https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/revealed-how-maldon-sea-flakes-are-made-using-imported-german-rock-salt

An investigation has found that tonnes of mined rock salt are being poured into the production line of one of Britain’s most popular artisanal brands

Does anyone else feel that leaning and knowing how to cook destroys wanting to go to a restaurant? There are things we make at home where I cringe having at any restaurant even high end!

Wow, woke up to over 1,000 unread replies! Thank you to everyone who joined the discussion, shared their perspectives, and threw in their two cents.

Reading through the comments, I want to clarify a major point that keeps coming up: This was never about high-end or Michelin-starred restaurants.

Comparing a solid home-cooked meal to a Michelin-star establishment completely misses the point. Those places are a totally different thing—it's like Disney or Las Vegas. You go for the spectacle, the theater, and the massive production value. Just like Vegas, the magic would completely vanish (and you'd be broke) if you treated that level of dining like everyday fast food.

My post was about the everyday reality of dining out: the casual, mid-tier restaurants, neighborhood spots, and generic chains where prices have skyrocketed while quality has plummeted. Once a home cook masters basic techniques—like proper heat control, building a pan sauce, or hitting exact internal cooking temperatures—the illusion of paying $30 to $50 for a mediocre restaurant entrée completely shatters.

I'm not trying to compete with a team of twenty chefs preparing a sixteen-hour tasting menu. I'm just pointing out that with a little skill and effort, you can easily outclass the vast majority of standard commercial kitchens on any given weeknight.

Thanks again for the incredible discussion!

And one more thing:

Since some of the "Reddit geniuses" in the comments keep complaining that home cooking fails when it comes to "labor-intensive" meals, let’s clear that up too.

You don't need to babysit a dish for 10 to 12 hours straight. If you actually understand kitchen logistics and basic project management, you just split the prep into manageable steps over a series of days.

For example, when making something like a seafood marinara or drunken noodles:

• Day 1: Steam the seafood and freeze it.

• Day 2: Prepare the sauce from scratch and prep the remaining fresh ingredients.

• Day 3: Assemble and cook.

By breaking it down, no single step ever takes more than a couple of hours. It strips the chaos out of high-effort meals and makes them completely attainable. If you're trying to do a massive, multi-component dish all at once on a Tuesday night, you're just creating your own nightmare. Work smarter, not harder.

I’d like to cook more rice dishes for myself and my husband. We are open to any recipes except seafood (due to location).

I am vegetarian and he is omnivore. Usually I cook a variety of non-vegetarian and vegetarian meals throughout the week, if I make a non-vegetarian meal I just make the same thing for myself without meat or use beans/ tofu/ mock meat. So any recipes are welcome!

*Edit: I’m not speaking for anyone else except myself and my family, I’m Central American and my husband is Nordic. We consider these as rice dishes and, and that should be okay because not everything means the same thing to everyone. 

I’m sorry if I caused any offence to anyone. I’d edit the title if I could.

Thank you for all the recipe suggestions!! There‘s so many I’ve never heard if before, really excited to try these!

I don't eat seafood much but due to a family member's dietary limitations I started buying cod fillet from Costco around $15 per lb. Other places are even more expensive.

I remembered in 2002 when my parents bought large amount of cod fillet it was the cheapest fish fillet at $4 per lb. Is cod going extinct or what.

So I dont post on reddit too much, but I need to vent.

What's with chestnuts?

I buy a big bag of them, cut the X shape on the top, and roast them...

More than a quarter of them are moldy and get thrown away.

More than a quarter are burnt to a fossilized state and get thrown away.

Another more than a quarter come out with the inner fibrous layer still so stuck to the "meat" of the chestnut that it cant be separated without crumbling it into a weird starchy powder, and i still manage to get some fibrous bits in there.

So out of like 20 chestnuts, I am left with maybe four good whole ones, and a small pile of starchy powder.

And the taste? Its ok.... The texture? Like an overcooked potato, or an undercooked bean.

I'm 45 and have been struggling with the chestnut my whole life. I think im finally putting my foot down and saying for the huge amount of work required, and the small edible ratio, I think I'm done guys. It feels like theyre so difficult that maybe mother nature just simply wants me (or humans as a whole?) not to fucking eat chestnuts 🤷🏼‍♂️

What do you think? Can someone change my view? Am I doing something wrong?

