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After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

nytimes.com

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Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#81

Post by throwaway2037 »

standardUser wrote: post #74
krallja wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taco Bell doesn’t use butter, AFAIK.

Neither do many major cuisines, like Mediterranean, Mexican, Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Is butter really the problem here? Because to me it sounds like the problem is habitual over-eating.

Risotto in Italian cooking definitely uses buttoer. But, I already know what your reply will be: "Oh, that's Northern Italian cooking -- it doesn't count." Most normie readers don't care about that distinction.

Japanese izakayas frequently sell grilled items wrapped in foil that is swimming in butter. Again, I assume you will reply: "Oh, but that's not traditional Japanese cooking -- it doesn't count." Again, most normie readers don't care about that distinction.

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#82

Post by ghaff »

dustincoates wrote: post #76
dredmorbius wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that control at all for type of restaurant, both by market segment (e.g., fast food vs. sit-down fine dining), and by cuisine (e.g., "American" or "steakhouse" vs. various ethnic or vegetarian menus)? Because I could see a lot of variability amongst those. And without controls, the study will default strongly toward fast-food, doughnut shops, pizza, burger / franks stands, and the like. Several of which have pro…

> Several of which have pronounced associated negatives (see, e.g., Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me (2004). There may be associated negatives, but Super Size Me is a terrible piece of evidence of it. Spurlock not only intentionally ate far more than any normal person would, but also declined to mention in the movie his copious alcohol consumption. (Not that I expect someone…

I don't unless I'm traveling but eating a couple modestly portioned meals a week which, yes, you can do in the US, is healthy enough as part of a basket of options. And often better than whipping up a lot of things you can make with 15 minutes of effort from the grocery store.

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#83

Post by throwaway2037 »

polar8 wrote: post #19
UIUC_06 wrote: post #6

Great article. If you ask a real chef, "What do home chefs do wrong the most?" They will often say, "Not enough butter, not enough salt."

Eating in restaurants is terrible for your health. Here's a study that finds a 49% increase in all-cause mortality risk for those who frequently eat meals prepared away from home. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33775622/ I have stopped eating out completely as I always feel gross and tired after a restaurant meal vs energized after home-cooked food. I think it's mostly due to cheap oils in quantities you would never…

I hear this "cheap oil" thing a lot in food pseudo-science Internet writing. What exactly is "cheap oil"? And, is there any peer reviewed evidence for your claims about how you feel after eating "cheap oil"? If this effect is so drastic, then, surely, it must affect others, and would be an interesting and worthy research topic.

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#84

Post by ghaff »

AlbertCory wrote: post #80
awithrow wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get a standalone pizza over for a couple hundred. I've got an Ooni and it gets up to 900 in about 15 minutes. Its obviously not for indoor use but its great nonetheless. It still takes a good bit of technique to get the dough and timing right but its great to be able to cook a pizza in little more than a minute.

Have you actually pointed an IR thermometer at it? On mine (which I sold), it was 900 at the back and 600 at the front. It was just too much trouble. A pizza steel in a kitchen oven, preheated, works very well; maybe not as good as a 700F oven but WAY easier. And 5 minutes instead of 1 minute is not a big sacrifice.

It's not perfect but those Naan flatbreads available in many US markets plus a pizza stone at 500 degrees F work fine for the occasional homemade pizza if I don't want to get takeout from one of a couple of local pizzarias. One of which is more convenient and the other is brick-over/better.

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#85

Post by ghaff »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #83
polar8 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating in restaurants is terrible for your health. Here's a study that finds a 49% increase in all-cause mortality risk for those who frequently eat meals prepared away from home. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33775622/ I have stopped eating out completely as I always feel gross and tired after a restaurant meal vs energized after home-cooked food. I think it's mostly due to cheap oils in quantities you would never…

I hear this "cheap oil" thing a lot in food pseudo-science Internet writing. What exactly is "cheap oil"? And, is there any peer reviewed evidence for your claims about how you feel after eating "cheap oil"? If this effect is so drastic, then, surely, it must affect others, and would be an interesting and worthy research topic.

I guess it's generic vegetable oil as opposed to Canola oil or Peanut oil? I'd actually suspect that a mindset of buy whatever oil is cheapest from Sysco would pursue cheapness in other areas as well including kitchen supervision/skills.

