Acceptable condiments/insult to the cook?

[MelanieM]

It wouldn't bother me at all. If a guest wants to put shoe polish on their spaghetti, it's fine by me -- in my opinion, they're ruining their meal, but not anyone else's. And if they enjoy it -- wonderful. My husband is Canadian and they put vinegar on their french fries and mayonnaise on everything else. Go figure.

 

This! Right down to the Canadian part, with vinegar and mayo for our fries. lol!

 

When I make food for people, I want them to enjoy it. If they'll enjoy it more with ketchup or ranch dressing or loads of salt, then that's ok with me. I might certainly point out how weird it is if they start putting ketchup on their french toast <shudder>, but as long as I don't have to eat it, I'm good. (In my personal relationships, pointing out that something is a weird food combination wouldn't be insulting. I wouldn't necessarily do that with a stranger.)

[lynn]

My dad is bad about grabbing the salt before tasting anything. I always feel like serving a dish of salt to go along with dinner but I think he'll take offense. My fil is a ketchup person whenever I have dinner out he gets out the ketchup. I think he does it to annoy me. We'll go to a nice resteraunt and he asks for ketchup for his baked potato:001_huh:. I don't get offended I just roll my eyes....whatever.

[Jean in Newcastle]

You forgot Mang Tomas' All Purpose Sauce - it is a (very gross, in my opinion) Filipino condiment that is primarily flavored sugar and bread crumbs. I'm not offended when dh drags out any of the other condiments you mentioned but when he drags out the All Purpose sauce then I am offended! (Not to mention that dh is diabetic and that stuff could kill him. . .:glare: )

[Ellie]

Yes, in some cuisines, you do put the sauces etc out with the food. That's different. To get up and get something...not so much.

:iagree:

 

There's a difference between adding something that the cook/host has set out on the table, and getting up fromt the table to get it yourself, or, really, even to ask for it (unless it's a family meal, KWIM?). As a guest it is rude, oh so rude, to do that.

[Krista in LA]

I voted for all of them because I don't really care what people put on their food as long as they aren't rude about it and commenting that the food doesn't taste good. I put hot pepper sauce on lots of things not because they don't taste good, but because I think they taste better with it.

[Cera]

I honestly don't care what anyone puts on their food as long as they eat it with a minimal amount of complaining. My 5 year old has been known to dip her turkey sandwich in ketchup and the 3 year old will dips broccoli in strawberry jelly.

 

I've been known to like some strange combination myself.

[amy g.]

Not offensive to me at all. My dad and husband and son and myself like hot sauce. My daughters won't eat anything spicy. No one would be happy if I made something somewhere in the middle and expected them not to change it.

 

 

I like everyone to do whatever they want to have a good meal.

[BikeBookBread]

DH used to put hot sauce in my homemade soup. BBQ sauce on my lemon herb chicken. It used to *really* bother me...I took it WAY too personally. I've lightened up A LOT on this one, but I still think that salt and pepper are the only condiments for a table, unless it's a "bar" type of dinner: potato, taco, hamburgers, etc...then I put out whatever. If he wants to add something, he can go and get it from the fridge, and I won't bug him anymore.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

The acceptable condiments are the ones that are on the table.

[AK_Mom4]

At home, any condiment addition is acceptable. I have one DD that drowns her eggs in ketchup, tobasco, and hot sauce. Bleck.

When eating out, my children are taught to only use the condiments that are placed on the table by the host. Period.

[Tammyla]

Condiments don't bother me one way or the other. I've paused and blinked a few times over the years, but never been offended.

 

Strangest two were a gentleman asking for peanut butter to top his garlic toast, and a raw egg in the middle of a pizza.

[LizzyBee]

Dh likes things I don't, such as ketchup or salsa on scrambled eggs. I don't take it personally, though. I don't think I'd be offended by anything he (or someone else) might choose to put on their food unless they made a big show of doing it to hide the taste.

[Guest Katia]

Any condiment is accepted as general here as long as the one eating the condiment on the food thinks it enhances the food's flavor.

 

It is interesting to me, that those you don't like, say, ketchup on something they don't find it acceptable on, use words like:

 

drown

bath

slather

 

But, the person using that condiment doesn't see it that way at all. They love it and they are not drowning, slathering or giving their food a bath; they are enhancing the flavor.

 

Let each person enjoy their food the way it tastes best to them. Please don't be offended or insulted just because others have different tastes than your own.

[LizzyBee]

My husband is Canadian and they put vinegar on their french fries and mayonnaise on everything else. Go figure.

 

I'm not Canadian. But one of my best childhood/teenage memories is french fries with vinegar, salt, and ketchup from the Rotary booth at the county fair. I'd much rather have great french fries than fried snickers bars, etc. that are in vogue now. :D

[IsabelC]

Yep that ^^^ Add whatever you like, but taste the food first!

