It’s pretty easy to start a fight over food, just say you enjoy some pineapple on a pizza or call that orange Kraft product ‘cheese,’ and you’ll find a handful of people ready to go blow for blow. But cooking doesn’t have to be about the extremes, sometimes it can be nice to discuss what underappreciated and humble ingredients more cooks should give a chance.
So one curious person asked the internet what were their ‘mediocre’ cooking opinions that they still stand by and got a heap of interesting answers. We reached out to chef Ben Ebbrell from the team at Sorted Food to get some tips for the novice home cook. So make sure you’ve eaten so scrolling won’t make you hungry, and be sure to upvote your favorite options. And if you want to see some more controversial food takes, you can find them here.
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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.
The Whopper Theorem: Larger burgers should be wider, not taller.
Not every meal has to be a culinary adventure. It's fine to just eat something to not be hungry anymore.
We wanted to know how a novice cook should approach the ocean of information there is online without getting overwhelmed and Ben Ebbrell from the team at Sorted Food had a few tips. "Firstly, food needn’t be stressful. Sorted has always been about finding the JOY in food and cooking. We’re a group of life-long mates who are constantly learning when it comes to food, but the bit that makes the initial hurdle easier is that we’re not doing it alone."
"Find friends or family to learn with… the collaborative experience is far less daunting. Also, don’t just learn textbook-style… grasping the details of something you don’t care about just because that’s in somebody else’s cooking education agenda. Instead find a subject, topic, ingredient, or dish that you love and begin with expanding your repertoire around that."
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.
Broccoli is the f*****g best.
I love broccoli, but cooked broccoli gets cold too quickly, and raw broccoli gets warm too quickly. If I have broccoli, I always eat it first, while it's the right temperature.
Butter on a grilled cheese.
I've tried mayo. It's just not as good.
I grew up with butter on grilled cheese. I like it just fine, so I doubt I'll ever taste it with mayo. If you like something, why change?
Ready-to-eat and pre-prepared meals and ingredients might get a bad rap. but as this list shows, reputation isn't everything. "The quality of products has come on a LONG way in recent years. In fact, they have outstretched some of their own reputations. Have a look for frozen, freeze-dried, or even canned/tinned options of the fresh versions. In many applications, not all, they end up just as good as the fresh. Sometimes, even better. Peas are a prime example… they are nutritionally better when frozen since that’s done within hours or even minutes of picking them, whereas the fresh ones you may buy in season could be days old!"
I will drink red wine with fish and white wine with beef. Who gives a s**t.
Never let a so-called connoisseur keep you from enjoying what *you* enjoy, the way you enjoy it.
Chicken tendies are tasty even if you’re a grown a*s person
Of course they're tasty. *steals a chicken tender and runs under the sofa to eat it* See?
99% of the time, dry generic brand pasta is just *fine* for dinner. I spend all of my culinary efforts on the sauce/topping.
I like my pasta cooked to just above mush. I know it's meant to be al dente and if I serve it to other people I know what to do, but when I'm eating it myself I cook it how I want and settle for the lectures about how it's overcooked.
"Fusion foods remain popular… why not try some of those. Begin with a pre-made element and twist it up with the addition of an extra ingredient or two. For instance, while tomato sauce is easy to make, sometimes you might just want to skip that step and buy one. But then add in a dollop of Korean gochujang and a spoonful of creme fraiche and you have a whole different approach… the spicy fermented tang turns it into a phenomenal sauce for pre-made potato gnocchi for example," Ben added, when we wanted to know how a home cook might improve a store-bought sauce or other items.
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.
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
A very famous German cook once said "Never use fresh tomatoes for a sauce if you can use canned", because those are the only food that actually profits from being canned. They are more intensive in taste. To get the same flavour with fresh tomatoes, you would have to simmer and concentrate them for hours.
Sometimes a McDonald’s cheeseburger is the only thing I want in the world. Not often but that craving hits hard!
