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Culinary Terms that Should be Banned!


liuzhou

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I guess I was thinking about encountering this in a more current usage.  I'm not really arguing that it's wrong - i.e. that it can't be a noun - just that it's not a good usage in the sense I was referring to, and is generally unnecessary.

 

"I love her baked goods", to me is preferable to "I love her bakes".  As I said, the latter grates on me.  But that is an opinion.

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4 minutes ago, IndyRob said:

But that is an opinion.

I think almost all of us have some bone to pick with the language. We all have expressions that make us shudder. Most of the time they are perfectly legitimate uses and we just have a hangup up about them. But if we were all allowed to make a preference a general rule I suspect we would be incapable of communicating anything at any time to anybody.  But I still empathize with you. 

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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1 minute ago, Anna N said:

I think almost all of us have some bone to pick with the language. We all have expressions that make us shudder. Most of the time they are perfectly legitimate uses and we just have a hangup up about them. But if we were all allowed to make a preference a general rule I suspect we would be incapable of communicating anything at any time to anybody.  But I still empathize with you. 

 

This is true.  In fact, I suffered this in silence while watching The Great British Bake-Off.

 

But then I came across a 9-page topic of opinions on which culinary terms should be banned.  It seemed like a good place to file my own opinion (and not without some agreement if I look back at the original post's likes).

 

But it could be a Britishism that falls hard on my American ears.

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4 hours ago, IndyRob said:

"I love her baked goods", to me is preferable to "I love her bakes".

 

I'd worry that someone would misconstrue the latter sentence by thinking it's an inappropriate, and possibly sexist, euphemism for some body part.

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just read this word mince on a London restaurant's website and had to take a sedative.

 

"Built on a studio ethos, we are a restaurant, bar, art and performance space that moves and shifts with the seasons via its curated collective program."

 

Utter pretentious nonsense.

Edited by liuzhou
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

Utter pretentious nonsense.

But can you eat it?

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I just read this word mince on a London restaurant's website and had to take a sedative.

 

"Built on a studio ethos, we are a restaurant, bar, art and performance space that moves and shifts with the seasons via its curated collective program."

 

Utter pretentious nonsense.

 

Indeed. But also nearly a one-sentence win in Restaurant Bullshit Bingo.

 

For those not acquainted with Bullshit Bingo (also called Buzzword Bingo, so as to not offend some bluenose or get trapped by some puritanical Internet filter), it's a way to help pass the time during an interminable, jargon-filled, sleep-inducing meeting or presentation. Here's one example. It's even better if you form a text or other IM group ahead of time with other attendees.

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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Maybe not exactly on point - but ran across this today while looking for more information on a local chocolatier who is interested in an EZtemper. This is the not the fellow I was looking for. 

 

Reminds me of the definition of conceit - a flea floating down the river with a hard on yelling 'raise the drawbridge'!

 

Kudos from France

“Until recently, there were 3 world-renowned chocolatiers, known as William Curly of London, UK; Patrick Rogers of Paris, France and Jacques Torres of New York, USA. But now there is a 4th, and he is Kevin Richards of Barrie, Canada. As a matter of fact, Kevin is “Le Grand Maître Chocolatier” — the Grand Master of All, as the City of Barrie has now found its place in this World of Art Making Chocolate Mastery with fabulous, most refined and tasty chocolate delicacies possible!”
       ~ G. Olivier, Chocolat Connoistre - France

 

 

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4 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Reminds me of the definition of conceit - a flea floating down the river with a hard on yelling 'raise the drawbridge'!

 

My keyboard just barely escaped the spurt!

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1 hour ago, TdeV said:

 

My keyboard just barely escaped the spurt!

I know! I've only heard the snail on the tortoises back yelling "weeee! - look at me!" The flea is much better.

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