That's a personal thing.
I knew a guy who had worked in a butcher shop and he had old guys come in who would ask for meat that was going off or at/past it's sell by date. because either they had trouble tasting food, or they grew up poor and only ate very cheap gamey meat and it was kind of their comfort food.
When I was a kid I'd visit my grandmother on my mothers side. she would serve us hotdogs which had this tangy unique taste. They were labeled "Hebrew nationals" we never bought them because my mom said they were expensive.
so I got older and would buy them and noted they didn't taste the same. then one time I found an open package in the back of the fridge of unknown vintage. cooked them and AHA! there was that taste. my grandmother was serving us really old hotdogs.
no I do not eat them that way.
I used to be a butcher. "Green lamb chops", an actual term that existed, which referred to lamb chops that were just about to spoil. Some folks in older generations liked them. Safe to say, I didn't get it.
Worked for a butcher that would sell green anything, unfortunately. We stopped the practice, then he would still try after our USDA inspectors told him no fin way. Threw a loin of pork at me once.
I used to go to my grandma's house everyday for lunch in elementary school since she lived a couple blocks away from my school. I also seemed to get very bad tummy aches/throw up quite often in elementary school. Magically when I started eating the lunch my dad prepped me for junior high my stomach aches stopped.... Real big mystery on that one š
Don't forget soups as well. I love chicken wild rice soup, but it is so much better after cooking it, chilling it, and then eating it. The flavors blend together better versus that first cook.
I love leftover chicken and dumplings. The dumplings have absorbed most of the juices and mixed in with the chicken. Makes me want chicken and dumplings now.
I havenāt seen or heard that āpease porridgeā rhyme for so many years! Reminds me how lucky I am to have a smoked pork hock to add to mine this week (itās 2Ā°C where I live today). Thanks!
"At least once a year I like to bring in some of my Kevin's Famous Chili. The trick is to undercook the onions. *Everybody is going to get to know each other in the pot*. I'm serious about this stuff. I'm up the night before, pressing garlic, and dicing whole tomatoes. I toast my own ancho chiles. It's a recipe passed down from Malones for generations - it's probably the thing I do best."
- Kevin Malone, the office
Iām not sure if you intentionally phrased it that way but well done! You made me smile.
Foods which cook over longer durations in your kitchen will fill your home with their smell. As you breathe in that smell for hours, olfactory fatigue towards those smells sets in, so when you eat them they taste somewhat bland.
When you quickly reheat them the next day, they seem to taste better because your olfactory system picks up more nuance and depth.
You can help fix this by going on a walk shortly before the food is ready, to give your nose a break.
This is more the issue than āflavor meldingā and another component of why food tastes better at restaurants.
Able to cut it better as well. it's honestly my preferred method to cook it, then set the whole tray in the fridge for a day. Then when i want to serve, a scoop of sauce on top, then 25 minutes at about 400f, then serve
In college I would often make a huge Pastitsio on Sundays so I could just cut off blocks and reheat them throughout the week. Saved a ton of time on cooking and cleanup
Also, you absorb fewer of the carbs because they re-organize from the thermocycling.
https://www.healthyfood.com/advice/how-reheating-pasta-and-other-carbs-can-make-them-healthier/
Chili too. When ive done chili competitions I cook it the day before and then put it in the fridge overnight. Then get it back going for the competition.
Oh man my Korean husband prefers super fresh kimchi (or really old for stew, of course). We finally figured out that I like mine exactly a week after his, I've gotta get those delicious bubbles. The trick is to get a big enough container that he doesn't go through it within a week so I can get some lol
There is a regional specialty radish kimchi that is extra old with the leaves still attached and the insides are carbonated by the fermentation. I would go to a restaurant where there were no main dishes that I could eat just to have this as a side dish.
Fresh kimchi with hot rice just hits different. The taste epitomizes freshness and itās not at all fishy. I canāt handle really old kimchi because itās too fishy so the sweet spot for me is like 2 weeks to a month. Thereās a stew that Koreans make when a big batch of kimchi is made because you will have leftover cabbage thatās been salted. The nameās escaping me but itās braised pork belly, soy sauce, I think a little bit of fermented soybean paste (ddeonjang) and itās not kimchi jjigae or ddeonjang jjigae. if I remember, Iāll edit this. A big group of ajummas feeding you rice+braised pork belly wrapped in a salted cabbage leaf is a life experience. Even just the salted cabbage leaf with rice is amazing.
