Controversial Food Opinions - The Béchamel Test

Titles props to bg.

I am now reading a reddit on bechamel in lasagne and getting mad. But I guess there are people who actively seek out creamed spinach and creamed corn and creamed mushrooms...

struggling to find any recipes for lasagne al forno that don't feature bechamel as standard

Like I get that they wanted the creaminess to balance out the acidity of tomatoes and again it acts as a "rustic" filler but it's disgusting. Unless you used it to moisten a ricotta/mozz/herb mixture, but I always just see it as a big soupey mess. I hate a slippery lasagna. I want crisp edges.

i think that can be moderated thru cooking time and sauce thickness

Also, I can't find regular pickles here that don't have sugar added. Sweet, off dry pickles are the worst.

I love that little kick of nutmeg from a good bechamel.

I have been trying to work out why there is such an outcry over bechamel on lasagne, but if it's wet and sloppy then fair enough, that's bad. Bechamel doesn't need to be like that.

Bechamel is what you give to baby squirrels through an eye dropper.

Béchamel is bad always. You savages wouldn’t put mayonnaise in your lasagna would you?

do I really want to know?

luv2see my peerless wit immortalised in thread titles, thx yerac

I just registered that I made a grammatical error and it kind of looks like I am giving you "titties props" if you glance quickly.

if you can't distinguish between mayo and Bechamel i figure there is no debate to be had

thx also to yerac for acknowledging my rack

You savages wouldn’t put mayonnaise in your lasagna would you?

my wife's away this weekend, might as well do some experimental cooking

sorry, my w1f3

Straight red sauce is far, far superior to bechamel. Bechamel should go the way of aspic.

mmm, larks' tongues in bechamel

I can't tell the difference between sarin and novichok either but

one of them definitely comes straight from Putin

iirc (was a long time ago) i used to make lasagna @ a resto. and bechamel was gently layed over the top layer of red sauce. so it wasn't actually in it. and after it cooked it was a creamy layer, but not runny at all. i always thought it was a presentation thing - like the contrast it makes with the sauce just underneath it. and you kind of had to make the bechamel just right - couldn't be too runny or too thick to spread perfectly while at the same time avoiding getting any hint of the red from the sauce underneath mixed in. also seemed to make a pretty rustic dish a little more elegant?

my controversial food opinion is it's ok for people to not like certain foods
it's also ok to not want to try certain foods

Yeah, people should eat what they want. I only get annoyed when people prepare food for other people and they totally won't even try it or just are assholes about it. I eat the lasagna with bechamel when people prepare it for me and say "wow, this is amazing."

I would eat it too but would hope no one would tell me it's béchamel

it is ok before people to like whatever foods but it is fun to get "mad" about it

it's fine to not like things or to like things and message board threads are a safe space for comedy outrage but irl if i'm eating something and you tell me how gross the thing i'm eating is i may not say "gtfo you delicate savage" but i will certainly think it v. loudly

it's also ok to not want to try certain foods

"But, you've GOT to try this!" (aggressively shoves a forkful of food at brimstead's mouth)

my grandparents convinced me I was lactose intolerant (I'm not) and I ate cereal w/ orange juice for over a decade

its good

My mom will prepare a lovely lunch/dinner for us when we visit. And then my dad comes sauntering over and makes his own pastrami sandwich to eat. He's an asshole.

people shoving food at my face is a slightly different kind of savagery and whether i like the food or not isn't the issue for me

my dad used to be terrible for this, if i mentioned in conversation having eaten something he didn't like - and there was plenty of stuff he didn't like - he'd insist every bleeding time on a quick monologue about how horrible the thing i'd just mentioned was. in case i'd forgotten the previous 200 times he'd told me he didn't care for curry.

My dad wouldn't eat the grilled salmon and salad my mom made for lunch once. He ate too many salads and he ate too much salmon growing up. Of really dad, grilled salmon was all the rage in 1950s Michigan?

Dads are kind of the worst about this stuff. DON'T BE LIKE YOUR DAD.

Speak for your own dad, not mine, plz.

DON'T BE LIKE MY DAD.

but i like pastrami sandwiches ;_;

One time it was a plate of sliced up sausages and tomatoes. We all gave him the side-eye.

okay that's just weird, wtf yerac's dad

I kind of figure all Trump voters are like that. He's my benchmark.

I knew someone in college who apparently at some point decided to eat only olive oil. His thyroid stopped working!

what the shit

I know!

I think he was living on a boat at the time??

I think since then he's founded a cryptocurrency startup. We're not in touch.

Anyway eat what people put in front of you, if possible, is a virtue I've come around to. (I tried with eggplant, it makes me gag, I am not trying again with eggplant.)

he's founded a cryptocurrency startup

this actually helps put the olive oil diet in context tbh

the only things I don't eat are mayo, cooked eggs (except in like fried rice) & savory cream sauces. & when I'm traveling I'll even try those. I mean, I once ate a cow's seminal vesicle, how much worse can béchamel be? (actually the seminal vesicle was pretty good)

idgi will you slam back a raw egg in the a.m.?

I think he was living on a boat at the time??

I think since then he's founded a cryptocurrency startup. We're not in touch.

