Re: "white people don't season"

Fear not, a post will soon follow with time-lapse drone footage of a hydraulic press vs. Nathan Myhrvold’s cigar box ukulele retrofitted with arduino automation for sous vide cooking. :wink:

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I first saw it without context and assumed it was “White People: Don’t!” season

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I scanned it as: White People will burn unevenly, no matter how long we are left to dry out.

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Wow, at this thread; what could possibly go wrong?

O_O

Anyhoo…

My opinion?

In America, it really depends upon the individual White people in question, and wherever they trace their ethnic origins back to. (Cajun and Creole ‘white folks’ immediately spring to mind as an obvious example; they sure as hell season their food, and it’s DELISH.)

On the other hand, my family was the polar opposite:

I grew up with my mom’s side, which has a heavy mix of Irish, German, Dutch and English. Both my mom and my Gram had a very bland palett.

And so I was 10 years old before I realized why the exact same kinds of food tasted so much better at my friends’ houses than it did at home; their food had more seasoning than just salt and the occasional dash of pepper.

revelation

So yeah… “White people don’t season their food” was true for me, but I’m not foolish enough to believe that it’s true for everyone else, all the time.

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I’ve enjoyed the thread thus far. If anything cooking and appreciating good food is a universal passion, and i’m always excited to learn about new kinds of foods, ingredients, etc :slight_smile: I still don’t fully understand the point of the BB post if i’m being honest.

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I think there is some truth in seeing a large swath of the central part of the country that likes the bland meat n potato type thing.

I would also say seasoning and spices are really about what you are making. Most seafood here in new England have very little done to them as it’s incredibly fresh and you want to taste the protein…let it be it’s own flavor profile (lobster and other shellfish, strong hearty fish like salmon or bluefish). Other dishes and proteins may need that oomph to make it taste like anything (yukon gold potatoes, white and brown rice, and boneless chicken breast come to mind here).

Some cuisines don’t rely on spices for enhancing flavor profiles at all and instead use cooking liquids and sauces (many eastern european dishes do it that way).

I am always of the mindset of Eric Ripert…let the protein be the star of the plate. Good seasoning with salt to bring out its natural flavor, rich flavorful sauce as a background.

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I agree.

I think that a good idea for combatting ingrained prejudice and bigoted stereotypes would be to start an internal ‘foreign exchange program’ with people who live in very different communities and have them share home-cooked meals with one another.

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regional palates vary widely as well. being from texas i had exposure almost from birth to various peppers, dried and fresh; different types of vinegar and tomato based pepper sauces and salsas; cumin; and smoked peppers (chipotle). my parents and grandmother used salt, black pepper, and worcestershire sauce. i learned about tabasco sauce from my louisiana classmates at college while learning about how to combine and layer flavor combinations from many cookbooks and experiences. i now use a variety of the hottest peppers but in ways that even the spice-challenged can enjoy them: ghost pepper chex mix and barbecue sauce, carolina reaper chinese stir-fry, or citrus-reaper hot wings.

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My anecdotal data point says most of us don’t.

Chicken with rice - as is - has a lot of flavor!

Anyone know the science on tasters? I know some people can taste more (a broader spectrum?) as well as more sensitively (a deeper spectrum?) than others, and that’s independent of the supertasters who can taste things that others can’t even taste. I don’t know much more than that about taste, but I know my sense of taste is really really sensitive, and I almost need bland food sometimes. But not all the time.

I think that a good idea for combatting ingrained prejudice and bigoted stereotypes would be to start an internal ‘foreign exchange program’ with people who live in very different communities and have them share home-cooked meals with one another.

Right on. My very favorite restaurants are way in neighborhoods, and are places where I’ve seen people take their grandparents. There’s this mexican place I go for lunch on the weekends sometimes, and there is ALWAYS at least one family there, and grandma has her shoes off. :slight_smile: That must be pretty close to home cookin i figure?

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So i recently made myself some black rice. I have made it several times over the years, but i recently bought a large amount for a fair price at an asian market and i just purchased a rice cooker. Man the rice cooker made it to perfection and the brand i got was really excellent.

Amusingly i made the rice to go with some black bean soup and i had not thought about it until everything was prepared and ready to serve but my dinner was all black. I felt like a goth or something lol. Here’s a pic of the finished rice in the rice cooker. The rice is still quite delicious a few days later.

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Anchovy is not a seasoning. It’s the thing that ruins perfectly good salad dressing and pizzas.

I have many spice mixes. None came in bottles, but were custom mixed by the Spicehound.
He sells $1 spice packs at farmers markets so everyone can have good seasonings.

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Heresy! I love saffron, the carrot halva I made last week was loaded with it. Also something I don’t read about elsewhere is that saffron seems (in my experience) to be a bit psychoactive.

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But from what I hear from cannibals, white people need a bit of paprika and cumin to get just the right flavors out of them…

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Just use whatever complements pork

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/long_pork

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I am not sure if its just my wife’s cooking/family but I have found a good deal Japanese home cooking comes down to:

  1. Put soy sauce, sugar, fish (or seaweed) stock and either sake (or its sweetened cousin mirin) in a pot
  2. Simmer something till it dies.

Granted you can make some nice stuff that way, but it is not very imaginative cooking wise

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Bertorelli olive oil is not the good stuff. The good stuff comes in tin cans with Greek writing on, is dark green and tastes like making love to your SO in an olive grove.

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getting a chicken and cooking that.

In grade two or something my son got to tell his class how our family’s special Thanksgiving dish was chicken, “Because my mummy says turkey is too much work.”

And, no matter what trouble you go to, you’re stuck with Turkey to eat. I hate turkey.

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We’ve been getting one called Cullen Creek, that is very nice, and appears at Grocery Outlet from time to time at a reasonable price.

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Nothing compliments a human being quite like it’s own self.

If only we could bottle it.

Agree, plus another 30 or so that I can’t live without, and the fresh herbs plucked from outside grows. Couldn’t even begin cooking acceptable Vietnamese or Chinese, or even Italian, with your list. But if that’s all you need, that’s all you need! Happy eating.

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