# Your most shameful culinary practices **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [March 23, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498 "2021-03-23T15:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/141 "2021-03-24T19:08:18Z")
That’s an awful lot of work for a shortcut! ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/142 "2021-03-24T19:10:16Z")
A lot of elapsed time (compared to regular toast) but very little work. 😉 j ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/143 "2021-03-24T19:16:23Z")
I think I would dehydrate a batch of bread in a 200° oven, or dehydrator–bread jerky, if you will–and then lightly toast and _enfromage_ as the urge arises. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/144 "2021-03-24T19:17:59Z")
If you’re going to do that, you may as well add the cheese in the oven - and where’s the fun in _that_? j ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/145 "2021-03-24T19:20:54Z")
I was just addressing the dehydration process that represents such a time sink in your recipe. Prepping for the final nuclear cheesification. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/146 "2021-03-24T19:26:47Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I am almost through and am starting to wonder: has nobody yet confessed to peeing in the sink? Um… peeing in the sink as a culinary practice ?!? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/147 "2021-03-24T19:27:26Z")
Well, it is in the kitchen. Just like the stories about dogs and cats licking the plates do not mean the dogs and cats are boiled afterwards, right? ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/148 "2021-03-24T19:29:04Z")
If you want to use that “sink” time fruitfully, you can convert to microwave cheese on toast pizza. You need to peel and chop up an onion, microwave it with a little oil for about 3 minutes, stopping to stir a couple of times, squirt in some tomato puree and bring back up to temp in the microwave. By the time you’ve cut some cheese and found and chopped some olives (if you have them); and got together some anchovy paste\*, you will have had plenty of time for seven or eight _onerous_ short actuations of your toaster. Spread sauce and anchovy on the toast, sprinkle the olives, lay the toast on top and microwave. Yum! j \* - currently 3 tubes in the cupboard ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/149 "2021-03-24T19:29:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Obviously, I’m the odd person out, I’ll sit in your corner! The discussion of the video worried me - my first thought was, “oh no - I thought fish sauce was just made by fermenting fish with salt, probably putting it in a big barrel or something and letting it sit in the heat for a month or two. What horrible thing are they doing that I don’t know about?” Finding out that fish sauce is made pretty much as I assumed all along is a relief, as I would hate to give it up because it turned out to include ground-up kittens or something. As my son said when he was about 8 and walked through the kitchen as I was adding fish sauce to a Thai curry, “That smells awful, and yet … oddly delicious.” ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/150 "2021-03-24T19:39:03Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > I’m sure someone here has that as a dirty little secret. Not so dirty, really. I keep the Hormel bacon bits on hand, Mrs & I both love them for topping baked 'taters or salads. And I’ve been known to use them occasionally in soups, if it’s just small-batch. Velveeta is best for quick mac-n-cheese, and my go-to for grilled cheese. Miracle Whip & mayo half & half for deviled eggs, cole slaw dressing, and the like. Miracle Whip alone for any sandwich…been doing it all my life, no reason to change. Always the go-to in the boat for fishing trips, white bread, MW, Bar-S thick sliced bologna. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/151 "2021-03-24T19:39:08Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I think perhaps what we Americans call “shortening” might be called “vegetable suet” on the other side of the Atlantic. My understanding was that “shortening” is - or was originally, at least - a term referring to fats that prevent long gluten strands from forming when mixed with flour. In other words, they are shortening the strands. A quick Google search is not immediately confirming this, so I may be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/152 "2021-03-24T19:45:57Z")
I feel like it’s too old and too colloquial a word for that etymology to sound likely. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/153 "2021-03-24T19:47:22Z")
> [@](#): > > but i do use short cuts like pigs in a blanket - vienna’s rolled in canned biscuits. While the fancy store-bought stuff is different, here when I was growing up (80s & 90s), we used cocktail sausages in canned bisucuts (cut a biscuit in half for each sausage). We always used Bryan’s smoked ones (not the all beef). It is (or at least was when I was young) a regional brand. I don’t get my cocktail sausages at one local grocery store because they only have Hillshire Farm. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/154 "2021-03-24T19:48:32Z")
That’s too much like cheating! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/155 "2021-03-24T19:52:16Z")
1. So do I. 👍 2. Ok, now you have lost me. 😱 😲 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/156 "2021-03-24T19:53:31Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I use MSG. Yes, but carefully, in moderation. While not the cause of the silly “Chinese restaurant syndrome” it is still loaded with sodium. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/157 "2021-03-24T19:56:40Z")
[quote=“Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan, post:8, topic:938498”] I eat my cold cereals dry, without milk. [/quote] 👍 Yep. Well, mainly as i am a little lactose intolerant, but also because that way you dont dirty a bowl and a spoon. Frosted Shredded Wheat Minis are my choice. Taste good, high in fiber. Maybe a little too much sugar, but why not? Also good for snack food as are the Choco Cheerios. Why not snack on some real food? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/158 "2021-03-24T19:57:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It seems exactly like what I thought the process of fish sauce making was like: salt & fish & time. Same. Really, it’s a bit more scientific than I expected, with the lab testing and all. Most food is revolting when you get down to it. You know how many insect parts made it into your bread flour? It’s _not zero_. You think your milk suddenly turns sour in a day or two? The microbes were growing in it the whole time; it just seems sudden due to the nature of exponential growth. Fermentation in general is just controlled rot. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/159 "2021-03-24T20:07:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I agree. Better for the environment as well, I hope. Well, Glass is pretty recyclable. Better than the plastic lining _in_ the box. > [@QuickSilver](#): > > Also, I love Bush’s baked beans. I’ll zhuzh them up a bit, but I see no justifiable reason to go through the trouble of making baked beans from scratch. Canned Van Camps pork & beans with chopped hot dogs here. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I certainly don’t use bleach on my cutting boards. I use cleaning vinegar, then hot water and detergent. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I will occasionally use Velveeta for mac and cheese. I found it makes good trout bait. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498/160 "2021-03-24T20:07:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Frosted Shredded Wheat Minis are my choice. Taste good, high in fiber. 21 of those little jobbers (standard serving size per the manufacturer) have 190 calories, 46 grams of carbs, 11 grams of which are sugar and only 6 grams of which are fiber. Pretty low for fiber. And I eat my dry cereal out of a bowl with a spoon at times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-most-shameful-culinary-practices/938498.md?page=9)