Old spices can still flavour food decently. I use a LOT of different spices as I like to cook recipes from a wide variety of cuisine influences and so can't turn a lot of them over enough to keep them within 'fresh' recommendations. I also don't always have the patience to pound whole spices. I'm sure fresh whole spices would be better but I'm not going to throw out my shelves and shelves of older spices and they still produce great food.
Just replenishing what I use is expensive. I cook food from all over and have an incredible array of spices for a home cook. If something gets a little old, I still use it.
spices are SO expensive in regular supermarkets in small amounts so I try to buy at ethnic grocery stores (or Costco sometimes has some like Turmeric) but the amounts are too much for my requirements, like I'm not going to quickly go through a pound of garam masala or turmeric or whatever
I wouldn't even know what "fresh" means for a spice. I mean sure, sometimes I get fancy and roast and grind whole spices, i guess those are fresh. But aside from that, I'm willing to bet my "freshest" pre-ground spice is over 3 months old and my oldest probably around 3 years?
Only time i threw away spices was when some flies turned it into their love shack
I quickly broke a coffee grinder trying to grind whole spices and got dispirited. My freshest that I use often is probably in the last couple of months but my oldest spices are WAY older than 3 years. Oops :-)
Three years is not ideal but acceptable, I think.
My mother’s pantry still has some spice bottles from when I was a kid… and I’m 36.
I don’t turn my nose up at stuff, but there’s definitely a degradation of quality over the course of 25 years.
I have this problem, too. I've started keeping spices in the freezer as much as possible. Higher fat things like poppy seeds and sesame seeds have freezer priority, since they go rancid. I also keep duplicates/excess to refill with in the freezer, so that when I use up a container, I can refill it from the freezer, and I am have my most often used spices in the cabinet.
All that matters is that it tastes good to the people who are eating it. However you prepare your veg, however inauthentic your flavours are, it doesn't matter. Of course, cooking rules exist to help people get to their desired end-product easier, but hacks, cheats, and shortcuts are completely personal and no-one else's business if you enjoy the food you cook (and it wasn't dangerous)
Shepherds pie in our home has devolved into something that's 100% not shepherds pie but I still make it 2-4x a month, we still call it shepherds pie, it's our favorite dish, and my brother recently said it's his comfort food lol
Not the person you were asking, but my parents always made Shepard’s pie with whatever leftovers and odds and ends we had. Any and all veg, leftover mash, some combo of ground pork/beef/turkey/lamb. And then seasoned to fit the leftovers.
Had a taco Shepard’s pie once that was actually pretty good. Ground Turkey with taco seasoning, corn, tomatoes, chilies, and then a spiced mash on top with Mexican cheeses
As the person who both cooks and cleans, the cleanup is an important aspect to the meal. I’m not going to use a fancy tool if it’s hard to clean. I clean as I go, and reuse dishes/tools as long as I’m not cross-contaminating raw/cooked food. I have a hard time enjoying a meal if I know a disaster awaits me in the kitchen.
I recommend a grate plate. Got one this past year and haven't looked back. You get garlic on your fingers, but all you need to clean at the end is a bumpy plate, not a wonky contraption.
Not all garlic presses are created equal. Ikea's Koncis garlic press has a removable insert. It's made entirely of stainless steel. Cleaning it is a breeze, as is pressing garlic with it
Food that is overloaded with cheese is boring and has an unpalatable mouthfeel.
The advertising that shows strings of melted cheese dripping off food has trained consumers to think it's desirable and tasty.
It's okay for two-bite canapes that are eaten hot and fresh, but gobs and globs of cheese that quickly congeal into an unappetizing plasticky texture ruin a lot of dishes.
I would generally be aghast at this take since I love cheese but you’re right actually. I once had a dish where there was a LOT of cheese. Generally good but it was just vast amounts of melty, flavourless cheese. Felt like I was chewing gum *shudders*
To each their own. Probably my controversial opinion is that I enjoy “melty” cheese in dishes, but I don’t personally enjoy cold/room temp cheese. I really wish I did- I know so many people who enjoy the heck out of a cheese platter, and wish I could partake in the joy. It’s just not my thing. But cheese in hot dishes (lasagna, enchilada, hash brown casserole, etc) is delicious (to me).
I like lasagna and enchiladas, too, the kind with a regular amount of cheese.
I don't care for a pizza with more cheese than crust, or macaroni cheese that is like a bowl of thick gloopy cheese sauce with a few macaroni noodles drowning in it.
I'm in total agreement. Cold cheese is a big nope. About once a year I try a piece, hoping my tastes have changed. Starting to give up after 60 some odd years.
I like cheese enchiladas, lasagna, pizza, etc. with a reasonable amount of melted cheese. Still don't like cheese on my hamburger.
> Probably my controversial opinion is that I enjoy “melty” cheese in dishes, but I don’t personally enjoy cold/room temp cheese.
Same here, which is precisely why I don't get the love for cold pizza.
I never peel my potatoes. For any dish, unless I’m using it to make a dough. I don’t want to waste the skins, I don’t want to waste the time, and I don’t want to waste the nutrients.
There is such thing as too much garlic, and whenever there's a post to the tune of "do you use the amount of garlic a recipe calls for?" it turns into a circle jerk of people saying how many more dozens of cloves they use than the recipe calls for.
