what are the foods you're snobby about?

tell us tell us

what foods, specifically, do you care deeply about? what do you refuse to eat if it's not perfect, or doesn't meet some (admittedly) arbitrary standard of goodness or taste?

I'm really fussy about oatmeal
- got to be Bob's Red Mill
- got to be cooked with 1:1 water:oatmeal ratio so it's kind of dry and the oats are chewy individual units with no slime
- I eat this every day

that is some good oatmeal. oatmeal is horrible when it turns to mush. on the other hand, i love congee/jook, especially when it turns to mush. i am snobby about

– corn
- the freshness of atlantic fish
- strawberries, raspberries, peaches
– coffee being dark, but not dark roast

my girlfriend is snobby about

– jasmine rice
– pho
– red vines (fuck you, twizzlers)
– apples

i don't really eat room temperature sandwiches under any circumstances. sandwiches should be pressed or grilled.

i don't know if snobby is the right word for me, probably more like pedantic

- toast
- tea

toast must be perfectly crisp all over, no soft bits, but no burnt bits either.
there is a perfect balance of tea strength, sweetness and milkiness that is impossible for anyone to achieve except me.

Off the top of my head -- grits, vinegar, tomatoes. I'll think of others.

what is it about vinegar you're snobby about, out of curiosity?

pizza

Yeah I'll say pizza as well, I've been racking my brains. Soups too - have to be home made or gtfo.

Remy, I like the different flavors of different vinegars, have about 7 or 8 different ones in the pantry, and try to take care to use the one in a dish that matches best with the other ingredients. I guess that's a little snobby instead of a lot snobby?

i guess i'm snobby abt vinegar cuz someone gave me a small £10 bottle of aceto balsamico di modena which seemed altogether excessive, but rly it was EXCELLENT even if i only ever used it on fish and chips and supermarket bags of rocket salad

Was thinking about this thread as I fell asleep last night, and really I'm snobby about everything, even though I'm willing to eat crappy food in between the great, carefully planned meals. I'm judgmental about every bite, just not judgmental enough to try to make every meal omg wonderful. Sometimes I just need to shovel some coal into the furnace because I've got too much non-food stuff on my mind.

I guess I'm snobby about soy sauce in the way you are about vinegar, WmC. I'm not sure that I know - academically – the differences between the types, but I'm very aware of their different flavors and relative usefulness in recipes of different stripes.

I once had pizza covered in nettle (With JBR and Treppel and Ned, maybe?) and didn't like it. It *tasted* great, but it just seemed a waste? Pretentious? Over-wrought? That may have been the bridge too far – the moment I found out exactly how much I /do/ and /don't/ appreciate haut cuisine.

That sounds like the kind of pizza you'd be forced to eat in a Grimm Bros story as punishment!

pseudy pizza with random things on it ≠ haut cuisine

I was sorting through a pantry shelf (looking to see if we still had the bottle of Datu Puti coconut vinegar) the other day and came across an unopened bottle of Healthy Boy Soy Sauce I had completely forgotten buying.

falafel and hummus are two that for the most part i have to make myself. what i find in and around town just doesn't do it for me.

i don't get why a nettle pizza seems random or pretentious. kinda seems like something chez panisse's cafe could have on the menu (i.e. local/seasonal ideas)

I'm not snobby about any food, but I'm snobby about the price of food. A $5 pad thai has to be pretty bad for me to hate it. Meanwhile, a David Chang ramen dish just makes me SO MAD why would you pay such a stupid price when you can get A+++ ramen for way less.

Have a lot of vinegar, too; apple cider for cooking, unfiltered raw apple cider for medicine, white vinegar for french fries, champagne vinegar for salad dressing, expensive balsamic vinegar for strawberries and ice cream, umeboshi vinegar for everything, rice vinegar for adobo

What soy sauces? I only use cheap Chinese light, cheap Chinese dark and one nice Japanese one. My inlaws (Filipino) prefer my cooking when I use cheap soy sauce, or, best of all, Maggi.

