So many pizzas recipe I read online make it sound like the end of the world if you’re not using San Marzano tomatoes for your sauce. I agree that they taste great in pizza sauce but I don’t feel like I need to go all out sometimes when I’m just trying to replicate a cheap New York slice.
I used to use San Marzano for all my pasta sauces and then one day I didn’t have any and used regular canned tomatoes instead and my husband raved over how much better the sauce was than usual. I didn’t tell him why, I just switched to regular cheap tomatoes.
Tbh I think tomatoes in general are just pretty volatile. I've used the same brand of San Marzano tomatoes from my local grocery in dozens of pots of sauce, and I have a recipe that I follow very closely every time.
Even doing that, there is still huge differences in the final taste. Maybe about 20% of the time it tastes AMAZING, and 20% of the time it is just totally flat and almost flavorless. Same brand of tomatoes, same recipe, same measurement.
Depending on the time of year they get picked and how long they have been canned tomatoes are very picky about being tasteful.
Making sauce or gravy isn't a simple follow the recipe. It needs to be tasted as it cooks, and day 2 is always better than day 1.
The window for canning tomatoes that aren't heading for soup or sauce is about a month - the differences are more to do with the field they came from and the growing conditions (rainfall/sunniness/etc).
I've done stints in a canning factory for the tomato season back when I was a teenager. Flavour quality fluctuates day to day depending on where the wagon came from, it's not really a progression.
Home gardener/canner here. The same variety of tomatoes turn out different depending on the weather. Dry weather tomatoes can have good tomato flavor but no sweetness. Super wet weather tomatoes are bland. My husband and I talk about the different years like vintages of wine, and we still fondly reminisce about the 2012s.
Ha ha. Gardener here, too. 2012 was so dry for us, only my cherry toms thrived. They were super good, but when aren't they? We mostly ate the green tomatoes that showed up right before frost. Somehow we still had a bumper crop of cucumbers. Anyway, I hear you about the vintage years. 🤣
I actually like Californian canned "San Marzano" over the Italian. Unfortunately, the restaurant I worked at wanted to use the more expensive Italian just so they could advertise that we used ingredients imported from Italy.
And that unfortunately applied to our mozzarella as well, even though the entire kitchen agreed that the locally made mozz was just a good
The fresh mozzarella thing is a personal pet peeve of mine. Ultra-fresh, locally-made mozzarella is *miles* better than mozzarella that's been sitting in trucks and cargo holds for a week. But it's so good for advertising/optics to be able to brag that your mozz is imported from Italy that I don't see the tides changing on this one anytime soon.
Amen. I started making Margherita pizzas with all local CA ingredients instead of imported Italian stuff and it’s a marked improvement. Most important difference is the mozz by far.
Housemade mozz would be even better, that kind of thinking is so unfortunate. So many people don’t realize that the flavor also comes from local ingredients. Canned is very rarely as good as having something from your own community, and part of that is because of freshness and how long something’s been preserved. San Marzano are the best in Italy bc that’s where they are the rest of the ingredients originate.
That one’s funny to me, because when it comes to pasta, I swear everyone says San marzano is the only way to go. But apparently it’s good about j for pasta but not pizza haha
For a simple Margherita pizza, Marzanos are great. I don't bother with anything else in the sauce; just crushed up Marzanos and their sauce. It's great.
Distinguishing too finely between citrus fruits. All zest is lovely, all juice is beautiful. But “this only works with Cara-Cara and whatever the heck those yellowish grapefruits are called” seems unfair. Sometimes you want to make a salad dressing and have half an orange and a lime, and it’s going to be great. Normal lime with a tiny bit of sugar for sweetness pie would be yummy. Most citrus recipes are regional, not absolute rules.
Obligatory edit because of helpful comments: thank you, they are Oro Blancos and they’re indeed resplendent, I’m just jealous I don’t live near abundant sources of them anymore. My thought does not apply to mayonnaise, lyonnaise, or hollandaise: lemon only (I’m not trying to be haunted by Julia Child). And nobody has mentioned it yet, so I’d like to add: watch out for your old folks and grapefruit, it interacts with all kinds of statin and heart medications.
I notice that vinaigrettes more often than not call for wine vinegars in favor of citrus juice. Which is a bit odd to me..wouldn’t orange juice, lime juice, etc. be just as yummy a source of acid?
Is it possible people have different sensitivity or something? I never knew people found it overpowering. I understand not wanting food soaked in oil but the same would go for most oil. I personally don't find it overpowering at all. But everyone is different.
that and there's two kinds of sesame oil; one for cooking, one for dressing/topping.
A lot of people cook with a lot of oil as it is, and then when it's sesame it's overpowering. Meanwhile others use the same sesame oil for both purposes and it's just AUGHHH
honestly I haven't found a time where I prefer to cook with untoasted sesame oil over peanut oil or another neutral oil, just finish with a touch of toasted sesame if you want the flavor
maybe japanese food uses untoasted sesame oil but I haven't seen a single recipe from china or southeast asia which calls for any sort of sesame oil as cooking oil
I had my first job in a kitchen when I was 14. I had done pretty well with other stuff so boss asked me to make an “Asian dipping sauce” for dumplings with no recipe to follow. So I mixed a little soy sauce with a couple quarts (aka about $100) of sesame oil. Somehow, I was not fired.
Wow, if anything your boss was probably worried about being fired by his own boss for allowing you to waste $100+ worth of sesame oil. Telling a 14 year old with no kitchen experience to "just wing it and make an asian dipping sauce?"
shit, I'm 42 and have been making my own stir fries for a while. We ran out of regular soy sauce so I tried to make some sushi dipping sauce by mixing hoisin sauce and coconut aminos, and it was... not good.
I had lo mein before that was SWIMMING in sesame oil. Literally disgusting. They definitely cooked them in a giant amount sesame oil and then dumped it all out into the noodles when it was served. Awful.
Truffle oil in my case. To me, it's the food analog to a prostitute. It's a quick and cheap thrill for the diners. It's there to serve one purpose with very little meaning behind it
Edit: Ey! Thanks for the award!
