Cooking is one of the best ways to bridge cultures and create shared memories. The exchange of cuisine has brought us things like pizza and other treats.
u/CessnaBlackBelt recently wondered, however, what the OPPOSITE of that exchange might look like. They asked, “What’s your most gatekeeping culinary opinion?”
1. Changes
If you change a recipe when you make it, you’re not allowed to rate it in the reviews without making the original. Nothing worse than someone rambling about the 14 changes they made to a recipe, and then giving it a 3 star…
2. Burnt
Burning shit doesn’t make it Cajun.
3. Butter
Anthony Bourdain was right: butter is the secret ingredient.
4. Don’t
if you don’t allow chicken to brown when you’re pan frying it, just don’t
5. Basics
If your middle eastern/Mediterranean place serves bad or bland hummus I’m not even going to bother with the rest of your menu. If you can’t get the basics right don’t waste my time.
6. Safety
I think EVERYONE (both food service workers and general public) should take a food safety course.
7. Cutting boards
if you use a glass cutting board, we can’t be friends.
8. Oven
You cannot trust your oven thermometer. Get a separate one and use it to “calibrate” your oven. Mine will tell me it’s hot about 100 degrees before it’s actually at temp. Very annoying.
9. Celery
Celery is not “just as good”when used as a replacement for onion.
10. BBQ
I’ve done many of BBQ contest back home in Texas, the best wood to use in my opinion is pecan.
11. Ground
Freshly ground black pepper is so much better than pre-ground (like the stuff in shakers at restaurants).
12. Cajun
Jambalaya is a dry rice dish. If someone is serving a sauce over rice and calling it jamabalaya, they have no idea what that dish should be.
13. Citrus
LEMON and LIME have two very different flavors. My entire family seems to think that they taste the same and will substitute one for another.
14. Bites
If you can’t take a full bite of your sandwich or burger in one go it is a fundamental failure.
15. Recipes
While recipes are useful, folks should prioritize WHY things work in a recipe over just memorizing a recipe.
16. MSG
MSG makes average food delicious, and takes delicious food over the top.
17. Tots
Smashing a fistful of tater tots and pressing them onto a plate isn’t a hash brown.
18. Oh NO
My friend was in Maine. Stopped at a place and their chicken parm was… chicken nuggets with ketchup and American cheese. If he told me the name I would Molotov cocktail that place so that culinary abomination could never be made there again.
19. Mayoli
Stop calling mayo with anything mixed into aioli.
20. Scrape
Please scrape the food off your chopping board with the non cutting edge of your knife.