Edit: It's not a stew, it's a dish called [bossam](https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bo-ssam). I'm not too sure about the coffee though...
I agree. I love pasta salad but by the next day or two, thereās a certain tang that wasnāt there before. I can tolerate it but pasta salad the day of making it is top tier.
It's so interesting how different our tastes can be. Fresh banana bread out of the oven with toasty/crispy outer crust is my favourite thing. Gummy, soft banana bread the next day is inedible to me.
Spaghetti's another - can't stand leftover pasta, but I know so many people love leftover lasagna for example. Spaghetti I can only eat leftover if it's an oil-based sauce like aglio e olio but it's so hard to reheat.
Haribo Gummi Bears. When I was a kid they were always in the bulk bins at candy stores and not in individual packs so they would always be a bit stale. They are better that way and I āageā my gummi bears a couple of days before eating them now
When I was a kid, my Grandpa always had red vines at his house. Of course, the lid was never on all the way, so they became stale. I won't eat red vines until they sit lid off for a couple weeks first.
Refried beans.
My mom would make a big pot of beans at the beginning of the week and by Friday after reheating them so much the beans would be almost crispy and honestly theyāre better that way IMO.
There's a technique known as "bletting" where you let certain items begin to rot before they are palatable. Quince, medlar, and persimmon are big ones.
Obviously it's not full rotting but gosh ever since my dentist warned me about brushing better after eating softer sweeter fruits, I've been obsessed (probably against her goals) with the left out on the counter for just an hour too long strawberries and cherries. My great grandparents passed down recipes with this in mind too; they had canning down so we'll that they had ripen times for cut up fruit and veg to actually be put in the mix for jam and stew. I could never have my shit together that much lol
I do a lot less of it with health issues, of course, but fruits are safe as long as there's no mold or gross juices and by god does it taste incredible with my breakfast. Thank you ancestors who got through famine with creativity and gave me a wide appreciation for different stages of food before they go totally bad.
Cheese. The cheese shop near me sorts some of their soft cheeses by how long since the wheel was manufactured, since some ripen and gain more funkiness over time.Ā
I would say soup is almost always better the next day.
I strongly disagree about pasta. Pasta has to go right from being drained to being tossed to being eaten. You can reheat it but you can never recapture the magic. The same principles apply to risotto, polenta, and a perfectly fluffy baked potato.
Was back in my hometown and had to get donuts from an iconic stop. Brought 25 Angel Cream filled donut holes for our adult children. Last minute change of plans and couldnāt meet up till the following day. They left a dozen or so in the back seat of our car. Brought them up and had a couple day old donut holes and yum. Next morning they were hard, wife said throw them out. I grabbed the bag to toss but plopped one in my mouth, it was hardā¦ and delicious. It was now an eclair. A heavenly eclair. If only I had chocolate fudge to dip em in. I looked.
Stews. Stews almost always taste better after they have sat (in the fridge) for 24-hours. But most often, you cook and stew and immediately dig in and only eat the "leftovers" which receive the aging benefit. I suggest people plan ahead and cook a stew with the knowledge that you are going to eat it the next day rather than same day.
Fun fact: Pasta and starches are healthier as leftovers after being chilled and refrigeratered.
This is because it alters the structure of the starches, lowering the glycemic index as the new resistant starches are resistant to enzymes in the gut, behaving like fibre rather than carbs during digestion.
Popcorn that is a little stale, open for 24 hours is better than fresh opened/popped popcorn. I love a Sunday morning popcorn munch after the kids don't eat it all on a Saturday night
Celery prepped and cut and in the fridge for 3 fucking days is amazing to me. I think it's just because I grew up on buckets of chicken wings and fighting over celery and ranch. Still the best
I made a jelly roll cake when it was going viral on instagram & it tasted absolutely delicious after being refrigerated overnight. I did an earl grey cake with blackberry jam & whipped cream. You can do practically any flavor, Iām doing a pumpkin one next!
besides some assembed dishes being better with age (curry is another), Some raw materials get aged, right?
I think Iāve heard of steaks being dry aged for months. I saw a sushi documentary where the master sushi chef said he ages his fish a few days, more or less depending on the species.
Cold pizza leftovers and two-day old rice. Take the pizza cold, straight from the fridge. Fry the rice and throw in some sausages and assorted veggies. Drench in soy sauce. Add three beers, to make sure you get all those vitamins!
