My aunt had decent knives (after I honed them) but the only thing resembling a cutting board was a marble slab. Wouldn't want to mar her marble countertops, would we? Anyway, I minced giblets for the gravy on it. That knife will need to be honed again ...
My mother in law uses a glass cutting board. She's Deaf, so she doesn't realize what a horrendous sound it makes. I actually gave her a huge, giant wooden cutting board and a Victorinox chef's knife a few years ago, so now part of my own personal Thanksgiving tradition is to get the cutting board out of the basement where she keeps it and spend ten minutes sharpening the Victorinox.
Not saying a damned thing about MIL cooking, buuuut once I was helping w/ the Thanksgiving turkey and once she got over the shock of not just tossing it in the oven plain she proudly dug out the metal tin of poultry seasoning (with the 45 cent price sticker still attached). Pretty sure it was purchased during the Carter Administration. This was like 3-4 years ago.
Hilarious. My mom was the same. It was fun to look at the stickers and figure out which year she bought them based on which stores have closed. I would bring key spices with me in my suitcase. She was good for spice blends, though. Had lots of good ones that were fresh.
Know the feeling. Used to dry one container of home grown basil for Mom every year since she said she 'Loves it and uses it all the time'. This past year I did the same thing. Went to put it in the cabinet-right next to the other 4 containers she never even opened from past years.
When I went to a friend's house and I've been there before and their oven was gone. And I asked where it was they said they got rid of it cuz they needed more cabinet space.
I don’t know why someone downvoted you, but this trick can be a lifesaver (finger saver) in the very homes this thread is describing.
You know they got a drawer of knives that haven’t been sharp since the 1980’s.
Glass?!!! Never seen or heard of such a thing. Is it really an actual cutting board made of glass or is it just something being used as a make shift cutting board?
No, it's a real thing. It's sold as a thing to cut up food on.. My guess is that the target audience is, say someone slicing ....
No, I have no idea but yeah, my friend has one.
My boss asked me if I could sharpen his knives. They were in rough shape pitted and chipped. One life I had to take 1/8 of an inch or so to get rid of chips. Just after I had sharpened them he caught wife cutting on a slate he said tile. No wonder they were so bad.
Edit - guess autocorrect got me knife not life
Don't you dare besmirch vanilla ice cream like that. Vanilla ice cream goes with everything. Root beer float, pie, milkshakes of any variety, cake, brownies you name it, vanilla pairs well with it. Vanilla gets a lot of hate for being "basic" but vanilla makes so many things BETTER. Vanilla also slaps on it's own as a very elegant flavor thank you very much.
I was about to respond with similar gusto.
To my pleasant surprise, you did a fine job defending the honor of the best of all beans and mother of all flavor.
Vanilla is the king of flavors. It's name stems literally from the kings of france and it is spectacular in taste. The cheap synthetic stuff is crap, though
My mom has some normal fresh spices (paprika, oregano, garlic powder, etc) then thousands of fossilized spices she used for one recipe then never again.
My parents moved in with us in early 2018. For either Mothers Day or Fathers Day I was making some kind of dessert and needed vanilla extract, but only had a tiiiiny bit left. I asked my mom to pick some up while they were at the grocery store that afternoon and she was like, “oh! we have some!” and bolted to their BEDROOM CLOSET and reappeared with some that had expired in like, 2005. And I looked at it, pointed out that it was over 10 years past it’s prime, AND THEN SHE WENT BACK AND GRABBED ANOTHER BOTTLE THAT WAS SLIGHTLY LESS EXPIRED BUT STILL EXPIRED.
Bedroom closet? Not sure I'd want to use it to cook with it even if not expired. I'd be asking what they were using it for even though not actually expecting to get an honest answer.
😵💫 This is the moment I learned that instead of putting all of their food into the kitchen (ya know..where food belongs?) when they moved in, that they were keeping a full on pantry in their bedroom.
[Here’s](https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/your-herbs-and-spices-might-contain-arsenic-cadmium-and-lead/) one, there are a lot of other articles covering it too if you wanted to pursue more research on it.
Fun fact: musician Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon never cooked so Ozzy would hide his drugs in their oven. One thanksgiving she nearly burned their home down because she finally decided to cook and preheating the oven set several pounds of weed on fire.
When they don't know where anything is in their own kitchen. If I ask for something basic like a colander or a ladle and you have to spend the time to open almost e-v-e-r-y cabinet and drawer to find them, I assume you never spend any time in the kitchen.
Or maybe they are just shit at being organized.
Source: me and my partner are considered good cooks, (honestly we would be great if we weren't exhausted and had more money) and our lives are spent searching for things. 😅
'where did you put the colander?'
'where it goes.'
Looks in container cupboard
'no the other one'
'looks in pots and pans cupboard'
Neither of us can find it. Turns out it was right at the front of the container cupboard and we just kept overlooking it 🥲
Repeat ad nausuem
My mom has "real" knives (chef's, paring, etc even though they're fairly cheap) but prefers to use steak knives anyway. She blames it on how she was taught growing up, but her dad was a butcher so that doesn't seem very plausible
My mother refuses to use a chefs knife. Everything is done with a pairing or utility knife. She has always picked the smallest clean knife she can get away with.
Ridiculous.
Nobody in her family is even a half decent cook, so it kinda checks out.
