The eGullet Hall of Shame

[Aloha Steve]

Little Debbie's Pies Never heard of them.

[andiesenji]

Heaven help me, I do like the mac and cheese in the blue box. After raising a child, it sunk in. Sorry Mom.

I make terrible bread. It is ok, but lifeless. The bakers around here do a better job.

Funyuns.

No shame there.

I like my version of mac and cheese made with Campbell's Cheddar Cheese, Nacho Cheese or Pepper Jack Cheese soups. I always have several cans of each on hand for "emergencies" like today when is it raining and alternately snowing and I don't want to go out and want comfort food.

When I am in too much of a hurry to wait for elbow mac (or shells, even better because they "catch" more cheese) I will heat the condensed soup in the microwave and pour some over toast.

Also I do not like beef, steaks or roasts very rare. I know it's shameful but I believe I am entitled to what tastes good to me.

Edited January 19, 2010 by andiesenji (log)

[Snadra]

I am also ashamed that I tried to mince garlic with a knife for a while, but I sucked at it and went back to my garlic press.

Yeah, I can't really mince garlic very well with a knife, either. I keep trying, though, and give my family members the eye if they say anything about getting a too-large piece of garlic in their bite of sauce. It doesn't help matters, either, that I actually like bigger pieces of garlic.

I saw Gary Rhodes mincing garlic to paste with his knife and thought: why not just use a press? Surely it's the same result? Although it would be nice to have the knife skills to do it without fear of losing a digit or two... I use the microplane to 'mince' garlic now. And rub my hands on the sink to get rid of the smell afterwards.

My shame:

I prefer chicken breast to chicken thighs.

I HATE innards and offal. The texture [shudder]! The taste [double shudder]! And I grew up on a farm, so it's not like I haven't had plenty of opportunity to try them.

I firmly believe that nothing is improved by the inclusion of pickles, cornichons, gherkins or related products.

I like hotdogs with lots of ketchup (NOT tomato sauce!), so long as they're the north american style ones (Aldi does a good one), not the soft, flabby ones you get here. Mmmm...high sodium manufactured meat products.

I am fundamentally incapable of making a yorkshire pudding that doesn't resemble a fossilized hockey puck.

[Snadra]

I use el cheapo wine for wine-based stews, saving the good stuff for the table.

This NYTimes article suggests that cheap wine for cooking might be just fine. I've done some unscientific testing myself, and have to say I agree based on my experiences so far.

[Emily_R]

I loooove hostess cupcakes.

I'm not convinced there's much of a difference between San Marzano canned tomatoes and regular canned tomatoes at a third of the price.

I love fresh mozzarella, but do not want it on my cheese pizza. Only Polly-O style mozzarella on my cheese pizza please.

[Peter the eater]

My name is Peter, and I buy elbow noodles and cheese powder separately in bulk so I can make my own Kraft dinner in the quantity and concentration I choose. As I student years ago, I learned how to break free from the 225-grams-pasta-one-cheesy-pouch cycle of tyranny.

[Hest88]

I don't like raw tomatoes, even the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, even in the height of summer.

I will gladly eat steak that has been completely burnt to a crisp.

Once every few months I will dispatch my husband to our local 7-Eleven to pick up a few Jalapeno Slim Jims.

I prefer Sara Lee pound cake to homemade.

Staples of my pantry include both Campbell's Chicken and Rice and Homemade Chicken Noodle, as well as Lipton Noodle Soup.

[Pierogi]

My dip of choice is Lipton's onion soup mix in sour cream.

I prefer Kraft mac & cheese to any others I've tasted, including those in restaurants (including some pretty good ones) and any I've made. I have, however, upgraded to the "deluxe" style, with the squeeze packet of the cheese goo, rather than the powder.

I have never, and will never, eat offal. My mind will not let my mouth go there.

I have never, and will never, eat a raw oyster. SEVERE textural problems with that one. I have a pretty pronounced gag reflex.....

I cannot stand eggplant. Not in parmigiana, not in moussaka, not in baba ganoush, not at all. In theory, I would love all those dishes were it not for eggplant. I *have* made moussaka with zucchini instead of the evil purple thing, and loved it, but know that any self respecting Greek would draw and quarter me for the very thought of it.

