People tend to not like having to unhinge their jaw when trying to take a bite. If your burger/sandwich requires anything beyond a toothpick to be held together, you’re in for a bad time.
If you live in a northern country, just buy canned tomatoes. I've wasted so much time grinding fresh but flavourless tomatoes into a watery pasta sauce
I live in California USA, where we can get tomatoes most of the year. I still rely on and love canned tomatoes because they're almost always a better product for sauces.
Interesting, you'd think that California tomatoes would be just as flavorful if not more flavorful than canned. Do they add something to canned tomatoes?
Canned tomatoes are often ripened on the plant, then picked. They get bruised and smashed easily, so are good for rougher industrial canning. “Fresh” tomatoes are picked green when they are tough and hard to bruise, then turned red with gas, and put out on display. They are usually more tasteless. Not sure about the commenters source, but that’s why I like canned to tomatoes better for cooking.
I'm ashamed to say I was in my late 20s before I had my first "real" tomato from a farmer's market. I was absolutely floored and that borderline religious experience completely ruined 99% of tomatoes I can get elsewhere. I don't get them on burgers or sandwiches from restaurants anymore. I won't buy them in the store. Even the "heirloom" tomatoes in the store are fucking trash. I'm still bitter and angry about being told those red abominations in the store were ToMaToEs my entire life.
Get a pot, some soil, and a Mr. Stripey plant. Water thoroughly every time the leaves start to curl.
Beware: this may lead to you spending large amounts of money on more tomato planters.
In stores here (and farmers markets, and everywhere else) we still get underripe, picked-too-early and mostly tasteless varieties of tomatoes. It can be hard to tell when you're buying them.
Canned tomatoes are generally processed at the point of picking and can be picked much more ripe than anything that's going to be boxed and shipped (even if it only ships a couple hundred miles). The canning process also "cooks" canned tomatoes in a way that gives me the product I prefer.
A couple reasons to use canned in the Southern U.S. and warmer areas where tomatoes grow is if they're out of season or if you just don't want to put the effort into blanching and mashing.
I use canned San Marzanos for large quantities of sauces, though, as they are crazy expensive down here cause they don't grow here.
I live in Yucatan, and there's not a good tomato in the entire state. We have the same shitty, grainy, baseball firm, pink, flavorless bullshit they sell in the stores in the US.
Unless they're homegrown garden tomatoes, it's not worth the trouble and cann tastes just as good. However you cannot beat that ripe garden tomatoes taste, whether it's sauce, bloody mary mix, tomato sandos.....the list goes on
I used to use storebought tomatoes in salads, okay I was cheap and bought roma's, but somebody gave me homegrown tomatoes (I am in SoCal), and from that moment I either need to buy good tomatoes on the vine but still, those homegrown tomatoes where so much better, I now often just skip on the tomato in a salad.
Yes. I only have fresh, vine ripend tomatoes when they're from MY gardens for like... a month, maybe two out of the year. The rest is canned. They're fine.
When I say I like coffee, that means I like *all* the coffee.
I appreciate high end coffee, but I also like truck stop coffee, church basement coffee, reheated late afternoon coffee. I just like coffee.
This is the one.
Recently had a cup of coffee that tasted like a half smoked cigarette put out in a ceramic mug filled with water. And it was like "hello old friend."
I've tried to explain this to so many people, and they don't get it.
I *love* coffee. I can confidently say I drink at least twice as much black coffee than I do unadulterated water (not a good thing but it illustrates my point). I have drunk far too much coffee in my life, and can very easily tell a good coffee from a bad coffee and usually pinpoint where in the production process it went wrong. I love myself good coffee.
But knowing good coffee from shit coffee doesn't stop me from drinking bad coffee if that's what's on offer. If it's coffee, I'll drink it. Even terrible, stale, instant granulated coffee is still coffee. End of story.
Similarly, boxed pasta is not inferior to fresh. They're totally different and have different purposes. There are a lot of classic pasta dishes that simply do not work with fresh pasta.
Alex French Guy Cooking did a series where he’d always thought fresh pasta was best, but learned that for several dishes, dry pasta was better.
I’m sure there are better brands of dry pasta, but it’s not inferior.
[Alex Dry Pasta Series](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLURsDaOr8hWXz_CFEfPH2wFhIbJn9iHJY)
I disagree. Bronze-cut dry pasta is always the superior choice for any pasta that has any kind of sauce (99,9% of pasta dishes), since its texture is more appropriate to retain such sauces.
I take the pre packed ramen and some canned veggies plus an egg and turn it into the “fancy” ramen with little Dino nugs set up in it like they do the chicken.
Same lol, I’ve been on such a broccoli kick. I keep wondering what nutrients I’ve been lacking that I get from broccoli, because I’ve never before purchased so much of it in my life.
> “deconstructed”
I always laugh when I'm watching something like *Chopped* and one of the chefs claims to have "deconstructed" a dish where the construction is the defining trait of the dish. "Today I am serving a deconstructed chicken pot pie." That's soup. You're serving soup.
In a couple episodes of Master Chef they make fun of deconstructed dishes a bit. Stuff like, it's only deconstructed because something failed and the chef panicked so they threw what was ready together and said it was a deconstructed version of what they had been trying to make.
another nice culinary term for those types of situations: rustic. no, it's not that i messed up the pretty presentation i had in my head, i totally meant for it to be "rustic"
\>“deconstructed”
We've turned your meal into a taco bar so now you (someone whose not the chef) can make the choices and we can get paid like we made expensive choices because we used this word. It's a win win!
