1. Bacon - "Everything tastes better with bacon." We know that. It's been proven. It's what we tell ourselves as we ingest more fat into our bodies. Fat tastes good. So do berries. So let's play with other ingredients. Yes, I'll try the bacon ice cream - sweet and salty can delight - but I am done reading about it (and this includes the prosciutto ice cream). Is there any chance - in the name of health - that someone could figure out a way for turkey bacon to be more delicious? Or maybe it's just trading one evil pleasure for another.
2. Breakfasts that are desserts: Doughnuts, brioche pudding, Belgian waffles, French toast with copious amounts of cream are desserts - not breakfast.
3. Cupcakes - Every year, I am assured they are going away. This assurance has been going on for ten years. Don't get me wrong - I love these tasty delectables. I'm just tired of reading about them. There are enough wesbites, books, blogs written about them. Move on to something else. I'm not tired of macarons yet - and they are a harder baked good to master. Food and Wine magazine says we're moving towards savory cupcakes. That could be an improvement.
4. Dust and Foam - It's sort of pretty, I suppose. I am not adverse to it in the restaurant but I actually prefer the Parmesan cheese to the Parmesan foam. Savoring the mushroom sauce instead of the mushroom dust. You can certainly cut calories infusing a dish with air. I do wonder if you wind up hungry an hour later after the air has been digested?
5. Farmers Markets that are grocers - the purpose of the farmers market is to promote and eat locally grown foods. As well as supporting your local farmer. So when I see garlic grown in China in California markets and citrus and bananas in the Minneapolis markets, I think - what's the point?
6. Food Trends - I am as guilty as any other cook in looking at what's up and coming and what's not. The truth is - people will eat what they want to eat, bacon will always be popular, cupcakes will be baked and people will eat what they can afford, have time to cook and like.
7. "Reserve for another use" in recipes - If I need 6 egg whites and am told to "reserve the yolks" for another use - give me some options - preferably one that can accompany the recipe I am making. Every time there are egg yolks leftover all I think about is ice cream.
8. Sliders - Yes, they're tasty, social, cute and yes, there's a lot of them. Have a regular meatball instead of eight small meatball sliders. Your health will thank-you. Your pocketbook will thank you. Although White Castle who probably did invent the first hamburger slider hopes you come back for more.
9. Sous Vide- I've never seen the appeal of cooking food vacuum-sealed in plastic in a water bath. To cook for up to 72 hours. Nor do I want to mortgage my home and build an addition to buy and store the appliance. Part of the joy of cooking is seeing lovely browned meats and vegetables, smelling the aromas that fill the kitchen and anticipating the taste. All that is lost with sous vide cooking.
10. Super foods - Is sea buckthorn replacing acai berries as the new super food? Does it matter if you eat a balanced diet?
11. Whoopie Pies - a strictly personal aversion to a thin cake stuffed with marshmallow cream. Cooking sites are inundated with whoopie pie recipes for every holiday and season and they all make my teeth ache.
I will continue to cook with bacon (sometimes), bake a cupcake (on an off day) and ignore whoopie pies. I just won't read about them anymore. Are there are foods that you never need to read about? Foods you won't cook?
Comments
As I don't eat pork and love bacon (it just doesn't love me), I have recently been introduced to beef bacon as a more "realistic" bacon alternative. I'm an oddball that likes turkey bacon though I don't think of it as a pork bacon replacement as much as just another form of turkey that is crispy. The beef bacon is delicious and satisfies the craving in ways that turkey never will.
As a fellow food writer I have to admit that #6 made me choke on the cupcake that I may or may not have been eating and may or may not have been writing about.
Great piece, Claudia!
I actually love bacon - and consume too much of it. I have only found 1 supplier of turkey bacon that I like. Beef bacon is new to me and will check it out.
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