I remember that, many years ago, using margarine wasn't a choice; it was a necessity because real butter was expensive and not always available.

These days, aside from AOP butters like Le Beurre Bordier or Beurre d’Isigny, butter is comparable in price to margarine. Still, many recipes are formulated with margarine.

I understand that some cakes benefit from using vegetable oil, and that butter isn't universally better. But in those cases, we can simply use vegetable oil instead of margarine.

Boyfriend and I saw a bottle of kind of fancy-looking strawberry wine at Costco and he thought it sounded good, so we bought it. Unfortunately (and quite obviously) it's way too sweet for either of us to enjoy as is. I don't want it to go to waste though, so what are some things you can make with sweet wine? I'm a pretty experienced home cook so I'm open to all ideas.

The last 2 years I've made a pumpkin cheesecake and it's always a huge hit. The first year I did pumpkin chai and last year was pumpkin with a praline pecan topping. Any interesting ideas for what I should make this year?

Thank you!

I tried to make an easy recipe of candied pecans and they turned out tasty enough but not the right texture, just kind of soft and bla. They are expensive so I'm hoping they can be saved. Should I bake them more, or maybe wash and toast them and try another recipe? Any other ideas?

Edit: I baked them at 250f for about 20 minutes and they are perfect!! Thanks everyone!!☺️

Hello home and pro cooks, can you help me?

I love cooking and eating fish, but my choice of fresh fish available locally is very limited. Some frozen fish defrosts well on a plate in the fridge overnight, or in a poly bag, immersed in cold water. However, I am really struggling with fish that comes with a thick ice glaze (defrosts to 2/3 of the frozen weight). I have tried the above ways, but even after drying with paper towels, the fish stays water logged, leaching water when I am trying to cook it. Getting a golden sear is impossible and the fish gets soft, breaking up when I try to turn it. I have some beautiful red mullet fillets and cod loins in my freezer and dont want to ruin them. What should I do?

What are some of your favourite replacements? For example, something that maybe you happen to have more on hand than something else a recipe might call for?
I usually cook my steaks with some red wine. On a recent occasion I happened to have run out, but I had a trusted balsamic vinegar bottle; so I used some of that instead and surprisingly the steak came out very tasty.

Like post says... i am responsible for appetizers and i could do salad, veggies, fruit, cheese but we always do that. Any ideas?

No meat either.... sorry, my family sucks

For those who have made both versions, which did you prefer and why?

So I do a really traditional "Norman Rockwell AF" Thanksgiving, entirely from scratch. But I always like to throw one unhinged thing in there. Last year, it was the homemade Baja Blast pie with pie crust velocirapters fighting over an American flag. The year before it was a marshmallow salad. This year? This year I want to make a tomato seafood aspic. I've always been curious, and when I showed my nine year old, she was so horrified that people ate that that now I have to.

So now is when I come to Reddit.

I found some recipes, but (weirdly enough) there's no reviews. I don't trust the intelligence that is artificial with such an important task. If I'm gonna make something this weird, it's gotta be good.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Anyone have an old cookbook page that their grandma swears by?

Hi guys! I will be hosting a dinner this week as part of a supper club we've started with my friends and it is my turn to host now and I'm nervous but excited haha.

I am basically looking for ideas as to what dishes I could prep for my friends that could be new, tasty and exciting at the same time.

The idea is that I would like to blend indian and middle eastern flavor profiles (basically representing how I grew up as an Indian in Dubai :D)

So im looking out for tasty ideas for a:

- entree/appetizer/hors d'oeuvre (mezze plate with some indian chutneys?)

- main course dish (am thinking machboos rice with chicken tikka or other way round with biriyani rice and arabic style grilled chicken - meshawi)

- a dessert (really struggling with this as im not a big desserts guy haha)

P.S - am cooking for about 10 people alone so I am looking for easy to make/scale dishes haha

thanks in advance! :)

I made a tarragon-infused simple syrup to use in a glaze for apple fritters. They were good, but now I have all this extra syrup. Ive made tarkhuna (Georgian tarragon soda), and I've added it to smoothies and apple cider.