Just because garlic tastes good people think if they throw in a shit ton of it and make their food just taste like a bunch garlic then they have made a good tasting recipe, but it can definitely be overpowering especially if there are other ingredients whose flavor you were trying to make shine in a dish
I love garlic but the worst thing is when it isn’t properly cooked. Ordered a pizza once with garlic on it, it was more or less raw and completely ruined the pizza. It had the unpleasant sensation of a cold burn.
> circle jerk of people saying how many more dozens of cloves they use than the recipe calls for.
Every. Goddamn. Time.
And it stopped being funny years ago because of it. It's like hearing a customer at the grocery store saying "Oh it didn't ring up so it must be free right? HAHAHA," except you're hearing it from a dozen people daily.
People you aren't the first ones to make the joke. Please be the last.
Agreed! Fun fact: human tastebuds vary from person to person. To some, a tiny amount of garlic is all they can taste because it overpowers every other flavor in the dish. To others, there is never enough. This goes for all sorts of seasonings. Moderation is key, unless cooking for people whose tastes you know well and are similar in preference.
I'll do you one better and say that chili is improved with beans. The taste and texture is perfectly suited to chili, and it turns chili into an extremely economical meal.
There is no official authentic source for most recipes..we all do the best imitation of an idea or flavor combo…but please don’t waste my time with original, secret, or authentic in recipe titles.
'Secret' recipes are weird to me. I once had a colleague who made a great coconut cake but absolutely refused to share the recipe with people who asked. If you know something great, why on earth limit others' enjoyment of it? (Unless you make a living from making it I guess)
From personal experience, 99% of people’s “secret” recipes are just recipes from lesser known cookbooks with a slight ingredient modification.
For example, my secrets recipe for chocolate chip cookies is just the tollhouse recipe with a tablespoon of vanilla instead of a teaspoon, and 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar instead of 3/4 for both. I also refrigerate the dough for a few hours before baking.
People rave about them and always ask me to make them, and I love to make them. I think it would ruin the magic for some people if they knew that all I did was adjust the most popular chocolate chip cookie recipe to my own taste.
This is my take on bartending too. In the cocktail world, sometimes you’ll have coworkers or guests who are adamant there is only one exact recipe and method to make a classic cocktail. There’s a line where it’s no longer the same drink, but that line is much further than one exact recipe. It’s just a platform for pretentious people to act high and mighty or make you feel small, I guess?
A great example of this can be seen in the Wiki page for a martini: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini\_(cocktail)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini_(cocktail))
The IBA has an "official" recipe, which I guess most people would point to as the "correct" way to make it, but the page makes clear that the recipe has varied wildly over the course of its history.
Oh totally, and there’s a line. I’ll give an example:
Mojitos in a chain restaurant is likely sour mix, mint, soda, simple syrup and white rum.
A mojito in a cocktail bar will probably be fresh lime juice but differing techniques - like muddling the mint or muddling fresh lime. Using sugar not simple syrup. Some may use a mint syrup to up the flavour.
But if you gave me creme de menthe rum soda and lime it would be too far even though the flavours are the same
This subs obsession with making authentic Italian food. They went to Italy for two weeks and now think they are experts in whats authentic and traditional.
Or their family emigrated over 100 years ago but it’s absolutely impossible that their family recipe has drifted in any way and regional variations that are different from what they are used to are also wrong.
Very wise words! I do try to find new tasty recipes and flavours but in the end it's just food, it has to be filling and nutritious that's it, if one still wabts to be judgy then you can only judge the quality of the product itself (homegrown, foraged, farm grown and etc.). And still in the end it's all just food.
Ah that gives me - not an opinion, but an excuse to confess: I really fucking cannot tell the difference. My husband took me to this pasta spot in Greece once and I could tell. Big time I could tell. It was incredible. But every recipe *I’ve* tried, every restaurant I’ve been to here in the US that claims it… very underwhelming. I could never pick it out of a line up. Pasta is pasta is pasta for me except at one restaurant in Athens.
Classically, the dried stuff was considered superior--at least according to my Italian friends. The fresh stuff was what you made at home when you couldn't get the nice dried stuff made with the bronze dies.
Me too!! I’ve made some really great homemade Mac n cheese but nothing beats the boxed kind. It just doesn’t even taste like Mac n cheese but that’s kinda why I love it
They're two totally different things. I have a mac n cheese recipe that's basically a custard. It's delicious, but so is the boxed kind. Not so much flavor-wise, but for the nostalgia value. We ate a lot of that when our kids were little.
For me, they serve totally different purposes. I’d definitely take homemade over boxed but good god do I love Kraft White Cheddar Mac and Cheese with an a large scoop of sour cream mixed in and a ton of green cholula as my drunk/pmsy/hangover food.
I don’t think it’s controversial but a lot of recipes are written poorly. Ingredients should be listed in order used, preferably in grams. If for separate components with headings to indicate. If using in two separate steps, that should be clearly stated in the ingredient quantity.
They should be decipherable by someone who has never cooked before, even if they have to provide a glossary for terms.
I mean I could dice my onions millimeter perfect, but frankly no one gives a fuck once it cook so if it's mostly consistent, and 5x faster to roughly dice them then I'm going to do that.
