Ingredients you can't help devouring

[Kent Wang]

I'm referring to ingredients that are not usually eaten as is, that usually go into a recipe.

My biggest weakness is crab meat. I sometimes have to buy twice the amount I need for a recipe because I just can't help eating the stuff straight out the container.

I used to eat a lot of chocolate chips until I stopped buying them specifically for that reason.

[Kevin72]

Mozzarella cheese. The "ends" get cut (generously) off the ball and I gobble 'em up without thinking. Prosciutto or any other cured meat, too: I probably should start buying extra to account for the slices I can't help but eat.

[saltylicious]

BACON. i always cook twice the amount, for "quality control."

[jgarner53]

The chunky, eggy, frozen noodles I buy for soup (Grandma's). They're chewy and irresistible.

Raw hamburger. I can never help but pinch off a bite or two.

Does eating finished raw dough count? I have to confess to a huge dough thing: bread, cookie, brisée, sucrée - you name it.

[dls]

Bacon, as mentioned upthread, any type of cheese, and best of all, anchovies.

[BeeZee]

Mozzarella (as mentioned before) and nuts.

[jsolomon]

When cooking with wine or beer, as much always goes into the cook as goes into the food.

Bakers chocolate for brownies always ends up christening my lips, too.

[Tess]

Definitely with the wine.

Also, sauteed mushrooms and caramelized shallots and mushrooms.

[snowangel]

Hey, if you don't sample the ingredients, how do you know they are any good?

[OnigiriFB]

Fruit and veggies. I usually over buy since I know I'll be nibbling as I cook. We made blue cheese grapes rolled in crushed pistachios for a new years eve party and grapes and pistachios kept going missing for some reason!

[kitwilliams]

Gianduja. I buy big chunks in order to experiment with a gianduja brownie I've been dreaming of. None of it has ever made it into any baked good.

[Rebecca263]

Raw flesh of cow, fish or lamb. I can resist raw poultry, unless it's ground and seasoned. It's a disease, I swear. I always buy a few ounces extra, for the cook.

Plus, if anyone brings sea urchin into my house, they're just asking for me to eat it, immediately, and without any preparation.

[mizducky]

Heh. Just the other day, what I had originally meant to be a mushroom-and-shrimp risotto kinda turned into a mushroom risotto with a very substantial shrimp appetizer.

[BarbaraY]

Parmesan. Have never grated it without having a goodly portion for myself.

[McDuff]

The crisped, glistening, salt and pepper speckled fat that nestles around the bones of a bone-in pork roast.

[munchymom]

Pine nuts and avocadoes. I consider getting a few extra nibbles of these to be one of my rewards for being the cook.

[Kent Wang]

Most of what you guys have posted already. It seems like I'll nibble nearly everything.

Marinated roasted tomatoes that I -- nominally -- use for salads. Salmon roe.

[redglass]

Raw flesh of  cow, fish or lamb. I can resist raw poultry, unless it's ground and seasoned. It's a disease, I swear.

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Wow, you all are hard core!! As for me, anything involving nuts or cheese usually get a substantial tasting before going into the dish. And of course, any appetizers served for a party are thoroughly taste-tested beforehand!

[Rebecca263]

Wow, you all are hard core!! ...

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I like my dead animals raw, what can I say? Carpaccio, sashimi and tartare are the best excuses for me to indulge in public, but at home... well... there's no one watching, I can just eat it! I stopped eating cow for awhile, but I'm back at it recently, I just can't help it, it's like those dirt eaters, I swear, I just can't stop. I need a 12 step program, I can hear the voices now " Step away from the beef"...

[mrbigjas]

When cooking with wine or beer, as much always goes into the cook as goes into the food.

what do you mean 'when cooking with'?

nearly any cheese gets me, but when i make a dish that includes cotija or queso fresco--but moreso cotija--that's the ticket right there. in fact if i'm making fajitas or something i usually grill up a chunk of cotija for myself to snack on. considering that we always have black beans with mexican meals, and always put cotija on the beans, this happens pretty often.

[Shalmanese]

Roasted Nuts of any type. I buy them under the rationale that they make a quick, effective garnish on any number of dishes but, somehow, stocks get gradually depleted by attrition such that whenever I actually WANT to use nuts in cooking, theres none left.

[petite tête de chou]

Olives! Olives! Olives!

[sazji]

Cheese, especially anything like string cheese, kashar/kasseri. Red peppers. Olives. Pastirma. Not that any of these things are not eaten plain, but it's hard to refrain from popping them in my mouth. And any kind of fresh fruit - whenever I'm making a pie or whatever it may be, a lot will go into my mouth rather than into the pie. I never did manage to make a raspberry pie back when I had a big bunch of raspberries, they were too good fresh off the canes...

[avocado]

My sister (I'm the cook, she's the baker) made panettone bread pudding for Christmas dinner, and I ate "the ends" of the loaf...and then some. The bread pudding did not turn out as well as she had hopes- it was undesirably soggy and custardy, as in too much custard and not enough bread. I don't think she realized just why there wasn't enough bread to absorb all the eggs and cream. Oops!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Cheeses (any and all) rarely get to the dish before I have a nibble or two .. and I also am fond of raw beef, but always conscious of how ill it could make me ... chocolate is another and nuts (any kind) always have to be tasted ...