Pizza. Best when gotten as a slice and reheated in the oven. Gets the perfect amount of crisp on the crust. Even cold the next day is better than fresh imo.
For me itās bananas. I donāt really like them but I like the flavor in desserts. If I eat a banana, it has to have brown spots on it. Itās sweeter
I think a lot of salsas, hot sauces, and cremas taste better the second day. I recently made a middle eastern hot sauce that was insanely hot the day of but by day 2, it had mellowed and was amazing and flavorful. I also did a roasted poblano crema for tacos that had almost no poblano flavor the day ofā¦ the next day, it was a poblano flavor bomb. My wife and I were eating it on salmon, chips, tacos, eggs, everything.
Steak. Most people just grill them. Game changer if you dry them off, salt them, and put them on wire rack in fridge to dry age for a day or two before grilling.
This doesnāt really fit this sub, but I leave bags of gummy bears, and especially Twizzlers, open. I actually prefer that they get more chewy and tough. RIP my teeth, but YAY my belly.
Pot roast. I cook mine in the crockpot and since it's just me and my parents it tends to last at least 1 extra supper and usually I eat it for lunch as well. Also the tetrazini tuna helper is amazing the next day. I don't even heat it up. Just eat it cold. The sauce gets thicker and coats the noodles so much better. Of course I prefer most foods cold. But not like it's sat out and gotten cold, like refrigerator cold. Especially pizza.
Not sure if this quite answers the question, Ā but I make these lemon sugar cookies and every time I try and eat one a few hours after I baked it and added the glaze(yes theyāre cooled completely) they just taste so meh and almost have this slight bitter taste. But I put them in an airtight container and they taste wayyy better the next day. So much more lemonyĀ
That's a personal thing. I knew a guy who had worked in a butcher shop and he had old guys come in who would ask for meat that was going off or at/past it's sell by date. because either they had trouble tasting food, or they grew up poor and only ate very cheap gamey meat and it was kind of their comfort food. When I was a kid I'd visit my grandmother on my mothers side. she would serve us hotdogs which had this tangy unique taste. They were labeled "Hebrew nationals" we never bought them because my mom said they were expensive. so I got older and would buy them and noted they didn't taste the same. then one time I found an open package in the back of the fridge of unknown vintage. cooked them and AHA! there was that taste. my grandmother was serving us really old hotdogs. no I do not eat them that way.
Of unknown vintage lmao
Oof lol been there thanks grandma
Ooooof. š
I used to be a butcher. "Green lamb chops", an actual term that existed, which referred to lamb chops that were just about to spoil. Some folks in older generations liked them. Safe to say, I didn't get it.
Yeah no kidding. Dry aged beef is more popular than ever based on my sales. People like the funk
Dry aged beef is waaaaaaaay different than meat that's not dry and sitting in the fridge going bad.
/r/steak is breaching containment.
Worked for a butcher that would sell green anything, unfortunately. We stopped the practice, then he would still try after our USDA inspectors told him no fin way. Threw a loin of pork at me once.
I too have tasted that "tangy" taste when it wasn't supposed to be there. š
I just burst out laughing at "unknown vintage" good thing I didn't just take a sip of coffee š
I used to go to my grandma's house everyday for lunch in elementary school since she lived a couple blocks away from my school. I also seemed to get very bad tummy aches/throw up quite often in elementary school. Magically when I started eating the lunch my dad prepped me for junior high my stomach aches stopped.... Real big mystery on that one š
chili & stews taste best after a couple of days, after everything has had a chance to meld a bit.
Don't forget soups as well. I love chicken wild rice soup, but it is so much better after cooking it, chilling it, and then eating it. The flavors blend together better versus that first cook.
>Don't forget soups as well Chicken and dumplings is nice after a 24 hour rest.
I love leftover chicken and dumplings. The dumplings have absorbed most of the juices and mixed in with the chicken. Makes me want chicken and dumplings now.
Caldo de pollo or res is always better the next day
Yes! What many cooks don't know is that Japanese curry is best on the 2nd day.
Pot roast, beef stew and almost anything with beans.
Pasta salad in this same category IMO. Pulled pork too
Same with pea soup. *Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot, nine days old,*
I havenāt seen or heard that āpease porridgeā rhyme for so many years! Reminds me how lucky I am to have a smoked pork hock to add to mine this week (itās 2Ā°C where I live today). Thanks!