Maggi is excellent. I've got a Viet soy/fish sauce blend that I buy in a bottle that has no English on it. It's my go-to for anything fatty, but it's too acid for poultry and seafood, or anything with coconut milk. I'd recommend it, but I can't read the bottle and I just buy it b/c of the nice red cap.

I went to someone's house once and they were serving sushi with chinese dark soy sauce, I just about gagged

i'm like wmc in that I have strong opinions about tons of food but I will eat just about anything

falafel and hummus are two that for the most part i have to make myself. what i find in and around town just doesn't do it for me.

This is a good reminder that I'm really snobby about pesto. A big 'no' to store-bought, esp. with how easy it is to make.

oh hell yes, pesto's so easy to make and to riff on (like adding/subbing tarragon or arugula or whatever). and canned pesto shouldn't exist, period. blech.
i could prolly make a big list, but winter tomatoes are another one i kinda can't stand with VERY few exceptions. same with goddamn berries shipped from South America in the winter/spring

try to take care to use the one in a dish that matches best with the other ingredients. I guess that's a little snobby instead of a lot snobby?

xxpost: to me that's just good common sense....

I'll eat jar pesto but only the Sacla brand, anything else is always adulterated with cheap veggie oils or too much of something or shitty cheap walnuts or the pinenuts are in chunks.

I could make my own, but I never get round to it.

We've talked pesto before. Some people have gardens, the rest of us have to get jars.

Yeah, Maggi is so good. When it used to contain MSG it was the best, I grew up putting it on everything (scrambled eggs especially, holy crap so good). I'd be interested to see this Viet fish thing

i just make a big batch of pesto and freeze it in ice cube trays, then put the little blocks into ziploc bags.

Oh, weirdly: I'm very snobby about vegan and vegetarian food. If it's bland or badly cooked I get real annoyed, as if it's an affront to vegetarians, confirming carnivores' accusations.

WmC how do you make good grits

butter, cheese, salt, pepper, hot sauce?

i'm snobby about po boys

Ówen, it's all about getting good product. Bill Kte'pi recommended Nora Mill and I didn't care for them -- too many husk remnants. (I still have 4 1/2 lbs. in the fridge that I might as well just toss.) I get the yellow grits sold in bulk at the Dekalb Farmers Market whenever I go to Atlanta. I doubt they grind their own, and they don't ID the source, but these grits are really good. "Quick grits" are crap, obv.

Start with 4 parts liquid to 1 part grits. (Breakfast: half milk, half water. Savory, like for shrimp & grits or something: 3 parts water, vegetable broth or chicken broth, 1 part milk.) Bring the liquid and a bit of salt to a simmer and whisk in the grits, then drop the heat to low. Since good grits are a bit more coarsely ground than grocery store junk, they'll try to stick, so whisk often and don't leave them unattended.

After about 15 minutes, start taste-testing for doneness, and you can also adjust salt at this point. If they are really thick but not tender yet, whisk in a little more water, starting with 1/4 cup or so.* When they're done, you can whisk in a bit of butter and/or cheese if you want cheesy grits. Cheddar's good; a mix of cheddar and parmesan is great. If these are going to be savory grits as the starch underlying grillades, fish or shrimp, a squirt of Sriracha or several squirts of Tabasco are definitely called for here.

*Final ratio for me is closer to 4.5:1 liquid to grits.