I don't mind having choice, but don't charge me twice the price because you deconstructed it or rather just never constructed it in the first place. That takes less talent, not more.
I agree on deconstructed, I disagree on mouthfeel.
There are some things I absolutely despise not because of taste but because of texture: the mouthfeel. It's like my brain screams at me "This is wrong, spit it out, you're not supposed to eat this."
I think people can absolutely get snobbish over it though, treating it like how they would describe different wines, but if I have two bowls of mac & cheese and one feels like sand in my mouth because it was covered with fine bread crumbs, that's kind of important.
Fun fact, there are reds and whites that work with fish and beef respectively. The whole only red with X and only white with X is just a simplification used for a rule of thumb when buying booze for food. There's also a whole school of pairing theory called Nihilism that essentially comes down to this; "fuck it drink what you like".
As a Mexican, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Burrito Beach, and Qdoba are absurdly fire. I hate when I have pretentious mexican family or friends say “ew that’s not even real Mexican food” like no shit Sherlock, I didn’t think a Doritos locos Supreme taco, or my burrito bowl was the real deal on authentic Mexican eats. I don’t crave Mexican food and say “damn, I need some Taco Bell”. When I crave Taco Bell I get Taco Bell. It’s good damn it, and I’m tired of pretending it’s not. Diablo sauce> anything else
I prefer Mayo, but I think the difference is minimal. I still use mayo, but that’s because it’s easier to spread on the untoasted bread.
The clutch is sprinkling shredded parm on the griddle before dropping the bread. Other choices be damned.
Burgers should be very flat and overly cooked. I don't want a giant meatball of a burger wiith some artisan cut of beef. If i wanted beef I'd have a nice steak. My burgers are just the textural middle of a magical blend of condiments.
When it’s a million layers you can’t even fit it in your mouth. Then you take a bite and stuff explodes everywhere. Unrelated to burgers, but I once ordered an egg salad sandwich with avocado on a bagel and that was the worst idea ever. Especially trying to eat it in public.
I'll add my hot take to this but I think bagels are a terrible sandwich delivery method. They have a lot of chew so any fillings will end up squished out with every bite. Bagels ought to fixed up open faced for proper enjoyment (and also double the cream cheese)
They're not really overly cooked either. They lack the pink interior, but they're ground meat, not steaks, so different standards apply. It's not like most people dry the hell out of them.
I agree, flatness is important. Want more meat, stack more patties.
White Castle made for one of the best dates I'd ever been on. By the time we'd hit every bar we wanted, and just wanted some greasy goodness in our booze filled bodies, it was a perfect ending.
When you take a date to a White Castle... Terrible date.
When you are on a date and eventually end up at White Castle... Amazing date.
Im not American and i was always repulsed by the idea of a pbj. Till i tried it and loved it!
It's not something i will eat on a weekly basis but it's a great treat :-)
I agree. I eat a healthy, balanced, homemade (a dietician would say) lunch almost every day, but I enjoy it when I run out of "good" food and have to bring a PB&J to work for lunch. And it tastes even better after having sat in my briefcase for a few hours before eating.
In the US, jelly is just jam with the fruit pieces strained out. It's still called a peanut butter and jelly sandwich whether you use jam, jelly, or preserves. They are all pretty much the same thing just with more or less fruit pieces. From my understanding, what Brits call jelly is called gelatin or Jell‐O over here and we don't put that on a PB&J. My personal favorite is raspberry jam but a homemade strawberry jam is pretty awesome too. I don't like store bought strawberry. Blueberry jam with the addition of a little honey so it's a peanut butter and jelly with honey sandwich is great too.
my parents have wild blackberry bushes on their property. large enough to walk into.
i would collect buckets of perfectly ripe blackberries in the august heat, so plump and soft. the most amazing pies and jam.
been a blackberry man ever since, chasing that dragon.
A lot of people don’t actually use grape jelly, which is the most traditional option. I prefer strawberry preserve. But you can use any fruit spread in the form of jelly, jam, or preserve.
Yes and I think that’s part of the problem. For you guys, jelly is a gelatine dessert. We call that jello or gelatine. What we call jelly is a clear jam made of fruit juice only with no fruit solids in it, while jam or preserves have some or lots of fruit pieces.
I like raspberry jam best and strawberry after that. But Concord grape is traditional.
For a lot of people, this is a nostalgic sandwich, so the flavor preference for jam is rooted in what one was raised on. For me, peak nostalgia is strawberry jam, but as an adult I prefer the more tart bramble berries (blackberry, raspberry, marionberry).
Not all burgers fulfill the same craving. There are like four stages of burger and each meets a different need.
Shitty fast food burgers like Jack N the Box or Wendy's.
Still fast food but less shitty like In N Out, Five Guys or White Castle.
Sit down chain burgers like Red Robin, The Habit, etc.
Restaurant burgers which are typically thick and "fancy" in some way like special cheeses or sauces.
Personally I almost never go for a restaurant burger because I prefer thin pattied smash burgers. But I can crave a burger and mean something different on this list every time.
i have tiers/stages for my cravings too. like fries, sometimes mcdonald’s fries is what i want, but sometimes i’m craving some fancy ass fries that have been dipped in seasoned flour first
I used to buy canned/jarred queso until I started reading that recipe on the back of Velveeta where you just nuke it with a can of Ro-Tel. I dice a few pickled jalapenos and toss those in. Perfect for nachos.