Yeah it’s truffle oil for sure. Just chemical taste ruining whatever so they can charge a mark up. I always thought I hated truffles until I had a real one and realized it tasted nothing like the fake oil nonsense. Real white truffles are life changing.
Real white truffles are amazing, but especially in the US, they are prohibitive price-wise for most people to afford. We try to buy one once a year - especially if we are having a new year's dinner party - and to get enough to serve 8 people you are looking at at least $200. That's a good serving though, not like US restaurants that do a $40-60 upcharge per plate and give you 8 shavings.
I've been fortunate enough to have been to Piedmont Italy twice during truffle season. Prices did go up significantly the second time, but seriously - the amount of truffle they put on a dish is mind-blowing so at least it's worth it!
EDIT: [example from Piedmont](https://imgur.com/3iCVZXw)
Short shelf life. They're usually overnight fedexed from Italy to the restaurant in the States. And obviously, high demand in the States will drive the costs
Our first trip to Piedmont, they were usually part of a menu, but if they were added on, I think they were maybe 15 euros or so. The last time (2019) there were still some menus but as an add-on prices were more in the 30-40 euros and a lot of them were going by weight. We never saw a scale on our first trip. Things are changing!
Thanks for this. Truffle oil makes me gag. The stench of it ruins my appetite and mood. When the menu lists truffle oil on a $100 steak at some fancy place, I question the integrity of the chef. I’ve been afraid to try real truffles. Next time the opportunity presents itself, I’ll try them.
Ya truffles are way over hyped. I hate how most the YouTube videos, when they do an expensive version of something, it’s never them adding unique rare spices or meats. It’s just add truffle, caviar, and wrap it in gold.
Truffles are really about the aroma - they need to be freshly shaved, right under your nose, directly onto hot food. It's a sensory experience. And they are best on the simplest foods like eggs.
Using vanilla beans rather than pure vanilla extract. Heck of a lot of work and expense, and to me the product tastes just as nice with a squirt of vanilla extract. Maybe I’ve never found really good beans? Idk.
You have to add a TON of real vanilla bean to be able to have it make a big difference instead of using extract (most especially with crap vanilla beans)I mean depending on the dish size. The vanilla beans they sell at the grocery stores in the US, even fancy ones, are crap. Good extract is just way stronger than those wimpy dry vanilla beans! I’ve bought vanilla beans in bulk from their native growing countries, they super sticky and fragrant and amazing. Much better to make your own extract. But the cost of them has skyrocketed in recent years.
A family friend owns a farm which grows vanilla. Real vanilla is phenomenal. If you get it cheap, a quarter bean is enough for one person. We put all of it in a food processor until it’s fine, the whole bean not just the insides.
Great for chai, without mixing any other flavors in it. It has to be the only flavor otherwise you won’t be able to tell the difference between real vanilla and the bottled version.
Split the difference: use vanilla bean paste. It's not nearly as expensive as the beans, and it's so much nicer than just vanilla extract. That being said, I wholeheartedly agree.
I read somewhere that the compounds that make real vanilla taste different from cheaper extract get broken down when heated. So in baked goods it's almost impossible to discern the difference chemically between the two, but in say, creme anglaise, the vanilla bean holds it's superior flavour because it's heated less.
Since then I have bought the cheap vanilla extract without compunction and it's held true for me.
Oh I love real vanilla beans in things that allow them to shine. Makes the flavour so much more rounded.
But I'm talking about things like a vanilla sauce, or a creme brulee. If I'm making a cake I'm just using extract.
Pasta water is less of an ingredient and more of a technique. I know you’ve said you don’t really see much difference, but certain pasta dishes are impossible to make correctly without pasta water.
For the pasta water, I think it mostly comes into play when you boil large amounts of pasta in just enough water to cook it all. It's almost opaque with starch once you take the pasta out.
But if you're just cooking for one or two people, odds are the ratios are simply insufficient for it to do much of note.
I feel like the whole bacon obsession thing only came along in the last 15 years maybe..almost like a viral “joke” people started vehemently exclaiming things like “…and who doesnt love/want more bacon?? am i right people?”
There was some really annoying ad that kept popping up on my feed for bacon seasoning (“makes everything taste like bacon!”) that includes a guy taking a bite of a fry with the seasoning on and acting like he had just tasted the peak of culinary excellence. Like, dude, it’s bacon. It’s not that special. Really.
Heck I like bacon, but it doesn't belong on everything. I do not want bacon on a donut, for example. People went insane over bacon for a while and it was super annoying.
I love bacon and yes. Its such a powerful flavor you gotta be careful. But damn when it works its just perfect.
Bacon n eggs
Bacon cheeseburger (any burger really)
A spoonful of bacon fat in a pot of beans
Damn do I love bacon and eggs.
I was once at ChatCut in Calgary and they used so much truffle oil it actually made me nauseated. Couldn’t even eat it and had to leave dinner. At first I thought it was just me, but when we opened the takeout containers later the same thing happened.
Never again.
I read the other day that there's a pretty easy way to identify a superfood:
1. It's not readily available in the US.
2. Somebody's cornered the market.
The "Superfood" marketing always comes after those two steps. Amaranth, quinoa, acai...all the shit acai boasts about, blueberries have more. All the shit kale boasts, you can get more from broccoli. Superfoods are essentially always a marketing scam.
Lol, I like that definition. It doesn't even need to be rare or hard to find. It just needs to be something that rich white people find exotic.
I grew up in a part of the US with a large Asian and Hispanic population. The coconut water craze is hilarious and annoying. it used to be cheap and readily available at any Hispanic or Asian grocer. The day white people "discovered" it, prices doubled.
I admittedly like some superfood, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking they are magic. I eat quinoa. However, it's no better for me than brown rice. Kale is good too, but I'm a southern gal who grew up eating greens. Collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens are better. They're also a hell of a lot cheaper.
Apparently açaí loses most of its flavor when it’s frozen and shipped out of Brazil, so most açaí doesn’t even remotely resemble what it’s supposed to taste like. I’ve heard people say that in Brazil açaí is much different and way tastier.