Thanks WmC I will try it. I'm in shrimp country next week and can do the scrimp just great but my grits haven't been so hot

If you'll be anywhere in the Carolinas you should be set on finding A+ grits from a local mill. But again, I can't recommend Nora Mill.

spices, not so much snobby about freshness, but I always buy them at the Indian grocer for like 2 bucks for a boatload as opposed to mccormicks thimblefull for 5 bucks or whatever

I'll be in Charleston SC. You'll see me next week on the "too effing hot" thread for sure

Yeah, Maggi is so good. When it used to contain MSG it was the best,

?? is this a varies-by-country thing? mine still has msg in it (thank god)

I am an outdoor cooking snob, which is not to say a BBQ bore. A well-grilled sausage or hamburger or piece of fish is always good and no science and you will get props from me for it regardless. But I will have to try very hard not to feel superior to you if you serve me any grilled goods with store-bought sauces or which came pre-marinated, I will lecture you if you precook anything before throwing it on the grill or if you never stop moving that poor steak for even a second, and I will mock you if you own a really expensive gas grill.

And I do become a barbeque bore on the subject of ribs, especially in Europe.

Yknow, I guess I am a snob about octopus/squid. It has to be really good, and accompanied just so; I won't accept lesser substitutes. Once you've had the best, it's kind of hard to go back.

That sounds particularly snobby because I'm talking about such a comparatively novelty food item. Oh well. It's not really that expensive or exotic or even difficult to cook. It's just difficult to get it just right imo and I value that highly. Snobbily.

I am a snob abt tea and also pasta; not so much brands of pasta but rather cooking it. I find myself thinking cruelly condescending things abt people who cook it past al dente and/or don't salt the water, or like people making a pasta-based casserole like baked ziti or mac & cheese who cook the pasta to eating-doneness before they even bake it.

I don't even care how you dress the pasta; I will probably seriously respect you more for cooking it right and putting butter/powdered garlic/sprinkle cheese on it than cooking it to mush in unsalted water and topping it with a homemade lamb ragout

I will lecture you if you precook anything before throwing it on the grill

what about potatoes???

Yknow, I guess I am a snob about octopus/squid. It has to be really good, and accompanied just so; I won't accept lesser substitutes. Once you've had the best, it's kind of hard to go back.

― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Tuesday, July 3, 2012 2:09 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

that reminds me, deep fried octopus/squid is only ever good one it's at one point of texture on the spectrum between chewy and rubbery

Right, which is why I mostly prefer it grilled. I have only had one or two instances of fried calamari that was truly delicious and worth eating. Otherwise it was chewy material ensconced in "fried" which is not desirable.

I'm at a loss as to what would be precooked before going on a BBQ grill anyway (except, as D says, potatoes I guess maybe). Surely no one would precook meat?

Some folks slow-roast pork ribs and finish them on the grill, otherwise, not sure what.

A lot of sparerib recipes involve doing most of the heavy lifting in the oven and just finishing them on the grill to get a sticky saucy glaze. xp

I tried grilling potato slices once, sliced 'em really thin, the surfaces bubbled and the starches burned before the insides got cooked

Yup, am mostly talking about ribs and potatoes, but was once served weird crispy rubbery flavorless chicken pieces by someone so paranoid about undercooking that the pieces were boiled first.

Potatoes don't like direct grilling much, and don't even try if you don't have a lid on your grill, but very small new potatoes if well-oiled can work out ok. Indirect grilling work better, but keep the potatoes small, the fire relatively hot, and your patience intact. I like smoking bigger potatoes, or just putting them directly in the coals, with or without foil. Big baking potatoes into the coals get taken out when they are black and ugly, then scooped out and mashed: yum. I am currently looking into getting or building a tandoor or something like it (real charcoal tandoors are expensive as hell and not great quality for the money; a Big Green Egg is even more super-expensive but well-made and much more versatile) -- I think that's where I'd be doing my potatoes!

Have gotten into long barbecue bore arguments with Euros who insist that my smoker is all well and good for American barbecue, you cannot get crispy-but-edible-and-not-burnt ribs without precooking and then direct grilling -- these arguments usually end when I serve them ribs done at relatively high temperatures (compared to my smoker, anyway) indirectly on the Weber.

LL, the best squid/octopus I've ever had was the wood-grilled octopus at Taxim (Greek place) in Wicker Park. I found the restaurant as a whole to be hit-or-miss, but that dish is fantastic.