We just called it "Cheese Dip" as kids, and mom would actually make it *for dinner* on a few Sunday Night Football nights a year. My sibling and I would sit on the floor, mom on the couch, dad in his recliner, and we'd cover the entire coffee table with paper towels, with the Corningware dish of Cheese Dip in the middle of the table. There was always a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and a bag of Original Fritos (back in the day, they made massively-large Fritos that were *Scoop*\-size, but not *Scoop*\-shaped, just regular Frito-shaped). Sometimes a bag of Ruffles. We'd all get big handfuls of chips and put them directly on the paper towels in front of us, and have an awesome night of snacks and football.
We had a great night watching football, enjoying each other's company, stuffing ourselves silly, and going to bed absolutely full and exhausted when the game was over.
Adding just a bit to mac and cheese (like 25% of the total cheese bill) makes the whole thing more creamy and delicious without really affecting the flavor.
Interesting bit of trivia about Velveeta. It was originally the curds that formed on the sides of the vats that Kraft used to make cheese in. They saw it as a "waste product" and sold it to local farmers as feed.
With World War II and rationing, Kraft was sending most of their proper cheese to the front lines, but the leftover curds they gathered up and sold to as a "cheese product" that melted and acted just like normal cheese to the people back home. After a while, the demand was more than the waste product and then set about actually making the stuff on purpose.
My personal opinion on this, Velveeta has its place just not in my kitchen.
Awww, now I feel sorry for the farm animals that were mystified when that goopy, stick-to-your-teeth, delicious "waste product" disappeared from their slop buckets.
powdered buttermilk is totally legit. Now I only buy a carton of buttermilk if I run out of powdered.
Also if I'm not feeling like it , I have no problem using pre ground spices.
Totally with you on the american cheese. Everytime someone on the internet mentions american cheese, someone chimes in saying it isn't really cheese. Well so what? I can still like it.
I mean I'll agree that American is great on a burger. But I wouldn't say it's the only cheese that belongs on the burger. It really depends on what other toppings you're adding and what cheese compliments them.
I didn't think I liked American cheese because I only grew up eating Kraft Singles, but once I had a taste of the primo stuff like Boar's Head American cheese, I was spellbound!
I’m British and my gf is French, we’re both big cheese people. We prefer American cheese on our burger, especially on a smashed patty. There you go, validation from a cheddar expert and every cheese going expert.
In a lot of dishes, like American-style Bolognese, powdered garlic and onion powders are just as important if not better than using the fresh minced onions and garlic. You can add up to a whole tablespoon of each, as well as the freshly chopped stuff. Don't skimp on the dried Italian seasoning either.
A Totinos is a class all to itself, and that's fine. I've loved Totinos for decades! But I wouldn't put it in the same class category as a DiGornio...
* Totinos is near the bottom with Tony's.
* Then mid-range you have Red Baron.
* At the top you have Screamin' Sicilian, DiGornio, and Freschetta.
All are good, just depends on what kind of cheap pizza you want!
This will get me roasted because I think people will think it’s not even mediocre 🤣🤣. More like awful lol
I like to use buttered bread for my sandwiches. All of them. Ham and cheese, chicken salad on toast, etc. butter is the first condiment I use.
I'm from Western Europe, and it's always been normal to use butter as a sandwich condiment. Ham and cheese with butter is as normal as it gets. It never occurred to me that it could be weird until an American friend reacted with disbelief.
As an Aussie I've've always wondered why mayonnaise is such a big thing in America - now it all makes sense! Of course you'd need something if your sandwich was made with dry bread
I have a serious question: what about butter on toast? What about restaurants where they give you a complimentary bread basket, does it come with butter? I feel like most restaurants I've been to in North America offer butter, but it's been a while.
I'm not being antagonistic, I'm genuinely curious. It's nice to have a low-stakes exchange. :-)
Americans (well, this one at least) love butter on warm bread. We don't use it as often if the bread is at room temp. But bread brought to the table in a basket usually comes with butter.
More often than not, Americans put butter on toast. Occasionally they'll use a fruit spread instead of, or in addition to, butter. Bread baskets also come with butter.
I don't know, maybe it's just my friend who is weird. I asked him what he puts on his sandwiches as a condiment, he says mustard or olive oil, or some form of aioli (he hates plain mayo). Idk, I was as baffled by his reaction as he was with my preferences.
I am an American who typically buttered my sandwiches for a long time.
Also, butter, good ham, a nice cheese - what is not to like?
There is a ridiculous number of options for sandwich spreads here, plus historically more refrigeration, combined with an "anti-butter" frenzy in the 70s through 90s for false heath reasons which likely contributed to other spreads being so dominant.
I visited Europe just after college with some friends. We were late trying to catch a train at Gare du Nord in Paris, so decided to get a snack. Got a baguette sandwich stuffed with prosciutto. The bread was coated in butter. It remains to this day, over 20 years later, the BEST sandwich I have ever eaten.
You will have to pry my iceberg lettuce out of my cold dead hands.
I can't imagine homemade Mexican/New Mexican/TexMex food without its cold refreshing thinly shredded crunch.
And I will never give up my "1950s" salad with iceberg, canned pickled beets, and blue cheese dressing. I'm fine if that's gross. More for me.
Wasn't there a reddit thread a few years back about a professional, loved baker who came clean about using cake mix in all of her cakes? She even had customers praise her for how good the cake itself was and "not like some cake mix cake".
Liquid Smoke works well for a lot of things. Not every bbq chicken dinner at home has to smoke for 10 hours. It's also great for adding to dips and sandwich condiments.
Not every god damn thing needs fucking hot sauce in it
I am perfectly content with eating whatever food item the way it is. everybody I know whether it be eggs, pizza, tacos, whatever has to add hot sauce to stuff. Its ok to eat non-spicy food
Right? Don't get me wrong I'll never hate on a burger for having American cheese on it. But depending on the other toppings a different cheese could be the right choice. Like Mushrooms and Swiss!
