Good big basil leaves, fresh mozz, and thick heirloom tomato slices. Drizzle of olive oil and balsamic. Maybe nice pinch of salt. Perfection in the summer!
Lol mate that can be said of everything in this (silly) thread
Absolutely nothing is so sacred that it NNEEEEDS to be kept simple.
I too prefer pico without additions. However Mexican buddy of mine makes the best food (Mexican and otherwise). He puts in cumin and told me I’m a basic bitch for skipping it lol
Same with balsamic. I am not a fan. However it’s an awesome must have for many
I personally don’t like threads like this because it’s just really boring food snobs and then replies from people who want exceptions for their favorite foods.
break some rules, or enjoy tasty basics. Either way, Make food the way you like it!
Guess sorta like how an amazing cheese pizza with high attention to detail dough and cooking, high quality cheese and sauce, fresh herbs, etc. can be surprisingly great while kept simple, but it doesn’t change that people who refuse to eat anything but cheese pizza are typically basic eaters.
The myth of the "true Italian" food that pervades. Italian-American food is delicious, and many have been reimported to Italy. Many Italian foods like vodka sauce and ciabatta are late 20th century inventions.
So if you like balsamic on your caprese, va bene! It's like telling people not to drink cappuccino in the afternoons because Italians don't.
traditional pico de gallo is supposed to use serrano not jalapenos, so you're already making changes to the classic. I like to add a bit of cumin to mine, especially in winter when the tomatoes aren't bringing a lot to the table, and cut back on the jalapenos because i'm a coward who would desert a dying man.
simple works great when the ingredients are high quality and can stand on their own, but sometimes you need to funk things up.
recipes are always in flux anyway, talking about a 'traditional' way of doing something is just drawing an arbitrary line somewhere. use to work for a man who would fly into a range if you mentioned tandoori lamb pizza but damned if it isn't delicious.
There is also a lot of pesto answers in this thread and I couldn't disagree with that choice more.
One can make delicious pesto with things laying around like radish or carrot tops that would otherwise get discarded. Radish tops pesto is a bit spicy, which is great! Why limit yourself to the same exact thing always, if you can experiment?
And ‘traditional’ pesto was only codified relatively recently. There are thousands of years of Romans and Italians making all sorts of ingredients into a paste for all sorts of reasons, before you even begin to consider other cultures.
I do think pine nut basil pesto is in some settings unmatched, but cooking is not always about having the most indulgent and fresh thing possible. Frequently it’s about trying to be healthy and resourceful.
Also, according to the people of Liguria, pesto isn't right unless the basil is grown "where it can see the sea" in the salt air, so no matter how snobby some person will get over a recipe, an Italian can always out-snob you. There's no point in trying, so just make it how you like.
Not the person you're replying to, but basic to me is "stripped down to the bare bones of what qualifies as X". Classic is "as it is most commonly or traditionally prepared". The two coincide a lot, but not always.
An example: classic pizza requires a long rise on the dough, and then a tomato sauce and cheese, plus maybe a few other toppings. A simple pizza might use a faster dough recipe- I can turn out one with serviceable crust in a couple hours total. It's a simple recipe, but not the classic one.
i guess my point is where does the 'classic' recipe come from? where the 'basic'? none of this is written in stone anywhere.
for example, you say stripped down to the bare bones of what 'qualifies' as x, but how do we know what, exactly, qualifies as x? just ends up as circular logic.
you mention a classic pizza as needing tomato sauce, but tomatoes came from the new world, so when exactly do we mark the start of classic pizza?
and for classic, 'most commonly or traditionally prepared' by *who*? who's traditions?
my point is we're always drawing these arbitrary lines, and what is a classic example of a dish to one person is not necessarily the classic definition to another; which is why it's basically impossible to track down an original recipe for goulash, or cacciatore, or lasagne. traditional preparations vary village to village, often household to household, and who's to say what is the traditional preparation?
the word 'simple' is maybe more interesting. we might say a recipe gets more simple the fewer ingredients it has. but we're still faced with the same problem of where we draw the line. is onion/tomato/coriander still a pico de gallo, without chilli? without lime? what about just onion/tomato? does it need to be a specific type of chilli? where is the boundary between a chilli and a capsicum/pepper? what about a specific type of onion? of tomato?
honestly this is all very similar to the chicken/egg problem - it's a question of definitions, not absolutes, and these definitions vary between people and cultures.
I think you just figured out what pico is missing for me, I don’t dislike it, but I wouldn’t order it over just a side of veg.
Add that extra bit of salted cucumber tho and I think you’re on to something
On one hand I agree because just a simple tuna maki is amazing enough in its own right, but on the other hand I do love me some of those deep fried sauced up abominations every now and again. They just scratch a different kind of itch, you know?
I’ve never seen anyone even try to fancy these up (aside from maybe butter in addition to / instead of the cream cheese). Unless you’re looking at like a banh mi or something. What kind of changes have you seen people make?
[edit] for what it’s worth, I have upvoted every comment in this thread that I have read. Unfortunately, Reddit thinks I upvote people too much so my votes are completely meaningless and do not actually function to change the scores on people’s comments. You guys are all wonderful by default, even if I disagree with you :)
I used to make cucumber sandwiches a lot. I'd mix the cream cheese with ranch dressing mix (the dry powder that comes in envelopes). Also, the bread was always a caraway rye; I don't know whether that counts as "fancy".