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#86

Post by throwaway2037 »

Larrikin wrote: post #27
polar8 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating in restaurants is terrible for your health. Here's a study that finds a 49% increase in all-cause mortality risk for those who frequently eat meals prepared away from home. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33775622/ I have stopped eating out completely as I always feel gross and tired after a restaurant meal vs energized after home-cooked food. I think it's mostly due to cheap oils in quantities you would never…

There are certain foods that you can not reasonably make at home or are just extremely fussy and a huge waste of time to make at home. You won't achieve wok hei on your stove, your oven will not be ablr to achieve the high temperatures required for the best versions of certain foods, restaurants in your area will get priority from suppliers over what you find in the grocery store and even most farmers markets, and th…

    > You won't achieve wok hei on your stove
This is simple untrue. There is many, many YouTube videos explaining how to achieve wok hei (鑊氣) at home with a non-commercial gas-fired stove and a cheap wok.

For any readers unfamiliar with the stir frying technique called wok hei, read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wok#Cooking

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#87

Post by throwaway2037 »

carlosjobim wrote: post #49
Larrikin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are certain foods that you can not reasonably make at home or are just extremely fussy and a huge waste of time to make at home. You won't achieve wok hei on your stove, your oven will not be ablr to achieve the high temperatures required for the best versions of certain foods, restaurants in your area will get priority from suppliers over what you find in the grocery store and even most farmers markets, and th…

Paradoxically, it's the fast food staples that are most difficult to do at home – because you need a fryer. Haute cuisine is no problem making at home, because fine dining is not based on using fryers. It can't be made with restaurant speed nor quantity, but you can get the same quality at home.

    > because you need a fryer
What? There are many, many YouTube videos explaining how to make "fast food" style french fries (double fried, and all that) at home, without a fryer.

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#88

Post by throwaway2037 »

AlbertCory wrote: post #80
awithrow wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get a standalone pizza over for a couple hundred. I've got an Ooni and it gets up to 900 in about 15 minutes. Its obviously not for indoor use but its great nonetheless. It still takes a good bit of technique to get the dough and timing right but its great to be able to cook a pizza in little more than a minute.

Have you actually pointed an IR thermometer at it? On mine (which I sold), it was 900 at the back and 600 at the front. It was just too much trouble. A pizza steel in a kitchen oven, preheated, works very well; maybe not as good as a 700F oven but WAY easier. And 5 minutes instead of 1 minute is not a big sacrifice.

Hey, this is a great post. I have read similar complaints about Ooni pizza ovens, where it is very difficult to achieve the 900F temp and impossible in the front. Great point about 5 mins vs 1 min.

Can you share: Do you think normie home cooks can taste the difference between a 5min and 1min pizza? I am unsure. For example, is the 5min pizza much drier? (I assume no.)

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#89

Post by ghaff »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #87
carlosjobim wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paradoxically, it's the fast food staples that are most difficult to do at home – because you need a fryer. Haute cuisine is no problem making at home, because fine dining is not based on using fryers. It can't be made with restaurant speed nor quantity, but you can get the same quality at home.

> because you need a fryer What? There are many, many YouTube videos explaining how to make "fast food" style french fries (double fried, and all that) at home, without a fryer.

And it's probably not reasonable that the average person who gets McDonalds fries (which are indeed good and better than most, if not all, of the "fast casual" joints) will do those things. Not that frozen supermarket fries in a deep fryer are an especially heavy lift and they're mostly good enough (with reasonably fresh oil) for hamburger and fries.

Re: After 12 years of reviewing restaurants, I'm leaving the table

#90

Post by xanderlewis »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #81
standardUser wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither do many major cuisines, like Mediterranean, Mexican, Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Is butter really the problem here? Because to me it sounds like the problem is habitual over-eating.

Risotto in Italian cooking definitely uses buttoer. But, I already know what your reply will be: "Oh, that's Northern Italian cooking -- it doesn't count." Most normie readers don't care about that distinction. Japanese izakayas frequently sell grilled items wrapped in foil that is swimming in butter. Again, I assume you will reply: "Oh, but that's not traditional Japanese cooking -- it doesn't count." Again, most no…

Miso and butter is also a common combination even in home cooking these days.
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