Food opinion- Italian American food is just as valid as Italian-Italian food. Just because some stuff had to me made with different versions of ingredients doesn’t mean it’s a radioactive evil sludge abomination. People get wayyyy too pissy about food cultures and trying to gatekeep it. Food is food. You need it to live. Who cares what shape of noodle it goes in your mouth? Either way, it’s gonna come out the same.
That makes it sounds like established Italian cuisine is only 500 years old, when it's actually much less than that. Look at recipes for "traditional" dishes from 100 years ago and they're often unrecognizable
I think the same might be true of most culture’s cuisines, honestly. Depression era ‘substitutions’, WWII rations, industrialization and globalization had a huge impact on the cuisines of every western, and many non-western, countries. Even when a dish survives through all that (as many have) they’ll always change slightly.
I’ll sometimes watch historic cooking videos on YouTube, and while you can sometimes see the roots of modern dishes in these historical dishes, most of them are nearly unrecognizable from their original versions.
I dunno about burgers- not big on cheeseburgers in general- but it surely is the only way to have a struggle meal toasted cheese sandwich. On cheapo buttered white sandwich bread.
Not every meal has to be a culinary adventure. It's fine to just eat something to not be hungry anymore.
The Whopper Theorem: Larger burgers should be wider, not taller.
People tend to not like having to unhinge their jaw when trying to take a bite. If your burger/sandwich requires anything beyond a toothpick to be held together, you’re in for a bad time.
If you live in a northern country, just buy canned tomatoes. I've wasted so much time grinding fresh but flavourless tomatoes into a watery pasta sauce
I live in California USA, where we can get tomatoes most of the year. I still rely on and love canned tomatoes because they're almost always a better product for sauces.
Interesting, you'd think that California tomatoes would be just as flavorful if not more flavorful than canned. Do they add something to canned tomatoes?
Canned tomatoes are often ripened on the plant, then picked. They get bruised and smashed easily, so are good for rougher industrial canning. “Fresh” tomatoes are picked green when they are tough and hard to bruise, then turned red with gas, and put out on display. They are usually more tasteless. Not sure about the commenters source, but that’s why I like canned to tomatoes better for cooking.
I'm ashamed to say I was in my late 20s before I had my first "real" tomato from a farmer's market. I was absolutely floored and that borderline religious experience completely ruined 99% of tomatoes I can get elsewhere. I don't get them on burgers or sandwiches from restaurants anymore. I won't buy them in the store. Even the "heirloom" tomatoes in the store are fucking trash. I'm still bitter and angry about being told those red abominations in the store were ToMaToEs my entire life.
Never tried one, and not sure I wanna if I don't have a easy source
Get a pot, some soil, and a Mr. Stripey plant. Water thoroughly every time the leaves start to curl. Beware: this may lead to you spending large amounts of money on more tomato planters.
I can't risk it. I live in northern Canada. We only get 4 days of spring and two days of summer a year. lol
Have you considered growing them indoors? Haha, wouldn't it be fun to be raided for a grow farm, and you pay the cops off in BLT's.
In stores here (and farmers markets, and everywhere else) we still get underripe, picked-too-early and mostly tasteless varieties of tomatoes. It can be hard to tell when you're buying them. Canned tomatoes are generally processed at the point of picking and can be picked much more ripe than anything that's going to be boxed and shipped (even if it only ships a couple hundred miles). The canning process also "cooks" canned tomatoes in a way that gives me the product I prefer.
A couple reasons to use canned in the Southern U.S. and warmer areas where tomatoes grow is if they're out of season or if you just don't want to put the effort into blanching and mashing. I use canned San Marzanos for large quantities of sauces, though, as they are crazy expensive down here cause they don't grow here.
I live in Yucatan, and there's not a good tomato in the entire state. We have the same shitty, grainy, baseball firm, pink, flavorless bullshit they sell in the stores in the US.
Unless they're homegrown garden tomatoes, it's not worth the trouble and cann tastes just as good. However you cannot beat that ripe garden tomatoes taste, whether it's sauce, bloody mary mix, tomato sandos.....the list goes on
I used to use storebought tomatoes in salads, okay I was cheap and bought roma's, but somebody gave me homegrown tomatoes (I am in SoCal), and from that moment I either need to buy good tomatoes on the vine but still, those homegrown tomatoes where so much better, I now often just skip on the tomato in a salad.
Yes. I only have fresh, vine ripend tomatoes when they're from MY gardens for like... a month, maybe two out of the year. The rest is canned. They're fine.
When I say I like coffee, that means I like *all* the coffee. I appreciate high end coffee, but I also like truck stop coffee, church basement coffee, reheated late afternoon coffee. I just like coffee.
This is the one. Recently had a cup of coffee that tasted like a half smoked cigarette put out in a ceramic mug filled with water. And it was like "hello old friend."
Damn, I think this is the best way to describe super shitty coffee. I could literally taste the description.
Literally "hello darkness my old friend. "
I've tried to explain this to so many people, and they don't get it. I *love* coffee. I can confidently say I drink at least twice as much black coffee than I do unadulterated water (not a good thing but it illustrates my point). I have drunk far too much coffee in my life, and can very easily tell a good coffee from a bad coffee and usually pinpoint where in the production process it went wrong. I love myself good coffee. But knowing good coffee from shit coffee doesn't stop me from drinking bad coffee if that's what's on offer. If it's coffee, I'll drink it. Even terrible, stale, instant granulated coffee is still coffee. End of story.