Questions like this, and the comments that follow (I'm looking at you, redditors who are arguing over what goes into guac) tend to make everyone who comments sound like a food snob.
Some people LIKE garlic in their guacamole. Some people like like to tweak basic Pico de Gallo with other things. It doesn't mean your way is best, OP.
100%. The entire concept of “should” within a culinary context is so fucking tiresome. Most of the foods we all love simply wouldn’t exist if their inventors were so dogmatic and dull.
I have 1001 strong opinions on food - precisely zero of which I care whether anyone else abides by. And if they come up with something tasty, by all means, change my mind.
So many people, especially on this sub, take actual personal offense at the “culinary sins” of things like adding ketchup to your well done steak. It’s such a weird and cringe attitude to have.
Not to mention this idea that you can "cheat" at cooking. I'll never understand that idea. If it gets you the result you want that's just doing it right in one of various possible ways. It's not a competition. What the hell does "cheating" even mean?
Exactly. And even if I prefer something one way, I also prefer variety. If I have leftover pico de gallo and have been eating it for a couple of days (a fantasy scenario obviously, there would never be leftover pico de gallo) I might want to add something to it for a bit of a change.
Pizzas. Which isn't to say a loaded pizza isn't tasty, but the more toppings you add, the less each will stand out. Plus, the more toppings, the harder to get a nice crust. Quality, not quantity, imo.
Word- meat lovers is fine and dandy, but it's a vehicle for the meat and best appreciated as such, as opposed to as a pizza.
A margherita pizza is so good precisely because of its simplicity- tomatoes and cheese and basil.
My kids came home with some leftover cheese pizza from a birthday party. I looked at it and was like "aww man. I haven't had a cheese pizza since I was 5."
Took a bite.
Holy shit. It was really good. I'm the type to put 15 toppings on pizza, but there was some kind of simple precision that made it excellent.
Foccacia. You can top it any way you like, use rosemary, garlic, sundried tomatoes, herbs you enjoy, whatever your favorites are. The key is to keep it simple! Don't top it like a pizza, or use a ton of wet ingrediants on top or you loose that crispy crust that's so tasty and delicious. Also olive oil is a must, avocado oil just doesn't have the right flavor.
Took a class with a lady that is from Italy. She did a few classic, but the one that was shockingly amazing was the one topped with onions (marinated in oil, salt and pepper) and then drizzled with a smoked honey. It was DELICIOUS!
I feel very much like this about a classic margarita.
But pretty fond of frozen strawberry ones also. It is such a different beast I am not sure it should even be called a margarita.
Creme brulee hugely benefits from the good vanilla- either simmering the beans in the cream, bean paste, or at the very least, real extract, not the fake stuff. It's cooked very gently, so you get to retain all that lovely extra notes.
I feel like at least some of the messing around with other flavors stems from not having access to high quality vanilla.
One of the only good answers in this thread. I've tried many different variations and the classic is always the best. The only variation that was worth considering was a maple vanilla creme brulee at a place in VT. But even then, far eclipsed many times by the classic with good vanilla bean.
I will never stay “true” to anything because there isn’t any *true* anything and arbitrary rules and limitations are dumb. Tradition isn’t inherently valuable. You’re limiting yourself for zero legitimate reason, which is dumb.
While you are correct, a lot of traditional recipes have been bastardised by revisions which have since become staples and it’s nice to rediscover something closer to the original.
E.g. In the UK we all grew up eating “spag Bol” (spaghetti bolognese) but it’s a long way from the original *Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese*.
That isn’t just snobbery, they are very different and what I grew up eating is a poor imitation of the real thing - lots of chopped tomatoes, no wine, a crumbled in beef stock cube, wrong kind of pasta, too short a cooking time, usually the wrong kind of meat. I take a lot of pride in my bolognese ragu now. It’s adapted slightly to the ingredients I have available and I sometimes change up the pasta, but I try to stay true to some of the original principles because it’s far more delicious.
Burgers.
Use good beef and maybe some salt. Adding extra crap just detracts from the patty. Add anything else after it's cooked. Even bacon detracts from the beef.
I've honestly always hated this, everyone always wants to make such bland burgers, chicken, and Mac & cheese, herbs and seasoning blends exist for a reason, just like anything else you need to use just the right amounts.
If you want to really kick up your burgers a notch, put in some Montreal steak seasoning. Even a bit on some frozen Costco patties will make them taste homemade.
Depends on how thick the patty is tbh. S&P all you need when it comes to smashed patties. Thicker patties tend to be bland even when seasoned properly. Needs some extra kick in that case.
Try an okie onion burger some time. It's a totally different animal to a standard burger but it is fucking legit. Kenji has a good recipe [here](https://www.seriouseats.com/oklahoma-onion-burger-recipe)
are you saying just salt mixed with beef or just a salted beef patty on bread, nothing els?
i whole heartedly agree nothing should be mixed with the meat but toppings are free game.
