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Kitchen jobs you hate beyond reason

cfm

By cfm
in Cooking

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cfm

cfm

Posted
Posted

Sausages for tea. I just hate cutting the links. Tonight they were those butchers sausages where they had twisted the links around each other in bunches like bananas (if bananas joined at both ends) which just makes it doubly tiresome. They sell rindless bacon, why can't they sell separated sausages?

I have a theory that everyone without exception has a food fad, so perhaps everyone has an insupportable hatred of some trivial kitchen task? My mother hated putting clean cutlery into the individual knife/fork/spoon drawer dividers so much that she just dumped the whole lot on the top. But I think she may have got over this - will I ever relax around sausage links?

Catherine

&roid

&roid

Posted
Posted

Peeling shallots. Can't stand it.

Also, anything using a food processor - any joy at the efficiency of it is swallowed up by the mess of cleaning the damn thing afterwards.

cfm

cfm

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

I detest cleaning the fridge and chopping onions.

Now cleaning the fridge is objectively quite a bad job, no?

C

Darienne

Darienne

Posted
Posted

My DH is dictating this as I type.

My husband, who is a disorganized slob in every other part of his life, cleans up as he cooks, while I end up in the most awful mess you can imagine, cleaning nothing as I go along. So he says I hate it.

I don't hate it: I just am incapable of doing it. :sad:

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

CKatCook

CKatCook

Posted
Posted

Oh I am with you on cleaning the fridge.

The dishes. I hate beyond all reasoning to do the dishes. So much so that my hubby and I have a deal worked out that I will do yard work if he does the dishes. No joke!

"I eat fat back, because bacon is too lean"

-overheard from a 105 year old man

"The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook" - Julia Child

Dakki

Dakki

Posted
Posted

Cleanup in general. I'm also unreasonable about doing it "right" so it's not like I can let someone else do it for me, either.

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

Crouton

Crouton

Posted
Posted (edited)

Opening that square box of Kosher Salt... I always manage to get the metal pour spout jammed up under finger nail while trying to pry it open. Ouch.

Edited by Crouton (log)
Rico

Rico

Posted
Posted

Here's a second for chopping onions. And, though I don't typically use it for sympathy as I think it's a cheap way to get it, I'll use it here as my morals have been loosened by my good buddy Jack Daniels: I don't have a right hand, so when I try to chop the onion in that oh-so-efficient way that most chefs (I think) and Alton Brown espouse, it just ... well, it doesn't work well. I hate chopping onions. But I freaking love onions in everything. It's a most unfortunate situation.

 

haresfur

haresfur

Posted
Posted

I hate chopping parsley beyond reason. The curly stuff grabs my fingers in a desperate attempt to escape the knife. Creepy. Italian parsley is better but tries to paste itself to the board so you don't get a clean cut.

It's almost never bad to feed someone.

JAZ

JAZ

Posted
Posted

I always put off emptying the dishwasher. I don't mind filling it up or running it, but for some reason I don't like to unload it. Even more than that, though, I hate to wash dishes by hand, so I tend to put everything possible into the dishwasher, which then means I have to unload it more often.

Janet A. Zimmerman, aka "JAZ"
Manager
jzimmerman@eGullet.org
eG Ethics signatory
Author, The Healthy Pressure Cooker Cookbook,  Instant Pot Obsession, and The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook for Two

OliverB

OliverB

Posted
Posted

I could chop stuff all day, I'm not a fan of super cleaning. Wiping things off yes, but going behind and under things, no. And I'm not good at putting stuff away at times...

And yes, unloading the dishwasher. If I'd live alone I'd probably never do so, just leave everything in there and run it after each dinner. Saves cupboard space too, so I could stuff more things I 'need right now' in there! :laugh:

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

Lilija

Lilija

Posted
Posted

Opening and draining cans. Tuna, beans, whatever. I really hate doing it.

Dealing with raw chicken. I had a serious aversion to the stuff when I was pregnant, the scent of it would make me vomit every single time. I'm still not totally ok with it. If I must, I handle raw poultry with gloves, and leaning way back, so I don't get a whiff.