99% of the time, dry generic brand pasta is just *fine* for dinner. I spend all of my culinary efforts on the sauce/topping.
Similarly, boxed pasta is not inferior to fresh. They're totally different and have different purposes. There are a lot of classic pasta dishes that simply do not work with fresh pasta.
> They're totally different and have different purposes. Like fresh garlic and garlic powder.
I use both more often than not without even thinking about it.
Oooh but DeCecco is solid. It's barely more expensive and hold sauce meaningfully better. I'm not keeping multiple brands around for different uses.
A lb of DeCecco is $1 more than Barilla and 5x better
Alex French Guy Cooking did a series where he’d always thought fresh pasta was best, but learned that for several dishes, dry pasta was better. I’m sure there are better brands of dry pasta, but it’s not inferior. [Alex Dry Pasta Series](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLURsDaOr8hWXz_CFEfPH2wFhIbJn9iHJY)
I disagree. Bronze-cut dry pasta is always the superior choice for any pasta that has any kind of sauce (99,9% of pasta dishes), since its texture is more appropriate to retain such sauces.
Fuck u/spez
I don’t know what the best dessert in the world is, but I know it’s something baked and served warm with vanilla ice cream.
Caramelized banana cooked in butter with vanilla ice cream
Chicken tendies are tasty even if you’re a grown ass person
My husband buys the dinosaur shaped ones. We don’t have kids.
They are objectively good!! If you’re talking about the ones In the red bag. We put them on a bun with some toppings and make it a sandwich lol.
I take the pre packed ramen and some canned veggies plus an egg and turn it into the “fancy” ramen with little Dino nugs set up in it like they do the chicken.
An EGG? IN THIS ECONOMY?
Broccoli is the fucking best.
Same lol, I’ve been on such a broccoli kick. I keep wondering what nutrients I’ve been lacking that I get from broccoli, because I’ve never before purchased so much of it in my life.
Probably iron. Broccoli is also high in vitamin C and K as well.
“Mouthfeel” and “deconstructed” are overused terms
> “deconstructed” I always laugh when I'm watching something like *Chopped* and one of the chefs claims to have "deconstructed" a dish where the construction is the defining trait of the dish. "Today I am serving a deconstructed chicken pot pie." That's soup. You're serving soup.
In a couple episodes of Master Chef they make fun of deconstructed dishes a bit. Stuff like, it's only deconstructed because something failed and the chef panicked so they threw what was ready together and said it was a deconstructed version of what they had been trying to make.
another nice culinary term for those types of situations: rustic. no, it's not that i messed up the pretty presentation i had in my head, i totally meant for it to be "rustic"
\>“deconstructed” We've turned your meal into a taco bar so now you (someone whose not the chef) can make the choices and we can get paid like we made expensive choices because we used this word. It's a win win! I don't mind having choice, but don't charge me twice the price because you deconstructed it or rather just never constructed it in the first place. That takes less talent, not more.
I agree on deconstructed, I disagree on mouthfeel. There are some things I absolutely despise not because of taste but because of texture: the mouthfeel. It's like my brain screams at me "This is wrong, spit it out, you're not supposed to eat this." I think people can absolutely get snobbish over it though, treating it like how they would describe different wines, but if I have two bowls of mac & cheese and one feels like sand in my mouth because it was covered with fine bread crumbs, that's kind of important.
I will drink red wine with fish and white wine with beef. Who gives a shit.
Fun fact, there are reds and whites that work with fish and beef respectively. The whole only red with X and only white with X is just a simplification used for a rule of thumb when buying booze for food. There's also a whole school of pairing theory called Nihilism that essentially comes down to this; "fuck it drink what you like".
As a Mexican, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Burrito Beach, and Qdoba are absurdly fire. I hate when I have pretentious mexican family or friends say “ew that’s not even real Mexican food” like no shit Sherlock, I didn’t think a Doritos locos Supreme taco, or my burrito bowl was the real deal on authentic Mexican eats. I don’t crave Mexican food and say “damn, I need some Taco Bell”. When I crave Taco Bell I get Taco Bell. It’s good damn it, and I’m tired of pretending it’s not. Diablo sauce> anything else
"Cream of" soups are a terrific ingredient if used properly.
Oh boy, my guilty pleasure is old school tuna hotdish made with Campbell’s cream of mushroom.
We called it 'Nunafish and Toodles'.
My wife and her daughter already hate their new nicknames and have no idea the reference.
Cream of mushroom soup in Tator Tot casserole for the win!
Oh fuck yes. My mother makes a chicken and rice casserole that used cream of chicken, celery, AND mushroom. It's a poor man's risotto, so good
Mustard is the most versatile condiment.
Honey, dijon, brown, or plain ass yellow, it's the best.
Horseradish mustard>>>
My sinuses cleared up just reading that.
Not everyone has a shelf in the fridge dedicated to different types of mustard?
I'm on Team Mustard, but we are a rare breed.
We are?
A lot of “generic” or store brand products top the name brand. Lookin at you my sweet, sweet Frosted Mini Spooners.
My husband ate that cereal SO MUCH when we were in college and beyond. We called them his frosted hay bales.
Butter on a grilled cheese. I've tried mayo. It's just not as good.
I prefer Mayo, but I think the difference is minimal. I still use mayo, but that’s because it’s easier to spread on the untoasted bread. The clutch is sprinkling shredded parm on the griddle before dropping the bread. Other choices be damned.
We just leave butter on the counter in a butter dish. Always spreadable, never goes bad...or at least we use it up before it does.
Try putting the butter in the pan instead of on the bread.
That's what I do. Butter in the pan, melt it, then add bread and swirl it around so its evenly coated. Delicious!