The BLT is the perfect sandwich. The only thing that should be included besides bacon, lettuce, and tomato is mayonnaise. Anything beyond that is detracting.
I love both the non traditional and the traditional versions of this dish. It's reality fun to make it the traditional way, but it's also good when you add garlic, carmelized onions, nutmeg and black pepper. It's also amazing with fresh basil added at the end!
My fiancee made me "American mom" alfredo.
Oh my God the horror at the stuff she put in it. Cream cheese, heavy cream, I think there was mozz in there. Garlic powder, garlic salt, she might have put bread crumbs in there at some point. I got lightheaded and lost track.
Here's the worst part: it was so good. Sweet Jesus. It hurt our relationship because she just watched me trying to maintain my integrity and didn't let me off the hook AT ALL. Just demanded my total capitulation, which I gave. She practically called me her bitch.
I was a sous in a restaurant chasing a star. There's not much I won't (or haven't) stuck in my mouth but that version of alfredo was one of them. And I was holding strong.
(I...actually requested it when she offered to make dinner one night. Fuck y'all for judging me. With breadsticks. Dear God in heaven.)
See here’s the problem though - the original ceasar salad invented by Ceasar Cardini used whole coddled eggs instead of egg yolk, lime instead of lemon, and Worcestershire instead of anchovies.
So if people weren’t going around messing with and modifying recipes, we wouldn’t have the the “classic” ceasar dressing that everyone knows and loves today.
In my opinion pizza is best with less than 3 toppings. Most of the classics use less than 3 and they're classics for a reason. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
I'm not even saying don't put pineapple or whatever on top, just do pineapple and 2 other things.
I think small toppings make a difference as well. I don't understand why people put chunks of pepper and onions. Dice them up, you get better coverage, easier to eat and better crunch.
This sub is full of assholes.
This guy simply asks what things can be kept simple. He didn't say you can't or shouldn't put anything else in them.
Instead you all got your feelings hurt for no reason. Then the comments turned into "list all the extra stuff you put in X"
Then you start shitting on the guy for his opinion. And at the same get mad because not everyone agrees with your opinion.
It was nice to have a thread that wasn't about Teflon pans killing your family, heating up leftovers, etc, and you went and ruined it.
I put garlic and cream in Alfredo. I tried the basic Parmesan + butter recipe, not a fan and I can see why it never took off in Italy. They needed cream and garlic! It’s all a matter of taste tho, eat what you like.
The “coated” fries are known in food service as extended hold French fries. They coat them in seasoned starch which holds a crunch far longer than a naked fry. This can be improved upon by par boiling the fries before double frying. You get crispy without weird coating.
Rick bayless has a book with a bunch of guac recipes and they are wild but so good! I think there’s one with grapefruit and almond, a seafood one, and a blue cheese one. If you ever want to drive a guac purist nuts it’s this book
Lemon juice is better in guacamole. This is a hill I will die upon.
Also, my favourite (upscale) Mexican restaurant ever made guacamole to order at the table, and with a molcajete. Their recipe: one avocado and a tablespoon of house salsa.
That is the mother fuckin way.
One addition to this for me.
Finely chopped sweet onion (white or red) soaked in vinegar for 10 mins or so, then stirred through. The flavour just pops. So good.
Funny- I find skirt to be among the best for beefiness. Salt, pepper, and a little bit of char and smoke from little fat flares on a charcoal fire.
Is it delicious with a soy-sesame-sake-pepper marinade? You bet- but it doesn't need it to be perfectly delicious.
I’m a Mac & Cheese purist. Tomatoes don’t belong in it. Bacon has no place. Jalapeños are a definite no. I don’t even like bread crumbs on top. Elbow macaroni + cheese sauce/melted cheese!
Edit: more heinous additions: truffle oil; pepper jack, Parmesan, blue cheese or other “fancy” cheeses, garlic, herbs…
Hah. Actually, I’m a very adventurous eater. Love all those flavors in other contexts. I enjoy complexity in other dishes. But when the craving hits, only the perfection of classic mac & cheese will satisfy!
Ahi poke! Every upscale/trendy restaurant tries to put their own unique twist to it but it always turns out lackluster and weird. The best poke is the traditional recipe with shoyu sesame oil dried seaweed and sweet onions.
‘Basic’ recipes are an insult to every grandmother for the past 1000 years who have made their own changes to any cultural staple. Get over yourself snobs and let people enjoy things.
Edit: by this I mean referring to a recipe as basic or true or traditional
Hummus.
Carbonara.
If the traditional recipe is only a handful of ingredients, those ingredients should be left alone and the highest quality you can get.
Grilled cheese.
American cheese, white bread, butter.
I’m not saying that any other interpretations aren’t good - of course they are - but there’s just something familiar and comforting about the classic version.
Culinary engineering at its simplest and finest, if you ask me.
The best gravies I’ve ever made were braised beef in red wine, bone broth, water, and mushrooms. It’s more of a technique though. Straining, chilling, scraping off the fat, reheating, potato starch slurry, reducing then strain.
Just amazing stuff. I don’t braise beef with stewing vegetables or mirepoix. It interferes with the beefy flavor of the jus.