Lastly, Ben was gracious enough to share some other tips and tricks he found helpful as a professional cook. "Cooking at home needn’t be a chore… but it’s easy to understand why people might think so. There’s a lot of thinking, planning, and admin to be done upfront. Pick or choose some recipes for the week, work out the shopping list, cross-check it to make sure you don’t miss anything when you go shopping, then you have to swap up on the recipe to make sure you nail it in the kitchen. Even then you’ll likely end up with food waste since the recipe calls for quantities of fresh ingredients less that the packet sizes you have to buy. Our suggestion is to outsource all of that thinking to find a smart solution. We have one, it’s free to use for a month… it’s called Sidekick. It allows you to be the hero of your kitchen and just enjoy the fun bits and great results… without the stress or food waste."
chili has beans
Just listen to the name chili CON CARNE = Chile WITH MEAT. The meat is the "afterthought".
PB&J is a great sandwich
Over the years, I have shifted to open-faced, on toast. I confess that my motivation is more topping than filling.
We also reached out to Graeme Tomlinson, the Fitness Chef, and his team was kind enough to add their own thoughts. "If you’re just starting out cooking your own meals I recommend keeping it as simple as possible. One-pan recipes with few ingredients or slow cooker recipes are great for you to become confident that what you cook tastes good! Good-tasting food is often all internet seasoning so make sure you season it!"
"Cream of" soups are a terrific ingredient if used properly.
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.
*pounces the meatball* 🎶 On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese. I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed. 🎶
"Frozen fruit and vegetables might not be great to eat on their own compared to fresh counterparts, but they are much cheaper and also last longer. Frozen veg can easily be added to stews, casseroles, curries, and many more dishes easily. Some microwave-ready meals get slated for being bad for you, but in moderation, these can be a convenient way to get energy in when you have limited time," they added when we inquired about ready-to-eat meals.
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.
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.
Pretty much all of my unpopular food opinions boil down to "your food elitism is stupid."
American cheese tastes good, including kraft singles.
Spam tastes good.
Ketchup tastes good.
Who cares if someone likes their steak well done?
Nothing wrong with using minced garlic from a jar.
Nothing wrong with using pre-made spice blends.
Instant mashed potatoes taste good.
Sure, you can get better results with fresher and higher quality ingredients. But if someone doesn't have the time, money, or patience for that, who caaaaaaares.
Lastly, we asked about some ways beginners can improve the basics, like sauces. "Homemade sauces are quite straightforward to make at home. Your best friend here will be google. For example, you can make your own satay sauce with 3 ingredients, peanut butter, soy sauce, and water. I guarantee it will taste better than the shop-bought version. In the case of Japanese cooking, adding rice vinegar, garlic, lime juice, and soy sauce can spruce up the taste considerably."
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.
I like my burgers well done, despite every tv chef in the world extolling how wonderful rare burgers are. Only a decent quality steak qualifies for medium rareness.
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.
Refreshing thinly shredded crunch - which of the fashionable lettuces give you this
There are actually some really excellent frozen pizzas (Screamin' Sicilian).
Fries dipped in mayo! I like ketchup but mayo is def better.
A lot of “generic” or store brand products top the name brand. Lookin at you my sweet, sweet Frosted Mini Spooners.
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.
I still crave chef boyardee ravioli sometimes, but it doesn't even remotely taste the same as it used to, always disappointed.
I like food. Food tastes good.
Goddämn, what a terrible and unpopular opinion this is. Everybody knows that all food sucks and the best feeling in the world is hunger. Duh.
Fried Bologna with mustard on white bread is a delicacy.
Beef Wellington is overrated. Give me a juicy ribeye any day of the week.
I've never tasted beef wellington, but I've had lots of yummy ribeye.
Note: this post originally had 56 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Canned soups from the supermarket. Open the can. Pour the soup in a bowl. Two minutes in the microwave. And your meal is ready.
I find adding a dusting of cinnamon or five spice powder perks up many chicken broth-based canned soups. Progresso Chickarina makes a nice lunch
You actually think I might have spices in my house? I have a hard enough time just finding a spoon.