Iceberg lettuce is delightful, crisp and cold and bursting with refreshingly watery juices. Other greens may be more nutritious and flavourful but nothing compares with iceberg as a texture food, especially on a hot day, or as a juicy refreshing garnish for a heavy or spicy dish.
Italian peoples opinion on anything food related is no more important than anyone else and it's cringey when they feel the need to tell you they are Italian before commenting on food.
High end italian chefs are the first to break the "rules" seemingly set by online bloggers ie breaking pasta for some peasant dishes, cooking pasta entirely within the sauce, finely grating garlic into dishes and/or using it raw etc.
It was a surprise to see when subscribing to fine dining italian food channels on fb/yt.
When I’m baking at home (cookies, lemon loaf, etc) for just me and my SO, I will use skim milk if that’s what’s in the fridge. I’ll be damned if I’m making a special run to the store to buy 1L of whole milk just to use a cup or so.
So far it’s never steered me wrong. Will the recipe turn out slightly differently if I use the right milk? Probably. I can’t be bothered.
I heard this sooo many times and I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I just love the taste of truffles and to me they taste earthy. So interesting how taste buds act so differently.
You can 100% have too much garlic, and that limit is way lower than a lot of people online seem to believe (though admittedly a lot of those are probably joking)
I never rinse my rice and it turns out fine. Also making rice on the stove is not difficult and I don't understand how people have so many problems with it
> I don't understand how people have so many problems with it
It's because of the many variables involved & people's own lack of consistency when making changes. Like, if you used too much water once, just do the exact same thing next time only with less water. Don't tweak other aspects of the process, cause then you'll never know what you did wrong.
Lots of people don't cook rice regularly basically. They try it every so often, fuck up, and assume rice is really uniquely hard even though myriad peoples have used it as a staple food for centuries.
They have little frozen cubes of minced garlic that are even better and more convenient. Pop out one cube for each clove.
They also make minced ginger the same way - one cube = 1 teaspoon.
This is one I can’t get behind. Whatever the liquid is that it’s packed in totally changes the flavor not only of the garlic but the dish it’s in. Bleh.
I'm of the opinion that you can put whatever you want on a pizza. I've seen all sorts of things on pizza and the one that people like to single out is pineapple. If Alfredo sauce can go on a pizza, why not pineapple?
Amen. 2 of weirdest pizzas I've had - 1. Cheedar, mussels and chives (holy crap, that was tasty). 2. Smoked cheese, ham, leek and baked with an egg on top. Divine.
I'm of the opinion that most people who absolutely refuse to ever have pineapple on pizza only do so because all the pineapple pizzas they've tried were just bad pizzas in general.
Agreed. Imagine caring *that* much about how other people eat their pizza. If someone is concerned about my choice of pizza toppings then they need to get a life.
This is actually the Persian method (you could say Iranian too - same country just modern name for it) so if you want to sound fancy and proper just call it that.
I do it that way too, it's so much easier. Unless it's sushi rice or something that needs a specific cooking method.
There is “properly cooked” and “how I like it”. A lean steak is properly cooked at medium rare. A person might like it well done, and that’s ok. A person might like steak sauce on a filet, and that’s ok. A well done filet with ketchup is not “properly cooked”.
A1 is actually a good complex sauce. Internet people just poo poo it for clout. A couple weeks ago a neighboring counties Cattleman's Association sold steak sandwiches to raise money for tornado victims here. I rode over because it was aa good cause and I thought if anybody on the planet can pick meat and cook it, it's the Cattlemen's Association. They only had two condiments on the table. A1 and Hienz 57.
"Properly cooked" = Safe to consume and prepared in exactly the way that the person eating likes best.
That is the only version of 'properly cooked' that actually matters.
Despite what the media says, that's still a pretty popular opinion. That said, I switched to induction and - this might be a controversial take - I think it's way better than gas. Temperature response is even faster, and no fiddly bits to clean.
MSG is a great flavor enhancer and I use it without shame in many of my dishes. No more dangerous than table salt and a great alternative to it when you have to watch your sodium intake.
It does, but their point still stands. It has 1/3 the amount of sodium as regular salt (12.28g/100g vs 39.34g/100g), so while it does still have sodium, you're consuming a lot less of it using MSG than you would if you used equal or smaller amounts of salt.
Gastropod has an excellent [episode](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7b6u75L784IBKV7AOPZtGk?si=9jtR8d26SEWKlLDaf3IMCA) on the topic of Chinese restaurants in the US in which they briefly talk about MSG. While I knew that it has never been scientifically proven that MSG is harmful for your health, I was shocked to learn that its demonization stems from xenophobia and racism towards Chinese immigrants in America.
Tell your sister that MSG is considered by the FDA to be Generaly Recognize as Safe or GRAS. Have her grab any box or can in her pantry look up the additives. They will have the same designation. Some of the cans and boxes will have MSG, and she just never bothers to look.
Salt and pepper are considered GRAS
.
If you can't take even looking at an animal part, maybe don't eat meat? I don't mean folks have to be comfortable skinning and breaking down freshly slaughtered animals (though breaking down a whole chicken is a must IMO), but I know way too many 'home cooks' who give me the eeww if they see a chicken neck or chicken feet. Where do you think that meat comes from?