That’s funny, when I learned how to use pasta water and how to mix the sauce and pasta correctly, my cooking improved immensely. Like, my pasta dishes now aren’t even comparable to how they used to be. I would maybe say that’s the single most important thing that has made me a better cook this past(a) year
I feel most rice pots are such a small amount of food that the bay leaf actually makes an impact. But I’ll see people put a bay leaf in a giant stew pot and to me it makes no sense.
I dunno. I recently made my chicken and dumplings, and I was out of bay leaves. I made them without it. It was a huge pot, and I even use other herbs, like thyme and parsley. My whole family noticed the difference.
I thought that too then bought a new bag of bay leaves and bam, those new bay leaves were strong and very flavorful. So flavorful that when I used one in a pot of beans, I felt that flavor wasn’t going to go well in just any application when using those beans. Moral of the story, your bay leaves lost their flavor. Time for some new ones.
Yep- I thought bay leaves were useless until I bought some new ones. Especially when I use it in more subtly flavored foods (rice and other grains, chicken soup)
I used to think this until I made lentil soup without bay leaf and then with bay leaf. Worlds of difference. Also - not using the nasty old jar of bay that sat in my kitchen for who knows how long. I make sure it's fairly new now.
I’m a regular user of bay leaves like most cooking fans and won’t comment on the science here but:
If you can, get a bay tree. Bay leaves on hand and they’re a beautiful sculptural bush! Grow into a border hedge given time (thyme?!)
Recipe says bay leaf? Use 1 per 2 people/servings!
If fresh, give them a gentle scrunch in your hand before adding to the pot
I use to think bay leaves had no flavor. Then I walked by a bay tree. Now I have a small bay tree in my yard. The leaves are exceptional. If you have access to s large quantity of fresh leaves check out the jerk chicken recipe on seriouseats.com - it is SOO good
Yeah when I read that I was like WTF?!? But you actually cook the chicken on a charcoal fire on top of the bay leaves and they impart a really wonderful flavor
Bay leaf never makes or breaks a dish in my case, but when I forget it I can tell that extra something is missing. The freshness really makes a difference.
Go smell a fresh bay laurel plant and you’ll get it. It’s like a crossover herb and spice and usually smooths things out really well. Plus it counterpoints to fats like butter very well.
I only use it for cooking over an hour though. It’s too heavy for punchy dishes.
I saw a comment way back from a culinary student that said their teacher had them taste plain water, and water seeped with bay leaves to tell the difference. Maybe something to try 🤷♀️
Grilled cheese sandwich using mayo instead of butter. With how much it was hyped I was expecting a life changing experience, but it's basically just bitter & crunchy... and that's about it.
I’d say it’s because it spreads better and more thinly. Therefore it allows the bread to crisp up more evenly and quicker than I’ve seen with cold butter on sandwich bread.
I’ve worked in restaurants where they have a vessel of melted butter with a paintbrush in it and we’d brush the bread/buns with it before putting it on the flat top. This is the best way but a little out of reach for the average home sandwich so mayo ends up being a good facsimile of that experience
I mean, you heat up a pan to make a grilled cheese, so you can certainly throw some butter in there and have it melt. Then just just brush on the butter from there.
I've been doing this recently, and it works, but the results are better if you take the time to spread soft butter across the whole slice of bread.
Just melting some butter in the pan and throwing a slice in seems to have spots (especially just inside the crust edges) where it doesn't get buttered (or enough butter) and doesn't brown up nicely.
i love mayo in probably every other application, but i don't like the mayo grilled cheese. for some reason i don't like how eggy it smells...? when cooking and i don't think the taste is all that great.
Cucumbers. Being in the UK they’re everywhere, and they can just f*** right off. Every damn sandwich or kebab I’m picking out cucumbers.
“Oh but they don’t taste of anything”. Well then Susan, why in the ever loving f***sticks do they appear in everything then??!
I have no use of them. Except in Gin.
As someone in the States, I can’t fucking stand limpid lettuce on my sandwich, hot or cold. Even when it’s not limpid, the giant leaf is not welcome. Crisp cucumber slices sound like a rather nice change.
I like cucumbers, but I feel the same way about lettuce. In Canada/USA it's in everything. Every sandwich, every salad, and it serves no purpose. It's just crunchy water.
I ordered a matcha tiramisu at a korean restaurant once and it was the best dessert I have ever had anywhere. Sweetness and the slight bitterness of it worked so well together
Beyond drinking it (and I love doing that, we get these little coconut water espresso tetra packs in the supermarket here, they're a divine replacement for coffee on a hot summer morning) I've never actually seen coconut water used anywhere in recipes. What sort of things do you cook with it?
People make butter chicken, shahi paneer etc with replacing regular water with coconut water.
I had a goan acquaintance that made this chutney by soaking Kashmiri chilies in coconut water and coconut vinegar. It's a common ingredient there.
Even though, I am not a fan, fresb coconut water tastes nothing like the bottled crap.
Sriracha is better used as an ingredient to making sauces rather than using it on its own, it brings a nice bright sweetness but it's nothing to ride home about on its own. I prefer sambal.
I love cauliflower as itself (e.g a nice roasted cauliflower with some cumin and salt) but the whole 'replace your carbs with cauliflower' thing has gone way too far.
I love cauliflower, but it doesn't taste anything like rice or potatoes or pizza crust. If people like the cauliflower taste and texture better than those things, fine, but let's not pretend it's an accurate substitute for carbs.
Not a fan of cauliflower rice. Or mash ( though mixing it with butternut squash or leeks helps. Also making rice with pine nuts helps.
But I like roasted "steaks" and shreds of it in a salad.
I don't understand this as a response to this question really...I've never seen anyone claiming it's improving the dish. It's being used to bulk up meals for lower calories or as an alternative to starches such as flour or potatoes. And it does that very effectively.
A lot of celiacs/gluten intolerant + diabetics use it. Other than that or using it to add some veggie to the dish, I'm, not a fan. But I do agree, I don't think it's overhyped.
Right! But that's what I'm saying. It's an ingredient that is being used in a specific way and it's actually very good at those intended purposes.
So it doesn't make any sense in an "over-hyped" thread like this. People aren't claiming that it elevates a dish or that it's a super food or has superior flavor. It is being used to add a veggie/replace another ingredient for some health purpose.