[Rosie_0801]

This thread is cracking me up. Over here, it is a no no to offend the food gene! One may analyse and consider how the dish may be improved. One may NOT offend the food gene. The analysis must be about improving the dish or saying it isn't nice enough to bother. The analysis must not involve actually changing the dish to be something else. For example, one must not say that a salad with miso dressing would be better without using miso. You may say less miso, more miso, a different type of miso, or "that was gross, let's not have it again" but don't say to leave out the miso. You can't leave miso out of miso dressing and it still be miso dressing, ok!

 

As for condiments, I think having become mostly vegan we've resolved that particular source of food gene offensiveness. How many times did I cook a delightfully flavoured piece of corned beef just to have dh slather mustard over it? "I like mustard on my corned beef!" he says. With that kind of mustard, it wouldn't matter how it was flavoured or if there was any meat under it at all. I could have given him a slice of crappy supermarket bread with mustard and it would have tasted the same. It's one thing to enhance, it's another thing to dump a condiment over the top and smother it.

 

I think the most insulting condiment is commercially bought tomato sauce. I don't think anything needs tomato sauce (unless it was an ingredient in the dish) unless it tastes revolting, so don't dare put tomato sauce on anything I make unless I've already agreed that it's revolting!

 

Very touchy food gene, here :D and no I don't recognise a person's right to destroy the cook's food, even if I am not the person cooking. Of course, no one here needs to be concerned or offended by my attitude because they will never be eating at my house because it is too far away. Hmm. Keptwoman is closest. Keptwoman: Don't even think of coming up here and tipping sauce over my food, I'll boot you back across the ditch! :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh, then there was the time I prepared a Christmas dinner where I managed to have variety for everyone, and everyone included wheat allergies, dairy allergies, egg allergies, vinegar allergies and a diabetic. Then, my sister (who had two of the above allergies) turned around and said my food had made her feel sick. She had felt sick when she had arrived! To add insult to injury, my father and brother told me I was being unreasonable!

 

!!

Rosie

[phathui5]

It wouldn't bother me a bit. Everyone has different tastes.

 

Yup.

[LibraryLover]

For a Christmas present, I just ordered a case of 200 packets for him to take pack to his fraternity. :chillpill:

 

I've never purchased it and I don't know if he's ever had it. However, I know he will love this gift!

 

Thank you, Bill!

 

 

Has he tried Cholula (Original)?

 

It's a bad habit to start, because it is pricey (and one tends to want to drown the eggs because it's soooo good. But Cholula and eggs is an amazing combo.

/QUOTE]

[Spy Car]

For a Christmas present, I just ordered a case of 200 packets for him to take pack to his fraternity. :chillpill:

 

I've never purchased it and I don't know if he's ever had it. However, I know he will love this gift!

 

Thank you, Bill!

 

 

He'll love it! Guaranteed.

 

I've actually never had Cholula in a "packet" (only in bottles) but either way? Yum!

 

Feliz Navidad.

 

Bill

[Brigitte]

It bothers me when someone salts their food before they try it.

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

That drives me absolutely crazy too! Dh does that all the time, but he is getting better about it. Everyone in his family does that too. My mother and I add salt to dishes during the preparation of the dish. Dh's mother salts at the end of the cooking or when the food is in the serving dish or not at all. Her food tastes salty to me, because the flavor of the salt has not melded with the flavors of the other ingredients. So, dh is accustomed to everything being salty. I don't understand salting before you have even tasted the food. Salt is a seasoning, not a condiment. :glare:

 

Can you tell this really bugs me? ;):D

[LibraryLover]

He'll love it! Guaranteed.

 

I've actually never had Cholula in a "packet" (only in bottles) but either way? Yum!

 

Feliz Navidad.

 

Bill

 

 

LOL They are the same as those ketchup packets. I wanted to get him the pump 1/2 gallon, but then he would have to refrigerate that in the house kitchen, and who knows how many of his brothers would 'share' it. :grouphug: Feel the delta love. :tongue_smilie: This way he can share but still get some.

[joannqn]

Dh likes things I don't, such as ketchup or salsa on scrambled eggs. I don't take it personally, though. I don't think I'd be offended by anything he (or someone else) might choose to put on their food unless they made a big show of doing it to hide the taste.

:iagree:

 

I'm so picky myself, that I'm perfectly happy letting other people be picky too. I'll always try to cook something I know the other person will like, but if they add strange condiments, that's fine with me.

 

The only time I've even come close to being offended over cooking was when a friend's kids (all 4 of them) failed to eat most of their food and dessert on several occasions. I had specifically prepared food that most kids enjoy only to have all of them only eat 1-2 bites and having to throw the rest in the trash. Each visit, I prepared something different. Even dessert was tossed in the trash. It was the waste that bothered me most. I finally said something to mom, and we came to the decision that the kids only get a few bites to begin with so there isn't any waste. The happy ending is that we finally found something I cook that they all really like...that's what they get every time they eat at my house now.