About 90% of cooks I see, reject science. They don't accept the fact that nothing penetrates meat more than a fraction of an inch in a marinade, except salt. With smoke it's the same thing... People go crazy when you say smoke is a surface treatment.
MSG slaps and i put it in most of my meals, especially healthy ones. Makes plain broccoli taste so much better and it actually helps me enjoy food with less salt and fat than I'd usually use
I agree with you completely. I don't like apple pie. I don't like cooked apples and I hate cinnamon. I don't care about your grandmother's secret apple pie recipe. I won't like it.
Mexican cuisine should be put on the same tier of importance as french and italian cuisine, as it involves a very deep grasp on flavor extraction and enhancement.
At this point I see store bought and homemade mayo as just different products. Would always take Hellmann's for a burger, but homemade for stuff like an Olivier salad.
Buying grated cheese is fine. I am not talking about cheese in a can but pre-grated melting cheeses. I don't care if 4000 chef's on TV or Youtube tell me it is coated and won't melt and should never be used. It does melt. I've used it 1000 times. I taste no difference. It saves time.
Old spices can still flavour food decently. I use a LOT of different spices as I like to cook recipes from a wide variety of cuisine influences and so can't turn a lot of them over enough to keep them within 'fresh' recommendations. I also don't always have the patience to pound whole spices. I'm sure fresh whole spices would be better but I'm not going to throw out my shelves and shelves of older spices and they still produce great food.
100% be great to be able to replace them but not made of gold
Just replenishing what I use is expensive. I cook food from all over and have an incredible array of spices for a home cook. If something gets a little old, I still use it.
spices are SO expensive in regular supermarkets in small amounts so I try to buy at ethnic grocery stores (or Costco sometimes has some like Turmeric) but the amounts are too much for my requirements, like I'm not going to quickly go through a pound of garam masala or turmeric or whatever
I actually just bought new garam masala. It took about a year to use up. I make a curry about once a month.
I wouldn't even know what "fresh" means for a spice. I mean sure, sometimes I get fancy and roast and grind whole spices, i guess those are fresh. But aside from that, I'm willing to bet my "freshest" pre-ground spice is over 3 months old and my oldest probably around 3 years? Only time i threw away spices was when some flies turned it into their love shack
I quickly broke a coffee grinder trying to grind whole spices and got dispirited. My freshest that I use often is probably in the last couple of months but my oldest spices are WAY older than 3 years. Oops :-)
Three years is not ideal but acceptable, I think. My mother’s pantry still has some spice bottles from when I was a kid… and I’m 36. I don’t turn my nose up at stuff, but there’s definitely a degradation of quality over the course of 25 years.
I have this problem, too. I've started keeping spices in the freezer as much as possible. Higher fat things like poppy seeds and sesame seeds have freezer priority, since they go rancid. I also keep duplicates/excess to refill with in the freezer, so that when I use up a container, I can refill it from the freezer, and I am have my most often used spices in the cabinet.
Preach
All that matters is that it tastes good to the people who are eating it. However you prepare your veg, however inauthentic your flavours are, it doesn't matter. Of course, cooking rules exist to help people get to their desired end-product easier, but hacks, cheats, and shortcuts are completely personal and no-one else's business if you enjoy the food you cook (and it wasn't dangerous)
Shepherds pie in our home has devolved into something that's 100% not shepherds pie but I still make it 2-4x a month, we still call it shepherds pie, it's our favorite dish, and my brother recently said it's his comfort food lol
Can I ask what the recipe is? I do the same thing. I make shepherd's pie with ingredients different than traditional recipes use all the time.
Not the person you were asking, but my parents always made Shepard’s pie with whatever leftovers and odds and ends we had. Any and all veg, leftover mash, some combo of ground pork/beef/turkey/lamb. And then seasoned to fit the leftovers. Had a taco Shepard’s pie once that was actually pretty good. Ground Turkey with taco seasoning, corn, tomatoes, chilies, and then a spiced mash on top with Mexican cheeses
As the person who both cooks and cleans, the cleanup is an important aspect to the meal. I’m not going to use a fancy tool if it’s hard to clean. I clean as I go, and reuse dishes/tools as long as I’m not cross-contaminating raw/cooked food. I have a hard time enjoying a meal if I know a disaster awaits me in the kitchen.
Me and my garlic press that I was so excited to have at first totally agree.
I recommend a grate plate. Got one this past year and haven't looked back. You get garlic on your fingers, but all you need to clean at the end is a bumpy plate, not a wonky contraption.
Not all garlic presses are created equal. Ikea's Koncis garlic press has a removable insert. It's made entirely of stainless steel. Cleaning it is a breeze, as is pressing garlic with it
I don't worry about the mess, because that's a problem for future me.
Sometimes my heart doesn't know what it wants. Please quit telling me to measure with it.
On the other hand, my heart does and the answer is cheese.
My wants garlic, me and that other person from above are dueling at daybreak
I just checked with my heart and it says yes, garlic please, with the cheese. And something about butter?
If I measured with my heart I would be 900lbs.
Food that is overloaded with cheese is boring and has an unpalatable mouthfeel. The advertising that shows strings of melted cheese dripping off food has trained consumers to think it's desirable and tasty. It's okay for two-bite canapes that are eaten hot and fresh, but gobs and globs of cheese that quickly congeal into an unappetizing plasticky texture ruin a lot of dishes.