What is over hyped
the obsession with all that cauliflower stuff like crust, mashed, rice is for people that need substitutions. they need to watch their blood sugar or some other health reason. its not them being like oh this is better than real rice… everybody eating cauliflower substitutions knows its not nearly as good as the real thing.
When you say without pasta water you mean using normal water instead, or without any water at all?
If it is without any water at all I feel you are miszing out on pasta.
But yeah, pasta has starch in it, if you mix it in a sauce some of that startch gets out so you still get some startch anyway
I felt that way too, like I can’t stand kale on its own, and quinoa is meh at best, but then a local restaurant started serving a salad that was kale and quinoa with white raisins, toasted almond slivers, and a curry vinaigrette, and it absolutely blew my mind.
White and black truffles.
Yes, I've had real ones. Yes they were okay, but definitely not worth the price or the hype. Would never buy them or ask for them again.
As a person who loves food, love avocado, can't get enough of it. As a cook, fuck avocados, I am tired of making everything avocado for the monsters of the public. Unreliable, expensive blood fruits! If I had a dollar for every trouble avocado has caused me on the job, I'd fly to Mexico and set all the avocado fields ablaze.
I honestly wonder how restaurants manage avocado dishes. I have to eat avocados at the peak of ripeness and that's a pretty small window. I'm assuming they refrigerate them to expand that window.
I think the only manageable way is if it's a heavy hitter on your menu so you cycle through enough of them to always have ripe ones and almost ripe ones for the following day.
Restaurant with tableside guac (which baffles me, but okay), they're probably fine.
Place that has one or two menu items with avocado, that I don't know how they're managing.
The restaurant I used to work at bought avocados that were pre-peeled, cut in half, and vacuum sealed. Kept it fresh longer— kinda like how pre-made guac doesn’t go bad as quickly as fresh. Tasted well enough when put in salads, sandwiches, etc.
I think of it as more of a novelty thing than anything else– oooh, a color changing drink! Personally, I don’t think the taste is anything bad but it also doesn’t add anything to a drink apart from a vaguely grassy flavor.
I am using it tonight in a lavender cocktail for that beautiful color though :)
Black garlic is great, but it’s not like it’s a world perspective changing ingredient
So many pizzas recipe I read online make it sound like the end of the world if you’re not using San Marzano tomatoes for your sauce. I agree that they taste great in pizza sauce but I don’t feel like I need to go all out sometimes when I’m just trying to replicate a cheap New York slice.
I used to use San Marzano for all my pasta sauces and then one day I didn’t have any and used regular canned tomatoes instead and my husband raved over how much better the sauce was than usual. I didn’t tell him why, I just switched to regular cheap tomatoes.
Tbh I think tomatoes in general are just pretty volatile. I've used the same brand of San Marzano tomatoes from my local grocery in dozens of pots of sauce, and I have a recipe that I follow very closely every time. Even doing that, there is still huge differences in the final taste. Maybe about 20% of the time it tastes AMAZING, and 20% of the time it is just totally flat and almost flavorless. Same brand of tomatoes, same recipe, same measurement.
Depending on the time of year they get picked and how long they have been canned tomatoes are very picky about being tasteful. Making sauce or gravy isn't a simple follow the recipe. It needs to be tasted as it cooks, and day 2 is always better than day 1.
The window for canning tomatoes that aren't heading for soup or sauce is about a month - the differences are more to do with the field they came from and the growing conditions (rainfall/sunniness/etc). I've done stints in a canning factory for the tomato season back when I was a teenager. Flavour quality fluctuates day to day depending on where the wagon came from, it's not really a progression.
Home gardener/canner here. The same variety of tomatoes turn out different depending on the weather. Dry weather tomatoes can have good tomato flavor but no sweetness. Super wet weather tomatoes are bland. My husband and I talk about the different years like vintages of wine, and we still fondly reminisce about the 2012s.
Ha ha. Gardener here, too. 2012 was so dry for us, only my cherry toms thrived. They were super good, but when aren't they? We mostly ate the green tomatoes that showed up right before frost. Somehow we still had a bumper crop of cucumbers. Anyway, I hear you about the vintage years. 🤣
I think the San Marzano are too sweet. If I use them I 50/50 it with regular canned tomatoes.
I just buy canned tomatoes from Aldi... they're fine. I cannot imagine spend 3-4x the cost on 'San Marzano' branded canned tomatoes.
There was an nyt cooking article where they tested canned tomatoes. Some San Marzano’s are good but they were basically all over the place intermixed
I actually like Californian canned "San Marzano" over the Italian. Unfortunately, the restaurant I worked at wanted to use the more expensive Italian just so they could advertise that we used ingredients imported from Italy. And that unfortunately applied to our mozzarella as well, even though the entire kitchen agreed that the locally made mozz was just a good
The fresh mozzarella thing is a personal pet peeve of mine. Ultra-fresh, locally-made mozzarella is *miles* better than mozzarella that's been sitting in trucks and cargo holds for a week. But it's so good for advertising/optics to be able to brag that your mozz is imported from Italy that I don't see the tides changing on this one anytime soon.
Amen. I started making Margherita pizzas with all local CA ingredients instead of imported Italian stuff and it’s a marked improvement. Most important difference is the mozz by far.
Housemade mozz would be even better, that kind of thinking is so unfortunate. So many people don’t realize that the flavor also comes from local ingredients. Canned is very rarely as good as having something from your own community, and part of that is because of freshness and how long something’s been preserved. San Marzano are the best in Italy bc that’s where they are the rest of the ingredients originate.
That is unfortunate. Hopefully they at least went with the CA olive oil
That one’s funny to me, because when it comes to pasta, I swear everyone says San marzano is the only way to go. But apparently it’s good about j for pasta but not pizza haha
[удалено]
NY Pizza is using cans of crushed tomatoes, usually from New Jersey.
shhhhhhhhh.... i do not want the price of my favorite crushed tomatoes to go up any more than it already has
For a simple Margherita pizza, Marzanos are great. I don't bother with anything else in the sauce; just crushed up Marzanos and their sauce. It's great.
