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While questionable cooking choices won’t get you arrested, unless you veer into poisoning or arson, they will get you mercilessly mocked and shamed online. So it’s best to learn the dos and don'ts of the culinary arts.

An internet user wanted to know what others would classify as food crimes, and the answers were illuminating. And for those who get scared to take up home cooking after seeing this long list, we wanted to get some beginner tips from professionals. So we reached out to Bintu from Recipes From A Pantry and Monti Carlo from BudgetBytes to get some tips and tricks. So scroll down, take notes, and upvote the ‘crimes’ you agree with.

More info: Reddit

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Making a burger that is so fat I can't fit my mouth around it. I want to be able to taste all of the toppings in each mouthful without ingredients falling out of the bun.

onehitwondur , Artem Podrez Report

Final score:
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#2

Using cauliflower as a 'healthy' ingredient replacement and saying it tastes the same. Cauliflower is a great vegetable. You can make rice out of it, you can use it to bulk up a curry, you can slice and roast or fry it. But it tastes like cauliflower. It's never going to taste like potato or rice or meat. So let's not pretend. You're always going to be disappointed when it doesn't taste as good.

fourbearants Report

Final score:
281points
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#3

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most People who 'don't like leftovers'.

Yossarian287 , masterwes0 Report

Final score:
259points
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Firstly, we asked Bintu what she would give to a complete beginner. “The biggest tip to getting started is to not bite off more than you can chew (pun intended). Start with easy recipes that require little to no prep and just a couple of ingredients that you can successfully complete. Easy wins build confidence and make you want to keep cooking! That’s why I focus on including many easy, low-stress recipes on my site.”

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Monti Carlo, helpfully, gave her list of tips to start with. “Read the recipe, all the way to the end. Make sure you have all of your ingredients prepped before you begin cooking and that you've given yourself enough time to cook the dish. Taste your food throughout the cook and season accordingly. Keep in mind that food continues to cook even after it's off the heat, and adjust accordingly so you don't have an overcooked mess. Don't make new dishes on important nights. Go with your tried and true favorites, or test new recipes before your big event.”
#4

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Throwing out foods that are cosmetically imperfect even though they’re perfectly fine to eat. I say this since my sister does it. If she finds a single wilted green in her tub of lettuce, she’ll throw the whole thing out.

YukiHase , TheInvertedFan Report

Final score:
234points
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#5

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Not breaking Kit Kat’s into their individual sticks before you eat them. A friend of mine once bit sideways into a Kit Kat and we were all horrified.

rubensinclair , Proper way to eat a kitkat Report

Final score:
196points
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Loverboy
Loverboy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bet they eat their pizza by starting at the crust and working their way towards the middle.

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#6

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most I didn’t try it, so I might be unfair, but those 50s-70s cookbooks with jelloed everything, like big jelloed roasts and jelloed mayonnaise salads really freak me out. I don’t know if it actually tastes good, but it seems pretty heinous to me

yurachika , wikipedia.org Report

Final score:
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waddles
waddles
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

those things are incredibly unnerving, the amount of gelatin and mayonnaise in them is a tad icky

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To go along with helpful tips, we wanted to know what common mistakes or misconceptions a lot of amateur cooks tend to hold. “A common mistake, and one I’ve made too many times to admit, is not checking to make sure you have all of the necessary ingredients before starting a recipe. Luckily, it is often possible to substitute for a missing ingredient, so I like to provide variations and substitution tips for my recipes. You can also DIY a missing ingredient. I never seem to have buttermilk on hand, and when I learned how to make buttermilk it was a total game changer!” Bintu suggested.
#7

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most My mother microwaves salad.

Not a meat or egg or other salad.

Salad made up of plants. In the microwave. For 60 seconds.

RydNightwish , Cats Coming Report

Final score:
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#8

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most My dad salts the s**t out of his food before trying it. My younger brother seems to have inherited this trait.

My aunt (my dads oldest sister) does this and also stirs a healthy spoonful of sugar into her glass of red wine.

TahiniInMyVeins , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:
155points
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#9

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most I saw someone eat pineapples with Mayo once at school and it should be considered a war crime

ehwhoknowss , Kyle McDonald Report

Final score:
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Loverboy
Loverboy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Controversial opinion, but mayo is disgusting. Only once mixed with certain things is it even remotely good.

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Monti Carlo focused more on the techniques of cooking. “I often see new cooks overcrowd a pan, which lowers the temperature in the pan. This prevents the liquid in the ingredients from turning into steam. Since the liquids don't get a chance to escape, they end up sitting at the bottom of the pan, and stew your food instead of searing it. It's also really scary to watch a new cook use a chef's knife. They hold it like a serial killer.”
#10

Any sort of flavored hummus or a dip called ‘hummus’ that doesn’t use chickpeas. The word hummus means chickpeas in Arabic, so if it doesn’t have chickpeas it's not hummus. Call it any other dip, but don't confuse it for hummus.

latiziamass Report

Final score:
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The Scout
The Scout
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even when it IS chickpea hummus, there are atrocities. When the supermarket near me had a new owner, he obviously did not know what hummus was, and, re-structuring the assortment, only stocked it in flavors like chocolate or caramel (yes, those exist). He seemed to have taken it for some kind of breakfast spread. After copious complains from customers he now orders the "real stuff".

