Why do people get offended when you add salt/pepper?

[BRMC117]

I wouldn't be offended, but I admit I would think that the person's palate is very narrow, which is why they have to drown food in salt, hot sauce, ketchup, whatever.

I personally like minimal salt in my food. I like to taste the other spices & flavors instead of just a salty taste. Ultimately, I'd prefer a chef to leave the food less salty & allow those who want salty food to add it themselves.

same here I never add salt to anything

 

[demimondaine]

this is why i don't cook for others! haha

well, i'm not very skilled in the kitchen, so i tend to mask things with hot sauce, garlic, lemon, etc. i started salting foods pretty recently, and it's a habit i'd like to kick.

however, i really have come to appreciate subtle flavors in better cooking at the same time.

all in all, i understand.. sort of.. the exasperation a cook might feel, but different strokes!

 

[Tallulah]

I wouldn't be offended, but I admit I would think that the person's palate is very narrow, which is why they have to drown food in salt, hot sauce, ketchup, whatever.

I personally like minimal salt in my food. I like to taste the other spices & flavors instead of just a salty taste. Ultimately, I'd prefer a chef to leave the food less salty & allow those who want salty food to add it themselves.

Yep, this. And the thing about not adding salt and pepper before you've even tasted the food.

And if I am serving you a steak and you immediately drown it in steak sauce, it makes me make a mental note never to waste a good steak on you again.

 

[Oberon]

Whose plate is it anyway?

I cannot believe the level of bigotry in this thread, in which people assume that unless you share their taste, you don't have taste... or are otherwise somehow personally unworthy. The application of condiments to food (even steak sauce on a steak, Tallulah) is no reflection on character. It may be the reflection of the relative sensitivity an individual's taste buds and olfactory sensors.

Tolerance, people... tolerance.

 

[Haphazard]

But seriously, if you're just going to drown the food in other tastes, why bother buying or making good food? It's a waste of time and effort.

 

[Oberon]

But seriously, if you're just going to drown the food in other tastes, why bother buying or making good food? It's a waste of time and effort.

And who was it, exactly, that granted you authority to be the final arbiter of what I, or some other dinner guest, should consider good food?

The blending of flavors on a plate is a matter of personal preference. As a culinary explorer I'll try anything once... but I refuse to let someone else judge me as some sort of Neanderthal because I prefer my sashimi with a touch of wasabe and soy.

 

[MacGuffin]

People who put steak sauce on a good steak don't have good taste. Or just don't like steak.


(I don't like steak).

 

[Oberon]

...and why would you assume that the manky slab of camel meat that Tallulah puts in front of you is a 'good steak'?

 

[miss fortune]

Whose plate is it anyway?

I cannot believe the level of bigotry in this thread, in which people assume that unless you share their taste, you don't have taste... or are otherwise somehow personally unworthy. The application of condiments to food (even steak sauce on a steak, Tallulah) is no reflection on character. It may be the reflection of the relative sensitivity an individual's taste buds and olfactory sensors.

Tolerance, people... tolerance.

like I said... try the food first and then season all you want... :rolli:

It's presumptuous to season before trying (like I do with pepper ) but if you don't like it after you've tried it you have a right to modify it

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

But seriously, if you're just going to drown the food in other tastes, why bother buying or making good food? It's a waste of time and effort.

This thread appears not to recognize that there is a middle ground between no/minimal seasoning and drowning food in salt or condiments. Salt, pepper, and other spices enhance food when used judiciously. I think it's just as silly to not season your food at all as it is to obscure the taste with gobs of ketchup or salt. Seasoning is like makeup on women. When you eat out, your food is probably salted and spiced when you get it but you don't taste it overtly. Just like properly applied makeup looks like you're not wearing any.

Just sayin.

(Didn't mean to call out just Hap...the quote was just handy on the last page.)

 

[Oberon]

It's important to maintain a sense of proportion here. If you've just been served up a fine entree by Thomas Keller at the French Laundry, you'd be insane to start by reaching for the salt. On the other hand, if you've just been served a hot dog on a paper plate on someone's patio, there's nothing wrong with reaching for the mustard. And there are gradations in between.

Considering someone a philistine because they apply steak sauce to steak seems rather extreme to me, but that's just me...

 

[Haphazard]

Considering someone a philistine because they apply steak sauce to steak seems rather extreme to me, but that's just me...

there's a difference between liking steak sauce and DUMPING THE ENTIRE BOTTLE ON YOUR STEAK.

 

[Oberon]

there's a difference between liking steak sauce and DUMPING THE ENTIRE BOTTLE ON YOUR STEAK.

Acknowledged. Still, it seems to me that if you don't like how I eat my steak, you have a personal problem.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Acknowledged. Still, it seems to me that if you don't like how I eat my steak, you have a personal problem.

Agreed.

And if you cook for yourself or you eat out, who cares. But if someone is cooking for you, I can see this viewpoint. While one is free to douse a steak in sauce if that's what one likes, it obliterates flavors that the person cooking is working hard to create. So you can see why the cook would not want to cook for this person again, or wouldn't take the time and cost to select good ingredients. It's like working hard to create a spectacular fireworks display and having someone shoot them off in the noonday sun.

 

[prplchknz]

for steak it depends on how good it tastes, because i've had excellent steak that's like om nom nom that doesn't need anything. But on the other hand i've had steak that tasted like paper and was flavorless and that needed steak sauce, it just depends on the steak.

 

[Oberon]

I was offended at that lady in Chicago who put all that vegetable crap on my hot dog. Does that count?

 

[prplchknz]

I was offended at that lady in Chicago who put all that vegetable crap on my hot dog. Does that count?

did you order a chicago hotdog?

 

[Oberon]

did you order a chicago hotdog?

Yep... all the way. It was really what I ordered.

 

[prplchknz]

Yep... all the way. It was really what I ordered.

then no

 

[rhinosaur]

My GF's dad puts salt all over his food before he's even tasted it!

I don't get offended though, I just think he's strange.