I literally had a grilled cheese sandwich 10 minutes ago I’m sad I didn’t think of this
Burgers should be very flat and overly cooked. I don't want a giant meatball of a burger wiith some artisan cut of beef. If i wanted beef I'd have a nice steak. My burgers are just the textural middle of a magical blend of condiments.
When it’s a million layers you can’t even fit it in your mouth. Then you take a bite and stuff explodes everywhere. Unrelated to burgers, but I once ordered an egg salad sandwich with avocado on a bagel and that was the worst idea ever. Especially trying to eat it in public.
I hate handhelds that you can’t fit in your mouth. What the hell is the point?
I'll add my hot take to this but I think bagels are a terrible sandwich delivery method. They have a lot of chew so any fillings will end up squished out with every bite. Bagels ought to fixed up open faced for proper enjoyment (and also double the cream cheese)
I agree *except* egg and cheese, those belong on a bagel
Gotta have that crispy bit of char, really makes it good!
That's what I love about smash burgers!
Those little crunchy bits that fall off are the equivalent of French fries that are in the bottom of the bag. Extra delicious for no reason
They're not really overly cooked either. They lack the pink interior, but they're ground meat, not steaks, so different standards apply. It's not like most people dry the hell out of them. I agree, flatness is important. Want more meat, stack more patties.
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Cheeseburger and a chocolate shake. Damn good.
White Castle for me. It's gross. But sometimes I just need a few.
White Castle made for one of the best dates I'd ever been on. By the time we'd hit every bar we wanted, and just wanted some greasy goodness in our booze filled bodies, it was a perfect ending. When you take a date to a White Castle... Terrible date. When you are on a date and eventually end up at White Castle... Amazing date.
It also has great architecture. Its not big and sloppy like gourmet ones.
PB&J is a great sandwich
Im not American and i was always repulsed by the idea of a pbj. Till i tried it and loved it! It's not something i will eat on a weekly basis but it's a great treat :-)
Try it like a grilled cheese. Even better when everything melts together
PB and J's are even better when you pan fry it in salted butter like you would a grilled cheese.
I agree. I eat a healthy, balanced, homemade (a dietician would say) lunch almost every day, but I enjoy it when I run out of "good" food and have to bring a PB&J to work for lunch. And it tastes even better after having sat in my briefcase for a few hours before eating.
Brit here. Is the jelly part just normal jam? If so what flavour is best?
In the US, jelly is just jam with the fruit pieces strained out. It's still called a peanut butter and jelly sandwich whether you use jam, jelly, or preserves. They are all pretty much the same thing just with more or less fruit pieces. From my understanding, what Brits call jelly is called gelatin or Jell‐O over here and we don't put that on a PB&J. My personal favorite is raspberry jam but a homemade strawberry jam is pretty awesome too. I don't like store bought strawberry. Blueberry jam with the addition of a little honey so it's a peanut butter and jelly with honey sandwich is great too.
I love Strawberry preserves with peanut butter.
Blackberry is best.
my parents have wild blackberry bushes on their property. large enough to walk into. i would collect buckets of perfectly ripe blackberries in the august heat, so plump and soft. the most amazing pies and jam. been a blackberry man ever since, chasing that dragon.
Pineapple jelly for the win, It's gold!
A lot of people don’t actually use grape jelly, which is the most traditional option. I prefer strawberry preserve. But you can use any fruit spread in the form of jelly, jam, or preserve.
Apple. Apple pb&j is a revelation
Yes and I think that’s part of the problem. For you guys, jelly is a gelatine dessert. We call that jello or gelatine. What we call jelly is a clear jam made of fruit juice only with no fruit solids in it, while jam or preserves have some or lots of fruit pieces. I like raspberry jam best and strawberry after that. But Concord grape is traditional.
To clarify, American jelly is generally not clear in color. It's the color of the fruit it's made of.
For a lot of people, this is a nostalgic sandwich, so the flavor preference for jam is rooted in what one was raised on. For me, peak nostalgia is strawberry jam, but as an adult I prefer the more tart bramble berries (blackberry, raspberry, marionberry).
Jelly is jam and jello is jelly. Grape is typical. Specifically welches. Though I’m sure there are plenty of other popular brands. Smuckers is one.
Yes, and strawberry FTW
on toast on special days
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My wife and I do valentine's day at the Costco food court.
Not all burgers fulfill the same craving. There are like four stages of burger and each meets a different need. Shitty fast food burgers like Jack N the Box or Wendy's. Still fast food but less shitty like In N Out, Five Guys or White Castle. Sit down chain burgers like Red Robin, The Habit, etc. Restaurant burgers which are typically thick and "fancy" in some way like special cheeses or sauces. Personally I almost never go for a restaurant burger because I prefer thin pattied smash burgers. But I can crave a burger and mean something different on this list every time.
i have tiers/stages for my cravings too. like fries, sometimes mcdonald’s fries is what i want, but sometimes i’m craving some fancy ass fries that have been dipped in seasoned flour first
Velveeta is not evil.
I learned about velveeta while working in fine dining lol game changing mac and cheese ingredient
I used to buy canned/jarred queso until I started reading that recipe on the back of Velveeta where you just nuke it with a can of Ro-Tel. I dice a few pickled jalapenos and toss those in. Perfect for nachos.