I am looking for other uses, food or beverage, for the tarragon syrup. I don't drink, so while I'm aware this would be useful in cocktails, I can't make those. Thank you!

My ex got the stand mixer when we split, and my family just bought me a new one for my birthday, yay. Have a meat grinder attachment from before, and planning on getting a pasta roller attachment soon. I'll take anything, but tell me what you like to use yours for!

I love balsamic vinegar glaze with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil and I like it on strawberries but other than that, I don’t really use the glaze that much. I was wondering if anyone had any other uses for a regular balsamic vinegar and balsamic vinegar glaze.

Alright, r/cooking I want to hear what y'all put together for your homemade spice blends, and by homemade, I mean HOME MADE. I don't want to hear about spice blend brands you buy from the store. I want to hear from the kitchen chemists who mix and match powders and what you use them on. If you grind something up to make some of the ingredients, even better.

I am cooking Saag paneer later on for my family. I LOVE spicy food, but my wife and daughter not so much so needs to be very mild for them.

Any idea how best to "split" it and add spice to mine at a later point in the recipe? Is my best bet two literal different pots (which would be a lot of added work)?

Both of our sets of parents are divorced, so we go to 4 Thanksgiving dinners over the course of the week 🫠 I’m doing the meat for 2 of them this year. I don’t like Turkey, but especially not 4x a week lol. I’m making beef bourguignon for one of them, but I have no idea what to make for the second! For this second dinner I’m prepping most of the food and have a very small kitchen. 5 adults, 2 children.

Is a ham appropriate? I’m open to dishes that aren’t usually served on Thanksgiving, but I’d like there to be a meat either as the main or as part of the dish. I’m open to traditional or unique recipes, also! Don’t want to do a rib roast becuase 4 dinners gets expensive. TIA!

Hello! I have a recipe that requires me to melt together 1/2 pound of Velveeta "cheese" and 1 cup of butter. It is supposed to produce what's essentially an emulsified cheese sauce for the next step. I have successfully made this recipe before (although, tbf, I did always have trouble at this step). But for several years now, every time I try it, I cannot get the cheese and the butter to combine. What happens is it looks like tiny particles of cheese floating in grease (what used to happen is that eventually, these particles would grow and the whole thing would come together).

I've tried everything I can think of to fix this. I have tried melting in a double boiler. I have whisked it. I have added a splash of water to try to coax the ingredients back together. Etc etc.

At this point, I feel pretty silly because I thought melting Velveeta was supposed to be easy. I'm one more try away from scrapping the recipe altogether.

Does anyone have ANY thoughts?? Many thanks in advance!

EDIT: For reference (pls don't judge me): the recipe is for Chocolate Cheese Fudge. If interested, here it is in its entirety:

Ingredients
-          1/2 pound Velveeta cheese, sliced
-          1 cup butter
-          1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-          1 cup chopped nuts, pecans, walnuts (I do NOT add the nuts)
-          2 (16-ounce) boxes confectioners' sugar
-          1/2 cup cocoa powder
 
Method:
 
1.      Spray lightly the bottom of a 9 by 2-inch square pan with a nonstick spray.
2.     In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the cheese and butter together, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and nuts.
3.     In a large bowl sift together the sugar and cocoa. Pour the cheese mixture into the sugar and cocoa mixture and stir until completely mixed. The candy will be very stiff.
4.     Using your hands, remove candy from bowl and press evenly and firmly into pan. Because of the amount of butter in this recipe, pat the top of the candy with a paper towel to remove the excess oil. Place pan in refrigerator until candy is firm.
5.      To serve candy, cut into squares.

I’m looking to replace my bamboo cutting board as apparently it’s the worst type of wood to use your knives on. I was recommended hinoki by my local knife shop but I’m not a fan of the pale wood color so I’m settling on cherry wood instead. I came across The Boardman online and their boards look really nice and well made but very expensive ($200-$300+ depending on size). I’m okay with spending good money on something that will last a life time but I haven’t been able to find many reviews on this specific company.

Would love to hear your recommendations for quality cutting boards, especially if you have experience with cherry wood or The Boardman.