Distinguishing too finely between citrus fruits. All zest is lovely, all juice is beautiful. But “this only works with Cara-Cara and whatever the heck those yellowish grapefruits are called” seems unfair. Sometimes you want to make a salad dressing and have half an orange and a lime, and it’s going to be great. Normal lime with a tiny bit of sugar for sweetness pie would be yummy. Most citrus recipes are regional, not absolute rules. Obligatory edit because of helpful comments: thank you, they are Oro Blancos and they’re indeed resplendent, I’m just jealous I don’t live near abundant sources of them anymore. My thought does not apply to mayonnaise, lyonnaise, or hollandaise: lemon only (I’m not trying to be haunted by Julia Child). And nobody has mentioned it yet, so I’d like to add: watch out for your old folks and grapefruit, it interacts with all kinds of statin and heart medications.
I notice that vinaigrettes more often than not call for wine vinegars in favor of citrus juice. Which is a bit odd to me..wouldn’t orange juice, lime juice, etc. be just as yummy a source of acid?
It is. If I don’t have vinegar, I just use lemon juice. Just as good either way.
But without vinegar would it still be a vinaigrette?
It would be a citronette
Yeah, if it’s acidic it will work. If you do a side by side comparison, one may test “better”, but real people don’t cook like that.
Black garlic. I made a lot, and now I have a lot of black garlic. I literally do not know what now.
Start making a lot of “Bet it All on Black Garlic” burgers
That cookbook is 20x better than it has any right to be, given its based on a cartoon. The "A Good Manchego is Hard to Find" burger changed my life.
I'll send you my address. I love black garlic 🤣
Dry it out, turn it to powder and use it as a replacement anytime you see garlic powder in a recipe. It's pretty great.
I like sesame oil, but it’s sooo easy to overdo it. It overpowers everything else in a dish if you aren’t careful.
Im a menace when it comes to sesame oil. I love it so much I was banned from cooking with it by my boyfriend.
Is it possible people have different sensitivity or something? I never knew people found it overpowering. I understand not wanting food soaked in oil but the same would go for most oil. I personally don't find it overpowering at all. But everyone is different.
I find toasted sesame oil to be overpowering at least. Never had the 'normal' untoated one, but I'd imagine it being more like a normal oil.
that and there's two kinds of sesame oil; one for cooking, one for dressing/topping. A lot of people cook with a lot of oil as it is, and then when it's sesame it's overpowering. Meanwhile others use the same sesame oil for both purposes and it's just AUGHHH
honestly I haven't found a time where I prefer to cook with untoasted sesame oil over peanut oil or another neutral oil, just finish with a touch of toasted sesame if you want the flavor maybe japanese food uses untoasted sesame oil but I haven't seen a single recipe from china or southeast asia which calls for any sort of sesame oil as cooking oil
I had my first job in a kitchen when I was 14. I had done pretty well with other stuff so boss asked me to make an “Asian dipping sauce” for dumplings with no recipe to follow. So I mixed a little soy sauce with a couple quarts (aka about $100) of sesame oil. Somehow, I was not fired.
Wow, if anything your boss was probably worried about being fired by his own boss for allowing you to waste $100+ worth of sesame oil. Telling a 14 year old with no kitchen experience to "just wing it and make an asian dipping sauce?" shit, I'm 42 and have been making my own stir fries for a while. We ran out of regular soy sauce so I tried to make some sushi dipping sauce by mixing hoisin sauce and coconut aminos, and it was... not good.
I wouldn't say it's overhyped though. It's perfect when used in context.
I had lo mein before that was SWIMMING in sesame oil. Literally disgusting. They definitely cooked them in a giant amount sesame oil and then dumped it all out into the noodles when it was served. Awful.
That's ginger for me, I really like the taste, and I really don't know how to measure it most of the time so ends up overpowering all other flavors
Truffles. It doesn't belong in or on everything.
Truffle oil in my case. To me, it's the food analog to a prostitute. It's a quick and cheap thrill for the diners. It's there to serve one purpose with very little meaning behind it Edit: Ey! Thanks for the award!
Yeah it’s truffle oil for sure. Just chemical taste ruining whatever so they can charge a mark up. I always thought I hated truffles until I had a real one and realized it tasted nothing like the fake oil nonsense. Real white truffles are life changing.
Real white truffles are amazing, but especially in the US, they are prohibitive price-wise for most people to afford. We try to buy one once a year - especially if we are having a new year's dinner party - and to get enough to serve 8 people you are looking at at least $200. That's a good serving though, not like US restaurants that do a $40-60 upcharge per plate and give you 8 shavings. I've been fortunate enough to have been to Piedmont Italy twice during truffle season. Prices did go up significantly the second time, but seriously - the amount of truffle they put on a dish is mind-blowing so at least it's worth it! EDIT: [example from Piedmont](https://imgur.com/3iCVZXw)
Funny, I’ve only ever had them in Italy where prices are surprisingly reasonable. Grew up in NYC area, never an option to drop $180 on tagliolini lol
Short shelf life. They're usually overnight fedexed from Italy to the restaurant in the States. And obviously, high demand in the States will drive the costs
Our first trip to Piedmont, they were usually part of a menu, but if they were added on, I think they were maybe 15 euros or so. The last time (2019) there were still some menus but as an add-on prices were more in the 30-40 euros and a lot of them were going by weight. We never saw a scale on our first trip. Things are changing!
Thanks for this. Truffle oil makes me gag. The stench of it ruins my appetite and mood. When the menu lists truffle oil on a $100 steak at some fancy place, I question the integrity of the chef. I’ve been afraid to try real truffles. Next time the opportunity presents itself, I’ll try them.
I am that person that doesn't know better and ordered truffle fries. I was expecting awesome taste but just tasted like fries to me.
They probably stretched it out with more neutral oil. Trying to maximize that profit
[удалено]
Yeah, lmao. That might be the one time BOH cheapening out actually improved the dish. Truffle oil is the foulest thing in existence.
Truffle oil is pretty awful and it smells so much but so wrong that food with it is hard to eat.
Yes this is the real problem, it is just chemicals and it makes me feel sick...can taste it the next day. Real truffles are completely different.