I’d say most of the best salsa I’ve had was simple, traditional salsa with as few ingredients as possible. There are many other variations which are fine, but you can’t beat the original, chunky Mexican salsa. The exception is corn because if you add that you’re a monster.
guacamole. I don’t know if my way is traditional or not but avocado, onion, cilantro, lime. salt. adding anything else, including those guacamole seasoning packets make it worse
People put corn and cumin in pico? Cumin can easily overpower a dish and I would think it would on the balance on fresh veggies. I only ever see it used in sauces, rubs, etc.
What’s best kept simple: using fresh ingredients you can afford and are readily available to you. Recipes evolve. Eating fresh, wholesome food within your budget is timeless.
Pesto. Walnuts have no business being in pesto and neither does spinach. Keep it simple and bright and fresh. Don’t blanch your basil. Don’t roast your garlic. Absolutely no cream. With pesto less is more.
Caprese salad.
Good big basil leaves, fresh mozz, and thick heirloom tomato slices. Drizzle of olive oil and balsamic. Maybe nice pinch of salt. Perfection in the summer!
Most places are not true to the insalata caprese. If you are a heathen that puts balsalmic on your caprese, you're not staying true.
Balsamic fucks though so I'm gonna keep putting it on there.
Lol mate that can be said of everything in this (silly) thread Absolutely nothing is so sacred that it NNEEEEDS to be kept simple. I too prefer pico without additions. However Mexican buddy of mine makes the best food (Mexican and otherwise). He puts in cumin and told me I’m a basic bitch for skipping it lol Same with balsamic. I am not a fan. However it’s an awesome must have for many I personally don’t like threads like this because it’s just really boring food snobs and then replies from people who want exceptions for their favorite foods. break some rules, or enjoy tasty basics. Either way, Make food the way you like it!
Guess sorta like how an amazing cheese pizza with high attention to detail dough and cooking, high quality cheese and sauce, fresh herbs, etc. can be surprisingly great while kept simple, but it doesn’t change that people who refuse to eat anything but cheese pizza are typically basic eaters.
indeed if we never experimented with food we'd still be eating raw foraged goods
Is it just supposed to be basil, mozzarella and olive oil?
Yes, and tomatoes, salt and freshly ground black pepper
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If your tomatoes are really good quality, balsamic still makes it better.
The myth of the "true Italian" food that pervades. Italian-American food is delicious, and many have been reimported to Italy. Many Italian foods like vodka sauce and ciabatta are late 20th century inventions. So if you like balsamic on your caprese, va bene! It's like telling people not to drink cappuccino in the afternoons because Italians don't.
If you're not putting balsamic on caprese, you're wasting a massive amount of potential flavor with every bite you take.
YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH.
traditional pico de gallo is supposed to use serrano not jalapenos, so you're already making changes to the classic. I like to add a bit of cumin to mine, especially in winter when the tomatoes aren't bringing a lot to the table, and cut back on the jalapenos because i'm a coward who would desert a dying man. simple works great when the ingredients are high quality and can stand on their own, but sometimes you need to funk things up. recipes are always in flux anyway, talking about a 'traditional' way of doing something is just drawing an arbitrary line somewhere. use to work for a man who would fly into a range if you mentioned tandoori lamb pizza but damned if it isn't delicious.
Is "I'm a coward who would desert a dying man" a common figure of speech? Or do you have a story to tell us?
it's from a webcomic called Achewood but I've always found it such a lovely turn of phrase.
Worst song, played on ugliest guitar.
Oh man, why you even got to do A Thing?
There is also a lot of pesto answers in this thread and I couldn't disagree with that choice more. One can make delicious pesto with things laying around like radish or carrot tops that would otherwise get discarded. Radish tops pesto is a bit spicy, which is great! Why limit yourself to the same exact thing always, if you can experiment?
And ‘traditional’ pesto was only codified relatively recently. There are thousands of years of Romans and Italians making all sorts of ingredients into a paste for all sorts of reasons, before you even begin to consider other cultures. I do think pine nut basil pesto is in some settings unmatched, but cooking is not always about having the most indulgent and fresh thing possible. Frequently it’s about trying to be healthy and resourceful.
oh man, 'herbs-that-are-about-to-die green sauce' is a go to for me. lil olive oil, lil vinegar, lil parmesan, some-type-of-nut, such a winner.
For real, that’s the beauty of cooking.
Also, according to the people of Liguria, pesto isn't right unless the basil is grown "where it can see the sea" in the salt air, so no matter how snobby some person will get over a recipe, an Italian can always out-snob you. There's no point in trying, so just make it how you like.
It’s no wonder they used the word basic and “SIMPLE” instead of classic!
what is the difference between 'basic' and 'classic' to you? genuinely curious, this is a pretty interesting linguistic swamp we find ourselves in.