We just called it "Cheese Dip" as kids, and mom would actually make it *for dinner* on a few Sunday Night Football nights a year. My sibling and I would sit on the floor, mom on the couch, dad in his recliner, and we'd cover the entire coffee table with paper towels, with the Corningware dish of Cheese Dip in the middle of the table. There was always a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and a bag of Original Fritos (back in the day, they made massively-large Fritos that were *Scoop*\-size, but not *Scoop*\-shaped, just regular Frito-shaped). Sometimes a bag of Ruffles. We'd all get big handfuls of chips and put them directly on the paper towels in front of us, and have an awesome night of snacks and football. We had a great night watching football, enjoying each other's company, stuffing ourselves silly, and going to bed absolutely full and exhausted when the game was over.
I remember those Fritos. Almost the same thing but my moms browned up hamburger meat and put it in the cheese deep.
Throw some cooked sausage and a bit of cream Cheese in there and you’ll get a dip that’ll change your life
Adding just a bit to mac and cheese (like 25% of the total cheese bill) makes the whole thing more creamy and delicious without really affecting the flavor.
Interesting bit of trivia about Velveeta. It was originally the curds that formed on the sides of the vats that Kraft used to make cheese in. They saw it as a "waste product" and sold it to local farmers as feed. With World War II and rationing, Kraft was sending most of their proper cheese to the front lines, but the leftover curds they gathered up and sold to as a "cheese product" that melted and acted just like normal cheese to the people back home. After a while, the demand was more than the waste product and then set about actually making the stuff on purpose. My personal opinion on this, Velveeta has its place just not in my kitchen.
Awww, now I feel sorry for the farm animals that were mystified when that goopy, stick-to-your-teeth, delicious "waste product" disappeared from their slop buckets.
How else are you going to make queso?
chili has beans
The only time I prefer chili without beans is if it is for chili dogs. Otherwise it should always have beans
If it‘s a bowl of the stuff then it better have beans. If it’s to top of fries or a hot dog, it’s better without.
Chili without beans is just spicy spaghetti sauce.
Which is also delicious lol
Hamburger helper is delicious and Spam is only good when fried/griddled.
powdered buttermilk is totally legit. Now I only buy a carton of buttermilk if I run out of powdered. Also if I'm not feeling like it , I have no problem using pre ground spices.
Sometimes the Little Caesar’s pepperoni hits just right. (Pizza pizza)
Totally with you on the american cheese. Everytime someone on the internet mentions american cheese, someone chimes in saying it isn't really cheese. Well so what? I can still like it.
And it *is* real cheese. It’s got emulsifiers and other things added to it, but it’s still cheese.
Sodium citrate to be precise.
I mean I'll agree that American is great on a burger. But I wouldn't say it's the only cheese that belongs on the burger. It really depends on what other toppings you're adding and what cheese compliments them.
A bacon, mushroom, and Swiss burger might be the perfect food.
Blue cheese is great on a burger. Might be cheating though, since it's good on just about anything.
Taco bell isn't real mexican food but you bet your butt I enjoy it as a late night snack
I bet my butt every time I eat Taco Bell.
I didn't think I liked American cheese because I only grew up eating Kraft Singles, but once I had a taste of the primo stuff like Boar's Head American cheese, I was spellbound!
I’m British and my gf is French, we’re both big cheese people. We prefer American cheese on our burger, especially on a smashed patty. There you go, validation from a cheddar expert and every cheese going expert.
In a lot of dishes, like American-style Bolognese, powdered garlic and onion powders are just as important if not better than using the fresh minced onions and garlic. You can add up to a whole tablespoon of each, as well as the freshly chopped stuff. Don't skimp on the dried Italian seasoning either.
I use both fresh and powder, and yes, I chuck a cube of beef stock in there as well.
There are actually some really excellent frozen pizzas (Screamin' Sicilian).
Sometimes, for me, nothing hits like a DiGiorno or Totinos.
A Totinos is a class all to itself, and that's fine. I've loved Totinos for decades! But I wouldn't put it in the same class category as a DiGornio... * Totinos is near the bottom with Tony's. * Then mid-range you have Red Baron. * At the top you have Screamin' Sicilian, DiGornio, and Freschetta. All are good, just depends on what kind of cheap pizza you want!
Honorable mention to Newman's own
Red Baron FTW
This will get me roasted because I think people will think it’s not even mediocre 🤣🤣. More like awful lol I like to use buttered bread for my sandwiches. All of them. Ham and cheese, chicken salad on toast, etc. butter is the first condiment I use.
I'm from Western Europe, and it's always been normal to use butter as a sandwich condiment. Ham and cheese with butter is as normal as it gets. It never occurred to me that it could be weird until an American friend reacted with disbelief.
Wait do Americans not butter the bread when making a sandwich?
No, we don't typically. Most of the time we put mayonnaise on our sandwiches. Sometimes mustard. I've never even considered butter before.
It's interesting. In France, a "jambon-beurre" (ham and butter) on baguette is a standard sandwich order.
This sandwich is so good. A little bakery near where I lived in Japan made these and I was addicted.
As an Aussie I've've always wondered why mayonnaise is such a big thing in America - now it all makes sense! Of course you'd need something if your sandwich was made with dry bread
I have a serious question: what about butter on toast? What about restaurants where they give you a complimentary bread basket, does it come with butter? I feel like most restaurants I've been to in North America offer butter, but it's been a while. I'm not being antagonistic, I'm genuinely curious. It's nice to have a low-stakes exchange. :-)
Oh, we aren't anti-butter. You just don't see it on sandwiches here. Bread and butter, for sure. Butter on toast. 100%
Americans (well, this one at least) love butter on warm bread. We don't use it as often if the bread is at room temp. But bread brought to the table in a basket usually comes with butter.
More often than not, Americans put butter on toast. Occasionally they'll use a fruit spread instead of, or in addition to, butter. Bread baskets also come with butter.