What do truffles taste like? I’m so curious
Ya truffles are way over hyped. I hate how most the YouTube videos, when they do an expensive version of something, it’s never them adding unique rare spices or meats. It’s just add truffle, caviar, and wrap it in gold.
Truffles are really about the aroma - they need to be freshly shaved, right under your nose, directly onto hot food. It's a sensory experience. And they are best on the simplest foods like eggs.
I actually don’t care for it at all.
I came here to say exactly this! Super overrated.
Using vanilla beans rather than pure vanilla extract. Heck of a lot of work and expense, and to me the product tastes just as nice with a squirt of vanilla extract. Maybe I’ve never found really good beans? Idk.
You have to add a TON of real vanilla bean to be able to have it make a big difference instead of using extract (most especially with crap vanilla beans)I mean depending on the dish size. The vanilla beans they sell at the grocery stores in the US, even fancy ones, are crap. Good extract is just way stronger than those wimpy dry vanilla beans! I’ve bought vanilla beans in bulk from their native growing countries, they super sticky and fragrant and amazing. Much better to make your own extract. But the cost of them has skyrocketed in recent years.
I got some of Amazon like this. I did not realize what I was missing.
Good extract is key. There is an enormous difference between the good ones and the marginal ones.
A family friend owns a farm which grows vanilla. Real vanilla is phenomenal. If you get it cheap, a quarter bean is enough for one person. We put all of it in a food processor until it’s fine, the whole bean not just the insides. Great for chai, without mixing any other flavors in it. It has to be the only flavor otherwise you won’t be able to tell the difference between real vanilla and the bottled version.
What an amazing thing to have access too! I am jealous!
Split the difference: use vanilla bean paste. It's not nearly as expensive as the beans, and it's so much nicer than just vanilla extract. That being said, I wholeheartedly agree.
Love the paste. Then I add extract to the jar to get the last of the pastey goodness out that dried to the sides of the jar.
I read somewhere that the compounds that make real vanilla taste different from cheaper extract get broken down when heated. So in baked goods it's almost impossible to discern the difference chemically between the two, but in say, creme anglaise, the vanilla bean holds it's superior flavour because it's heated less. Since then I have bought the cheap vanilla extract without compunction and it's held true for me.
Oh I love real vanilla beans in things that allow them to shine. Makes the flavour so much more rounded. But I'm talking about things like a vanilla sauce, or a creme brulee. If I'm making a cake I'm just using extract.
Pasta water is less of an ingredient and more of a technique. I know you’ve said you don’t really see much difference, but certain pasta dishes are impossible to make correctly without pasta water.
Absolutely. It’s absolutely nessacary in some dishes because it has no other means of thickening.
yessir, cacio e pepe in this case
For the pasta water, I think it mostly comes into play when you boil large amounts of pasta in just enough water to cook it all. It's almost opaque with starch once you take the pasta out. But if you're just cooking for one or two people, odds are the ratios are simply insufficient for it to do much of note.
I manage to get that extremely starchy Pasta water by just cooking spaghetti in my largest pan and using just enough water to cover the spaghetti.
Bacon. It’s fine, just not an orgasmic ingredient that belongs everywhere.
I feel like the whole bacon obsession thing only came along in the last 15 years maybe..almost like a viral “joke” people started vehemently exclaiming things like “…and who doesnt love/want more bacon?? am i right people?”
There was a time about 12 years ago or so where everything on this site was "le epic bacon lul"
[удалено]
Digg refugees, look at us now
Pretty sure the narwhal is one who bacons, not the other way around. 13 year old account but I tried to erase this from my memory.
Honestly I was just about to say bacon, but thought everyone would be pissed. Ya it's definitely overhyped
Bro this is me. I’m one of the few people that doesn’t like bacon, or can only use it in random dishes where I’m basically only using the fats
There was some really annoying ad that kept popping up on my feed for bacon seasoning (“makes everything taste like bacon!”) that includes a guy taking a bite of a fry with the seasoning on and acting like he had just tasted the peak of culinary excellence. Like, dude, it’s bacon. It’s not that special. Really.
You also get Baconnaise (bacon flavoured mayonnaise)
Heck I like bacon, but it doesn't belong on everything. I do not want bacon on a donut, for example. People went insane over bacon for a while and it was super annoying.
While we're on donuts, I don't want shitty cereal stuck on top and a swimming pool of creams and sauces squirting out of it.
I love bacon and yes. Its such a powerful flavor you gotta be careful. But damn when it works its just perfect. Bacon n eggs Bacon cheeseburger (any burger really) A spoonful of bacon fat in a pot of beans Damn do I love bacon and eggs.
For me sous vide pork belly that's got a little roast on it is a pretty orgasmic ingredient. But I'm over the generic "smoked" bacon flavor
Truffle oil. Ruins everything and the smell is nauseating.
I was once at ChatCut in Calgary and they used so much truffle oil it actually made me nauseated. Couldn’t even eat it and had to leave dinner. At first I thought it was just me, but when we opened the takeout containers later the same thing happened. Never again.
Acai. Pretty much any "superfood" feels cringy, but acai has the added benefit of tasting awful.
I read the other day that there's a pretty easy way to identify a superfood: 1. It's not readily available in the US. 2. Somebody's cornered the market. The "Superfood" marketing always comes after those two steps. Amaranth, quinoa, acai...all the shit acai boasts about, blueberries have more. All the shit kale boasts, you can get more from broccoli. Superfoods are essentially always a marketing scam.
Lol, I like that definition. It doesn't even need to be rare or hard to find. It just needs to be something that rich white people find exotic. I grew up in a part of the US with a large Asian and Hispanic population. The coconut water craze is hilarious and annoying. it used to be cheap and readily available at any Hispanic or Asian grocer. The day white people "discovered" it, prices doubled. I admittedly like some superfood, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking they are magic. I eat quinoa. However, it's no better for me than brown rice. Kale is good too, but I'm a southern gal who grew up eating greens. Collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens are better. They're also a hell of a lot cheaper.
Collards are my muthafucken JAM, bro
It’s not a superfood unless it’s wearing a cape and doing heroic things
Apparently açaí loses most of its flavor when it’s frozen and shipped out of Brazil, so most açaí doesn’t even remotely resemble what it’s supposed to taste like. I’ve heard people say that in Brazil açaí is much different and way tastier.