I had no idea big green eggs were so expensive!

There are less expensive kamados out there, but some of them have serious quality issues. I have also heard interesting things about the Broil King Keg (http://www.broilkingbbq.com/grills/keg/landing.html) which is significantly less expensive and supposed to be good...

somebody's selling a used one about an hour away from here. I suppose one day I'll luck out and find someone has left one on the curb next to their trash.

Can't think of a single food I feel this way about.

That's really sad!

i cook potatoes (either wedges, half fingerlings, or thin round slices) on the grill in a foil packet. works fine.

Beer comes close. But I'll drink damn near any beer, not just the best stuff.

Wait, I'm a Popsicle snob.

I like all food to be made with care and attention, but otherwise I'm not that particular.

Yeah, foil packets are cool, as are any kind of pan. Oil remains important. I think we all agree that pre-cooking is barbaric.

Is there not an outdoor cooking thread we could revive?

maybe not SEO oriented enough but

Lets talk of BBQ...grilling and what not.

I'm sort of snobby about cheese, butter, chocolate, tea, beer, jam, probably some other things too - in the sense that consuming low-quality kinds makes me sad and I go out of my way to acquire high-quality kinds.

I'm not snobby in the sense of judging other people's taste though.

truffle oil

my opinion of you drops if you use it

and lots of other things, but none come immediately to mind

im not snobby about any food but it really bothers me when people are, especially if they're in my kitchen. sometimes good ingredients are too expensive and you have to cheap out, like, i know parmigiano reggiano is better but it's expensive and can rarely bring myself to shell out for it

what do u use instead

"truffle oil"
i had truffle fries once and thought it tasted exactly like garlic fries. everyone told me i was mad. am i mad? i feel like i'm missing out on some royal fry experience, like a dude with an eyepatch going to see avatar.

you're not missing out, truffle oil is royal BS

tomatoes - gotta be in season, local. if I can't smell it when I'm cutting it up, it's dead to me.

pasta sauce in a jar - don't see the point if you can make a far better pasta from fresh ingredients.

coconut milk - so far i've only found that Chaokoh brand is the best. all those Thai Kitchen things and ugh they're so gross.

bbq - Mr Veg is a great bbq'er, which has made me dislike almost every other bbq I come across. all those bbq chain restaurants, etc, just yuk. not to say that there isn't great bbq out there, but when homemade is so good, you don't need to go anywhere else. someone at work bought in a crockpot full of store-bought marinated tritip and I had to refrain from throwing the whole thing out the window, lol

salad - don't put fucking candied anything in my salad, don't cover it in cheese, don't you DARE use iceberg ends and don't drown it in dressing. I hardly ever buy premade salad anywhere, even in restaurants, I'd so much rather make it myself at home.

I'm not snobby about anything in New York, but in Michigan I sure as hell am. Iceberg lettuce everywhere, things on plates without sauces or garnishes, everything coated in mild cheddar, impossible to get half the ingredients you want at any given moment, not nearly enough garlic in anything.

Also people saying "brusketta."

Everything my family members brought to our reunion was SOOO BLAAAAND. The guac had no onion, scallion, lime, garlic, or heat. The potato salad had no discernible salt or pepper (I had to under-season so people would eat it). After like three days there I have to just crunch down on a clove of garlic to remember that I'm alive.

try going to cuba :(

apples and apple-based foods

wait i thought 'brusketta' was how it was supposed to be?