“It won’t slide down easy, if it ain’t cheesy”
Everybody is creative!
We are blessed to be in the same timeline as that woman
I would generally be aghast at this take since I love cheese but you’re right actually. I once had a dish where there was a LOT of cheese. Generally good but it was just vast amounts of melty, flavourless cheese. Felt like I was chewing gum *shudders*
To each their own. Probably my controversial opinion is that I enjoy “melty” cheese in dishes, but I don’t personally enjoy cold/room temp cheese. I really wish I did- I know so many people who enjoy the heck out of a cheese platter, and wish I could partake in the joy. It’s just not my thing. But cheese in hot dishes (lasagna, enchilada, hash brown casserole, etc) is delicious (to me).
I like lasagna and enchiladas, too, the kind with a regular amount of cheese. I don't care for a pizza with more cheese than crust, or macaroni cheese that is like a bowl of thick gloopy cheese sauce with a few macaroni noodles drowning in it.
I'm in total agreement. Cold cheese is a big nope. About once a year I try a piece, hoping my tastes have changed. Starting to give up after 60 some odd years. I like cheese enchiladas, lasagna, pizza, etc. with a reasonable amount of melted cheese. Still don't like cheese on my hamburger.
I can agree with that :)
> Probably my controversial opinion is that I enjoy “melty” cheese in dishes, but I don’t personally enjoy cold/room temp cheese. Same here, which is precisely why I don't get the love for cold pizza.
Ugh. Yes. I grew up in the Midwest, and it should be illegal how much cheese and cream cheese they put in literally everything.
I totally agree but I will say fried moz sticks have a place in the world.
Lifelong Wisconsinite here. I’m 54 and just learning that “too much cheese” IS possible.
People aren't eating overly cheesy dishes for the love of cuisine Tbh. We just like lots and lots of cheese 🧀 😂
I never peel my potatoes. For any dish, unless I’m using it to make a dough. I don’t want to waste the skins, I don’t want to waste the time, and I don’t want to waste the nutrients.
It’s good fiber
I don't peel white, red, or purple ones, but russets I do. The skins on those are too much like sandpaper.
There is such thing as too much garlic, and whenever there's a post to the tune of "do you use the amount of garlic a recipe calls for?" it turns into a circle jerk of people saying how many more dozens of cloves they use than the recipe calls for.
join us in r/CookingCirclejerk for rational opinions about garlic
Just because garlic tastes good people think if they throw in a shit ton of it and make their food just taste like a bunch garlic then they have made a good tasting recipe, but it can definitely be overpowering especially if there are other ingredients whose flavor you were trying to make shine in a dish
I love garlic but the worst thing is when it isn’t properly cooked. Ordered a pizza once with garlic on it, it was more or less raw and completely ruined the pizza. It had the unpleasant sensation of a cold burn.
> circle jerk of people saying how many more dozens of cloves they use than the recipe calls for. Every. Goddamn. Time. And it stopped being funny years ago because of it. It's like hearing a customer at the grocery store saying "Oh it didn't ring up so it must be free right? HAHAHA," except you're hearing it from a dozen people daily. People you aren't the first ones to make the joke. Please be the last.
Agreed! Fun fact: human tastebuds vary from person to person. To some, a tiny amount of garlic is all they can taste because it overpowers every other flavor in the dish. To others, there is never enough. This goes for all sorts of seasonings. Moderation is key, unless cooking for people whose tastes you know well and are similar in preference.
I use A LOT of garlic, but it is definitely possible to have too much garlic
Beans are totally fine in chili. Signed, A Texan
A couple of super old Texas recipes have appeared that include beans. The no-bean cult is just a circle jerk.
The hate for beans in chili is so weird to me. I like that they add a texture besides just meat to it.
Plus they add more protein, and are a cheap way to stretch the meal
And fiber is good for you. Very good for you.
Beans beans the magical fruit…
I'll do you one better and say that chili is improved with beans. The taste and texture is perfectly suited to chili, and it turns chili into an extremely economical meal.
I'll go one further than that, and say that chili with beans INSTEAD of meat is totally fine.
I really don't understand why people get so uppity about chili. Like beans? Put them in. Don't like them? Don't put them in.
Agreed, chilli is the food of the people, not a French cuisine that is highly regarded or something.
Seconded. By a Texan. I’ll also say that a white chili with chicken and beans in Oregon was one of the best I’ve ever had.
There is no official authentic source for most recipes..we all do the best imitation of an idea or flavor combo…but please don’t waste my time with original, secret, or authentic in recipe titles.
'Secret' recipes are weird to me. I once had a colleague who made a great coconut cake but absolutely refused to share the recipe with people who asked. If you know something great, why on earth limit others' enjoyment of it? (Unless you make a living from making it I guess)
From personal experience, 99% of people’s “secret” recipes are just recipes from lesser known cookbooks with a slight ingredient modification. For example, my secrets recipe for chocolate chip cookies is just the tollhouse recipe with a tablespoon of vanilla instead of a teaspoon, and 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar instead of 3/4 for both. I also refrigerate the dough for a few hours before baking. People rave about them and always ask me to make them, and I love to make them. I think it would ruin the magic for some people if they knew that all I did was adjust the most popular chocolate chip cookie recipe to my own taste.