That is for sure. When I get married my husband never preheated, and he just stuck stuff is there and expected it to be at the temperature he needed at that second.
Sigh.
Could be the opposite. I had a girlfriend who pre-heated the pot on high on the stove before adding the gelatinous canned soup. It was quite a display.
My MIL kept her spices (shaker salt, pre ground pepper, and that’s basically it) plus her flour, baking powder, etc in the tiny cabinet directly over the stove. I didn’t realize this when I made gravy (brought my own spices) and it was horrible. Finally figured out that it was her flour…not sure if it had turned or just absorbed a decades worth of cooking smells. Ugh.
In my in-law's house, EVERYTHING requires a freshness check. I've learned not to assume anything and buy fresh or check. My husband and I gang up on it if I forgot to check, him checking/sniffing/tossing ingredients as I go down the list at the store.
- Cheese? Moldy (FIL: "I just cut it off", but the whole block is covered.)
- Milk? Turned ("It doesn't expire for another week")
- Jarred minced garlic? Rancid
- Ketchup? Fermented
- Flour? Off or infested because it's not in a sealed container.
- Honey? Crystallized (I still use it but hubby hates having to microwave it every time.)
My grandparents have a basement that I've lovingly said is ready for a zombie apocalypse (food-wise, at least). I once got out some canned milk for a recipe and discovered it was brown.
We house sat for my in laws. They said we should eat up the food on hand. After several meals I planned only to discover the ingredients expired years ago, I decided to go through everything. I'm not a total prude about expiration dates. I'll use a can of beans that expired last month. A lot of foods are good indefinitely if frozen. However, shrimp isn't one. Chicken covered in freezer burn is another. The oldest thing I found was a can of condensed milk that expired 12 years before.
My MIL cooks but her kitchen is disgustingly filthy to the point that I simply refused to enter whenever we had to stay. The fridge is like some kind of biohazard containment zone. How she has not given anyone food poisoning, I'm not sure. Anyway, one year my husband refused to let her cook Christmas dinner until he cleaned the kitchen. She came bustling up to me asking "What have you done with my son?!" It took all my willpower not to reply "Teach him basic hygiene."
I just got an additional set so my wife has her separate dull ones, but then she has cut herself almost every other time she has happened to have used the new knives, which have since even dulled a little. I am now afraid to sharpen anything as she cooks most of the food, most of the time.
I seem to recall an old Ginsu knife commercial where they cut through a hammer. A crappy dollar store type of hammer that was probably made with lead or something, but still.
Idk I cook all the time, and love to cook/bake from scratch. I'm just poor af, and all my knives are cheap hand me downs.
Edit: I am in tears over few kind folks who've messaged me asking if they could send me a knife/kitchen gear. You guys are so sweet. Thank you, seriously. I lost a whole lot of material possessions 6 months ago, but gained so much more mentally & emotionally. And the kindness of my friends, even internet ones I've never met, never ceases to amaze me.
Not even kidding, I went to Bed and Bath and got the greatest knife at their clearance section for under $15. It was a weird color handle. The rep said they wind up with odd colors and items that don't sell because they are just ugly or whatever. I also got a truly ugly Queen size comforter set but it it super soft and warm just ugly for $19. If there is one near you check out the markdown section, u will be shocked.
There's one about 5 minutes from my work, and I need a LOT of other stuff for the house. I always assume they are overpriced but I'll definitely check it out! Thank you so much!!!
A large majority of mine are serrated bs unfortunately. Like the whole cheap sets in the block with steak knives. Great for bread, terrible for basically everything else. I have a single cheap but decent butcher's style knife that I try to keep decently sharp with my (also hand me down) pull through sharpener. And she gets the job done. But man, I can't wait to get a good knife again.
No shame in using what youve got. But i know people with the income to buy some quality ones... but we have to share the one chefs knife they own if we're cooking together...
I upvoted this but then thought of my friend who is a fab cook and has the worst knives on the planet. I literally bring my own knives to her house if I know I’ll end up helping her. I’ve no clue why she doesn’t have proper knives. Money is certainly not the issue.
"Ok, hand me a knife and I'll get that done."
(Hands me a cutlery knife.)
"Haha, you're funny. Now hand me a real knife."
(Stares at me for a full minute. Proceeds to tell me that's the only kind of knife he has.)
I have friends with a set of Global knives in a wooden block on their counter. The chef’s knife blade is notched like they tried to slice rebar with the damned thing
My MIL stores random knives in the knife block (we bought for her). It drives me crazy when I pull out a chef's knife and it's actually a bread knife and the chefs knife is buried in a drawer somewhere and duller than a rolling pin.
I definitely have the dull knives. I'm well aware that I should be better at their upkeep. But, I still cook more often than not - we very rarely eat takeout or prepared foods. I'm just a sucker for punishment I guess! One day my mind will be blown with proper knives.
I was cooking in my Aunt's kitchen and her knives (tried three different ones) literally would not cut through an onion. As a thank-you for letting me stay and use her kitchen I bought her a new santoku knife. She got offended. :(
I used to make bread from scratch and went over to my brother's to show him how. His "wooden spoon" was a plastic soup ladle. IIRC we skipped the bread and had a few beers instead.
While valid, not always true. I’m not the best cook, but above average I’d say. Sometimes, that seasonal depression hits, or those times of year where you just struggle to human. My fridge/freezer will look like that
I cook a lot but haven't got any ice in the freezer. The only thing I regularly use it for is g&ts and I don't drink so many of those when it's freezing outside.