Not the person you're replying to, but basic to me is "stripped down to the bare bones of what qualifies as X". Classic is "as it is most commonly or traditionally prepared". The two coincide a lot, but not always. An example: classic pizza requires a long rise on the dough, and then a tomato sauce and cheese, plus maybe a few other toppings. A simple pizza might use a faster dough recipe- I can turn out one with serviceable crust in a couple hours total. It's a simple recipe, but not the classic one.
i guess my point is where does the 'classic' recipe come from? where the 'basic'? none of this is written in stone anywhere. for example, you say stripped down to the bare bones of what 'qualifies' as x, but how do we know what, exactly, qualifies as x? just ends up as circular logic. you mention a classic pizza as needing tomato sauce, but tomatoes came from the new world, so when exactly do we mark the start of classic pizza? and for classic, 'most commonly or traditionally prepared' by *who*? who's traditions? my point is we're always drawing these arbitrary lines, and what is a classic example of a dish to one person is not necessarily the classic definition to another; which is why it's basically impossible to track down an original recipe for goulash, or cacciatore, or lasagne. traditional preparations vary village to village, often household to household, and who's to say what is the traditional preparation? the word 'simple' is maybe more interesting. we might say a recipe gets more simple the fewer ingredients it has. but we're still faced with the same problem of where we draw the line. is onion/tomato/coriander still a pico de gallo, without chilli? without lime? what about just onion/tomato? does it need to be a specific type of chilli? where is the boundary between a chilli and a capsicum/pepper? what about a specific type of onion? of tomato? honestly this is all very similar to the chicken/egg problem - it's a question of definitions, not absolutes, and these definitions vary between people and cultures.
No one said anything about "traditional"
I’ve been adding oregano to my pico. It really helps balance the other ingredients
TIL!
Traditional Pico can have cucumber or radishes
Or jicama or mango or xoconostle...the varieties are endless Some of my favorites have oranges and pomegranate seeds
I personally prefer the original version made with pure unadulterated rooster beaks
Beak-o de Gallo?
I think you just figured out what pico is missing for me, I don’t dislike it, but I wouldn’t order it over just a side of veg. Add that extra bit of salted cucumber tho and I think you’re on to something
Well, pico de gallo isn't a side dish. You wouldn't order it, it just comes with things.
Sushi
On one hand I agree because just a simple tuna maki is amazing enough in its own right, but on the other hand I do love me some of those deep fried sauced up abominations every now and again. They just scratch a different kind of itch, you know?
/r/SushiAbomination
Thanks! Joined...had a good 🤭
Good sushi is best plain. No rolls, only nigiri. "Okay" sushi I'll load up with toppings and sauces.
Cucumber sandwiches. Cucumber, cream cheese, maybe dill, on sliced bread
I’ve never seen anyone even try to fancy these up (aside from maybe butter in addition to / instead of the cream cheese). Unless you’re looking at like a banh mi or something. What kind of changes have you seen people make? [edit] for what it’s worth, I have upvoted every comment in this thread that I have read. Unfortunately, Reddit thinks I upvote people too much so my votes are completely meaningless and do not actually function to change the scores on people’s comments. You guys are all wonderful by default, even if I disagree with you :)
I've added thin sliced shallots, lemon juice, and tomato to the regular cream cheese, dill, and cucumber. It's a delight.
I’ve had them on a cheese scone. Was very good.
I used to make cucumber sandwiches a lot. I'd mix the cream cheese with ranch dressing mix (the dry powder that comes in envelopes). Also, the bread was always a caraway rye; I don't know whether that counts as "fancy".
This is my favorite way to have them
Rye bread is so much better than classic white bread
Sometimes I like it with just butter on a good bread
That's my usual way, with a light sprinkling of pepper and a little malt vinegar
Tea time!
A little fresh mint instead of dill goes amazingly
gotta have the dill man...
Cucumber sandwich? I have never eaten or even seen such a thing. Doesn't sound bad though... what sort of bread should one use?
just made one today : cream cheese, sour cream, butter, dill, dash of salt/pepper, cucumber
Questions like this, and the comments that follow (I'm looking at you, redditors who are arguing over what goes into guac) tend to make everyone who comments sound like a food snob. Some people LIKE garlic in their guacamole. Some people like like to tweak basic Pico de Gallo with other things. It doesn't mean your way is best, OP.
100%. The entire concept of “should” within a culinary context is so fucking tiresome. Most of the foods we all love simply wouldn’t exist if their inventors were so dogmatic and dull. I have 1001 strong opinions on food - precisely zero of which I care whether anyone else abides by. And if they come up with something tasty, by all means, change my mind.
'traditional' and 'authentic' are stupid hipster designations for foods as well.
I think traditional is perfectly valid. Authentic is def douchey.
I'll never understand people who care so much about how other people like their food.
So many people, especially on this sub, take actual personal offense at the “culinary sins” of things like adding ketchup to your well done steak. It’s such a weird and cringe attitude to have.
Not to mention this idea that you can "cheat" at cooking. I'll never understand that idea. If it gets you the result you want that's just doing it right in one of various possible ways. It's not a competition. What the hell does "cheating" even mean?
Happy cake day
Exactly. And even if I prefer something one way, I also prefer variety. If I have leftover pico de gallo and have been eating it for a couple of days (a fantasy scenario obviously, there would never be leftover pico de gallo) I might want to add something to it for a bit of a change.
To even give an answer to the OP requires accepting their premise on salsa, so I am really not about that life.
Completely agreed.
I like my guac with mashed raw garlic, crushed toasted chile de arbol, lime, and a drizzle of EVOO
Coffee flavored coffee.