I think its "broosschetta"

softer s sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqp_0B3zq1E

endorse (privately)

fresh organic vegetables and fresh baguettes

good canned italian tomatoes (san marzano) and imported pasta

having different types of olive and cooking oil, ditto vinegars (no you cannot substitute red for rice) and peppers (i realize my five types of salt is excessive)

non-junky trail mix and granola (ie just walnuts, almonds, berries)

low sodium stock

oat cereal vs flakes

do not endorse, act out privilege and get snobby about
'
fucking w/ asian food w/o tools, w/o ingredients and w/o skills

homemade mexican that costs 4x as much as the taco shop that uses non-certified organic from mexico

do not endorse:

bread that is good for longer than two weeks, pastry that is more than 12 hours old

orange juice with pulp

pseudy pizza with random things on it ≠ haut cuisine

they sell a cold dough at trader joe's that you can cook in a weber grill

enables you to do these cucina italiana things which are close to that interpretation of italian pizza

http://lacucinaitalianamagazine.com/article/le-mani-in-pizza

btw italian pizza kinda sux but different conversation

bruschetta is Italian so it should be a hard k sound but I always say "sh" because I feel a bit wanky if I don't? I dunno why, for years in the UK people pronounced "chorizo" like it was Italian and I didn't mind making a thing of pronouncing that slightly less wrongly

fish and chips: requires incredibly greasy, heavy batter, and ketchup and not tartar sauce and a damn slice of lemon

whoa now hold on there

ketchup on fish n chips?

Yeah that's some crazy talk - malt vinegar only!

Oh god sorry, brusketta is the right way, I meant the opposite. Got caught up in that rant I was having. Sorry for the confusion.

do not really endorse imported pasta, i make it sometimes but in the end dry pasta is dry pasta.

Oh my god I am so snobby about potato gratin. A perfect food to get snobby about

I'm not snobby about roasting a chicken but I've roasted so many and feel a 10-minute salt water pre-boil is a necessary step.

really??

i will cover it in kosher salt and let it sit, wrapped up, for 24-48 hrs

i dont think i've ever heard of that pre-boil technique

is that sort of like a quick brine or what

It is so, so good. Boil a raw chicken for 10 min in salted water, pat dry inside and out, untie, season, no oil or butter, roast as you would (me: 50 min at 375). Moist, crisp, everything.

Actually I said "375" but I don't know my Fahrenheit. 220 C, w/e that is.

i will try it this sunday

i roast a chicken by doing that dry-brine, heating up a cast iron pan till it smokes, putting the chicken in the pan, then putting it in a 475-500 oven, turning it twice, total of like 45 minutes. it is the BEST.

still dont own a cast iron pan, my secret shame :(

everyone should! they are the best and for the most part CHEAPEST pan you can buy, there is really no excuse

Yah slocki that sounds like the best of the best, an overnight brine beats a 10 minute poach any day

i just rmde snobbily at you, just sayin

I meant to post this here and not in the 5 guys thread:

What DD is passing off as a bagel is much more offensive than what McD's passes off as a hamburger (or Olive Garden passes off as pasta even)

― Drew Careymore (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, July 6, 2012 7:33 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

DD bagels make Lender's look like H&H

― Drew Careymore (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, July 6, 2012 7:34 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

give it a try, there is no turning back. plus the rendered fat in the pan sort of 'fries' the skin in a wonderful way xxp

i am mad snobby about bagels this is true. and 'montreal smoked meat.' but whatever, of course i am

Roast chicken is the only food where addition of anything more than salt + pepper is patently disruptive

I enjoy stuffing lemons up the chicken's bum from time to time, doesn't interfere with the flavor overly but gives it a nice citrus 'lilt'

Also I roasted a chicken for the first time a few weeks ago and, as per Cook's Illustrated, I sautéed it in a Dutch oven w some vegs for like 5 min on each side, then put it in the oven covered at 225* for 1h and it was perfection. Used some the drippings + lemon juice to make a jus and it was maybe the best chicken I've ever had.

xp The superiority of Montreal bagels to all challengers is well documented, you're not a snob for dismissing graven images

Roast chicken is the only food where addition of anything more than salt + pepper is patently disruptive

― is capybara gay? (Ówen P.), Friday, July 6, 2012 11:28 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i stuff some fresh herbs under the skin, not gonna lie

rosemary is killer with chicken! i also stuffed some chicken with ramps back when they were in season and it was delicious.