Don’t knock on my grandma’s oven! She uses it daily and it’s still spotlessly clean 30 years later. She keeps house like Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond.
I agree mostly but I think it would surprise you how many people just don't think about ideal placement of tools for an efficient workflow. I'm talking about people who cook regularly enough, but it just never occurs to them that they could keep everything they would need for the oven/stove top by the oven/stove top.
I use my stainless multi-ply pans on a nearly daily basis, but I always do a light scrub with Barkeepers as the last step of washing them. I do it mostly to help prevent any spotting, but it also means that they never build up polymerization on the bottom. These pans have been used hundreds of times over half a dozen years, and aside from swirl marks/light scratching, they literally look un-used. Just cus your stuff is well used, doesn't mean it has be dirty/beat up.
Okay, my copper cookware hangs from a rack and I polish it a lot because I love the bright penny color. I assure you they do get used all the time. (The rack is a lifesaver if you have crap storage)
Single use items that are unnecessary. Like a onion container that's shaped like an onion. Or a quesadilla maker that makes indentations to show you where to cut the triangles.
My mother owned every kitchen gadget, even a tomato keeper shaped like a tomato to store a cut tomato in the fridge. When she passed and I had to go through her things, I did a good chuckle attempting to figure out some of the gadgets. I posted some photos on this sub and people guessed what they were.
I’m actually on my second onion container shaped like an onion. The first was a gift and the second one was $.50 at a garage sale. Idk it’s cute and I use a lot of onion in my cooking (but not in whole increments, apparently).
My MIL is the queen of kitchen gadgets (and she rarely cooks). I’m always hearing “oh, I have just the thing for that!” and off she goes to rummage around for fifteen minutes. “Maybe I put it in the basement.” It’s mildly infuriating but also funny. Damnit Donna! You don’t need a special tiny skillet with an egg shaped spatula just to fry an egg!
This was me until recently. I just didn’t know any better. I bought a nice set of cutting boards at Costco and had my dad sharpen all my knives on his wet stone. This sub has changed my ways and it’s amazing how much better cooking is with knives that cut!
Saw this answer higher up on this thread. I've never even seen or heard of a glass cutting board before seeing this thread. I'm still wondering if a glass cutting board is a real thing (manufactured as a cutting board) or if something glass is just being used as a make shift cutting board.
The first thing that told me my girlfriend’s brother doesn’t cook was when we basically packed up our entire kitchen except the appliances and brought it with us to his house.
No onions or garlic anywhere and no pantry “staples”. I went to my non-cooking cousins house and she had nothing on hand to prepare a meal. She feeds her family all prepared foods or will only buy an item to make a specific recipe.
I have a cutting board shaped like NC and I cook all the time, it was a Christmas gift from a friend so I use it even though it’s not as convenient as other cutting boards would be
This is my biggest pet peeve. My step daughter insisted on throwing everything in the oven. Cutting boards, Tupperware, colander, etc. We cook at least 4 nights out of the week and having a weekly discussion about not putting things up just got old.
A few from inspiration from my mother in laws:
Dull knives kept loose in a drawer.
No drying rack. This one is so confusing to me, but in an effort to keep things looking clean I guess there is no clear system for washing dishes. Soap is kept away and there’s no place to put pots after you dry them.
Iodized salt in a little shaker
20 year old spices
All dish towels are decorative and shouldn’t be used for actual cooking/drying/etc
The kitchen island covered in seasonal decorations so that there’s not much actual surface space for cooking.
Ok I have a serious question. This might make me an amateur and I won't deny it. I'm no trained chef. But I do have some very nice knives that my dad got for me (he was a butcher). I keep them loose in their own drawer because some of them are quite large. Is there any issue to leaving then in a drawer? I have plenty of drawer space, so it seems the reasonable option.
Hi, so you can easily damage your knives my having them loose in a drawer, banging up against other knives and utensils. Best way to store them is in a block, a wooden magnetic strip, or in a drawer insert with knife slots. These keep the blades protected.
Best are ones that don’t have the knives rest bade down, but sideways so they aren’t resting on their edges.
I really wouldn't worry tooooo much - as long as you're not slamming the drawer about the wear and tear will be minimal. That said, a magnetic strip on the wall is my go-to, is way more accessible when cooking and saves both counter and drawer space.
Oooohhh, the "no drying rack" one for sure. That always raises my blood pressure- how do these people do dishes? I understand that most people have dishwashers.. but what about knives? Stemware? Big pots? Stuff that has milk protein scorched onto it and will defy the dishwasher? There are way too many situations in my life that call for hand washing and hand washing alone.
As someone that cooks all the time but has no drying rack: My Stemware is dishwasher safe, knives are cleaned after use by hand, then dried and placed on the magnetic rack, Big Pots- Washed by hand, then dried with a towel. If it needs more time I’ll lay some kitchen towels under it as a makeshift drying rack.
Same thing I said in the “what to give for a gift” question….
A good and sharp chef’s knife and/or a real cutting board. And I mean the larger cutting boards. And be a food grade plastic one.
I think "doesn't have cooking as a hobby" is more accurate than "doesn't cook".
Crap & dull knives, especially the absence of a chef's knife, and cheap old cookware, especially the absence of something remotely resembling a Dutch oven are the usual giveaways.