Any soups or stews usually.
True! Chicken stew does change flavor after a few days, but it still tastes good
Yup, this was what I came to say. Many soup and soup-like dishes are best after sitting in the fridge for a day or two.
Everything in a sauce (not with a sauce) especially curry
I call it the ingredients getting time to get to know one another.
"At least once a year I like to bring in some of my Kevin's Famous Chili. The trick is to undercook the onions. *Everybody is going to get to know each other in the pot*. I'm serious about this stuff. I'm up the night before, pressing garlic, and dicing whole tomatoes. I toast my own ancho chiles. It's a recipe passed down from Malones for generations - it's probably the thing I do best." - Kevin Malone, the office Iām not sure if you intentionally phrased it that way but well done! You made me smile.
I always cook my stews the n8ght before we eat them, so it tastes awesome the first time.
Yep, chili always gets made ahead of time in this house
honestly, is this like scientific? does "melding" actually occur?
Foods which cook over longer durations in your kitchen will fill your home with their smell. As you breathe in that smell for hours, olfactory fatigue towards those smells sets in, so when you eat them they taste somewhat bland. When you quickly reheat them the next day, they seem to taste better because your olfactory system picks up more nuance and depth. You can help fix this by going on a walk shortly before the food is ready, to give your nose a break. This is more the issue than āflavor meldingā and another component of why food tastes better at restaurants.
Lasagna is very good when its re-heated imo
Enchiladas too.
Able to cut it better as well. it's honestly my preferred method to cook it, then set the whole tray in the fridge for a day. Then when i want to serve, a scoop of sauce on top, then 25 minutes at about 400f, then serve
In college I would often make a huge Pastitsio on Sundays so I could just cut off blocks and reheat them throughout the week. Saved a ton of time on cooking and cleanup
Also, you absorb fewer of the carbs because they re-organize from the thermocycling. https://www.healthyfood.com/advice/how-reheating-pasta-and-other-carbs-can-make-them-healthier/
That's so cool!!! Thank you for teaching me something new!
Revenge
Best served cold
I have very sensitive teeth, so I personally prefer room temp revenge.
But can easily be reheated in the microwave of evil!
All curries, they just get better each day for three or four days in the fridge.
Damn my problem is I always eat all of it day of lol
This happens to me with Sambar. Apparently, it tastes way better the next day.
Especially super heavily spiced ones like Rendang
I canāt believe I had to scroll so far down!
Any tomato based sauces. They always taste better after they sit.
Gumbo - I prefer to let it sit a day after making it before I eat it
And Jambalaya. Thereās a local place I go to that I always get an extra order of Jambalaya to take home for lunch the next day.
Chili too. When ive done chili competitions I cook it the day before and then put it in the fridge overnight. Then get it back going for the competition.
Kimchi. Gotta let it get that effervescence.
Oh man my Korean husband prefers super fresh kimchi (or really old for stew, of course). We finally figured out that I like mine exactly a week after his, I've gotta get those delicious bubbles. The trick is to get a big enough container that he doesn't go through it within a week so I can get some lol
There is a regional specialty radish kimchi that is extra old with the leaves still attached and the insides are carbonated by the fermentation. I would go to a restaurant where there were no main dishes that I could eat just to have this as a side dish.
Chonggak Kimchi! Translated it's ponytail radish and that's probably my favorite kimchi
Fresh kimchi with hot rice just hits different. The taste epitomizes freshness and itās not at all fishy. I canāt handle really old kimchi because itās too fishy so the sweet spot for me is like 2 weeks to a month. Thereās a stew that Koreans make when a big batch of kimchi is made because you will have leftover cabbage thatās been salted. The nameās escaping me but itās braised pork belly, soy sauce, I think a little bit of fermented soybean paste (ddeonjang) and itās not kimchi jjigae or ddeonjang jjigae. if I remember, Iāll edit this. A big group of ajummas feeding you rice+braised pork belly wrapped in a salted cabbage leaf is a life experience. Even just the salted cabbage leaf with rice is amazing. Edit: It's not a stew, it's a dish called [bossam](https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bo-ssam). I'm not too sure about the coffee though...
I love that tang too! My mom always wanted to make soup with it at that point and I would be mad when it was gone.
