Phrases to qualify the quality of the food

[bloviatrix]

"I would like to see this again" - my husband really liked one of the new dishes I'm trying out. Or one of my experiments worked well.

Marcia.

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My dad has been known to use the inverse of this phrase as in "I won't be disappointed if I never see this again."

He used this for one course of the first meal I ever cooked. I never forgave him.

[Kim WB]

Stellar. Either Ruth Reichl or Bryan Miller overused it in the NYT's reviews in the mid 80's, and we used to goof on it's overuse. Now, I think its one of the few words that really describes the specialness of a dish or a meal.

I personally overuse "balanced", but that is simply because I think so may composed dishes are UNbalanced.

[chow guy]

"I would like to see this again"

Is your husband a scientist, per chance?  This is exactly the kind of thing my dad would say! 

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My wife often says exactly that or "We should serve this to company do you remember how you made it?" She is also a science type( nurse practitioner).

[patti]

My mother once sat down at the table and waited expectantly for our reactions to the meal. We responded with all of the usual, "mmm, good" murmurs, to which she complained in disappointment that she'd hoped to see our faces light up. Being the family of smartasses that we were, we all raised our eyebrows, widened our eyes and our mouths and tried to look as lit up as possible. This became our standard wordless response to any good thing she cooked after that.

If my father cooked something, he ALWAYS asked, "Isn't that the best (fill in the blank) you ever ate? And of course, we answered in the affirmative.

Edited November 16, 2004 by patti (log)

[purplewiz]

"I would like to see this again"

Is your husband a scientist, per chance?  This is exactly the kind of thing my dad would say! 

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He's part computer person, part English graduate . It's his way of exerting some influence on the menu, since I do all the grocery shopping and 99.5% of the cooking. (He does other things!)

My wife often says exactly that or "We should serve this to company do you remember how you made it?" She is also a science type( nurse practitioner).

My husband also says that! If he likes it, he asks that, and if I do remember, he says "Write it down. NOW." He knows I'll forget!

Marcia.

[bleudauvergne]

When something turns out well, I say "I could serve this!". Also when my huband says "I hope you have the recipe for this", I know he loves it.

No kids yet, so no new words but I will never forget when a friend's child described a chicken dish as "succulent!" I gathered this is a common word with his friends...

[lovebenton0]

"I would like to see this again"

Is your husband a scientist, per chance?  This is exactly the kind of thing my dad would say! 

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He's part computer person, part English graduate . It's his way of exerting some influence on the menu, since I do all the grocery shopping and 99.5% of the cooking. (He does other things!)

My wife often says exactly that or "We should serve this to company do you remember how you made it?" She is also a science type( nurse practitioner).

My husband also says that! If he likes it, he asks that, and if I do remember, he says "Write it down. NOW." He knows I'll forget!

Marcia.

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These are so familiar.

My husband's typical comment is "You can make this again, anytime!" Often followed by or subbed by "This is a keeper, darlin'! Do you know what you did? Write it down!"

Or mine "I need to write this down while I remember just what I did."

He loves to drive the grill/smoker. When I compliment him "You did these _____ just right! They are so tender and juicy. Mmmmm!" or variations on the theme he always says "I just keep 'em from burning."

"This is different" is the kiss of death. As in different from actual food.

When it's edible but not the good meal in a restaurant we expected, "I should have ordered the ______." Ever delicate of our assessments of food on the town, really bad first bites have been known to be followed with the face and "WTF did they do my ______?!!!"

My dad, who had next to no sense of taste or smell and relied on heavy seasonings and texture for most of his eating pleasure, either would add a lot of pepper and say, "This isn't bad," or if really unable to take the the texture just get up from the table and say "I think I just a want a sandwich." "This tastes like (wet or old) cardboard" was another favorite expression of his. The rest of us would just eat the delicious food he rejected and ignore him.

Edited November 16, 2004 by lovebenton0 (log)

[Carlovski]

If you want to see 'interesting' use of words to describe food try reading most local paper restaurant reviews.

Misuse of succulent is usually the worst offender - or descriptions of dishes as 'melt in the mouth' - e.g melt in the mouth pasta - oh so it's overcooked is it?

Truly delicious food normally bypasses my usual good manners and results in descriptive and occasionally graphic swearing - which can be a problem in a nice restaurant

[patti]

"Fuel" is the kiss of death at my house. It's my husband's term for food that simply fuels the body and nothing else.

[RSincere]

For us, if it's just not great but not terrible either, the consensus is generally "Well, it's edible."

We rarely go out to eat, but if we do, and don't like the meal, we also usually say "I should have ordered something else."

We absolutely HATE to throw away food and avoid having to do so if at all possible. Jason will eat leftovers of the same thing 5 meals in a row and he doesn't care. Even if there's only 1/4 cup of stir-fry and 1/2 cup of rice left, it goes in the fridge and is used for a future meal. Therefore, on rare occasions, I will say, "We don't have to save the leftovers." That is the highest insult to a meal in my house!