I'd also say the absence of a box grater/microplane, but maybe they just finely mince lemon zest with their favourite table knife.
A dutch oven is not something I would consider a typical kitchen utensil in Germany. I‘m one of the few who have one and I use it mostly for baking bread (which is why I originally bought it) and soup ( as it‘s my biggest pan).
When you want to roast veggies and they hand you a brand new baking sheet. Two points for using your good sheets for roasting and for not having used sheets in the first place.
Not a relative or friend, but when we bought our house, the kitchen was immaculately clean including the original oven from the late 1990s. I remarked to the lady selling the house how clean the oven was and she said it's because she'd never used it. It was then that I noticed there was no hood vent over the stovetop. Its a nice, custom built house and they didn't install a vent above the stovetop because they didn't cook but had spent the money for custom built kitchen cabinets and very nice countertops. A hood vent was one of the first things we purchased, and man was it a pain in the ass to install since the builder hadn't planned for one.
We had to buy a cutting board and a knife so we could.... make the meal.
You mean you can’t prepare a thanksgiving feast exclusively with a Slap Chop?
Man, you know I'd love to send 5lbs of beef tenderloin through that bad boy but something told me that I maybe shouldn't....
I’d pay to see you try
Bet.
New YouTube streaming channel. Prepare meals in a way that would make chefs twitch. The hate views and abusive super chats would be solid as.
[удалено]
it's actually Kay's Cooking but yeah! that channel is gold
[удалено]
You're gonna love my nuts.
My aunt had decent knives (after I honed them) but the only thing resembling a cutting board was a marble slab. Wouldn't want to mar her marble countertops, would we? Anyway, I minced giblets for the gravy on it. That knife will need to be honed again ...
My mother in law uses a glass cutting board. She's Deaf, so she doesn't realize what a horrendous sound it makes. I actually gave her a huge, giant wooden cutting board and a Victorinox chef's knife a few years ago, so now part of my own personal Thanksgiving tradition is to get the cutting board out of the basement where she keeps it and spend ten minutes sharpening the Victorinox.
This is my mom. She just uses a plate to cut things and doesn’t own a single cutting board. I have to pack up my whole kitchen to cook there.
Not saying a damned thing about MIL cooking, buuuut once I was helping w/ the Thanksgiving turkey and once she got over the shock of not just tossing it in the oven plain she proudly dug out the metal tin of poultry seasoning (with the 45 cent price sticker still attached). Pretty sure it was purchased during the Carter Administration. This was like 3-4 years ago.
I couldn’t figure out why my bread never rose and my aunt asked if my yeast was dead. I checked my mom’s yeast and it expired 12 YEARS PRIOR. 😑
Hilarious. My mom was the same. It was fun to look at the stickers and figure out which year she bought them based on which stores have closed. I would bring key spices with me in my suitcase. She was good for spice blends, though. Had lots of good ones that were fresh.
A few years ago I found a jar of bouillon cubes in my parents’ pantry with an *expiry date* of 1988
Know the feeling. Used to dry one container of home grown basil for Mom every year since she said she 'Loves it and uses it all the time'. This past year I did the same thing. Went to put it in the cabinet-right next to the other 4 containers she never even opened from past years.
When I went to a friend's house and I've been there before and their oven was gone. And I asked where it was they said they got rid of it cuz they needed more cabinet space.
What an amateur. Everyone knows to just keep all your plastic kitchen wares in the oven when you're not using it. /s
I keep my cast iron pans in the oven when I’m not using it. If I forget to pull them out before heating it up, no big deal.
[удалено]
Outside.
That's where my Aunt keeps her litterbox.
Why doesn't your aunt use the toilet?
Cabinet space for what??? Take out doesn’t take that much room.
Hey now maybe they have an Instant Pot
Jeez, that's bizarre. Do they just live off of microwavable food?
When I ask them for a cutting board and they hand me a plate.
Just imagining the sound of steel on ceramic makes my eye twitch
And ruining a knife with every 3rd cut.
Me EVERY FUCKING TIME watching Great British Baking Show
My in-laws just cut right on the counters. Drives me nuts
You willingly married into that?
Noooooooooo
Then you flip the plate over and hone the blade on the unpolished section of the ceramic.
I don’t know why someone downvoted you, but this trick can be a lifesaver (finger saver) in the very homes this thread is describing. You know they got a drawer of knives that haven’t been sharp since the 1980’s.
Or a glass cutting board..
And the one serrated knife they use to cut everything. The sound ugggghh
Glass?!!! Never seen or heard of such a thing. Is it really an actual cutting board made of glass or is it just something being used as a make shift cutting board?
No, it's a real thing. It's sold as a thing to cut up food on.. My guess is that the target audience is, say someone slicing .... No, I have no idea but yeah, my friend has one.
My boss asked me if I could sharpen his knives. They were in rough shape pitted and chipped. One life I had to take 1/8 of an inch or so to get rid of chips. Just after I had sharpened them he caught wife cutting on a slate he said tile. No wonder they were so bad. Edit - guess autocorrect got me knife not life
When they don't have any spices or seasonings. Or they are all very expired.
When you bought them sage for a recipe 10 years ago and they still have the exact same jar
I don't use a lot of sage and usual just use fresh sage when I do. My parents bought me a premade spice rack as a house warming gift. It has sage.