i'm snobby about seafood. and chocolate.

ya fresh rosemary. fresh sage. fresh thyme.

maybe i'll try and work something out with these scapes i've been entangled with all week

flavorless dried herbs are a thing to be snobby about. i used to be snobby about vanilla, but i realized one day that all vanilla is kind of magical.

being snobby about using fresh herbs is a false grail. sometimes dried is the way to go.

whoops – i was distinguishing between 'good dried herbs' and 'bad dried herbs' not 'dried herbs' and 'fresh herbs'

my dad buys parsley for $.59 at the CVS ding and dent sale, and swears it's great

i stuffed some scapes under the skin of some chicken thighs a few weeks ago (and some rosemary and sage) and it was great. however it is far too hot out now to roast anything :(

http://gothamist.com/2012/07/05/tip_preserve_your_herbs_in_olive_oi.php

I also freeze some herbs in a ziploc bag sometimes but not for more than a week or two.

certain dried herbs are fine but fresh basil is 1000x better than dried basil

I have an awesome herb garden growing right now with oregano, basil, cilantro and boxwood basil. I have tons of this boxwood basil right now. Wonder if I can make a pesto out of it. Hmmm.

I won't even bother with dried basil

Or dried mint

Oh I should plant some mint esp since I think it's supposed to be easy to grow which I consider a bonus. I don't really ever make anything with mint though. I guess I could put it in iced tea. Hmmmm.

Mint is awesome with feta and greek salad. I use it more and more in savory salads and not just w/sweets.

you can find some great vietnamese salads that use mint, so delicious and refreshing.

also mojitos :D

and in fruit salad

mmmm i love mint pureed into a paste/sauce on seafood (scallops esp, but tilapia ok too) or on a curry

mojitos man

you know what... mojitos are one of my least favourite cocktails :O

D:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3TeE2Z7a_U

dry vs fresh herbs - each has their use

if you're making something long-cooked w/ herbs that's not a stock, you want to add the dry herbs w/ the aromatics

if you're adding at the end it's gotta be fresh herbs unless it's going in with an acid (like dry thyme w/ lemon and butter)

s1ocki you are wrong about italian dry pasta *but* there are non-imported ones which are as good. i would say there's actually a big difference between expensive and cheap pasta, but it depends a lot on how you cook it and what you're cooking it for, and like hardcore italian pizza it might not necessarily be to your taste.

like i understand why people use fresh pasta but in general i don't like fresh pasta dishes and i hate it when they substitute fresh pasta for what should be dry or vice versa

i will stump for dried thyme, dried rosemary and dried parsley, especially if they are going in soup or stock or sauce or something else w/ lots of water

i think fresh rosemary is way too waxy and strong for anything but roasting and grilling and if you end up using too much the food gets a chemical taste (like menthol but not minty)

fresh thyme you sometimes need for exotic circumstances like finishing fish or fancy salad but i rarely keep it around.

dried parsley is okay if it goes in at the start of a soup or sauce.

remember to always use

Also I roasted a chicken for the first time a few weeks ago and, as per Cook's Illustrated, I sautéed it in a Dutch oven w some vegs for like 5 min on each side, then put it in the oven covered at 225* for 1h and it was perfection. Used some the drippings + lemon juice to make a jus and it was maybe the best chicken I've ever had.

yeah this is how my mom taught me, perfect

Grits were great tonight, thanks. Used a local Charleston mill, there were some husks but overall brilliant. Fried some chopped Kentucky bacon, removed, fried fresh caught shrimp in the fat, added grunions, parsley, lemon juice, garlic.