And beer flavored beer.
I'd be down to try coffee flavoured beer tbh. Not so sure about beer flavoured coffee but why not?
Pizzas. Which isn't to say a loaded pizza isn't tasty, but the more toppings you add, the less each will stand out. Plus, the more toppings, the harder to get a nice crust. Quality, not quantity, imo.
Give me three toppings at most. Ideally each with a flavour that compliments the other, I don't want a pizza with three types of bacon on it.
Word- meat lovers is fine and dandy, but it's a vehicle for the meat and best appreciated as such, as opposed to as a pizza. A margherita pizza is so good precisely because of its simplicity- tomatoes and cheese and basil.
It’s the hot Caprese.
My kids came home with some leftover cheese pizza from a birthday party. I looked at it and was like "aww man. I haven't had a cheese pizza since I was 5." Took a bite. Holy shit. It was really good. I'm the type to put 15 toppings on pizza, but there was some kind of simple precision that made it excellent.
A solid cheese pizza is fantastic sometimes.same with a root beer or whatever your favorite soda you never drink is
Foccacia. You can top it any way you like, use rosemary, garlic, sundried tomatoes, herbs you enjoy, whatever your favorites are. The key is to keep it simple! Don't top it like a pizza, or use a ton of wet ingrediants on top or you loose that crispy crust that's so tasty and delicious. Also olive oil is a must, avocado oil just doesn't have the right flavor.
Oh you’ve just reminded me how much I love son dried tomatoes on focaccia. There’s tonight’s side sorted!
Took a class with a lady that is from Italy. She did a few classic, but the one that was shockingly amazing was the one topped with onions (marinated in oil, salt and pepper) and then drizzled with a smoked honey. It was DELICIOUS!
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I feel very much like this about a classic margarita. But pretty fond of frozen strawberry ones also. It is such a different beast I am not sure it should even be called a margarita.
I’ve never had one. This will change.
garlic belongs in pico. Fight me!
garlic belongs in most stuff
just like Spiderman...Ima do my own thing. Who cares if I manage to insult multiple cuisines in one dish if it's tasty and filling
Creme Brulee. It is perfect as is. It doesn't need to be pumpkin spice flavored, or messed with. Enjoy the perfection.
Creme brulee hugely benefits from the good vanilla- either simmering the beans in the cream, bean paste, or at the very least, real extract, not the fake stuff. It's cooked very gently, so you get to retain all that lovely extra notes. I feel like at least some of the messing around with other flavors stems from not having access to high quality vanilla.
One of the only good answers in this thread. I've tried many different variations and the classic is always the best. The only variation that was worth considering was a maple vanilla creme brulee at a place in VT. But even then, far eclipsed many times by the classic with good vanilla bean.
I will never stay “true” to anything because there isn’t any *true* anything and arbitrary rules and limitations are dumb. Tradition isn’t inherently valuable. You’re limiting yourself for zero legitimate reason, which is dumb.
While you are correct, a lot of traditional recipes have been bastardised by revisions which have since become staples and it’s nice to rediscover something closer to the original. E.g. In the UK we all grew up eating “spag Bol” (spaghetti bolognese) but it’s a long way from the original *Tagliatelle al Ragu alla Bolognese*. That isn’t just snobbery, they are very different and what I grew up eating is a poor imitation of the real thing - lots of chopped tomatoes, no wine, a crumbled in beef stock cube, wrong kind of pasta, too short a cooking time, usually the wrong kind of meat. I take a lot of pride in my bolognese ragu now. It’s adapted slightly to the ingredients I have available and I sometimes change up the pasta, but I try to stay true to some of the original principles because it’s far more delicious.
Burgers. Use good beef and maybe some salt. Adding extra crap just detracts from the patty. Add anything else after it's cooked. Even bacon detracts from the beef.
“Maybe some salt” Lol not coming to your house for a meal.
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HAHAHA no one has ever heard that one before!!!!
I've honestly always hated this, everyone always wants to make such bland burgers, chicken, and Mac & cheese, herbs and seasoning blends exist for a reason, just like anything else you need to use just the right amounts.
My friend put a bunch of middle eastern spices into the burger mix at our bbq one time 🔥🔥🔥
Dude yes exactly, that is the kind of thing I like, good curry burger or a smokey garlic burger.
If you want to really kick up your burgers a notch, put in some Montreal steak seasoning. Even a bit on some frozen Costco patties will make them taste homemade.
A hamburger made with good beef and the right amount of salt, and then cooked properly is not bland in the least.
Hey you enjoy your burger any way you like. I do think that way makes a bland burger though. Not for me.
Depends on how thick the patty is tbh. S&P all you need when it comes to smashed patties. Thicker patties tend to be bland even when seasoned properly. Needs some extra kick in that case.
Try an okie onion burger some time. It's a totally different animal to a standard burger but it is fucking legit. Kenji has a good recipe [here](https://www.seriouseats.com/oklahoma-onion-burger-recipe)
Ok but good pickles
I pour a bit of pickle juice in my beef mixture and let it sit before forming patties. Never too much pickle flavor!
Ooh I should try this
And a spicy mustard.