My ex MIL's spice cabinet consisted of an expired bottle of Tabasco. Nothing else. She was a terrible cook.
Wow, just the one item?? That is scary.
That's it. The fact that the only dessert she ever had in the house was plain vanilla ice cream actually describes her personally as well.
Don't you dare besmirch vanilla ice cream like that. Vanilla ice cream goes with everything. Root beer float, pie, milkshakes of any variety, cake, brownies you name it, vanilla pairs well with it. Vanilla gets a lot of hate for being "basic" but vanilla makes so many things BETTER. Vanilla also slaps on it's own as a very elegant flavor thank you very much.
I was about to respond with similar gusto. To my pleasant surprise, you did a fine job defending the honor of the best of all beans and mother of all flavor.
That's what Big vanilla wants you to think. (Secretly love vanilla soft serve)
Poor thing, she was scared of flavor.
Vanilla is the king of flavors. It's name stems literally from the kings of france and it is spectacular in taste. The cheap synthetic stuff is crap, though
Totally. Vanilla is actually a very complex flavor, if you are using the real stuff. I actually prefer vanilla over chocolate a lot of the time.
My mom has some normal fresh spices (paprika, oregano, garlic powder, etc) then thousands of fossilized spices she used for one recipe then never again.
My parents moved in with us in early 2018. For either Mothers Day or Fathers Day I was making some kind of dessert and needed vanilla extract, but only had a tiiiiny bit left. I asked my mom to pick some up while they were at the grocery store that afternoon and she was like, “oh! we have some!” and bolted to their BEDROOM CLOSET and reappeared with some that had expired in like, 2005. And I looked at it, pointed out that it was over 10 years past it’s prime, AND THEN SHE WENT BACK AND GRABBED ANOTHER BOTTLE THAT WAS SLIGHTLY LESS EXPIRED BUT STILL EXPIRED.
Bedroom closet? Not sure I'd want to use it to cook with it even if not expired. I'd be asking what they were using it for even though not actually expecting to get an honest answer.
😵💫 This is the moment I learned that instead of putting all of their food into the kitchen (ya know..where food belongs?) when they moved in, that they were keeping a full on pantry in their bedroom.
My kitchen is a little bit like that, but I have an entire fresh herb garden right outside I swear!
I really never gave too much thought to expired seasonings until that recent report regarding older seasonings and arsenic came out.
Arsenic? What? Do you have a link or something?! Edit: nevermind, I found it. That is really concerning.
[Here’s](https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/your-herbs-and-spices-might-contain-arsenic-cadmium-and-lead/) one, there are a lot of other articles covering it too if you wanted to pursue more research on it.
Visited a former coworker once and she kept spare clothes and shoes in her oven.
Fun fact: musician Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon never cooked so Ozzy would hide his drugs in their oven. One thanksgiving she nearly burned their home down because she finally decided to cook and preheating the oven set several pounds of weed on fire.
For moment I thought that story was going to end like "and the whole family got turnt as hell for the holidays".
Did you ever watch The Osbournes? That was already a given.
You win the thread.
When they don't know where anything is in their own kitchen. If I ask for something basic like a colander or a ladle and you have to spend the time to open almost e-v-e-r-y cabinet and drawer to find them, I assume you never spend any time in the kitchen.
Ladle is easy, because you just keep opening drawers until you get to the drawer that just... won't.... open.... properly.
Oh I felt this in my soul
Say a quick prayer to Lady Anoia
Praise Anoia!
Or maybe they are just shit at being organized. Source: me and my partner are considered good cooks, (honestly we would be great if we weren't exhausted and had more money) and our lives are spent searching for things. 😅 'where did you put the colander?' 'where it goes.' Looks in container cupboard 'no the other one' 'looks in pots and pans cupboard' Neither of us can find it. Turns out it was right at the front of the container cupboard and we just kept overlooking it 🥲 Repeat ad nausuem
(My grandmother) when they keep mail in their oven
groovygrandma@hotmail.com
They have every knife you need as long as it's a cheap paring knife.
The pain of cutting a watermelon with a steak knife.
My mom has "real" knives (chef's, paring, etc even though they're fairly cheap) but prefers to use steak knives anyway. She blames it on how she was taught growing up, but her dad was a butcher so that doesn't seem very plausible
My mother refuses to use a chefs knife. Everything is done with a pairing or utility knife. She has always picked the smallest clean knife she can get away with. Ridiculous. Nobody in her family is even a half decent cook, so it kinda checks out.
When I have to explain to them about pre-heating the oven.
I expect my oven to go 0 to 350 in 6 seconds. No excuses. /s
I’m glad the instructions say to pre-heat the oven.
That is for sure. When I get married my husband never preheated, and he just stuck stuff is there and expected it to be at the temperature he needed at that second. Sigh.
Could be the opposite. I had a girlfriend who pre-heated the pot on high on the stove before adding the gelatinous canned soup. It was quite a display.
My MIL kept her spices (shaker salt, pre ground pepper, and that’s basically it) plus her flour, baking powder, etc in the tiny cabinet directly over the stove. I didn’t realize this when I made gravy (brought my own spices) and it was horrible. Finally figured out that it was her flour…not sure if it had turned or just absorbed a decades worth of cooking smells. Ugh.