Sounds great! Maybe I could become the Johnny Appleseed of grits evangelism.

like i understand why people use fresh pasta but in general i don't like fresh pasta dishes and i hate it when they substitute fresh pasta for what should be dry or vice versa

― the late great, Friday, July 6, 2012 9:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is otm, unless its like, a fresh ravioli in a restaurant in italy somewhere

i use the cheap imported

formulated for very salty pasta water and the timing on the bag is properly al dente

what brand

barilla for me

durum semolina

dececco and barilla are relatively cheap ($2-$5), same price as domestic organic

rustichella if spendy or on sale

i'm not super picky - fuck a chittarra or trenne - but i find bucatini makes a big difference

i just found a cheaper brand of bucatini by delallo that was as good as rustichella. their penne and basic noodles are pretty good too.

i think the toughest to pull off (and least necessary to use) are fusilli and orecchiette, i try to go large or go home if i need to use those

orecchiette - my fav type :D

they are tricky though

bread, pasta, rice, grains, oatmeal (cereal) - i'm a carb snob. also have attitude wrt fruit in season & abhor jarred tomato sauces

orecchiette are fabulous w/ peas and spring onions. not sure what else you'd make em with, anything roughly pea-sized i guess

bread, pasta, rice, grains, oatmeal (cereal) -

i think w/some of these it's cost that makes me semi-snobby; the same with tea, i think it's bad economics to skimp on something you get so much out of, to buy the cheaper kind & take a hit on your next forty cups. rice is pretty cheap in the scheme of things, even nice thai jasmine or w/e, so splashing out for something that's <£1/serving is weird (obviously unless you totally have to).

i'm not into artisanal (hate that word) grains or anything i just hate indifferently prepared white rice. living in nyc i shop around for snob bargains

Is Barilla really better than like Ronzoni or Rienzi or any of those?

De Cecco > Barilla > Ronzoni, imo. Ronzoni lasagne noodles are OK

marcella hazan says that italian-made pasta is better than american-made because they use metal rather than teflon to make it so the texture is rougher outside and whatever you put on it sticks better. i like the whole foods pasta.

I always get Barilla.

yes, it's better

i do orrechiette carbonara sometimes

i think i generally buy italian stuff already i guess?

i make carbonara with the fat bucatini tubes because they're made to catch the egg cheese and fat and stiffen

for tomato sauce perciatelli noodles (hollow bucatini) are fun because they slurp up the sauce for you like straws

thats good for bolognese too cuz chunks get stuck in there

mm want to make pasta now

depends how chunky you like it

if you're really chunky you want rigatoni

I do get annoyed how p much every pasta brands shapes are different. Some stuff they call rigatoni is v slightly wider penne

Gemelli rules and is v under appreciated. Excellent chew.

I really hate buccatini, it stays all dry and sauceless within! I'm American, damn it. I like sauce more than pasta.

Pretty much almost always buy De Cecco. I know there are non-mass-market brands that cost £££ but I've never ventured in that direction, maybe out of fear that I will get hooked and go broke that way.

depends how chunky you like it

if you're really chunky you want rigatoni

― the late great, Monday, July 9, 2012 12:54 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i always ask my butcher to grind the meat on the extra-big setting

rowr

Man I need a local butcher. Also rigatoni is the best and I never would have known if not for out very own best beloved surm

I thought you were a vegan for some reason. huh.

I was for a while but then I stopped like maybe a year and a half ago and the "Wait aren't you vegan??"s haven't stopped since

Oh, sorry. I didn't realize.

being snobby is not something to brag about

who's being snobby now

who's snobbing who?
take another look now, baby
who's snobbing who?

Snobby about beer, olive oil to an extent, see no need in using horrible supermarket sea salt as opposed to maldon, when a box of maldon still lasts me a year. Always try to have good soy and fish sauce.

I am snobby about meat and fish but don't have a non-supermarket butcher or fishmonger that is handy for me.

if it's dinner time, i basically have to have perrier. even if i'm eating like top ramen slathered hot sauce, i still want perrier on ice.

also i'm a pickle snob.

I just finished lunch -- two tomato sandwiches -- and thought snobby thoughts as the juice ran down to my wrists.