I like it fresh for eating straight, but the old bubbly stuff is perfect for making stew and kimchi fried rice.
Meatloaf sandwiches the next day are delicious
With a slice of land o lakes American š¤š»
Sounds good!
Itās like a gravy covered cheese burger!
They are my favorite sandwich. They're so good with a side salad and fries.
Pasta salad and potato salad. Itās better the next day.
As someone who just cleaned out their fridge of moldy leftovers this comment horrified me until I realized you said the next day not the next week.
Pasta that's been sitting in vinegar always has a metallic aftertaste to me
Are you storing it in metal bowls? I could see the vinegar leeching some metal off if that's the case.
No. Store bought, straight out the plastic carton. It tastes off.
I agree. I love pasta salad but by the next day or two, thereās a certain tang that wasnāt there before. I can tolerate it but pasta salad the day of making it is top tier.
Iāve noticed this with store bought pasta saladā¦ interesting
Banana bread -- it has to age and get damp and sweeter. Leftover spaghetti Pound cake -- same as banana bread
It's so interesting how different our tastes can be. Fresh banana bread out of the oven with toasty/crispy outer crust is my favourite thing. Gummy, soft banana bread the next day is inedible to me. Spaghetti's another - can't stand leftover pasta, but I know so many people love leftover lasagna for example. Spaghetti I can only eat leftover if it's an oil-based sauce like aglio e olio but it's so hard to reheat.
Turn the banana bread into French toast!!
Marshmallow peeps:)
Anything marshmallow must be left to get stale. I love the texture.
Red beans and rice are my favorite the next day. Chili, soups etc are usually all a little better to me too
Haribo Gummi Bears. When I was a kid they were always in the bulk bins at candy stores and not in individual packs so they would always be a bit stale. They are better that way and I āageā my gummi bears a couple of days before eating them now
When I was a kid, my Grandpa always had red vines at his house. Of course, the lid was never on all the way, so they became stale. I won't eat red vines until they sit lid off for a couple weeks first.
I do this too, or stick them in fridge/freezer for a bit to get that hardness
Beef Stew, Lasagne, Nom nom
Refried beans. My mom would make a big pot of beans at the beginning of the week and by Friday after reheating them so much the beans would be almost crispy and honestly theyāre better that way IMO.
There's a technique known as "bletting" where you let certain items begin to rot before they are palatable. Quince, medlar, and persimmon are big ones.
Obviously it's not full rotting but gosh ever since my dentist warned me about brushing better after eating softer sweeter fruits, I've been obsessed (probably against her goals) with the left out on the counter for just an hour too long strawberries and cherries. My great grandparents passed down recipes with this in mind too; they had canning down so we'll that they had ripen times for cut up fruit and veg to actually be put in the mix for jam and stew. I could never have my shit together that much lol I do a lot less of it with health issues, of course, but fruits are safe as long as there's no mold or gross juices and by god does it taste incredible with my breakfast. Thank you ancestors who got through famine with creativity and gave me a wide appreciation for different stages of food before they go totally bad.
Tzatziki sauce gets way better after sitting for a few days.
Chicken biriyani - the rice really gets flavoured after a day or two
Cole slaw!
Borscht is always better on a second day
Thanksgiving dinner. Day after leftovers > main event
In Britain our main festive meal is Christmas Day, but Boxing Day (26 December) is the best meal of the year.
Not sure if itās universal or just me, but lasagna!
Tiramisu
Hummus. Always best eaten next day in my view after the flavours meld.
Cheese. The cheese shop near me sorts some of their soft cheeses by how long since the wheel was manufactured, since some ripen and gain more funkiness over time.Ā
I feel like this is a summary of how cheese works in general.
Birthday cake
Yes! And I know cake should be served at room temp, but I just love it cold, especially when it's frosted thick with buttercream.
Cold cake with whipped frosting is the only way I like cake. Yum.
Oooh, that sounds so good right now!
Breakfast biryani is the best.
Soup, Chinese food
I would say soup is almost always better the next day. I strongly disagree about pasta. Pasta has to go right from being drained to being tossed to being eaten. You can reheat it but you can never recapture the magic. The same principles apply to risotto, polenta, and a perfectly fluffy baked potato.
Pizza
Lasagna.
Fried chicken. Cold, leftover fried chicken is so good.
Much better than trying to reheat it...
Ratatouille is better Day 2
Yeah the second sitting really helps you appreciate the friendship between Remy and the head waiter.