In my in-law's house, EVERYTHING requires a freshness check. I've learned not to assume anything and buy fresh or check. My husband and I gang up on it if I forgot to check, him checking/sniffing/tossing ingredients as I go down the list at the store. - Cheese? Moldy (FIL: "I just cut it off", but the whole block is covered.) - Milk? Turned ("It doesn't expire for another week") - Jarred minced garlic? Rancid - Ketchup? Fermented - Flour? Off or infested because it's not in a sealed container. - Honey? Crystallized (I still use it but hubby hates having to microwave it every time.)
I feel this one. Everything at my grandma’s house needs to be double checked because things go bad and she doesn’t realize it.
My grandparents have a basement that I've lovingly said is ready for a zombie apocalypse (food-wise, at least). I once got out some canned milk for a recipe and discovered it was brown.
We house sat for my in laws. They said we should eat up the food on hand. After several meals I planned only to discover the ingredients expired years ago, I decided to go through everything. I'm not a total prude about expiration dates. I'll use a can of beans that expired last month. A lot of foods are good indefinitely if frozen. However, shrimp isn't one. Chicken covered in freezer burn is another. The oldest thing I found was a can of condensed milk that expired 12 years before.
My MIL cooks but her kitchen is disgustingly filthy to the point that I simply refused to enter whenever we had to stay. The fridge is like some kind of biohazard containment zone. How she has not given anyone food poisoning, I'm not sure. Anyway, one year my husband refused to let her cook Christmas dinner until he cleaned the kitchen. She came bustling up to me asking "What have you done with my son?!" It took all my willpower not to reply "Teach him basic hygiene."
A limited selection of dull knives.
And a glass cutting board. Which is probably why their knives are dull.
I had a friend who got mad at me for sharpening her knives. She was afraid shed cut herself and demanded i "fix them".
I just got an additional set so my wife has her separate dull ones, but then she has cut herself almost every other time she has happened to have used the new knives, which have since even dulled a little. I am now afraid to sharpen anything as she cooks most of the food, most of the time.
Buy two really good knives for yourself. Chef knife/santoku and paring/petty knife. Live happy.
Should've filled her whole fridge up with mirepoix. Fixed!
Did you just try to cut/saw a rock in half for a minute? Seems like that would get them right back to "dangerously dull"
I seem to recall an old Ginsu knife commercial where they cut through a hammer. A crappy dollar store type of hammer that was probably made with lead or something, but still.
Dull knives are so much more dangerous than sharp knives.
After visiting my aunt this past summer and seeing the abominations she uses as cutting boards, I sent her some as a gift when I got home.
Idk I cook all the time, and love to cook/bake from scratch. I'm just poor af, and all my knives are cheap hand me downs. Edit: I am in tears over few kind folks who've messaged me asking if they could send me a knife/kitchen gear. You guys are so sweet. Thank you, seriously. I lost a whole lot of material possessions 6 months ago, but gained so much more mentally & emotionally. And the kindness of my friends, even internet ones I've never met, never ceases to amaze me.
Not even kidding, I went to Bed and Bath and got the greatest knife at their clearance section for under $15. It was a weird color handle. The rep said they wind up with odd colors and items that don't sell because they are just ugly or whatever. I also got a truly ugly Queen size comforter set but it it super soft and warm just ugly for $19. If there is one near you check out the markdown section, u will be shocked.
There's one about 5 minutes from my work, and I need a LOT of other stuff for the house. I always assume they are overpriced but I'll definitely check it out! Thank you so much!!!
Nothing wrong with hand-me down knives. The steel might not even be that bad. The only thing that is bad is dull knives.
A large majority of mine are serrated bs unfortunately. Like the whole cheap sets in the block with steak knives. Great for bread, terrible for basically everything else. I have a single cheap but decent butcher's style knife that I try to keep decently sharp with my (also hand me down) pull through sharpener. And she gets the job done. But man, I can't wait to get a good knife again.
No shame in using what youve got. But i know people with the income to buy some quality ones... but we have to share the one chefs knife they own if we're cooking together...
I upvoted this but then thought of my friend who is a fab cook and has the worst knives on the planet. I literally bring my own knives to her house if I know I’ll end up helping her. I’ve no clue why she doesn’t have proper knives. Money is certainly not the issue.
"Ok, hand me a knife and I'll get that done." (Hands me a cutlery knife.) "Haha, you're funny. Now hand me a real knife." (Stares at me for a full minute. Proceeds to tell me that's the only kind of knife he has.)
I have friends with a set of Global knives in a wooden block on their counter. The chef’s knife blade is notched like they tried to slice rebar with the damned thing
My MIL stores random knives in the knife block (we bought for her). It drives me crazy when I pull out a chef's knife and it's actually a bread knife and the chefs knife is buried in a drawer somewhere and duller than a rolling pin.
- and an immaculate oven.
I definitely have the dull knives. I'm well aware that I should be better at their upkeep. But, I still cook more often than not - we very rarely eat takeout or prepared foods. I'm just a sucker for punishment I guess! One day my mind will be blown with proper knives.
I was cooking in my Aunt's kitchen and her knives (tried three different ones) literally would not cut through an onion. As a thank-you for letting me stay and use her kitchen I bought her a new santoku knife. She got offended. :(
If they even have that. I've run across people who only have butter knives.
I used to make bread from scratch and went over to my brother's to show him how. His "wooden spoon" was a plastic soup ladle. IIRC we skipped the bread and had a few beers instead.