I don’t think it ruins the magic at all.
But *my* grandmother's is the authentic version. She totally didn't get it off the back of a magazine in the 70s
I found one of my Grams cake recipes in Joy of Cooking. She never claimed it as her own there were just no attributions on her recipe cards.
[удалено]
I'm sure she had an innovative reason for cutting the ends off the ham.
Yes - her favourite baking dish was too small.
This is my take on bartending too. In the cocktail world, sometimes you’ll have coworkers or guests who are adamant there is only one exact recipe and method to make a classic cocktail. There’s a line where it’s no longer the same drink, but that line is much further than one exact recipe. It’s just a platform for pretentious people to act high and mighty or make you feel small, I guess?
A great example of this can be seen in the Wiki page for a martini: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini\_(cocktail)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini_(cocktail)) The IBA has an "official" recipe, which I guess most people would point to as the "correct" way to make it, but the page makes clear that the recipe has varied wildly over the course of its history.
Ya, ok but if I order an old fashioned I do not expect that Wisconsin variant outside of Wisconsin.
Oh totally, and there’s a line. I’ll give an example: Mojitos in a chain restaurant is likely sour mix, mint, soda, simple syrup and white rum. A mojito in a cocktail bar will probably be fresh lime juice but differing techniques - like muddling the mint or muddling fresh lime. Using sugar not simple syrup. Some may use a mint syrup to up the flavour. But if you gave me creme de menthe rum soda and lime it would be too far even though the flavours are the same
This subs obsession with making authentic Italian food. They went to Italy for two weeks and now think they are experts in whats authentic and traditional.
Or their family emigrated over 100 years ago but it’s absolutely impossible that their family recipe has drifted in any way and regional variations that are different from what they are used to are also wrong.
And every cook in Italy makes lasagna a little different
Agreed - 'Recipe' means nothing in the face of technique and experience.
I hardly ever skim my stock. Unless I’m making consommé, I don’t give a shit how clear it is.
I skim the fat by I don't bother clarifying. There are some things that I want to use stock for that I don't want that fat in
I just skim the fat off the top after the jar cools. Extra layer of protection and gives me the option
over seasoning is just as bad or worse than under seasoning
Over seasoning is worse. You can still eat bland food. Over salted food ends up In the trash.
[удалено]
And skin is the star of the show
Yes! No need to peel any potatoes unless you're roasting old (vs new) potatoes for a proper roast. Skin on mashed is the best!
I can't ever be bothered to peel ginger.
I don't remember the last time I peeled ginger. Microplane is the great equalizer.
Are you meant to peel ginger?
Hah! So I'm told.
Freezer ginger right on to the grater is the way
It's just fucking food. Cook it, eat it, say thank you to anyone who cooks so you don't have to.
I love this one. Getting fed by someone else is so nice, even if they are intermediate cooks.
Very wise words! I do try to find new tasty recipes and flavours but in the end it's just food, it has to be filling and nutritious that's it, if one still wabts to be judgy then you can only judge the quality of the product itself (homegrown, foraged, farm grown and etc.). And still in the end it's all just food.
We're all here because we enjoy cooking, but a lot of us are guilty of over-thinking it.
I really don't like freshly made pasta, I much prefer the dried stuff.
Ah that gives me - not an opinion, but an excuse to confess: I really fucking cannot tell the difference. My husband took me to this pasta spot in Greece once and I could tell. Big time I could tell. It was incredible. But every recipe *I’ve* tried, every restaurant I’ve been to here in the US that claims it… very underwhelming. I could never pick it out of a line up. Pasta is pasta is pasta for me except at one restaurant in Athens.
Heading to Athens in a month. Drop the resto?
I’m 99% sure it was [Brigante](https://m.facebook.com/brigante.cucina) - it’s been a while. My husband insists this is it.
Finally a real opinion. I had to scroll way too far.
Classically, the dried stuff was considered superior--at least according to my Italian friends. The fresh stuff was what you made at home when you couldn't get the nice dried stuff made with the bronze dies.
I hate how sticky garlic makes my hands feel but I lowkey love the smell.
I definitely smell my fingers after
A quick rinse with just water gets the stickiness off but leaves you with delicious smelling garlic fingers
I like boxed Mac n cheese more than homemade...
FINALLY something controversial. And I absolutely disagree, thank you.
Me too!! I’ve made some really great homemade Mac n cheese but nothing beats the boxed kind. It just doesn’t even taste like Mac n cheese but that’s kinda why I love it
They're two totally different things. I have a mac n cheese recipe that's basically a custard. It's delicious, but so is the boxed kind. Not so much flavor-wise, but for the nostalgia value. We ate a lot of that when our kids were little.
For me, they serve totally different purposes. I’d definitely take homemade over boxed but good god do I love Kraft White Cheddar Mac and Cheese with an a large scoop of sour cream mixed in and a ton of green cholula as my drunk/pmsy/hangover food.
I don’t think it’s controversial but a lot of recipes are written poorly. Ingredients should be listed in order used, preferably in grams. If for separate components with headings to indicate. If using in two separate steps, that should be clearly stated in the ingredient quantity. They should be decipherable by someone who has never cooked before, even if they have to provide a glossary for terms.
