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"If You Use A Glass Cutting Board, We Can't Be Friends": Cooks Of All Levels Are Revealing Their Most Divisive Culinary Opinions, And They're Pretty Hot Takes

"If a restaurant serves this, I’m not even going to bother with the rest of the menu. If you can’t get the basics right, don’t waste my time."

People hold strong opinions when it comes to cooking. I was reminded of this when u/CessnaBlackBelt asked home cooks, "What's your most gatekeeping culinary opinion?" There were so many hot takes you could have cooked an egg in the comments section. Here are just some of the opinions served:

1. "If a Middle Eastern or Mediterranean restaurant serves bad or bland hummus, I’m not even going to bother with the rest of the menu. If you can’t get the basics right, don’t waste my time."

customers has trouble swallowing some really bad hummus in "kitchen nightmares"

2. "Burning the sh*t out of food does not make it Cajun."

cajun chicken being cut

3. "MSG makes average food delicious, and takes delicious food over the top. It is not a bad ingredient."

chef david chang informing people that msg is not bad in "ugly delicious"

4. "People slam TikTok recipes, but a lot of them give you the info a four-page website recipe does in, like, 30 seconds, with better visual cues for how to do it."

cardi b making jalapeno avocado dip in the blender

5. "Stop calling mayo with anything mixed into it aioli."

making aioli with oil and crushed carlic

6. "Seasoning without measurements is way more fun than seasoning with measurements. I’ve stopped caring about teaspoons and tablespoons, and just throw stuff into the pan until it tastes good."

7. "While recipes are useful, folks should prioritize why things work in a recipe over just memorizing a recipe."

8. "Most recipes you find online use way too little spices. One teaspoon of cumin? That's it? Unless you're making a meal for one, GTFO."

grabbing spices from the pantry

9. "If you don't allow chicken to brown when you're pan frying it, just...don't."

browning chicken in a pan

10. "I'm of the opinion that you can do whatever the hell you want with food, but if you fundamentally change a dish, you have to change its name. It's all about expectations. If I go into a restaurant and order a carbonara, then when it arrives, they say, 'Oh, we make it with Peperami snack sausages and cream cheese,' then it's...no longer a carbonara. Certain dishes are called what they are for a reason."

carbonara

11. "You can't freakin' caramelize onions in less than 20 minutes. I don't give a damn what the hell you think you're doing, or how you think you're going to 'hack' this — that's not caramelized! It just f*cking isn't."

caramelizing onions

12. "When people say white folks can’t cook, I just know that they've been eating the wrong food."

"emily in paris" stars cooking

13. "If you change a recipe when you make it, you’re not allowed to rate it in the reviews without making the original. There's nothing worse than someone rambling about the 14 changes they made to a recipe, and then giving it a three-star review."

losing their temper in "the rehearsal" (inset) comments section with one user criticizing a recipe they drastically changed

14. "One piece of garlic is never enough."

florence pugh with garlic

15. "Wash your filthy hands. I don't want food poisoning again. And if you use a glass cutting board, we can't be friends."

chef telling people to wash their hands first before they touch meat

16. "A lot of the time, it’s actually not salt that's missing, but some sort of acidity. Especially for things like soups, stews, and sauces. Adding something like a small splash of an appropriate vinegar (I pretty much always use apple cider or white wine vinegar), or even citrus juice, can seriously elevate a dish."

Guy Fieri cooking chicken with oranges

17. "If you can't take a full bite of your sandwich or burger in one go, it is a fundamental failure. If your sandwich or burger requires a skewer to maintain integrity, it has fundamentally failed. If you want more filling, scale horizontally, not vertically."

patron stares at a burger that is several stacks high

18. And finally: "Please scrape the food off your chopping board with the non-cutting edge of your knife. That is all."

"halloween" michael meyers with a knife

What's your own culinary opinion that'd be considered a hot take? If you can take the heat, drop yours in the comments.

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.