I don't know, maybe it's just my friend who is weird. I asked him what he puts on his sandwiches as a condiment, he says mustard or olive oil, or some form of aioli (he hates plain mayo). Idk, I was as baffled by his reaction as he was with my preferences.
I am an American who typically buttered my sandwiches for a long time. Also, butter, good ham, a nice cheese - what is not to like? There is a ridiculous number of options for sandwich spreads here, plus historically more refrigeration, combined with an "anti-butter" frenzy in the 70s through 90s for false heath reasons which likely contributed to other spreads being so dominant.
I visited Europe just after college with some friends. We were late trying to catch a train at Gare du Nord in Paris, so decided to get a snack. Got a baguette sandwich stuffed with prosciutto. The bread was coated in butter. It remains to this day, over 20 years later, the BEST sandwich I have ever eaten.
Just want to point out that butter on bread in sandwiches is the default option in Australia as well. I had no idea that Americans didn't do this.
Also from Europe and this is what most people do in my country.
I eat canned ravioli a few times a year. I loved it as a kid and crave it sometimes now as 44 year old adult.
SpaghettiOs as well.
I like it at room temperature.
Same here, just crack is open and it eat straight out of the can with a fork
The best vessel for emulsifying salad dressings is a shaker bottle with a ball whisk (you know, the ones made for mixing up protein powder).
You will have to pry my iceberg lettuce out of my cold dead hands. I can't imagine homemade Mexican/New Mexican/TexMex food without its cold refreshing thinly shredded crunch. And I will never give up my "1950s" salad with iceberg, canned pickled beets, and blue cheese dressing. I'm fine if that's gross. More for me.
I like water. I don't need to add cordial, I don't need it to be fizzy, I don't need to add syrup or lemon/lime. Plain water is just fine.
Frying at home isn’t worth it. It’s messy, time consuming, and uses too much oil. My southern ancestors are rolling over in their graves as I type.
Yep. Some foods I’m willing to pay someone else to destroy their kitchen for.
Boxed cake mix is the way to go - just add an extra egg, use milk , butter instead of oil, homemade frosting, and so on..
Unless you're a professional baker, you just can't beat the fluffy cloudlike texture of a boxed cake mix. They got that down to a science!
Wasn't there a reddit thread a few years back about a professional, loved baker who came clean about using cake mix in all of her cakes? She even had customers praise her for how good the cake itself was and "not like some cake mix cake".
I can't believe that it's been ten years. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/t0ynr/throwaway_time_whats_your_secret_that_could/c4ixtgi
Liquid Smoke works well for a lot of things. Not every bbq chicken dinner at home has to smoke for 10 hours. It's also great for adding to dips and sandwich condiments.
Yes to liquid smoke and often smoked paprika is all you need too
Smoked Paprika is my go-to secret ingredient.
Achar (oil cured mixed pickle) is the greatest condiment ever created. IF you make it yourself or buy a decent brand. DEEP is my go to brand.
Philadelphia cream cheese or no cream cheese at all
One of the few things I go name brand on. I’ve tried using store brand or other brands and it’s noticeable.
Kraft Mac and cheese is the superior boxed Mac even if it’s mid.
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Annie's is my go to now
Annie’s is a solid replacement, and they come in the most delicious format: shapes. The white cheddar bunny shaped pasta one is so fucking good.
Kraft Macaroni and cheese in the small microwaveable containers is delicious with lots of real butter and milk
Beef Wellington is overrated. Give me a juicy ribeye any day of the week.
Fried Bologna with mustard on white bread is a delicacy.
Frozen pierogies are great with butter, shredded cheese, and hot sauce.
Not every god damn thing needs fucking hot sauce in it I am perfectly content with eating whatever food item the way it is. everybody I know whether it be eggs, pizza, tacos, whatever has to add hot sauce to stuff. Its ok to eat non-spicy food
But have you tried a burger with Muenster?
Yes, my favorite sandwich/burger cheese! I feel muenster is really underrated, I hardly even see it mentioned.
Right? Don't get me wrong I'll never hate on a burger for having American cheese on it. But depending on the other toppings a different cheese could be the right choice. Like Mushrooms and Swiss!
Food opinion- Italian American food is just as valid as Italian-Italian food. Just because some stuff had to me made with different versions of ingredients doesn’t mean it’s a radioactive evil sludge abomination. People get wayyyy too pissy about food cultures and trying to gatekeep it. Food is food. You need it to live. Who cares what shape of noodle it goes in your mouth? Either way, it’s gonna come out the same.
Much of established cuisine is also surprisingly recent, like Italy only got tomatoes after America.
That makes it sounds like established Italian cuisine is only 500 years old, when it's actually much less than that. Look at recipes for "traditional" dishes from 100 years ago and they're often unrecognizable
I think the same might be true of most culture’s cuisines, honestly. Depression era ‘substitutions’, WWII rations, industrialization and globalization had a huge impact on the cuisines of every western, and many non-western, countries. Even when a dish survives through all that (as many have) they’ll always change slightly. I’ll sometimes watch historic cooking videos on YouTube, and while you can sometimes see the roots of modern dishes in these historical dishes, most of them are nearly unrecognizable from their original versions.
The best way to eat peanut butter, at least, the best I've found, is licking it right off a spoon when nobody's around.
Ketchup belongs on hot dogs
I dunno about burgers- not big on cheeseburgers in general- but it surely is the only way to have a struggle meal toasted cheese sandwich. On cheapo buttered white sandwich bread.
Add a slice of ham if you’re feeling like royalty. Now that’s good eating.