It’s bizarre to think that if you’re, hypothetically speaking, forced to do something for all eternity, you’d wager it would be something that is also eternally painful or dull or, simply put, anything but pleasant. Well, eating is one thing we’re “doomed” to do for all eternity and so far most of us quite like it.
So much, in fact, that some even form very strong opinions about food, cuisine, and everything in between. And there’s been an AskReddit post about it, with thousands of people sharing their culinary hills they’d die on.
Bored Panda has collected some of the best opinions from the now-viral post, which currently clocks in at nearly 27,000 upvotes, 29,000 comments and 60 Reddit awards. Scroll down to check them out, and while you’re at it, vote on the ones you like and comment your strong opinions in the comment section below!
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When you're baking from an online recipe, don't change three or four ingredients "to make it healthy" and then leave a one star review about how bad it is.
Only edible items should be plated. Garnishes should be edible, Hate it when I see rocks and sticks on a plate. Fight Me.
Being poor isn’t a culinary crime. It takes talent to make cheap food taste as good as my mom did.
Life is too short to not use butter.
COOKING AND BAKING ARE DIFFERENT.
Cooking allows you to experiment and be imprecise. Baking requires precision
A burger should fit in your mouth and shouldn’t require a stick to hold it together or cutlery to eat it.
If you think it's enough garlic, it's probably not enough garlic.
Being snobby about food to the point where you're hindering someone else's enjoyment is not a positive personality trait.
if you are writing a recipe, write a recipe. Not an autobiography
It's about some weird copyright laws in some countries. Very annoying, most people probably skip the 'biography' part, so apart from the copyright purpose this was wasted time. Ps. yesterday when looking for lasagne recipe I had to skip over world history of lasagne, a personal history of lasagne and author's philosophical exasperations - on lasagne, of course...
Homemade chili is almost always better the next day.
And lasagne...and tiramisù.. the next day they are always better...
Grilling on charcoal taste way better than propane, Hank Hill is an idiot
That cheap bag of frozen peas and diced carrots you get at the grocery store is an outstandingly versatile source of nutrition. And tasty too.
Cereal first and then milk
My daughter puts the milk in first, then the cereal. She says it keeps the cereal from getting soggy while she eats it. Or she may just be a monster. 🤷♀️
This is actually something I'm willing to pass on
YOU DON'T NEED TO WASH YOUR GOD DAMN MEAT!
If you cook it right, you kill all the bacteria you're "washing". All you're doing is spreading the germs all over your kitchen sink.
We need to make burgers wider not taller
The most expensive food isn't always the "best" food. No, I'm not impressed by a $200 slice of pizza with it's price driven up with truffle and gold flake.
Bonus: cereal or crushed Oreos on a donut isn't revolutionary.
Worcestershire sauce can work magic.
So can fish sauce. Amazing how something that smells so vile can enhance so many flavors.
We need to stop letting people put raisins where they don't belong.... It's getting out of hand.
I like dipping my sushi rolls and sashimi in a soy sauce and wasabi mixture and I don’t care if it goes against proper sushi etiquette. It tastes good.
All food is fusion. No dish is above adoption or adaptation.
I don't want to hear that you're bad at cooking if you don't follow a recipe or measure your ingredients. You can get so far by just reading and actually do it what it says.
There’s no such thing as a “dry” brine. By definition, brines are liquid based. A salt-based dry rub is a cure. Brines are also a type of cure, but they are liquid based. All brines are cures, but not all cures are brines.
I live in the Midwest, I love the Midwest but just because you call something a salad does not mean it is healthy and an acceptable side dish to your main course. Snicker-marshmallow-mayo-whatever is not salad.
Peanut butter is a fantastic savoury ingredient with a shockingly enormous range of applications.
The moment something gets hyped as a superfood, I'm out.
To clarify, "superfood" is a buzzword that cues bulls**t incoming and rising prices. The author loses all credibility. It's the point where I stop reading and close the window. Might look up the stats for the food afterward from an actual resource such as a university's nutrition summary.
Season your tomatoes, especially for sandwiches.
Unless they're grown in your yard. Then eat them like an apple. Tomatoes you grow yourself are 1000 times better and don't need anything.
Baked donuts are not donuts. Donuts must be fried. Baked donuts are just small cakes, which are delicious but NOT DONUTS
to clarify the exact type of donut imposter I am raging against
Learning how to cut an onion is the first lesson in the cooking world
I can't. My eyes actually swell shut. I can't see after the first couple of slices
Often doing things “the right way” or “from scratch” just isn’t worth it. There are plenty of shortcuts that give you 90% of the result with 50% of the effort. I’ll take those shortcuts just about every time.