[Spy Car]

LOL They are the same as those ketchup packets. I wanted to get him the pump 1/2 gallon, but then he would have to refrigerate that in the house kitchen, and who knows how many of his brothers would 'share' it. :grouphug: Feel the delta love. :tongue_smilie: This way he can share but still get some.

 

Good news for the future, you really don't need to refrigerate Cholula (although we generally do).

 

But if the frat bros get a taste of this stuff, his supply will be in grave jeopardy ;)

 

Bill

[LibraryLover]

Good to know!

 

PS I am not allowed to say 'frat'. This word denotes debauchery and an unflattering Belushi movie. These boys tell me they are trying to change all that. "Mom, Mrs LaurieNE, we don't ever want to lose our charter!"

 

 

 

 

 

Good news for the future, you really don't need to refrigerate Cholula (although we generally do).

 

But if the frat bros get a taste of this stuff, his supply will be in grave jeopardy ;)

 

Bill

[fivetails]

I don't care what you want to put on your food! If it's in my fridge or cupboards, you're welcome to use it. :)

 

*says the girl who puts ketchup on darn near everything*

[fivetails]

My husband is Canadian and they put vinegar on their french fries and mayonnaise on everything else. Go figure.

 

:lol:

 

Vinegar, ketchup, pepper + a basket of rink fries = :001_wub:

[LibraryLover]

I just noticed that over 40 people voted Vinegar, and I can't think of anything but chips/fries that would work with vinegar. (Unless you're talking salad dressing).

 

Yo? What up?

[Spy Car]

Good to know!

 

PS I am not allowed to say 'frat'. This word denotes debauchery and an unflattering Belushi movie. These boys tell me they are trying to change all that. "Mom, Mrs LaurieNE, we don't ever want to lose our charter!"

 

I thought you said he was a Delta? ;):D

 

Bill

[fivetails]

I just noticed that over 40 people voted Vinegar, and I can't think of anything but chips/fries that would work with vinegar. (Unless you're talking salad dressing).

 

Yo? What up?

 

Steamed spinach! :D

[Jean in Newcastle]

I just noticed that over 40 people voted Vinegar, and I can't think of anything but chips/fries that would work with vinegar. (Unless you're talking salad dressing).

 

Yo? What up?

 

Dh puts vinegar on fish. And lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) absolutely need a touch of vinegar mixed with chili peppers to dip in.

[KidsHappen]

Well, generally speaking, salt & pepper but a case could be made for each of the items you listed depeding on what you were serving. Chili, well then tabasco would be appropriate. Chinese food, then sure soy sauce. Seafood, of course lemon juice. I try to put out the normal condiments for each meal but sometimes someone will surprise me, like my BIL who eats ketchup on everything. :001_huh:

[KidsHappen]

It bothers me when someone salts their food before they try it. :)

 

My hubby once had a boss who would take serious job canidates out for a steak dinner before offering a job. If they salted their food before tasting it, they didn't get the job. I personally never salt meat at all. :confused:

[Janet in WA]

I voted for all of them, including other. I don't care in the least what condiments someone adds to the food I cook. I'm kind of surprised that this is such an issue for some people.

[Peela]

I would be thrilled if I cooked a meal that people didnt enjoy so much, but they did enjoy it with condiments. Yes, I coudl get hurt..and have done...but, aroudn here, if two out of 4 of us enjoy the same meal, its a good day. Dh and one kid are very fussy. If they can add a condiment and then enjoy it...well, better than a sour face.

I have a cooking job and I am amazed at the umber of people who have to add masses of salt to a meal...and dh often comments that the food I make is tasteless. I think poeple train themselves with lots of salt, and then low salted food does taste bland. Also, if you eat a diet high in processed foods, or a lot of take away foods, "normal" homecooked food can taste pretty bland. The range of tastes out there is quite extreme- the food dh eats is to me very extreme in terms of both sugar and salt.

I never realised people actually thought about these things so much though :)

[LibraryLover]

I thought you said he was a Delta? ;):D

 

Bill

 

 

No no no...delta is simply short for 'frat'. :D There's Delta U and Delta E and Delta C and Delta B....and Delta My Mother Said She Would Kill Me If I Got Alcohol Poisioning.

[FlockOfSillies]

Same here.

[tdeveson]

I'd much rather have great french fries than fried snickers bars, etc. that are in vogue now. :D

 

Seriously? People eat that? :tongue_smilie:

[Jet]

The only acceptable condiment or seasoning to put on a dish made and served by a host to a dinner guest is what the host has put on the table. Anything else is an insult to the cook.  It is absolutely the height of poor manners to go rummaging around the host's kitchen or refrigerator for sauce or seasonings to add to a dinner dish prepared by a host.  People who think that they should be able to have everything exactly the "way they like it" no matter how offensive they are to the host are the worst kind of rude and entitled.