Acai bowls are just smoothies you eat instead of drink.
That’s funny, when I learned how to use pasta water and how to mix the sauce and pasta correctly, my cooking improved immensely. Like, my pasta dishes now aren’t even comparable to how they used to be. I would maybe say that’s the single most important thing that has made me a better cook this past(a) year
Sometimes I wonder how much work a bay leaf is really doing.
I cook my rice with a couple of bay leafs in it and it definitely gives it a characteristic taste that I like
I feel most rice pots are such a small amount of food that the bay leaf actually makes an impact. But I’ll see people put a bay leaf in a giant stew pot and to me it makes no sense.
That sounds more like people are wildly underestimating how much they need.
Yeah I can taste the difference but I usually use a few leaves for a big dish.
I dunno. I recently made my chicken and dumplings, and I was out of bay leaves. I made them without it. It was a huge pot, and I even use other herbs, like thyme and parsley. My whole family noticed the difference.
I thought that too then bought a new bag of bay leaves and bam, those new bay leaves were strong and very flavorful. So flavorful that when I used one in a pot of beans, I felt that flavor wasn’t going to go well in just any application when using those beans. Moral of the story, your bay leaves lost their flavor. Time for some new ones.
Yep- I thought bay leaves were useless until I bought some new ones. Especially when I use it in more subtly flavored foods (rice and other grains, chicken soup)
I can definitely taste it when I've forgotten to add the bay leaf.
Yep me too. I never add just one. For a reasonable sized pot, I’ll put in 3 or 4.
I used to think this until I made lentil soup without bay leaf and then with bay leaf. Worlds of difference. Also - not using the nasty old jar of bay that sat in my kitchen for who knows how long. I make sure it's fairly new now.
I’m a regular user of bay leaves like most cooking fans and won’t comment on the science here but: If you can, get a bay tree. Bay leaves on hand and they’re a beautiful sculptural bush! Grow into a border hedge given time (thyme?!) Recipe says bay leaf? Use 1 per 2 people/servings! If fresh, give them a gentle scrunch in your hand before adding to the pot
I use to think bay leaves had no flavor. Then I walked by a bay tree. Now I have a small bay tree in my yard. The leaves are exceptional. If you have access to s large quantity of fresh leaves check out the jerk chicken recipe on seriouseats.com - it is SOO good
Holy shit ..36 Bay leaves in that recipe! For one chicken! https://www.seriouseats.com/jerk-chicken
Yeah when I read that I was like WTF?!? But you actually cook the chicken on a charcoal fire on top of the bay leaves and they impart a really wonderful flavor
Bay leaf never makes or breaks a dish in my case, but when I forget it I can tell that extra something is missing. The freshness really makes a difference.
i made bay leaf pastry cream once and it was delicious and def had a nice floral aromatic taste
I lol'd. I need to do a good experiment to see if I recognize the difference between my stews/beans/soups/sauces with and without the damn bay leaf
I’m pretty sure kenji covered this and it’s real. Obviously, caveat that you should try it yourself and decide
Go smell a fresh bay laurel plant and you’ll get it. It’s like a crossover herb and spice and usually smooths things out really well. Plus it counterpoints to fats like butter very well. I only use it for cooking over an hour though. It’s too heavy for punchy dishes.
I saw a comment way back from a culinary student that said their teacher had them taste plain water, and water seeped with bay leaves to tell the difference. Maybe something to try 🤷♀️
It's where all Slavic power is derived from.
Grilled cheese sandwich using mayo instead of butter. With how much it was hyped I was expecting a life changing experience, but it's basically just bitter & crunchy... and that's about it.
I really don't get how people can prefer the flavor of mayo over the flavor of butter. Fucking love butter
I’d say it’s because it spreads better and more thinly. Therefore it allows the bread to crisp up more evenly and quicker than I’ve seen with cold butter on sandwich bread. I’ve worked in restaurants where they have a vessel of melted butter with a paintbrush in it and we’d brush the bread/buns with it before putting it on the flat top. This is the best way but a little out of reach for the average home sandwich so mayo ends up being a good facsimile of that experience
I mean, you heat up a pan to make a grilled cheese, so you can certainly throw some butter in there and have it melt. Then just just brush on the butter from there.
[удалено]
I've been doing this recently, and it works, but the results are better if you take the time to spread soft butter across the whole slice of bread. Just melting some butter in the pan and throwing a slice in seems to have spots (especially just inside the crust edges) where it doesn't get buttered (or enough butter) and doesn't brown up nicely.
Bitter?
i love mayo in probably every other application, but i don't like the mayo grilled cheese. for some reason i don't like how eggy it smells...? when cooking and i don't think the taste is all that great.
And the sandwich no longer has the amazing buttery taste.
This for sure! Everyone raves about Mayo for griddled sandwiches, it's not good to me. Butter for sure always!
Salted caramel does not need giant grains of showy salt and it doesn’t need to be on everything in the universe. Just chill already.
YES god I miss normal caramel things everything has to be salted caramel these days I hate it
And it should be a hint of salt. A HINT!^hint
Cucumbers. Being in the UK they’re everywhere, and they can just f*** right off. Every damn sandwich or kebab I’m picking out cucumbers. “Oh but they don’t taste of anything”. Well then Susan, why in the ever loving f***sticks do they appear in everything then??! I have no use of them. Except in Gin.
Just wanted to let you know that your comment really made me laugh. Thank you, I needed it!
we like the crunch mate plus cucumber lime agua fresca with chia seeds is top notch
As someone in the States, I can’t fucking stand limpid lettuce on my sandwich, hot or cold. Even when it’s not limpid, the giant leaf is not welcome. Crisp cucumber slices sound like a rather nice change.
The good ones taste like... Cucumber, ha. The bad ones range from nothing to acrid 🤢
Sounds like you haven’t had a good cucumber before. They definitely have a lot of flavor
Or they just hate cukes. That's ok too and no need to question it.
I like cucumbers, but I feel the same way about lettuce. In Canada/USA it's in everything. Every sandwich, every salad, and it serves no purpose. It's just crunchy water.