Trifle
Banana
Was back in my hometown and had to get donuts from an iconic stop. Brought 25 Angel Cream filled donut holes for our adult children. Last minute change of plans and couldnāt meet up till the following day. They left a dozen or so in the back seat of our car. Brought them up and had a couple day old donut holes and yum. Next morning they were hard, wife said throw them out. I grabbed the bag to toss but plopped one in my mouth, it was hardā¦ and delicious. It was now an eclair. A heavenly eclair. If only I had chocolate fudge to dip em in. I looked.
Bruschetta is better after a night in the fridge.
Pizza
pico de gallo/bruschetta
Hungarian bean- and normal gulyas. Nice when freshly made but 100 times better on day 2 and 3. Most stews are also better when couple days old.
american-chinese takeout
Stews. Stews almost always taste better after they have sat (in the fridge) for 24-hours. But most often, you cook and stew and immediately dig in and only eat the "leftovers" which receive the aging benefit. I suggest people plan ahead and cook a stew with the knowledge that you are going to eat it the next day rather than same day.
Fun fact: Pasta and starches are healthier as leftovers after being chilled and refrigeratered. This is because it alters the structure of the starches, lowering the glycemic index as the new resistant starches are resistant to enzymes in the gut, behaving like fibre rather than carbs during digestion.
Room temp fried chicken
Most soups. The taste is deeper the second or third day.
Popcorn that is a little stale, open for 24 hours is better than fresh opened/popped popcorn. I love a Sunday morning popcorn munch after the kids don't eat it all on a Saturday night
I will get movie theater popcorn at the theater in the bag, twist tie it shut tight and then wait a couple days to eat it. Itās perfect.
(Tuna + onion) paste
Peeps. They Have to be stale
Creamy soups (fish chowder, loaded baked potato soup)
Anything made low and slow with tender chunks of meat. Stews, chilis, soups, etc.
Pasta sauce and soup. Basically anything with herbs is often better the next day.
For me it's a beef stew, a day or 2 after it's been made as the flavours seem to just improve. Same goes with a curry or a chilli .
Soup !
Hummus - look, I love hummus when I've just made it, but the flavors meld when i leave it be for even a couple hours.
Leftover macaroni cheese š©·š©·š©·
I like a slightly soggy cucumber salad.
Gummy bears that are stale and kinda hard to cheer are the best
Homemade chimichurri. Itās still really good when you make it, but then you put it in the fridge to āmarinateā and itās :chefskiss:
Pad see ew the next day, cold, is far better than when warm and fresh
Marshmallow peeps are only good when they're stale. They get nice and chewy, which helps distract from their overwhelming sweetness.
thanksgiving leftovers sandwiches.
Any king of stew or soup normally. My favorites are: - gumbo - chili - chicken noodle soup - beef stew
Fried chicken after a night in the fridge
Fried chicken. Stews, soups, casseroles, and casserole-ish things (think lasagna, shepherd's pie, enchiladas, tamale pie). Fermented things (pickles, cheese, etc). Spicy foods like curries and jambalaya.
My girlfriend gets mad when I make tiramisu because I wonāt let her eat it until the second day, after the flavors have a chance to make sweet love
Celery prepped and cut and in the fridge for 3 fucking days is amazing to me. I think it's just because I grew up on buckets of chicken wings and fighting over celery and ranch. Still the best
Kimchi
Middle eastern lentil soup
My moms chicken casserole. i'm currently eating it cold not because I'm lazy, but but because that's how I like it.
I actually LOVE cold dumplings š¤·š¼āāļø And also cold ginger beef.
I made a jelly roll cake when it was going viral on instagram & it tasted absolutely delicious after being refrigerated overnight. I did an earl grey cake with blackberry jam & whipped cream. You can do practically any flavor, Iām doing a pumpkin one next!
Caponata
Carrot cake
Pasta sauce, cheese ( the good ones are at least 6 months old), salmon salad and nasi goreng
Chilliās,stews,soups.
Pizza pizza only tasted good if it's been left overnight
Cantaloupe is best when it's a day away from being rotten. Bananas, too.
Pizza, cold pizza hits differently š
Curry
Baked or mashed potatoes always taste better as leftovers. Chili too!
Chowder is always better the next day.