Pineapple is fine on pizza The 2 main arguments I have heard are that it is a fruit (so is tomato) and that it is not native to Italy (neither is tomato)
I would like to see the same people enjoying Azorean speciality blood sausage with grilled pineapple XD sweet and salty has many combinations, pineapple on pizza is one of them
Sounds good( I know nothing about blood sausages but still), I might try it some day.
A good pizza is fine with just cheese and sauce. If you need fifteen toppings, your pizza sucks. That said, after sausage and pepperoni (which actually still is a sausage), pineapple is my 3rd favorite topping. Thank God anchovies have largely disappeared. They ruin the taste of the pizza even if you take them off. Who wants a stinky dead fish on their pizza? I think they're a throwback to when pizza was a popular dish for Friday, which used to meatless for Catholics year-round, not just Lent.
Perhaps I just have a terrible palate but the whole snobbery around wine baffles me. I'm not a huge fan but I have a glass occasionally and since I don't know much about it I usually go with recommendations from "connoisseurs". But every time I've tried ones that apparently have tastes of 'apple, grapefruit, hints of cinnamon and oak etc' it still just tastes like wine to me, a glass from a £100 bottle tastes basically the same as a glass from a £10 one.
I lost faith in the connoisseurs when a group of wine students found berry flavours in a white wine that had been colored with a food dye, and found honey and peach in the same wine uncoloured
Truth be told, they're just a bunch of pretentious w@nkers.
I agree. One of my inlaws is very much a wine connoisseur, I know he has served me wine out of bottles that cost hundreds.. Some have been very tasty, but they don't seem much different than the stuff I can get for $20 at my local grocerystore. I do notice the difference between midrange wine and super cheep though.
I worked in winery as a student and people were always asking how to do tasting correctly. I always told them: Easy, do you like it or not? :D
Canned soups from the supermarket. Open the can. Pour the soup in a bowl. Two minutes in the microwave. And your meal is ready.
I find adding a dusting of cinnamon or five spice powder perks up many chicken broth-based canned soups. Progresso Chickarina makes a nice lunch
You actually think I might have spices in my house? I have a hard enough time just finding a spoon.
Pineapple is fine on pizza The 2 main arguments I have heard are that it is a fruit (so is tomato) and that it is not native to Italy (neither is tomato)
I would like to see the same people enjoying Azorean speciality blood sausage with grilled pineapple XD sweet and salty has many combinations, pineapple on pizza is one of them
Sounds good( I know nothing about blood sausages but still), I might try it some day.
A good pizza is fine with just cheese and sauce. If you need fifteen toppings, your pizza sucks. That said, after sausage and pepperoni (which actually still is a sausage), pineapple is my 3rd favorite topping. Thank God anchovies have largely disappeared. They ruin the taste of the pizza even if you take them off. Who wants a stinky dead fish on their pizza? I think they're a throwback to when pizza was a popular dish for Friday, which used to meatless for Catholics year-round, not just Lent.
Perhaps I just have a terrible palate but the whole snobbery around wine baffles me. I'm not a huge fan but I have a glass occasionally and since I don't know much about it I usually go with recommendations from "connoisseurs". But every time I've tried ones that apparently have tastes of 'apple, grapefruit, hints of cinnamon and oak etc' it still just tastes like wine to me, a glass from a £100 bottle tastes basically the same as a glass from a £10 one.
I lost faith in the connoisseurs when a group of wine students found berry flavours in a white wine that had been colored with a food dye, and found honey and peach in the same wine uncoloured
Truth be told, they're just a bunch of pretentious w@nkers.
I agree. One of my inlaws is very much a wine connoisseur, I know he has served me wine out of bottles that cost hundreds.. Some have been very tasty, but they don't seem much different than the stuff I can get for $20 at my local grocerystore. I do notice the difference between midrange wine and super cheep though.
I worked in winery as a student and people were always asking how to do tasting correctly. I always told them: Easy, do you like it or not? :D