― valorous wokelord (silby), Friday, March 23, 2018 9:09 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i love this post

sorry, euler, i don't mean to make light of familial discord or anything

SILBY I MEAN, gah

iirc in college he was living on a restricted diet that was heavy on unseasoned chicken breast and Nutella

That Caity Weaver piece was exactly what I needed to read at 2am when I couldn't sleep (although it made me hungry)
We don't really get free restaurant bread in chains here :(
At posher places though, certainly.

Planning to have burgers tonight and now I'm wondering if I should smash them

It's pretty slick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL3Focg_xqQ

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Thursday, 16 April 2026 13:11 (yesterday)

ok this guy is great

Yeah, he's an American treasure. His place is named after the documentary he did in the early 00s about American regional burgers and burger restaurants, which is great if you haven't seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkpc5Q1Mgdc

i love a good bagel with lox/cream cheese/etc. but i absolutely cannot stand the half inch thick of cream cheese most deli places slather on each half of the bagel.

also, for anyone that does like a good bagel with lox/cream cheese, this is my rough estimate cream cheese hack that i keep on hand:

1/2 cup cream cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
zest of a lemon
tbsp of capers

a nice, moderate layer of that on a bagel goes a long way.

thanks for sharing pbkr, that documentary looks awesome.

I heard somewhere that back in the day they put a ton of cream cheese on to balance out another ingredient that
was salty or funky.

There should be more bagel than cream cheese.

putting marmite on a crispy snack that is already salty and savory “enough” - say, a cheez-it - is an experience worth pursuing.

saltmaxxing

Marmite is the devil imo

I’m sure similar results can be achieved via your preferred yeast extract spread, marmite just happens to be the one that is easiest to find in my local grocers

Q for the experts: what's the difference? My tastebuds just receive malty salt either way

Woah vegemite vs marmite fite, Aussie and Brit posters dueling at dawn (only one shows up a time because time difference).

marmite has a less creamy texture and the taste is like 50% stronger

marmite tastes like ass & vegemite as actually good. Asked & answered.

*is

Pah! Vegemite is just Marmite on training wheels

I found an old jar of marmite that had been hiding in the pantry for a long time. The lid was glued on with sticky black resin. Maybe putting the jar in hot water would loosen it up? Are there weird old-timey marmite recipes? Marmite pudding?

Marmite is like an aged single malt, Vegemite is like Southern Comfort

no

I’ve come to believe that some people experience umami different from others. I don’t think of marmite, or maggi seasoning, or miso paste as salty, really. I get what people mean when they say it’s salty, in the same way that I get what people mean when they say coriander tastes soapy, it’s just not how I experience it.

But some people seem to experience it as a heaped spoonful of salt.

Vegemite is like someone burnt the marmite and tried to fix it by diluting it with wax. An abomination.

The first time I ever ate something with a significant amount of Sichuan peppercorns, I experienced it as a massive salt bomb, until I later realized that was the sensation of my tongue going numb.

An abomination.

good to see some real bare-knuckle, knock-down, drag-out controversy itt, since it's so harmless

Marmite tastes like kerosene. Awful stuff, my aunt tried to convert me as a kid. Bleuch. Vegemite forever!

My first encounter with that tingling/numbing sensation from Sichuan peppercorns I thought the restaurant had refilled my water with Sprite.

for me it was like "what is this crazy flavor in the fried fish from the Chinese place", instantly hooked

marmite tastes like ass & vegemite as actually good. Asked & answered.
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl)

I bought a bottle of Szechuan peppercorn oil thinking it was like chilli oil, and used it as such in a stir fry, ruining it. I’ve been too scared to use it since.

Cannot deal with the tongue numbing business.

you need it for sichuan food

^^^
It lets you eat more!

Is it to compensate for extremely spicy food?

it balances the flavours

completely coincidentally my wife just made a meal with way too much sichuan pepper oil for the kids, they complained that it was "bitter" and wouldn't eat it. I enjoyed it a lot, went very well with the wine that the kids didn't have.

I’m gonna grind up some sichuan peppercorns, put a pinch of it on some vegemite spread across a triscuit, add a slice of pepper jack on top and file a report

Just googled what a triscuit is, that's an odd-looking biscuit.

I have a dedicated grinder for Sansho pepper (the Japanese cousin of Sichuan pepper). I like to grind in on all kinds of things, especially grilled meat. Sansho is a bit more citrus flavoured and a bit less numbing than Sichuan pepper.

I also have five small Sansho trees and hope to get some berries this year, the leaves are also delicious.

I’m feeling the urge to cook Mapo tofu for dinner.

Made mapo dofu for my (vegetarian) parents using quorn mince and was perfect, can't think of many meat dishes that work so well in veggie format.

triscuit = electricity + biscuit

triscuits are really more crackers than biscuits (cookies)

Olive oil and black pepper Triscuits are the best thing on the cracker aisle

Smoked Gouda Triscuits

All of your flavored powders overwhelm and smother the lovely flavor of an unadorned triscuit.

another option is to get a good cracker like mary's

i use to absolutely love triscuits but i now find them off-puttingly salty. i’m grieving

pity me

I pity you

rip

I’m gonna grind up some sichuan peppercorns, put a pinch of it on some vegemite spread across a triscuit, add a slice of pepper jack on top and file a report

OK I haven’t done the Sichuan peppercorns part of this experiment but spicy cheese + vegemite + original triscuit is now basically my favorite snack. I had like ten of them yesterday and called it lunch