Guilty Pleasures – Even Great Chefs Have 'Em – What's Yours?

[bpearis]

I must admit I still enjoy the Chef Boyardee Pizza kit in a box -- the bag of dough mix, the can of sauce and the can of bad "romano" cheese. It doesn't really taste like pizza, but I like it.

Gustatorily speaking, anyone else have a secret shame?

[tommy]

i really don't think that can be topped!

[LaurieA-B]

Try this thread on the worst things we eat.

[Jinmyo]

[kitwilliams]

During baseball season, Hostess puts out what they call "baseballs". White (yellow) cake cupcake with the infamous creme filling, white icing and the same swirls as on the Hostess chocolate cupcake, however they are in red to imitate the seams on a baseball. I can eat them one right after the other.

Should I also confess that I am a pastry cook/baker????

[aliwaks]

toasted hershey's kisses..open then a little bit the put in the toaster oven till they get a teeny bit burnt

[elswinger]

Taco Bell’s “Grilled Stuft! Steak Burrito with extra cheese and Baja sauce.

Chicken gizzards dipped in Krusteaz Instant Pancake mix, deep fried and dipped in Tabasco and ketchup.

Macaroni and Cheese with Spam.

Baked beans with chopped up Oscar Meyer Weiners.

[Hest88]

Jello

Slim Jims

Pork Rinds

[cherrypi]

Check out this previous thread for all things gross and wonderful...

Guilty pleasures

[NulloModo]

My friends don't understand my joy in liver, liverwurst, extra hot hot sauces, okra, pork rinds, things pickled other than pickles, and all sorts of other stuff.

Then I come to eGullet where my appreciation for these things becomes the norm, but no one understands why I appreciate the food at Friday's, Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday's, or any other chain ;).

I guess I am just universally non-prejudiced against foodstuffs.

[jgarner53]

Boo Berry cereal. I buy one box a year, when it's on sale at Target (like now). It's a holdover from childhood.

[Kevin72]

Oreos. And, by that extension, cookies-n-cream ice cream.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Jello

Slim Jims

Pork Rinds

←

Ahhhh, the very ingredients in my favorite homemade chilled casserole ...

[eunny jang]

cracklings

[StudentChefEclipse]

Kraft's Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese (the kind that isn't powdered) and stewed tomatoes.

Marinara sauce on Ore-Ida Potatoes O'Brien.

my never-ending quest for really dippy flavors of chocolate, like lavender. No one outside of here gets that at all.

[snowangel]

Anchovies.

[andiesenji]

Sloppy Joes. Homemade, I make the stuff with beef, turkey and pork sausage, make it fairly spicy.

It is true. People do ask me how can I eat that "crap".

The fact is that a very small amount satisfies me, certainly well within my caloric limits.

There are times when I feel the need to indulge my cravings or start climbing the walls. I have been very good lately, my weight loss is better than my doc suggested at this point so I feel it is okay that I have something that is not "approved" and that indulgence will carry me through until my next episode of insatiable longing for the forbidden.

[Toasted]

Boo Berry cereal. I buy one box a year, when it's on sale at Target (like now). It's a holdover from childhood.

←

Boo Berry is good plus it turns the milk blue which I kind of like.

My guilty pleasure is Dorito Salad or as my friends call it: " trailer trash Crap"

1 head iceberg lettuce chopped up

1 small jar mayo

1 jar taco sauce

2 cans drained pinto beans

1 large onion minced

1 large bag Dorito's all smushed up

A couple of tomatoes chopped up

Combine all ingredients, pull down your shades and enjoy while reading about all the fancy food people are making on EGullet! Best eaten with a big wooden spoon in the same bowl you stirred it up in. Enjoy and you did not get this recipe from me! Oh, the shame!

[gingerpeach]

PB & J

Krispy Kreme doughnuts

[chasmartel]

Corndogs and chili dogs.

[NulloModo]

Taco Bell’s “Grilled Stuft! Steak Burrito with extra cheese and Baja sauce.

←

This actually reminds me of me 'sales power lunch' back when I used to work on commission. When working a string of 15 or so 14 hour days during the holiday season I eat the same lunch virtually every day because I am a superstitious bastard and I thought it brought me luck. It was:

Two Taco Bell Cheesy Gordita Crunches, one with beef, one with beans (the taco bell beans actually have more flavor than the beef), and a side of their nachos bell grande. It is about the unhealthiest lunch possible, but when working those kind of hours it at least made the lunch break a nice respite and kept the sales rolling ;).

[RSincere]

Honestly, what I get the most crap for is my coke habit. I mean, my diet Coke habit. It's been my main drink of choice for the past 16 years. I know people who have told me they haven't seen me without a can of diet Coke in my hands. One older lady in a choir I was in threatened to put a rubber nipple on my diet Coke bottle! I know it's all chemicals and bad for you and caffeine and blah blah blee blee bling blah.

Otherwise, I think it grosses out my fat conscious parents/sister-in-law that I eat turkey skin at Thanksgiving. And I'm not exactly svelte.

Edited October 2, 2004 by RSincere (log)

[Smoky "T"]

Potato chips on my hamburgers along with the mayo, tomato, and pickle accrutments.

Also on my chili dogs, along with mayo, mustard, relish, onion, hot sauce (from hell), and celery salt. Some times I'll subsitute Frito's instead. Gives that nice extra crunch you know.

But the absolute worse thing that drives my husband nuts, can't even stand to look at my plate is.....lots of ketchup and corn kernnels all mixed in with my mashed potatos and gravy when we have meat loaf. Ummmm....it's a childhood comfort food for me.

[Gifted Gourmet]

So, and you knew I had a question here, do these "guilty pleasures" all have a common denominator?

Their saltiness, greasiness, sugariness, or merely unhealthiness ... providing individual "comfort" to the respective diner?

Are we, perhaps, inwardly and secretly pleased that others look askance at these delightful dining demons?

Or do we eat them in the privacy of some room where only we can thoroughly delight in them??

[TJHarris]

White Castles

Gas station Ham Salad Sandwiches

Funions

Corn Dogs at the Fair