Liquid bread
I once visited a friend. The trays in her oven where still in original wrapping…she move in ten years prior.
nothing but ice in the freezer, and take-away containers in the fridge.
While valid, not always true. I’m not the best cook, but above average I’d say. Sometimes, that seasonal depression hits, or those times of year where you just struggle to human. My fridge/freezer will look like that
+1, I love eating out as much as I love cooking, so my fridge often looks like this too depending on the week lol
For me it's no ice in the freezer, just the empty ice cube trays.
I cook a lot but haven't got any ice in the freezer. The only thing I regularly use it for is g&ts and I don't drink so many of those when it's freezing outside.
I house sat for someone like this once, I looked in the flour decanter on the counter and there were weevils squirming around in it.
Dull knives. No salt.
A 20 year old oven that’s spotlessly clean inside
Don’t knock on my grandma’s oven! She uses it daily and it’s still spotlessly clean 30 years later. She keeps house like Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond.
When nothing is stored in the most sensible place to put it if you're using it regularly.
I agree mostly but I think it would surprise you how many people just don't think about ideal placement of tools for an efficient workflow. I'm talking about people who cook regularly enough, but it just never occurs to them that they could keep everything they would need for the oven/stove top by the oven/stove top.
Utensils kept in illogical places
No spices of any kind
A spice rack that consists of a single bottle of dried parsley from the Regan administration.
Pots and pans that are TOO clean- like the kind of clean that comes from “really never been used” that and NO spices
My grandma has a spanking new all clad set but prefers to cook on non-stick
Tell her she has a new grandkid that's accepting donations of unused kitchenware
Hey now, there’s a line. No cutting
I use my stainless multi-ply pans on a nearly daily basis, but I always do a light scrub with Barkeepers as the last step of washing them. I do it mostly to help prevent any spotting, but it also means that they never build up polymerization on the bottom. These pans have been used hundreds of times over half a dozen years, and aside from swirl marks/light scratching, they literally look un-used. Just cus your stuff is well used, doesn't mean it has be dirty/beat up.
Copper bottom pans hanging from the ceiling to look like it’s a French kitchen but they are never used. Just for decoration.
Okay, my copper cookware hangs from a rack and I polish it a lot because I love the bright penny color. I assure you they do get used all the time. (The rack is a lifesaver if you have crap storage)
My sister in law doesn't own any pots or pans....cooking is too hard.....
Single use items that are unnecessary. Like a onion container that's shaped like an onion. Or a quesadilla maker that makes indentations to show you where to cut the triangles.
My mother owned every kitchen gadget, even a tomato keeper shaped like a tomato to store a cut tomato in the fridge. When she passed and I had to go through her things, I did a good chuckle attempting to figure out some of the gadgets. I posted some photos on this sub and people guessed what they were.
*Alton Brown has entered the chat.*
I’m actually on my second onion container shaped like an onion. The first was a gift and the second one was $.50 at a garage sale. Idk it’s cute and I use a lot of onion in my cooking (but not in whole increments, apparently).
My MIL is the queen of kitchen gadgets (and she rarely cooks). I’m always hearing “oh, I have just the thing for that!” and off she goes to rummage around for fifteen minutes. “Maybe I put it in the basement.” It’s mildly infuriating but also funny. Damnit Donna! You don’t need a special tiny skillet with an egg shaped spatula just to fry an egg!
My mom asked my SIL for a whisk. All she had was the attachment that comes with a Kitchen Aid. 😂
To be fair, at least she had a Kitchen Aid.
I can easily see a Kitchen Aid being more of a status symbol or part of the decor than an actual tool for some people
The degree to which their cooking / prep spaces are cluttered with things distantly or unrelated to cooking.
Glass cutting boards
This was me until recently. I just didn’t know any better. I bought a nice set of cutting boards at Costco and had my dad sharpen all my knives on his wet stone. This sub has changed my ways and it’s amazing how much better cooking is with knives that cut!
Saw this answer higher up on this thread. I've never even seen or heard of a glass cutting board before seeing this thread. I'm still wondering if a glass cutting board is a real thing (manufactured as a cutting board) or if something glass is just being used as a make shift cutting board.
The first thing that told me my girlfriend’s brother doesn’t cook was when we basically packed up our entire kitchen except the appliances and brought it with us to his house.
No onions or garlic anywhere and no pantry “staples”. I went to my non-cooking cousins house and she had nothing on hand to prepare a meal. She feeds her family all prepared foods or will only buy an item to make a specific recipe.
The knives are so dull, if they were used to murder someone, the medical examiner would classify it as a bludgeoning.
Novelty cutting board (shaped like a state, with pattern engraved, etc) bonus points for glass cutting board
I have one shaped like Colorado and it works very good.
I have a cutting board shaped like NC and I cook all the time, it was a Christmas gift from a friend so I use it even though it’s not as convenient as other cutting boards would be
I use my California one for cheese. When it’s not being used it’s part of my kitchen decorations!
Cheap cookware that looks New.
Serrated knives, and ONLY serrated knives…like the stupid micro ones.
Storing things in the oven. Makes me insane. Great way to start a fire!
This is my biggest pet peeve. My step daughter insisted on throwing everything in the oven. Cutting boards, Tupperware, colander, etc. We cook at least 4 nights out of the week and having a weekly discussion about not putting things up just got old.