To my chagrin, that happened just yesterday. I tossed about a cup of pork/hoisin stirfry, because the flavor was just so terrible. There's a disconnect with the dark soy sauce somehow, I don't think I bought the right kind and whenever I make a meal from a particular cookbook that calls for dark soy sauce, it turns out too salty or has an unpleasant flavor. I have Pearl River dark mushroom-flavored soy sauce, or something like that. Anyway, it went down the garbage disposal and I'm punishing the cookbook by taking it out of rotation for a while!

Edited November 16, 2004 by RSincere (log)

[highchef]

good = "make you want to slap your mama"

I've heard this all my life, and quite honestly I don't know why it's a compliment, but it is.. now that I AM a moma...I just say "I dare you, but thanks!"

[FL Heat]

I have to prod for feedback from the boyfriend--he was from a big family and a no-nonsense mom & stepmom, so food in front of him is consumed. "How is it?" I ask, and get one of several responses:

"It's good, I'm just tired tonight." (It's okay, but not better than hot wings)

"It's really, really good." (It's really, really good)

"What's in <item> that makes it taste so funny?" (I'm eating this because I love you, please don't make it again)

He thinks the weirdest thing is when people will say (of my food), "It looks great!" and instead of saying "thanks", I say, "I hope you like it." (Well, I don't care nearly as much how it looks as how it tastes!)

When we're out, "This is good" translates to "We could do this better at home." "Different" means "not nearly what I was hoping for"; and "even <name hidden to protect the guilty> could make this better" (with the name being that of someone we know who's a really awful cook).

Variations include: "I might have liked this when I was a bachelor" (to the boyfriend, this means edible but not up to his current standards); "I'd make this at home if I thought you'd like it" (usually said by me of something I REALLY like that's done well at a restaurant that I know he won't eat--weird vegetables, chutneys, fish dishes).

Dad's got a good one: "It's good, but it's no cheese enchilada."

Diana

[LaurieB]

I had a server (I fed all my servers very well) who used to comment:

"This SUCKS!" That meant it was good.

"This REALLY SUCKS!" Very good.

"I can't believe you're actually serving this to someone paying?!!" I had gone beyond good.

[Really Nice!]

Good = Tell the chef he/she is a rock star!

or

Good = Tell the chef this rocks!

Bad = Yeah, I remember my first time at the stove.*

I've never had the courage to say that.

[lovebenton0]

Bad = Yeah, I remember my first time at the stove.*

I've never had the courage to say that. 

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[saskanuck]

In our house, my husband will say "it's edible", if it's just ok. He'll say that something's "okay", when he likes it.

I've only heard him say that something is really good once or twice. He's just not an enthusiastic food lover like I am, and I really think he'd eat library paste if it was served to him.

However, my 10 year old son gives me an enthusiastic "yummy!!!" when he likes something, and an equally enthusiastic "yechhh" when he doesn't. There's no gray area with him.

My 6 year old is still Mr. Picky Eater, so I don't worry too much about him yet.

I'll say that something's great, or wonderful, or all kinds of other adjectives until my husband tells me that I shouldn't brag about my cooking so much. Well, if it's good, I'm going to say so, so there!

[Smithy]

In our house, my husband will say "it's edible", if it's just ok.  He'll say that something's "okay", when he likes it.

I've only heard him say that something is really good once or twice.  He's just not an enthusiastic food lover like I am, and I really think he'd eat library paste if it was served to him.

However, my 10 year old son gives me an enthusiastic "yummy!!!" when he likes something, and an equally enthusiastic "yechhh" when he doesn't.  There's no gray area with him.

My 6 year old is still Mr. Picky Eater, so I don't worry too much about him yet.

I'll say that something's great, or wonderful, or all kinds of other adjectives until my husband tells me that I shouldn't brag about my cooking so much.  Well, if it's good, I'm going to say so, so there!

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It sounds like your husband is from the US Midwest! Or is it the same in the middle provinces? Garrison Keillor makes big money on pointing out that people from these parts never aspire to the heights...after all, who do you think you are, trying to be better than those around you?

[ghostrider]

Up in Maine, when the kids say "That was decent," it's the highest possible praise.

Dry New England understatement, gotta love it.

[Dr. Funk]

"Plenty of it, such as it is" and "Good, what there is of it" - both from my great-grandfather.

[Curlz]

Said with airs: Scrumchulescent.

Iirc, that comes from Will Ferrell mocking James Lipton of Inside the Actor's Studio on SNL. (It's a fan favorite for my friends and I, and not always used in reference to food.)

It's food. For me, that means it's just average. Fuel. In other words, BORRRRRING!

[pyrguy]

good = "make you want to slap your mama"

Better= "make you want to slap your Grandmother"

I think this comes from slapping hands away from seconds or firsts if you're from a big family.