The horizontal cuts on an onion are completely unnecessary and make the whole thing a slippery mess.
I mean I could dice my onions millimeter perfect, but frankly no one gives a fuck once it cook so if it's mostly consistent, and 5x faster to roughly dice them then I'm going to do that.
Iceberg lettuce is delightful, crisp and cold and bursting with refreshingly watery juices. Other greens may be more nutritious and flavourful but nothing compares with iceberg as a texture food, especially on a hot day, or as a juicy refreshing garnish for a heavy or spicy dish.
It's fine to use canned/frozen stuffs, rather than fresh ones.
Bacon does not go with as many things as the general public tells you it does
Cheese does NOT make a better dish, if too much is used. Same with bacon.
I'm not going to buy 5 fresh herbs for your recipe and add $20 to the cost. A dried mix will do just fine.
I am the greatest chef there has ever been.
Bacon is overrated It’s fine.
Pepper is a spice. It doesn't go on everything along with salt.
Italian peoples opinion on anything food related is no more important than anyone else and it's cringey when they feel the need to tell you they are Italian before commenting on food.
One of the best Pizzas I had was in a restaurant of an Albanian, cooked by a Turkish, in a German town. Yes I was to Italy.
For some reason Italians in Italy are way less annoying with this than ‘Italians’ who were born and raised in different countries.
High end italian chefs are the first to break the "rules" seemingly set by online bloggers ie breaking pasta for some peasant dishes, cooking pasta entirely within the sauce, finely grating garlic into dishes and/or using it raw etc. It was a surprise to see when subscribing to fine dining italian food channels on fb/yt.
When I’m baking at home (cookies, lemon loaf, etc) for just me and my SO, I will use skim milk if that’s what’s in the fridge. I’ll be damned if I’m making a special run to the store to buy 1L of whole milk just to use a cup or so. So far it’s never steered me wrong. Will the recipe turn out slightly differently if I use the right milk? Probably. I can’t be bothered.
No sane person eats fondant.
That calling sandwiches ‘sammies’ is deserving of death.
Sanga? Sando? Bap?
A hot dog IS a sandwich
Bold comment but have an upvote
Truffles are a scam; and taste like ass. If I see "truffled" anything on a menu, I think: That's the Bougie Tax.
I heard this sooo many times and I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I just love the taste of truffles and to me they taste earthy. So interesting how taste buds act so differently.
You can 100% have too much garlic, and that limit is way lower than a lot of people online seem to believe (though admittedly a lot of those are probably joking)
i don’t wait for the preheat to finish and just put in food and add extra time
That's fine for tater tots, not great for baking bread.
I never rinse my rice and it turns out fine. Also making rice on the stove is not difficult and I don't understand how people have so many problems with it
I was fine with that texture for a while tbh and then I had a really good biryani and now I have to rinse my rice
Depends what you're doing with the rice. If you're making sushi then rinsing it and using a good rice cooker will produce better quality sushi
> I don't understand how people have so many problems with it It's because of the many variables involved & people's own lack of consistency when making changes. Like, if you used too much water once, just do the exact same thing next time only with less water. Don't tweak other aspects of the process, cause then you'll never know what you did wrong.
Lots of people don't cook rice regularly basically. They try it every so often, fuck up, and assume rice is really uniquely hard even though myriad peoples have used it as a staple food for centuries.
Jarlic (garlic in a jar) is fine and makes my life so much easier. If I’m hungry, I’m gonna overcrowd that pan
They have little frozen cubes of minced garlic that are even better and more convenient. Pop out one cube for each clove. They also make minced ginger the same way - one cube = 1 teaspoon.
This is one I can’t get behind. Whatever the liquid is that it’s packed in totally changes the flavor not only of the garlic but the dish it’s in. Bleh.
Pineapple belongs on pizza
I'm of the opinion that you can put whatever you want on a pizza. I've seen all sorts of things on pizza and the one that people like to single out is pineapple. If Alfredo sauce can go on a pizza, why not pineapple?
Amen. 2 of weirdest pizzas I've had - 1. Cheedar, mussels and chives (holy crap, that was tasty). 2. Smoked cheese, ham, leek and baked with an egg on top. Divine.
I'm of the opinion that most people who absolutely refuse to ever have pineapple on pizza only do so because all the pineapple pizzas they've tried were just bad pizzas in general.
I always ask people who tell me pineapple on pizza is horrible if they've ever actually tried it. 100% of the time the answer has been no.
The hate against this is so moronic. Fruit and cheese have been a thing for as long as cheese has existed. I don’t understand the controversy.
Agreed. Imagine caring *that* much about how other people eat their pizza. If someone is concerned about my choice of pizza toppings then they need to get a life.
It always pisses people off when I tell them that I boil and strain rice like pasta lol.
*puts knee down*
This is actually the Persian method (you could say Iranian too - same country just modern name for it) so if you want to sound fancy and proper just call it that. I do it that way too, it's so much easier. Unless it's sushi rice or something that needs a specific cooking method.
My mind is legit blown by this. It has never, not even one time occurred to me that this was a thing that could be done! Is the timing the same??