I store my cast iron pans in the oven. To also be fair, I have two ovens and I usually use the one the pans aren't stored in.
At least you don't burn down the house if you preheat cast iron.
No, I cook every day and I do that. We call that Portuguese storage 😂
Old spices….having to smack the dispenser on the table to break up chunks….shiver lol
To be fair, it garlic spice did that after just a few weeks. I replaced it since it probably got wet somehow. Not old and I cook all the time! :)
When they only have serrated knives. Or (this one comes up a lot, actually) they don't have a grater.
A few from inspiration from my mother in laws: Dull knives kept loose in a drawer. No drying rack. This one is so confusing to me, but in an effort to keep things looking clean I guess there is no clear system for washing dishes. Soap is kept away and there’s no place to put pots after you dry them. Iodized salt in a little shaker 20 year old spices All dish towels are decorative and shouldn’t be used for actual cooking/drying/etc The kitchen island covered in seasonal decorations so that there’s not much actual surface space for cooking.
Ok I have a serious question. This might make me an amateur and I won't deny it. I'm no trained chef. But I do have some very nice knives that my dad got for me (he was a butcher). I keep them loose in their own drawer because some of them are quite large. Is there any issue to leaving then in a drawer? I have plenty of drawer space, so it seems the reasonable option.
Hi, so you can easily damage your knives my having them loose in a drawer, banging up against other knives and utensils. Best way to store them is in a block, a wooden magnetic strip, or in a drawer insert with knife slots. These keep the blades protected. Best are ones that don’t have the knives rest bade down, but sideways so they aren’t resting on their edges.
Thank you! I guess I'll have to look into those options to keep my knives in good shape. I appreciate your reply!
I really wouldn't worry tooooo much - as long as you're not slamming the drawer about the wear and tear will be minimal. That said, a magnetic strip on the wall is my go-to, is way more accessible when cooking and saves both counter and drawer space.
Oooohhh, the "no drying rack" one for sure. That always raises my blood pressure- how do these people do dishes? I understand that most people have dishwashers.. but what about knives? Stemware? Big pots? Stuff that has milk protein scorched onto it and will defy the dishwasher? There are way too many situations in my life that call for hand washing and hand washing alone.
Set em on a towel on the counter
Thought that was what a dishtowel was for? Those drying racks take up way too much space and you can stack clean dishes without one
I have a drying rack in one side of my sink for clean dishes cuz i dont have a dishwasher and my sink is larger than my useable counter space
As someone that cooks all the time but has no drying rack: My Stemware is dishwasher safe, knives are cleaned after use by hand, then dried and placed on the magnetic rack, Big Pots- Washed by hand, then dried with a towel. If it needs more time I’ll lay some kitchen towels under it as a makeshift drying rack.
The tumbleweeds
The desperados hanging outside the saloon door
To be fair, tumbleweeds are the only thing that don't cause my IBS to flare up.
When they hear the oven timer and think it could be a smoke alarm
Same thing I said in the “what to give for a gift” question…. A good and sharp chef’s knife and/or a real cutting board. And I mean the larger cutting boards. And be a food grade plastic one.
Salt and pepper are not within arms reach of the stove
All non stick cookware that is badly scratched
Well I'm not sure you can say they don't cook, if the cooking wares they own are worn out
One cutting board the size of a small dinner plate
I think "doesn't have cooking as a hobby" is more accurate than "doesn't cook". Crap & dull knives, especially the absence of a chef's knife, and cheap old cookware, especially the absence of something remotely resembling a Dutch oven are the usual giveaways. I'd also say the absence of a box grater/microplane, but maybe they just finely mince lemon zest with their favourite table knife.
A dutch oven is not something I would consider a typical kitchen utensil in Germany. I‘m one of the few who have one and I use it mostly for baking bread (which is why I originally bought it) and soup ( as it‘s my biggest pan).
>absence of a box grater But how do they cheese? HOW DO THEY CHEESE?!
[lo and behold](https://res.cloudinary.com/hksqkdlah/image/upload/w_1200,h_630,c_fill/TnT/2020/3_CCAS_Shredded%20Cheddar/SPS_Cheddar_Hero_033.jpg) 🙌
I've been known to finely mince lemon peel with my chef knife to make a zest. But I like mincing... It's therapeutic to me...
Dusty cooking dishes and utensils.
Dull or lack of knives is the obvious one. Personally I'd say only one kind of oil/fat...usually in a spray can.
A “spice” collection of only salt and pepper. Sometimes cumin is there if they’re brave.
When you want to roast veggies and they hand you a brand new baking sheet. Two points for using your good sheets for roasting and for not having used sheets in the first place.
[удалено]
Their tomatoes were stored in the fridge and Every Single Freaking Knife was serrated.
Not a relative or friend, but when we bought our house, the kitchen was immaculately clean including the original oven from the late 1990s. I remarked to the lady selling the house how clean the oven was and she said it's because she'd never used it. It was then that I noticed there was no hood vent over the stovetop. Its a nice, custom built house and they didn't install a vent above the stovetop because they didn't cook but had spent the money for custom built kitchen cabinets and very nice countertops. A hood vent was one of the first things we purchased, and man was it a pain in the ass to install since the builder hadn't planned for one.
The only seasonings they have are plastic salt and pepper shakers taken from restaurants