Tedious repetitive tasks. I have ADD like nobody's business. Only folding the first two won tons of a batch is fun. The rest is pure unadulterated torture. Luckily, my husband thrives on this sort of mundane stuff, and he's always willing to make a million little sates, fold nine thousand pirogies, or whatever, after I inevitably lose interest and wander off.

TeakettleSlim

TeakettleSlim

Posted
Posted

1. Sorting silverware upon unloading the dishwasher. I prefer to sort as it goes in, which I try to do as it's generated, so I don't have to sort more than a few pieces at a time. Then when it's all done, I can just grab a handful out of each section of the basket and stick it in the right place without further fussery. Of course, I'm the only one in the house who does this, so one well-meaning dishwasher-loading helper can screw up my whole system. I don't want to discourage anyone from loading the dishwasher, though, so I keep my mouth shut about it.

2. Emptying the little drain basket/stopper thing in the side of the sink that doesn't have the disposal. Eew, eew, eew.

ScoopKW

ScoopKW

Posted
Posted

Using a meat slicer.

I don't really hate using it, I hate the fact that I use the slicer for five minutes, and then need to clean it for 30.

Actually, I spend 15 cleaning the last slobbos tomato seeds, slicing ham, and then recleaning the slicer.

Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today. -- Edgar Allan Poe

Kat Tanaka Okopnik

Kat Tanaka Okopnik

Posted
Posted

Opening that square box of Kosher Salt... I always manage to get the metal pour spout jammed up under finger nail while trying to pry it open. Ouch.

Butter knife. (My problem is when they're not anchored well, and come out, no matter how gently I do it. AARGH.)

I'm weird, and don't mind cleaning the deep gunk. It's oddly satisfying. What I hate is gathing up the staticky wisps of paper onion peel.

Big Mike

Big Mike

Posted
Posted

Peeling any sort of squash. It slimy and slippery, then when it dries on your fingers it leaves a nasty crusty residue I can never get off no matter how much soap. Wearing gloves helps but I hate chopping anything wearing gloves.

I have simple tastes. I am always satisfied with the best - Oscar Wilde

The Easy Bohemian

GwennP

GwennP

Posted
Posted

Right there with the shallots and squash, but I also hate washing and spining herbs dry. Also, I just remodeled my kitchen and love it but the sink we had to get is deep but small. I get very wet when I have to wash my all-clads by hand and I hate it. I'm thinking they may have to learn to like the dishwasher.

Doodad

Doodad

Posted
Posted

Shrimp. I am good at it and fast since I grew up getting tons at the beach and such. But I hate the tedium. I would almost rather make a shrimp boil because of it.

Rover

Rover

Posted
Posted

Peeling & chopping onions is one for me and handling butter. I use butter in cooking and baking all the time, but I don't even like the smell. My way of dealing with tasks I don't care for is to do them immediately and get them out of the way.

I've never really understood why so many people hate cleaning the food processor - just a quick rinse and it goes into the dishwasher on the top shelf. Or, if it's needed for multiple separate tasks, speedily wash with a dishbrush and it's ready. I use mine constantly, especially for the above-mentioned onions.

cfm

cfm

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

1. Sorting silverware upon unloading the dishwasher. I prefer to sort as it goes in, which I try to do as it's generated, so I don't have to sort more than a few pieces at a time. Then when it's all done, I can just grab a handful out of each section of the basket and stick it in the right place without further fussery. Of course, I'm the only one in the house who does this, so one well-meaning dishwasher-loading helper can screw up my whole system. I don't want to discourage anyone from loading the dishwasher, though, so I keep my mouth shut about it.

Are you in fact my mother? (See my post opening the topic.)

I'm loving these. Makes me feel so much better about the sausages. Chopping curly parsley has to be my favourite. I'll count my blessings every time I do it from now on - at least I'm not creeped out by this parsley, I'll say.

C

ben_husband

ben_husband

Posted
Posted

Chopping parsley down to what my chefs call "sprinkle". We aren't allowed to use a food processor and the parsley needs to be the consistency of ground pepper.

baroness

baroness

Posted
Posted

2. Emptying the little drain basket/stopper thing in the side of the sink that doesn't have the disposal. Eew, eew, eew.

:blink: I second that! But -- I have two (no disposal)! :blink:

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