My major problem with restaurant ‘‘pie’’ is that it’s seldom that.
Usually it’s semi-pie ingredients mixed with something else, or a kind of cobbler concoction that only slightly resembles real pie.
Good luck finding actual apple (or other) pie on a restaurant menu.
I have been to Italy, and Sicily, and I most certainly had all kinds of pasta there. But where I live, apart from Olive Garden <shudder> the only other sorta Italian place is a very mediocre family-owned joint where I once saw roaches marching across the salad bar - I’ll never know how good their spaghetti might be.
That’s interesting. A few weeks ago I bought a choice steak from Kroger. After cooking it and taking a bite, I immediately thought this was actually a prime steak that got mislabeled (And I should know, my son and I eat prime steaks every friday. lol).
I was wondering how that happened especially since this Kroger doesn’t even sell prime cuts.
My Eggplant Parmigiana is to die for! Restaurant versions are invariably disappointing. An exception is the Eggplant Parmigiana appetizer they have at Balagio’s Restaurant in Homewood. It’s the best I’ve ever eaten out.
Recipe and/or instructions please?
I thought of one that I rarely order out… but not for the reason you might think.
Asparagus is something I rarely order out. Not because I’m any great shakes at preparing it, but because we grow our own, and freshly harvested asparagus is so much different than the stuff you get at stores and restaurants, that anything except spears I picked within the last day (usually within the last 15 minutes) is invariably disappointing.
Doesn’t that occasionally work the other way too>? If he’s got 100 prime, 200 choice and 300 select to fill, he’s going to find that, even if in an impartial judging they might come out 90 prime, 190 choice and 310 select? In other words, he might grade some sides as prime that are really choice, and some as choice that should probably be select?
Fuck, guys, don’t read this thread before lunch is all I’m sayin’.
:google ‘patty melt near me’:
I don’t think there is any food I won’t order out because I can do it better, but I’m very picky about a couple of things: a) barbecue, because I kick ass at smoking and make killer sauces, but there area couple of places I trust; and b) cocktails, I make great cocktails and if I have any doubt about the bar’s ability, I just have a beer.
Baked beans. I have yet to like anybody’s baked beans but my own. The standard American recipe is just not to my taste at all. I do them over night with thick tomato sauce spiced with my own ras-al-hanout. Sweet and beans should never go together!! (Unless you are making Chinese buns.)
Most Mexican food, but that’s really just my weirdness. I am one of those cilantro/soap people, and I also don’t much like cumin. A small amount of cumin, if it’s toasted properly before use, is quite good. But that’s not how most restaurants use it. I also can’teat jalapenos or any stronger peppers. So really, it would just be ridiculous to go to a Mexican restaurant and try to order with those three restrictions. They’d end up bringing me a bowl of rice with melted cheese on top.
Beef. Not because I cook it well but because it has to be well done, and most restaurant cooks are true @$$holes about that. They give me lousy cuts with the outside burnt and often the inside is still pink because they “refuse to ruin it.” I’ll just make my own, thanks.
Soup, except pho, and only at certain places. Nobody else does soup right.
There is a butcher shop maybe two miles from my house where I can get Prime, Dry or Wet Aged, custom cut to any thickness I want and trimmed to my specifications. I have a wood pellet fired grill and a selection of several woods to choose from. I have a Weber propane grill that can get blistering hot to sear the steaks after cooking over the wood. I can make a damn good steak.
BUT… that would never stop me from ordering a steak in a restaurant. I love steak so why not get it if it sounds good? The bonus is I don’t have to go to the butcher shop, the grocery, figure out the timing for my baked potato and my wife’s sweet potato, pick out and prepare another side dish, fire up two grills, pick out a bottle or two of wine, figure out how to coordinate cooking times for my steak and my wife’s salmon, prepare a salad, make a trip to the really good bakery to pick out a dessert, clean up, etc.
Don’t get me wrong… there are times that I really love doing all of those things (other than the clean up), but after a busy day it is nice to go to a nice place and all I have to do is park and pull out my credit card at the end.
Sous vide. Salt, pepper, fresh garlic. Rosemary maybe.
This mostly covers my ordering out rules. Brisket? Mine matches the best I’ve ever had at a restaurant, and is far better than most. Smoked chicken? No restaurant has managed a bird better than mine. Ribs? Sigh… I’m getting there, but have to admit I’m still beat by at least two in Texas: Cooper’s in Llano, and Hard-8 in Stephenville.
I’m trying again today, btw. Smoker’s been going since 10am, and the ribs went on about an hour ago. New rub, so will try them tonight. Of course, I’ll need to visit the above restaurants soon for comparison. All in the interest of making the best ribs of course. It’s tough, continually sampling and testing but I persevere somehow.
That’s funny, because I never eat pancakes out. I’m not a huge pancake fan, and it’s just not worth eating mediocre pancakes. But my husband loves pancakes, and makes really superb pancakes. So I often eat his.
I’m curious what, in your opinion, makes it not pie?
I generally consider it pie if it has two crusts, possibly even if it just has a bottom crust and is otherwise pie-like. Commercial pie is often icky, in my experience, but I consider it pie. Just bad pie.
Mmmm. I used to grow asparagus. Yeah, I often just picked it and ate it raw in the garden, standing next to the plant. That’s SO much better than store-bought asparagus. I like the store bought stuff too, though.
Red Beans and Rice. Doesn’t mean I won’t order it, but chances are mine is much better. Same for Crawfish Étouffée.
In my case, it’s because I use grass fed and finished beef, which is way better IMO thank most restaurant beef.
Otherwise there are certain breakfast combos I won’t order unless I don’t have much choice (hotel breakfast bar stuff). I tend to order seafood at higher-end restaurants because we don’t have much of that in the midwest that I can trust myself to not blow the cooking of it.