I could not make a pie crust if my life depended on it, so I no longer try. Frozen shells work just fine.

[rooftop1000]

All my best have been taken....Kraft Mac n Cheese served along side hot dogs is called Gourmet Night here

I would much rather eat Goat than Goat cheese or Blue cheese or stinky cheese

I dont like red wine but I occasionally like things cooked with red wine

I keep beef, chicken, and seafood base in the fridge

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dole's Caesar salad dressing in the premade bag o' salad

I just stocked up on canned beans and tuna at the CanCan Sale...it's winter ya know

tracey

[Moopheus]

I'm a snack cake snob. I taught my daughter that Little Debbie's official name is Nasty Cakes and despite her tears,I've never allowed one in my house. Ouch.

Yes, around here it's Hostess or nothing. HoHos, especially.

I do not like to drink any wine or beer. It just tastes nasty and unpleasantly sour to me. Doesn't matter how "good" it is. The odd thing is that sometimes I will cook with it--when it is diluted and the alcohol cooked away, it is tolerable.

[LizD518]

I triple the vote for Dominos Thin Crust - I'll have mine with ham and pineapple please.

I also love boxed mac & cheese - Annie's is my brand. Every few months I crave it like no other thing. One of the frozen vegetable brands also makes (used to make) a frozen vegetable and pasta dish in a bag with white cheddar sauce. Just throw it into a skillet with some water - delicious!

I hate the thought of most offal, although I have tried sweetbreads and foie gras. There, I've tried it, now stop bugging me!

Raw shellfish makes me shudder

I can't figure out how to stirfry vegetables properly. Mine are always overcooked according to accepted standards. And I like them that way!

[jumanggy]

I actually have the same confessions as a few of you, the snack cakes, pineapple in pizza, and canned broth (and bouillon cubes!) in particular. But I'm not really ashamed. I can appreciate fancy pastries and authentic pizza too -- they all have their merits.

However, the only thing I'm really ashamed of is:

pasteurized processed cheese food.

I don't know if it qualifies as cheese. But it browns well. It's creamy. It's salty. It's cheap. And it's a component of a few Filipino dishes. If I bought cheese from the deli for everything I made that required it, I'd be broke

[Chanterelle]

I love Tater Tots, with ketchup.

Most of the time I don't even bother to haul home brick packs of chicken broth but use chicken base, that salty yellow goo in a jar.

I just can't warm up to beans and lentils. Have never attempted cassoulet. Never eat dal in Indian restaurants. I have 2 lbs of Rancho Gordo beans that have been sitting here for over a year, waiting for inspiration.

[Chris Hennes]

Wait, liking Tater Tots is shameful?! Damn! I wasn't ashamed of it until now...

[Chris Amirault]

Hell, I was proud.

[Alcuin]

I was just about to mention my love of tater tots, and always with ketchup which I like with lots of things like burgers, fries, homefries, scrambled eggs, kielbasa, ham, etc (I guess to some this would be shameful too?). Tots are so versatile too: microwave, mash up, fry, and you've got some mean hashbrowns. Plus, tater tots are so easy to make (especially important after a night of drinking).

Anyway, when it comes what what you like, my motto is have no shame.

[paulraphael]

I don't like eggs.

I do like reheated pasta and reheated coffee.

Cliff bars are a major part of my diet.

[Stephanie Brim]

I am also ashamed that I tried to mince garlic with a knife for a while, but I sucked at it and went back to my garlic press.

Yeah, I can't really mince garlic very well with a knife, either. I keep trying, though, and give my family members the eye if they say anything about getting a too-large piece of garlic in their bite of sauce. It doesn't help matters, either, that I actually like bigger pieces of garlic.

I saw Gary Rhodes mincing garlic to paste with his knife and thought: why not just use a press? Surely it's the same result? Although it would be nice to have the knife skills to do it without fear of losing a digit or two... I use the microplane to 'mince' garlic now. And rub my hands on the sink to get rid of the smell afterwards.

I've done that, too...now that I have one. When I must do it with a knife, to the disdain of my husband and numerous family members, I take out the really big pieces and...er...eat them raw before putting the garlic in the sauce. Did I just say that?