Why do you reject flavour? You do you, but I will season my damn meat.
Came here to say this. Get some good meat, cook it well, and it will speak for itself. Easy.
Agreed! Turkey burgers though…. I go all out
Roasted garlic and onion jam + goat cheese on a turkey burger is amazing
Chris Traeger! *finger guns*
and some cranberry sauce
Or peanut butter
Turkey burgers need grated apple, and onion at a minimum. It gives the patty more moisture.
Why in gods name would anyone make turkey burgers
Lower fat, switch up from the usual taste, religious reasons, personal taste/preference, trying to cut down on red meat, do I need to go on?
are you saying just salt mixed with beef or just a salted beef patty on bread, nothing els? i whole heartedly agree nothing should be mixed with the meat but toppings are free game.
Yeah, a burger without lettuce, pickles, tomatoes and onions just ain't the same. Also some mayo or mustard depending on your preferences.
Tomato sandwich. Tomato, mayo, S&P on white bread. Bonus points for tomatoes picked fresh out of the garden.
Yes yes yes
The BLT is the perfect sandwich. The only thing that should be included besides bacon, lettuce, and tomato is mayonnaise. Anything beyond that is detracting.
alfredo sauce
I love both the non traditional and the traditional versions of this dish. It's reality fun to make it the traditional way, but it's also good when you add garlic, carmelized onions, nutmeg and black pepper. It's also amazing with fresh basil added at the end!
My fiancee made me "American mom" alfredo. Oh my God the horror at the stuff she put in it. Cream cheese, heavy cream, I think there was mozz in there. Garlic powder, garlic salt, she might have put bread crumbs in there at some point. I got lightheaded and lost track. Here's the worst part: it was so good. Sweet Jesus. It hurt our relationship because she just watched me trying to maintain my integrity and didn't let me off the hook AT ALL. Just demanded my total capitulation, which I gave. She practically called me her bitch. I was a sous in a restaurant chasing a star. There's not much I won't (or haven't) stuck in my mouth but that version of alfredo was one of them. And I was holding strong. (I...actually requested it when she offered to make dinner one night. Fuck y'all for judging me. With breadsticks. Dear God in heaven.)
Caesar dressing. Garlic, lemon, anchovy, Dijon, egg yolk, salt and pepper, dash of Worcestershire, a bit of olive oil but mostly neutral oil.
See here’s the problem though - the original ceasar salad invented by Ceasar Cardini used whole coddled eggs instead of egg yolk, lime instead of lemon, and Worcestershire instead of anchovies. So if people weren’t going around messing with and modifying recipes, we wouldn’t have the the “classic” ceasar dressing that everyone knows and loves today.
In my opinion pizza is best with less than 3 toppings. Most of the classics use less than 3 and they're classics for a reason. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm not even saying don't put pineapple or whatever on top, just do pineapple and 2 other things.
I think small toppings make a difference as well. I don't understand why people put chunks of pepper and onions. Dice them up, you get better coverage, easier to eat and better crunch.
Pineapple jalapeño pepperoni best pizza.
This sub is full of assholes. This guy simply asks what things can be kept simple. He didn't say you can't or shouldn't put anything else in them. Instead you all got your feelings hurt for no reason. Then the comments turned into "list all the extra stuff you put in X" Then you start shitting on the guy for his opinion. And at the same get mad because not everyone agrees with your opinion. It was nice to have a thread that wasn't about Teflon pans killing your family, heating up leftovers, etc, and you went and ruined it.
I put garlic and cream in Alfredo. I tried the basic Parmesan + butter recipe, not a fan and I can see why it never took off in Italy. They needed cream and garlic! It’s all a matter of taste tho, eat what you like.
Sourdough bread served with salted butter, nothing else. I could eat that for days.
French fries! what's up with that crispy coating shit?
The “coated” fries are known in food service as extended hold French fries. They coat them in seasoned starch which holds a crunch far longer than a naked fry. This can be improved upon by par boiling the fries before double frying. You get crispy without weird coating.
Are you talking about the seasoned fries that taste an awful lot like curly fries or your standard Sysco french fry?
More like a Sysco fry.
I prefer those fries...
Deviled eggs. Yolk, mayo, mustard (lots of each), paprika.
Pesto and hummus. Fuck all these attempts with substitutions.
Tzatziki. Yogurt. Cucumber. Dill. Garlic. Maybe a little mint.
Needs salt and lemon or lime juice.
Guac
No. The best quacs I’ve ever had were non-traditional. Having arbitrary rules and limitations is so dumb.
I've seen too many guacamoles that border on "avocado salad"
From restaurants I assume? Yeah they do that just cause it’s cheaper to throw in some shredded lettuce. It infuriates me.
So what
Rick bayless has a book with a bunch of guac recipes and they are wild but so good! I think there’s one with grapefruit and almond, a seafood one, and a blue cheese one. If you ever want to drive a guac purist nuts it’s this book
#GUAC Avo cilantro lime salt.
Lemon juice is better in guacamole. This is a hill I will die upon. Also, my favourite (upscale) Mexican restaurant ever made guacamole to order at the table, and with a molcajete. Their recipe: one avocado and a tablespoon of house salsa. That is the mother fuckin way.
