Cooking is an art.
And it's not one I'm talented at.
It is something that can be taught, thankfully.
But just like anything else there are always people who hold the keys to the success of some.
There seems to be withheld knowledge that some cooks need to hear.
So why not just spill the olive oil?
Let the people cook!
So the rest of us can feast.
Redditor CessnaBlackBelt wanted to get some thoughts on the culinary process out of chefs, so they asked for cooks to chat:
"What's your most gatekeeping culinary opinion?"
I've always been told to focus on the cleanliness of the kitchen.
Hope that helps.
Changes
Dan Levy Comedy GIF by CBCGiphy"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."
Slickness81
Big Secret
"Anthony Bourdain was right: butter is the secret ingredient."
Redditforgoit'
"Butter makes it better' is the first rule of cooking, followed closely by 'an ounce of good sauce hides a pound of mistakes."
TheArmchairSkeptic
"My dad was a chef. He taught me earlier on the the secret to tasty food is to use as much butter as possible and never let anyone know. That’s how why it’s a secret."
str4ngerc4t
Safety First
"I think EVERYONE (both food service workers and general public) should take a food safety course."
ADryMuffin
"Yes please! The way my mother treats a fridge as a general purpose container with uncovered raw meat touching the sides of other things and keeping vegetables straight on the shelves with no containers or even some bowls... it hurts."
MapedMod
"100% agree. Worked in food service a lot when I was younger, even if it's boring it's really informative. Learning food safety also helps you recognize quickly when you go to a restaurant and it's not following safety procedures."
"My biggest pet peeve is still glasses and takeout boxes facing the wrong way."
otakuoccultist
Sabra?
"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."
Anduinnn
"Love the episode where Gordon Ramsay has the store owner try his hummus and she agrees that it’s better, then he reveals it was just a Sabra brand he bought from the store. Timestamped link to the episode: https://youtu.be/t3WVCKwZry4?t=1952"
homeboi808
Lighten Up
long island smile GIF by Brimstone (The Grindhouse Radio, Hound Comics)Giphy"Burning stuff doesn’t make it Cajun."
HanMaBoogie
"Oh I have another one just because it's spicy doesn't make it Cajun you crap bag chip companies."
tyedrain
Burning isn't a thing. I've tried to pass that off before.
Be Sharp
Animated GIFGiphy"Most people's knives are so dull as to be next to useless."
Nbjaj2576
"I got a sharpening stone a couple of year ago after getting a really good knife for Xmas. It makes a huge difference. There's nothing more tedious and demotivating than trying to cut vegetables and meat with a blunt kitchen knife."
punky67
Too White
"If you don't allow chicken to brown when you're pan frying it, just don't."
TwoLittleNeedleMarks
"I have to take over for my mother when she cooks chicken and I’m around. Granted, she has to make a lot, but she crowds the pan so much that the temperature drops and many pieces aren’t touching the pan, so they all come out milky white."
homeboi808
"My mother in law cooks chicken in the microwave. I have to leave the house."
give_me_two
'calibrate'
"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."
AttackOfTheThumbs
"When my family moved into our new house we didn't know this was a thing."
"We didn't realize what was happening until we baked half a bowl of cookie dough, only for them to need several minutes more than the directions said, then we baked the second half of the bowl for that long and they were nearly burnt by the time we pulled them out."
SconiGrower
Idenity
"I'm of the opinion that you can do whatever the heck you want with food but if you fundamentally change a dish you have to change its name."
"It's all about expectations."
"If I go into a restaurant and order a carbonara, then when it arrives they say 'oh we make it with pepperoni snack sausages and cream cheese', then it's no longer a freaking carbonara... it's not necessarily gatekeeping but things are called things for a reason. Imagine the chaos if we just abandon this... come on people."
broom-handle
Opposites
So Good Julia GIF by HBO MaxGiphy"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."
Hack-A-Byte
Well now I feel ready to get into the kitchen.
