beans to pulled pork call for one of those." SocratesBalls
"oh it's still good"
"My parents have spices in the cabinet from before they were married. They just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last week. It's a known fact amongst my kids, you don't eat anything in grandmas house without checking an expiration date."
"We've also started a new game of trying to find the oldest expiration date we can. The refrigerator has stuff from the year I graduated high school in 1999. Ice cream toppings and things like that. The response from my mom and dad is always 'oh it's still good.'" ~ oaksso7880
Bad Flavors
"To balance out the 'lack of seasonings.' Only massive amounts of garlic and onion powder. I met someone who insists you'd be a fool to not pack every recipe with these, to the point where everything has this weird, overpowering fake taste." ~ Doobledorf
"They’re easy to lean on because they smell good as is. It takes a little experience and experimentation to learn how to unlock the other flavors through combinations and actually cooking the herbs. Like I could just huff a bag of onion powder all day that stuff is amazing!" ~ Abrahamlinkenssphere
Get Wood
"A glass cutting board. only people who have no clue what they’re doing in the kitchen would use one." ~ kittenswithtattoos
GiphyStorage is key.
You don't store chemicals with food.
Choose to live.
What's Missing?
"I think it's more about what's not there. If you don't own a cutting board, you probably can't cook. I'm surprised at how snobby some of these comments are. I'm a great cook, but eat instant/shortcut convenience foods all the time. My time and energy are finite resources, sometimes those convenience items are a lifesaver!" ~ strikingsapphire
GiphyCut it Up
"The lack of a larger, sharp, knife. If all you have are paring knives, I will assume you don’t cook much." ~ Bananaman612
"Whatever size they are, if all your knives are dull, you either don’t cook much or have some kind of weird fetish for frustrating yourself. Lots of people can’t afford fancy knives, but most can afford a sharpener and a few seconds every now and then to give them a quick run through." ~ Fortherealtalk
What's Lacking
"It's more the lack of salt in the cabinet. My family doesn't believe in seasoning food and they don't think it is possible to overcook something. I have heard my mom complain about how pepper is too spicy. They're like the stereotype of white people." ~ Either_Road_5538
"Sounds like my friend when we were growing up his mom cooked chicken by boiling it and don't season it at all. Dude way blown away when I cooked him and myself chicken with a homemade pan sauce one time, that's when he told me about his childhood of bland boiled chicken." ~ subaru_natsuki337
Reasons for Seasons
"I see a lot of people here ragging on instant food but damn I work full time. Sometimes I make Butter Chicken from scratch and other times I make hamburger helper for dinner. I consider myself a good cook but I’m also a person who gets tired. Just because you have lazy meals ready to go does not make you a bad cook." ~ TheCylonsAreHere
I think I may be a bad cook.
That's ok, I have DoorDash.
And I'm temperamental with spices so take that as you will.
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The solution to healthier eating habits and saving money is cooking at home.
But while following recipes are pretty self-explanatory, not everything turns out the way we expected, and adding more salt was not the answer.
To help out us amateur cooks, Redditor tmariexo enlisted the help of strangers on the internet by asking them:
"What is your best cooking tip?"
So, first thing's first.
A Proper Prep
"Read through the entire recipe before you begin to make the item."
– Indycam
"I also like to pick one recipe I'm going to mainly follow, and then look at a bunch of other recipes for the same dish to see what they all have in common, and see if any have ingredient suggestions/helpful tips that the one I'm using doesn't have."
– edie_the_egg_lady
For Efficiency
"Cut/Prep everything first. Keeps the work area clean and you're able to add thing exactly when they're supposed to be added. Instead of burning something because you still have to cut or prep an ingredient."
– cmfreeman
Start With The Pepper
"Get a pepper grinder, freshly ground black pepper is a completely different taste to the powdered stuff."
"Have a hunt around You Tube, there's some good guidance out there."
"Food Wishes is probably a good start as is Americas Test Kitchen."
– Moneia
Master The Basics
"Learn cooking techniques."
"For instance, if you know how to roast vegetables and steam vegetables and stir-fry vegetables, then you can usually find something to do with whatever veggie is this week's special deal."
– doublestitch
'Tis The Season
"Adding salt at the beginning of cooking helps to draw oils and juices out of ingredients so their flavors permeate through the dish. Do not fully cook a meal then salt at the end."
– M0ck_duck
Take notes for these helpful pointers.
If You Use A Cast Iron
"If you're using cast iron, the spot on your stove where it says medium...that's as high as that spot goes now."
"Also,a big strength of cast iron is it can hold that heat for you, but you should really give it time to heat up...like 5 whole minutes is a good start."
– midelus
Difference Between Methods
"Cooking is an art. Get in there, make mistakes, don't be scared."
"Baking is a science. Be afraid, do not improvise, triple check."
– DarthDregan
People Explain Activities They've Added To Their Post-Pandemic Bucket List | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
While we've all been cooped up for the better part of two years, many of us have been dreaming up exciting plans for the future. Maybe it's finally time to s...No Shortcuts
"Do not try to cook everything on high. Learn to moderate your temperatures."
– Eirikur_da_Czech
All Ears
"Heat your pan hot before you add oil. Listen to your food cook. The sizzle changes when it's ready to be flipped."
– PenisPapercuts
Stretch Your Meals
"When making burgers/meatballs make an extra portion and freeze it (raw). Stews also freeze really well, it's worth making a bigger batch. Cook once, eat twice."
– island-breeze
Lard, Help Us
"If you have to measure similar (or divisible by the same measuring cup/spoon) amounts of oil and anything that doesn't come out of the measuring cup easily (like lard), measure the oil first, then the use the same cup for the lard, and the lard will just slide right out"
– dpsouthwell
It Burns Fast
"Minced garlic in a hot oiled pan cooks damn near immediately. Like less than a minute. If you're adding it to anything cooked in a skillet (stir fry, etc.) throw it in at the very end right before you turn off the heat [edit: or before you add water or wet ingredients such that the heat is effectively reduced to boiling]."
– SonOfMcGee
These help make a smooth and safe cooking environment.
Mind The Handle
"Don't leave the pan handle hanging over the edge of the stove. Even more important if you have kids."
– K-Kraft
Being A Multi-Tasker
"Clean up as you cook. You get stuff out of your way and don't have a bunch of sh*t to do afterwards."
– Sandpaper_Pants
Let It Go
"A falling knife has no handle."
– sisforsharp
"I literally throw my hands up and jump back whenever my knife slips. Old habit from working at a sashimi bar."
– owlbehome
A Suit Not Recommended
"Do *not* fry food when you're naked."
– driving_andflying
Go By The Signal
"When the fire alarm activates, that means it's done."
– K-Kraft
While I'm by no means a master in the kitchen, I found through trial and error how to adjust the flavoring of some of my favorite things to prepare.
In an effort to cut down on my sugar intake but still satisfy my sweet tooth, I learned how to bake what ended up being some of my favorite treats, like gooey coffee cake without too much of the gooey, during the pandemic.
But when the recipe called for an excessive amount of sugar, I reduced the amount by a third and replaced refined cane sugar with brown sugar.
The result was a chef's kiss from my and my friends in the neighborhood who got to sample them while we were all in lockdown.
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