People who hate cooking with stainless steel don’t know how to cook with stainless steel.
MSG is amazing
The hate for msg is just based on anti asian racism. A doctor invented the idea that it produced headaches with 0 proof whatsoever. This was used as an excuse to attack asian restaurants while many other "western" products have msg. It is been proven since then that what he claimed was a lie.
If you can't drink it through a straw it's not a milkshake.
Beef Wellington is a fancy Hot Pocket
You scrape it off the chopping board with the BACK SIDE OF THE KNIFE. The back side!
The opposing arguments I've seen below are 1) You can always sharpen your knives (which is true, and everyone should) 2) Use a bench/pastry scraper. 3) That you should never have your knife's sharp edge facing you for safety reasons.
For 1) Yes you can, and should, sharpen your knives. But also, I don't see that as an invitation to intentionally dull them.
And for those who don't sharpen, the reason we say this: A sharper knife reduces the risk of the blade slipping or rolling off something rather than cutting it. It's one of the bigger risks of cutting yourself in the kitchen. Dull knives responsible for more cuts than sharp ones, imo.
2) Yes. Scrapers are great tools. The hill I'm dying on here is, more accurately, "don't use the sharp side" rather than "The best choice is the backside". Scrapers are great tools, but not everyone has them. Everyone cutting with a knife, has a knife. And if you're not going to be switching tools, you should use the back side of the knife.
3) Avoiding a sharp edge facing you is a very logical sentiment for professional chefs or people cooking in a busy environment. If they're bumped while holding it, they don't want to be cut by the sharp edge of the knife facing them. And the previously mentioned downsides: Chefs don't need to worry about the maintenance of the knife if it belongs to the restaurant and/or if they have other employees to sharpen them. And if you won't be eating the food you're preparing, you probably don't mind so much if you scrape little fibers of plastic or wood into the food. Unsuspecting patrons don't see what's happening in the kitchen, after all, so they don't know which side of the knife you're using. So in this sense, I see the argument as "it's faster and it's safer to me". Perfectly logical. I understand the argument. But the reason this is a culinary hill I'm willing to die on is that I don't see it as the personal risk it's being made out to be, and the benefits massively outweigh that non-risk.
If the chopping board is small enough to lift, you can scrape directly into the pot or pan at an angle. The chopping board will be in the non-dominant hand (or... non-knife hand) diagonally to the side of the pot/pan. You rotate your wrist to turn the sharp side of the blade away from you (I'm right handed, so that's clockwise). In this way, the blade will be perpendicular to the chopping board and the sharp side of the blade will be facing away from you (basically in the direction you're facing). In this way, I don't see it as a risk.
If the cutting board is flat on a counter, it sort of doesn't make a difference. I can't recall ever accidentally coming in contact with the dull edge of the knife before. So if I flipped the knife, why should the blade? I it falls on the ground, it sort of doesn't matter which direction the knife was facing. Just avoid it (never attempt to catch a falling knife. Another culinary hill I think we all will die on).
So to that end, chefs of the world, I do see your point about why there is personal benefit and no real downside to you if you use the sharp side. But I'm no professional chef, and hence why it's a culinary hill I will die on! I'll reduce the wear on my knives, and I'll prevent myself and my loved ones from eating plastic or wood/bamboo fibers. I don't see a significant risk of rotating wrist to scrape or scoop from the chopping board. No more of a risk than simply using a knife in the first place, anyway. This is my hill!! Use the backside of the knife! :)
3x the herbs called for in any recipe
No. This is hugely dependent on which herb and how much is called for in the recipe.
Here's one of mine- making exotic and foreign dishes is NOT cultural appropriation- everyone should be free to make whatever food they wish as no recipes should belong to any one race/group. Culinary gatekeeping needs to end. Allow your tastebuds to embark on a global trip via your kitchen, guilt-free!
Eat foods that are in season where you live to the greatest extent you can. It's cheaper, better tasting, and better for the environment.
Here's one of mine- making exotic and foreign dishes is NOT cultural appropriation- everyone should be free to make whatever food they wish as no recipes should belong to any one race/group. Culinary gatekeeping needs to end. Allow your tastebuds to embark on a global trip via your kitchen, guilt-free!
Eat foods that are in season where you live to the greatest extent you can. It's cheaper, better tasting, and better for the environment.