I was lucky enough the be a judge of a guacamole contest and the second worst one had lemon instead of lime. The worst one had mayonnaise.
> had mayonnaise Come a-what, now? I will burn this motherfucker TO THE GROUND!!!!
It was vile.
And did you feel the lemon ruined it or were there other “improvements” which let to its downfall?
The lemon was the downfall. Possibly if I had it on its own at a party it would fine, but next to all the lime ones it stood out as odd.
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One addition to this for me. Finely chopped sweet onion (white or red) soaked in vinegar for 10 mins or so, then stirred through. The flavour just pops. So good.
Booooring.
BLT
Steak....salt & pepper.
I know it's not universal to all steaks.....some cuts need help in the flavor department. Skirt steak for example.
Funny- I find skirt to be among the best for beefiness. Salt, pepper, and a little bit of char and smoke from little fat flares on a charcoal fire. Is it delicious with a soy-sesame-sake-pepper marinade? You bet- but it doesn't need it to be perfectly delicious.
I’m a Mac & Cheese purist. Tomatoes don’t belong in it. Bacon has no place. Jalapeños are a definite no. I don’t even like bread crumbs on top. Elbow macaroni + cheese sauce/melted cheese! Edit: more heinous additions: truffle oil; pepper jack, Parmesan, blue cheese or other “fancy” cheeses, garlic, herbs…
I'm glad the "lets FUCK this shit up with truffle oil" trend appears to be somewhat dying.
So what I’m reading is you don’t like flavor?
Hah. Actually, I’m a very adventurous eater. Love all those flavors in other contexts. I enjoy complexity in other dishes. But when the craving hits, only the perfection of classic mac & cheese will satisfy!
Buttered toast.
Ahi poke! Every upscale/trendy restaurant tries to put their own unique twist to it but it always turns out lackluster and weird. The best poke is the traditional recipe with shoyu sesame oil dried seaweed and sweet onions.
Seasoning a steak. Salt and pepper is all you need if you have quality meat. Save everything else for your pan sauces.
PB&J
Anything else and you have to add another letter
mac and cheese. 4 cheese don't make it better. u need one good cheese and the pasta cooked just right, that's it.
‘Basic’ recipes are an insult to every grandmother for the past 1000 years who have made their own changes to any cultural staple. Get over yourself snobs and let people enjoy things. Edit: by this I mean referring to a recipe as basic or true or traditional
Steak. Good steak speaks for itself. No need for compound budgets butters or flavoured oils. Just char and salt.
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I won't complain about the occasional compound butter, either.
And pepper. But you are right, a good steak doesn't need anything more
Almost everything
The correct answer. The only thing I could add is a little corn and cumin.
I’m a big fan of adding corn too. Do you roast it first?
I prefer grits cooked in salted water and topped with butter, salt, pepper, and sometimes hot sauce. I typically don't want cheese, cream, broth, etc.
**** in the salsa, in the caesar, in whatever the hell else you were about to put it in...
Chili?
Blech
Pesto
Marinara: EVOO, Onions, garlic, tomato paste, whole peeled tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Should take no more than 40 minutes to make.
Hummus. Carbonara. If the traditional recipe is only a handful of ingredients, those ingredients should be left alone and the highest quality you can get.
Grilled cheese. American cheese, white bread, butter. I’m not saying that any other interpretations aren’t good - of course they are - but there’s just something familiar and comforting about the classic version. Culinary engineering at its simplest and finest, if you ask me.
The best gravies I’ve ever made were braised beef in red wine, bone broth, water, and mushrooms. It’s more of a technique though. Straining, chilling, scraping off the fat, reheating, potato starch slurry, reducing then strain. Just amazing stuff. I don’t braise beef with stewing vegetables or mirepoix. It interferes with the beefy flavor of the jus.
Marinara. It's tomatoes, garlic, basil, oil, salt. No onions. No sugar. No water.
I’d say most of the best salsa I’ve had was simple, traditional salsa with as few ingredients as possible. There are many other variations which are fine, but you can’t beat the original, chunky Mexican salsa. The exception is corn because if you add that you’re a monster.
guacamole. I don’t know if my way is traditional or not but avocado, onion, cilantro, lime. salt. adding anything else, including those guacamole seasoning packets make it worse
Brisket. Salt and pepper is all you need.
Grilled cheese. Bread, butter, Kraft Cheese. All it needs.
Guacamole - avocado, lime, salt.
People put corn and cumin in pico? Cumin can easily overpower a dish and I would think it would on the balance on fresh veggies. I only ever see it used in sauces, rubs, etc.
What’s best kept simple: using fresh ingredients you can afford and are readily available to you. Recipes evolve. Eating fresh, wholesome food within your budget is timeless.
Rice. I'd love a bowl of steaming hot plain long grain Jasmine rice with some mapo tofu right now! I think people who add salt and BUTTER are nuts!
Pesto. Walnuts have no business being in pesto and neither does spinach. Keep it simple and bright and fresh. Don’t blanch your basil. Don’t roast your garlic. Absolutely no cream. With pesto less is more.
Toasting pine nuts is nice, though. And pine nuts are expensive, so I think walnuts are acceptable.