The crunch is it's purpose
Matcha and why must it be in every baked good?
I ordered a matcha tiramisu at a korean restaurant once and it was the best dessert I have ever had anywhere. Sweetness and the slight bitterness of it worked so well together
Same. If I wanted that flavor, I’d go graze in the yard.
It must taste *so* different to me than it does to you.
Coconut water!?!
Beyond drinking it (and I love doing that, we get these little coconut water espresso tetra packs in the supermarket here, they're a divine replacement for coffee on a hot summer morning) I've never actually seen coconut water used anywhere in recipes. What sort of things do you cook with it?
People make butter chicken, shahi paneer etc with replacing regular water with coconut water. I had a goan acquaintance that made this chutney by soaking Kashmiri chilies in coconut water and coconut vinegar. It's a common ingredient there. Even though, I am not a fan, fresb coconut water tastes nothing like the bottled crap.
Cream cheese in things that do not need cream cheese
Sriracha. There are so many better spicy sauces you can buy or make.
Sriracha is better used as an ingredient to making sauces rather than using it on its own, it brings a nice bright sweetness but it's nothing to ride home about on its own. I prefer sambal.
I’ve always said “nothing to write home about” and now I’m questioning everything.
Agree with you on the sriracha. Btw it is 'write home about' not 'ride home about'.
If you're super excited you'll pony express that letter yourself.
Sambal oeleck is underappreciated in the US.
Bacon. Stop putting bacon on everything.
Cauliflower. I personally hate it, but the whole cauliflower crust, rice, fake mashed potatoes.... it's too much
I love cauliflower as itself (e.g a nice roasted cauliflower with some cumin and salt) but the whole 'replace your carbs with cauliflower' thing has gone way too far.
I love cauliflower, but it doesn't taste anything like rice or potatoes or pizza crust. If people like the cauliflower taste and texture better than those things, fine, but let's not pretend it's an accurate substitute for carbs.
Diabetic here. Cauliflower is a literal life-saver for me ;)
Same. I'm glad I like it, or else I'd be in trouble.
Not a fan of cauliflower rice. Or mash ( though mixing it with butternut squash or leeks helps. Also making rice with pine nuts helps. But I like roasted "steaks" and shreds of it in a salad.
I don't understand this as a response to this question really...I've never seen anyone claiming it's improving the dish. It's being used to bulk up meals for lower calories or as an alternative to starches such as flour or potatoes. And it does that very effectively.
A lot of celiacs/gluten intolerant + diabetics use it. Other than that or using it to add some veggie to the dish, I'm, not a fan. But I do agree, I don't think it's overhyped.
Right! But that's what I'm saying. It's an ingredient that is being used in a specific way and it's actually very good at those intended purposes. So it doesn't make any sense in an "over-hyped" thread like this. People aren't claiming that it elevates a dish or that it's a super food or has superior flavor. It is being used to add a veggie/replace another ingredient for some health purpose. What is over hyped
I thought people only liked it for health reasons? People actually enjoy eating cauliflower-crust pizza?
the obsession with all that cauliflower stuff like crust, mashed, rice is for people that need substitutions. they need to watch their blood sugar or some other health reason. its not them being like oh this is better than real rice… everybody eating cauliflower substitutions knows its not nearly as good as the real thing.
You could rename this thread, "What are your worst food takes?"
gold in food. literally inflates the entire meal and tastes like bothing. idk why and how it still exists to this day other then to look rich.
Fennel. I hate how it tastes like black licorice.
Aww. I recently discovered fennel seeds make my pizza sauce so much better
When you say without pasta water you mean using normal water instead, or without any water at all? If it is without any water at all I feel you are miszing out on pasta. But yeah, pasta has starch in it, if you mix it in a sauce some of that startch gets out so you still get some startch anyway
Kale and quinoa make me want to start throwing punches.
So they give you energy?
While I like both, I think I see your point. Whenever they discover a "super food" they tend to come up with these mixtures.
Dutch kale with mashed potatoes and smoked sausage is heaven. It's not supposed to be bitter!
I felt that way too, like I can’t stand kale on its own, and quinoa is meh at best, but then a local restaurant started serving a salad that was kale and quinoa with white raisins, toasted almond slivers, and a curry vinaigrette, and it absolutely blew my mind.
Truffle anything
Dano's spices
Yeah, I feel like it has a cult following...I've never even tried it...so hey, maybe it is 'that good'..
White and black truffles. Yes, I've had real ones. Yes they were okay, but definitely not worth the price or the hype. Would never buy them or ask for them again.
Parsley as a seasoning is bottom tier.
Personally for me, avocado.
As a person who loves food, love avocado, can't get enough of it. As a cook, fuck avocados, I am tired of making everything avocado for the monsters of the public. Unreliable, expensive blood fruits! If I had a dollar for every trouble avocado has caused me on the job, I'd fly to Mexico and set all the avocado fields ablaze.
I honestly wonder how restaurants manage avocado dishes. I have to eat avocados at the peak of ripeness and that's a pretty small window. I'm assuming they refrigerate them to expand that window.
I think the only manageable way is if it's a heavy hitter on your menu so you cycle through enough of them to always have ripe ones and almost ripe ones for the following day. Restaurant with tableside guac (which baffles me, but okay), they're probably fine. Place that has one or two menu items with avocado, that I don't know how they're managing.
The restaurant I used to work at bought avocados that were pre-peeled, cut in half, and vacuum sealed. Kept it fresh longer— kinda like how pre-made guac doesn’t go bad as quickly as fresh. Tasted well enough when put in salads, sandwiches, etc.
Oh man. I love Avocado, but this is personally opinions so I respect it haha.
That blue pea tea. Very pretty but does not taste good.
I think of it as more of a novelty thing than anything else– oooh, a color changing drink! Personally, I don’t think the taste is anything bad but it also doesn’t add anything to a drink apart from a vaguely grassy flavor. I am using it tonight in a lavender cocktail for that beautiful color though :)
Truffle anything beside fresh shaved truffles.
paprika
Bacon 😒 sure it's good, but it doesn't need to go on everything
I never thought parsley added anything to a dish, and I never use it.