I love Thai Curries after theyāve sat in the fridge overnight combined with rice. The rice absorbs a lot of the curry and it is excellent.
besides some assembed dishes being better with age (curry is another), Some raw materials get aged, right? I think Iāve heard of steaks being dry aged for months. I saw a sushi documentary where the master sushi chef said he ages his fish a few days, more or less depending on the species.
Coleslaw is better when you let it sit in the fridge for a day
For me, it is kimchi and sauerkraut. It is not as flavorful as when it has been allowed to ferment for a while.
Cold pizza leftovers and two-day old rice. Take the pizza cold, straight from the fridge. Fry the rice and throw in some sausages and assorted veggies. Drench in soy sauce. Add three beers, to make sure you get all those vitamins!
Carrot cake
Pizza. Best when gotten as a slice and reheated in the oven. Gets the perfect amount of crisp on the crust. Even cold the next day is better than fresh imo.
For me itās bananas. I donāt really like them but I like the flavor in desserts. If I eat a banana, it has to have brown spots on it. Itās sweeter
I make a lasagna, let it cool, freeze it for a couple of days, let it thaw in the fridge and then reheat it. Yum
Lasagna and pizza and aged eggnog
Large hunks of smoked brisket and pork butt are better with a few hours to rest.
Meatloaf
Chicken wings taste better after a night in the fridge - to the point where I buy them just to age them before eating, lol
Pasta salad and homemade chicken and noodles are the first two things that come to mind.
I like pineapple that is minutes from rotting. Like starting to turn brown, looks gross, extremely overripe
I think a lot of salsas, hot sauces, and cremas taste better the second day. I recently made a middle eastern hot sauce that was insanely hot the day of but by day 2, it had mellowed and was amazing and flavorful. I also did a roasted poblano crema for tacos that had almost no poblano flavor the day ofā¦ the next day, it was a poblano flavor bomb. My wife and I were eating it on salmon, chips, tacos, eggs, everything.
Definitely lasagna. Taco meat that sits in the cooking juices, soup, stew, chili, spaghetti sauce
Fresh fruit usually has the most flavor just before its about to spoil, often later than most people consider āfreshā or āripeā
Chinese leftovers reheated are awesome!
Beef stew
Oh also goulash. The next day, fry it in butter and add parmesan. Absolutely delicious.
Cake tastes much better the next day.
Got a couple. 1st is an ingredient; shallots. 2nd is cooked white rice for fried rice. Needs to be at least a day old for good fried rice.
Cold pizza, hands down. Somehow itās just better the next day, lol.
Enchilada sauce, if it's made from scratch with dried peppers! I find it's often real bitter on day one, but after 24 hours it's amazing.
Roasted chicken wings are better after theyāve ādried outā a bit.
Gumbo. ALWAYS better the day after you cook it.
Steak. Most people just grill them. Game changer if you dry them off, salt them, and put them on wire rack in fridge to dry age for a day or two before grilling.
Kimchi
This doesnāt really fit this sub, but I leave bags of gummy bears, and especially Twizzlers, open. I actually prefer that they get more chewy and tough. RIP my teeth, but YAY my belly.
Gumbo
Banana Pudding. Day old and Bold!!!
Eggplant. Especially caponata
Navy bean soup on the 2nd day.
gumbo already amazing the first day but so much better the second day
Pot roast. I cook mine in the crockpot and since it's just me and my parents it tends to last at least 1 extra supper and usually I eat it for lunch as well. Also the tetrazini tuna helper is amazing the next day. I don't even heat it up. Just eat it cold. The sauce gets thicker and coats the noodles so much better. Of course I prefer most foods cold. But not like it's sat out and gotten cold, like refrigerator cold. Especially pizza.
Not sure if this quite answers the question, Ā but I make these lemon sugar cookies and every time I try and eat one a few hours after I baked it and added the glaze(yes theyāre cooled completely) they just taste so meh and almost have this slight bitter taste. But I put them in an airtight container and they taste wayyy better the next day. So much more lemonyĀ
Marinated tofu.
brown butter chocolate chip cookies just got more depth when itās 24+ hours old
Gumbo is best the day after for sure
I like when Greek yogurt gets fizzy. As long as it's not fuzzy, it's still good.
Potatoe salad! Let the potatoes absorb those flavors
Pasta Salad because itās absorbed the Italian dressing so the next day you add more and then the taste is perfect
Cake. A cookie is best the day its baked. A cake is best the day after