Also, I have a liking of plain white store bread, but only for grilled cheese and the like. I've not found a homemade bread, though I've really gotten creative with baking now, that makes a really tasty classic childhood grilled cheese: butter the backs of two slices of plain white bread, put Kraft cheese slice in between on the non-buttered side, place in frying pan, brown until toasty and melty. My homemade white just doesn't have that...airy quality to it. My favorite bread for these sandwiches right now is none other than the cheapest white sandwich-style bread at the cheap grocery store.

Maybe one day, when I can spend the almost $40 to get a Pullman pan, I'll cease to buy the supermarket stuff.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Stephanie Brim (log)

[onrushpam]

Damn y'all! It's 10:15 pm and I'm jonesing for some tater tots! There's a bag in the freezer (actually Crispy Crowns)... Is it too late to turn on the oven?

[Stephanie Brim]

I was thinking that, too, but the bag I have is just this side of ancient. Maybe I should chance it...

[blue_dolphin]

I have never even tried to make my own pie crust. I buy Pillsbury All-Ready Pie Crusts and fit them nicely into my glass pie pans so they look homemade.

I re-cork partial bottles of wine, stash them in the fridge and consume them 3, 4, even 5 days later - well beyond the recommended 24 hours. And I think they taste OK. We're talking < $20/bottle wines, so maybe they weren't all that great to begin with

[ScoopKW]

My name is Peter, and I buy elbow noodles and cheese powder separately in bulk so I can make my own Kraft dinner in the quantity and concentration I choose. As I student years ago, I learned how to break free from the 225-grams-pasta-one-cheesy-pouch cycle of tyranny.

I love penobscot mac and cheese -- with five different cheeses and an herbed crumb topping. But to be true to myself, I probably love blue box even more.

What's your cheese powder source? All I've found is cheddar powder that looks suspiciously natural. I want my powder to be bright orange, with some MSG if at all possible.

I'm fine with three-buck Chuck Sauv. Blanc, and I prefer Trader Joe's Blanc de Blancs to many more expensive sparkling wines. I can't think of a better use of $4.50 than a bottle of TJ's Blanc.

My wife's guilty pleasure is McNuggets.

[Boy R D]

This is pretty bad but once in a while I crave Easy Cheese. Yeah, the stuff in the spray can. Skip the crackers, bread or any other delivery device, just shoot it directly into the oral cavity.

One day when I came home after a particularly rotten day, my wife produced a can that she had hidden for just such an occasion.

It helped.

[Pierogi]

...I hate the thought of most offal, although I have tried sweetbreads and foie gras. There, I've tried it, now stop bugging me!...

OK, see......foie gras, and even chicken liver pates, aren't offal to me. Pork liver pate is too strong for my taste, as is calf liver, and "un-pate'ed" chicken liver. Maybe because the pate is so processed (fine grind is a wonderful thing....) and foie gras is just, swoony. And even though it's not processed like pate, the texture is so similar, I can get past what it is.

But don't ask me to eat any other innerds ! Again, I think it's mostly a textural thing.

Chris H and Chris A and Chanterelle.....'Tater Tots are one of the 5 basic food groups. Especially the onion flavored ones.

[djyee100]

I like Lay's potato chips, those plain thin chips with lots of salt on them. A few years ago Lay's started frying their chips in healthier sunflower oil, and that's too bad, because I think they tasted better with the hydrogenated stuff.

It's very important to me that the bag of chips I purchase contain as many whole big chips as possible. At the supermarket I gingerly finger the bag, then gently shake it a little. Too many pieces and crumbs, and I try out another bag. At the checkout I ask that that the potato chips be put in a separate paper bag. That's so the chips won't be crushed by my other groceries. Also, I hope that the cashier thinks I'm buying the chips for someone else.

One of my favorite dinners, especially good for difficult days, is potato chips with ice cream, usually a pint of Ben & Jerry's that has some Heath Bar Crunch in it. The potato chips are a chaser for the ice cream. To my mind, this is a nutritious meal because it includes the four major food groups in my universe: fat, sugar, starch, and salt. I'm not really ashamed to be eating a dinner like this. But then, I haven't posted this contribution on EGullet's Dinner thread, either.