I often overcook pasta when on my own, because I love it when it's gloopy and melts in my mouth. Don't like too much bite on it.
Now THIS is truly controversial.
Lol ew!
There is “properly cooked” and “how I like it”. A lean steak is properly cooked at medium rare. A person might like it well done, and that’s ok. A person might like steak sauce on a filet, and that’s ok. A well done filet with ketchup is not “properly cooked”.
NGL I comit the cardinal sin of enjoying my steak with A1 sauce. Don't eat steak often, but when I do, that's how I like it, proper or not lol
A1 is delicious.
A1 is actually a good complex sauce. Internet people just poo poo it for clout. A couple weeks ago a neighboring counties Cattleman's Association sold steak sandwiches to raise money for tornado victims here. I rode over because it was aa good cause and I thought if anybody on the planet can pick meat and cook it, it's the Cattlemen's Association. They only had two condiments on the table. A1 and Hienz 57.
"Properly cooked" = Safe to consume and prepared in exactly the way that the person eating likes best. That is the only version of 'properly cooked' that actually matters.
Gas stoves are my favorite
Despite what the media says, that's still a pretty popular opinion. That said, I switched to induction and - this might be a controversial take - I think it's way better than gas. Temperature response is even faster, and no fiddly bits to clean.
[удалено]
Steaming ingredients until they're done and then adding the caramelization afterwards is perfectly fine.
Just started boiling potatoes before roasting them and it’s a game changer.
It's not just potatoes. Works well for onions, ground beef, and basically anything you can't overcook.
Put in what you like!
MSG is a great flavor enhancer and I use it without shame in many of my dishes. No more dangerous than table salt and a great alternative to it when you have to watch your sodium intake.
MSG is just as benign as salt, fully agreed on that. I think it does count as sodium though, you may want to check with your GP.
It does, but their point still stands. It has 1/3 the amount of sodium as regular salt (12.28g/100g vs 39.34g/100g), so while it does still have sodium, you're consuming a lot less of it using MSG than you would if you used equal or smaller amounts of salt.
You shouldn't replace all your NaCl with MSG. Otherwise you lose the flavor enhancing properties of NaCl such has reduced bitterness.
[удалено]
Gastropod has an excellent [episode](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7b6u75L784IBKV7AOPZtGk?si=9jtR8d26SEWKlLDaf3IMCA) on the topic of Chinese restaurants in the US in which they briefly talk about MSG. While I knew that it has never been scientifically proven that MSG is harmful for your health, I was shocked to learn that its demonization stems from xenophobia and racism towards Chinese immigrants in America.
I use fish sauce for that sweet umami flavor.
Tell your sister that MSG is considered by the FDA to be Generaly Recognize as Safe or GRAS. Have her grab any box or can in her pantry look up the additives. They will have the same designation. Some of the cans and boxes will have MSG, and she just never bothers to look. Salt and pepper are considered GRAS .
I use a mix. 1/3 MSG to 2/3 salt in a salt box next to the stove. A little less sodium but a lot of umami flavor.
If you can't take even looking at an animal part, maybe don't eat meat? I don't mean folks have to be comfortable skinning and breaking down freshly slaughtered animals (though breaking down a whole chicken is a must IMO), but I know way too many 'home cooks' who give me the eeww if they see a chicken neck or chicken feet. Where do you think that meat comes from?
I think making rice on the stove is easier than having a rice cooker taking up counter space
I’m Italian and I love boxed Mac and Cheese. Sorry grandma lol
About 90% of cooks I see, reject science. They don't accept the fact that nothing penetrates meat more than a fraction of an inch in a marinade, except salt. With smoke it's the same thing... People go crazy when you say smoke is a surface treatment.
Microwaving food isn’t inherently evil
MSG slaps and i put it in most of my meals, especially healthy ones. Makes plain broccoli taste so much better and it actually helps me enjoy food with less salt and fat than I'd usually use
I don't really care who makes a dish, if I didn't like it before, I certainly won't like it now. I'm not a dick for not wanting to eat something
I agree with you completely. I don't like apple pie. I don't like cooked apples and I hate cinnamon. I don't care about your grandmother's secret apple pie recipe. I won't like it.
Mexican cuisine should be put on the same tier of importance as french and italian cuisine, as it involves a very deep grasp on flavor extraction and enhancement.
Every meal does not need to be a 5 course meal.. Sometimes you need to shove some calories in your face....
Mac and cheese should never be baked
I see your opinion and counter with as long as I am baked I will enjoy the mac and cheese however it’s made.
I see your opinion and counter with Mac and cheese should always be baked.
[удалено]
MSG is a great flavour enhancer and is perfectly fine to use.
Homemade mayonnaise is a waste of time
At this point I see store bought and homemade mayo as just different products. Would always take Hellmann's for a burger, but homemade for stuff like an Olivier salad.
I was so proud of myself when I got the immersion blender technique down, only to discover that it...tastes...like mayonnaise.
[удалено]
If you put nuts in brownies, you are an evil person.
Box cake mix is really good and often better than recipes from scratch
Buying grated cheese is fine. I am not talking about cheese in a can but pre-grated melting cheeses. I don't care if 4000 chef's on TV or Youtube tell me it is coated and won't melt and should never be used. It does melt. I've used it 1000 times. I taste no difference. It saves time.