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#11

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Putting "caramelized onions" on the menu, and serving onions that have been blanched in sugar syrup.

Everyone knows the difference.

ultrasupergenius , radonchong Report

Final score:
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Loverboy
Loverboy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You'd be surprised how many people don't. Caramelized onions are amazing, sugary onions make me gag.

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#12

Using Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise or sour cream in a recipe like Deviled Eggs or potato salad. There is nothing that ruins a good plate of food like biting into that sweet, fake-tasting goop.

fatmanwithalittleboy Report

Final score:
139points
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Karen Grace
Karen Grace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I didn't taste real mayonnaise until I lived on my own. Even then I first bought Miracle whip because it was what I grew up with, and it was cheaper. I got real mayo on a bogo sale and never looked back.

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Lastly, just to show everyone that even the pros make mistakes, we asked both what was the worst meal they ever made. Bintu proposed looking on the bright side:” I like to think of it as a kitchen experiment, not a bad meal - lol! I am all about trying new things in the kitchen, and I love testing out flavor combinations. You don’t know what you’re missing if you don’t take a chance.”
#13

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most There was an old recipe card... I dry heave to even think of it... Baked whole bananas, wrapped in ham, smothered with hollandaise.

gerardkimblefarthing Report

Final score:
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waddles
waddles
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

oh my god- i am outraged on behalf of the ham that had to be included in that disgusting creation

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#14

This is my own food crime confession: I really love to eat lemons as you would eat an orange or a clementine — by peeling it and eating the whole thing. For some reason I love the sourness. Of all my strange food preferences, this one really causes witnesses to cringe.

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Final score:
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#15

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most My mom used to make this s**t called pear salad. It was canned pears topped with a huge pile of shredded cheddar cheese and either mayonnaise or sour cream. I've never tried it. It looks as unappetizing as physically possible to me. She loves it.

Also I once spent an hour making mushroom risotto and my roommate doused it in ranch. I'm still not over that.

phuqo5 , fcdjr Report

Final score:
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Ace
Ace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fruit and cheese? Yeah, why ever not? But mayo has no place with it.

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Monti Carlo brought up her possibly more well-known worst meal:” I can't remember the worst meal I've ever made. Probably the one that got me kicked off of MasterChef 358 years ago, my novice take on Graham Elliot's Tropical Sashimi dish, a favorite of President Barack Obama's.”

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If you want to explore their recipes, guides, tips, and tricks, you can find Bintu’s work at Recipes From A Pantry and Monti Carlo at BudgetBytes. And if, instead, you want to keep exploring food crimes, check out our other article here.  
#16

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Baked meat with no seasoning. Dry, sandy, and disgusting.

Yoda2000675 , Los Muertos Crew Report

Final score:
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Druklet
Druklet
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought I didn't like lamb for so long because a plain chop with no seasoning is just the worst.

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#17

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most I had a gf that would eat butter from the stick. Like a candy bar.

jbpsign , Sigrid Sixl Report

Final score:
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Ed Brandon
Ed Brandon
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The operative words here are "used to", presumably she is long dead.

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#18

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Adding certain powdered spices at the end of cooking, close to when you turn off the heat. Most spices must be added early in the cooking process to get them to bloom, get rid of the raw taste, and really blend with the other ingredients. This goes for powerful spices like cayenne, cumin, coriander powder, etc...

deleted , Marta Branco Report

Final score:
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The Scout
The Scout
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This absolutely depends. Fresh herbs usually profit from being added just at the end of the cooking process, while dried ones have to be added earlier, so they can have time to rehydrate. Other spices are very specific in that regard. I usually start to fry things like cumin, coriander powder or curry mixes with a bit of oil, as it makes them stronger and rounds off the taste. But I would not do that to pepper or similar.

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#19

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Boiling most vegetables. Steaming, roasting, grilling or even raw veggies are better than boiled vegetables.

pierremanslappy , mali maeder Report

Final score:
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#20

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Not something I've seen, but my parents said when I was 4 I'd sneak into the doritos, lick all the powder off some chips, and put them back in the bag.

When my parents would try to eat some, they'd suddenly be horrified by grabbing a cold and soggy chip.

Forhaver , Neil Tackaberry Report

Final score:
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Loverboy
Loverboy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The thought of one of my family members doing this and me eating a soggy chip is making me gag.

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#21

My mother-in-law's burrito recipe. Room temperature flour tortilla, boiled hot dog, canned black olives, and shredded carrots.

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#22

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most When I was younger my older brother would eat mustard and nutella sandwiches.

Clatuu1337 , ManufacturerNo1906 Report

Final score:
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#23

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Severely overcooking steak. I have a relative who likes his steak cooked extra well done. I don’t know how he even gets it down. Why bother getting nice steak if you're going to over-cook it to death?!

TiltedNarwhal , lIlIlIlIlIlIIIIIlll Report

Final score:
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Ace
Ace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This insistence that steak should be very rare is just plain wrong- if someone wants it well done why the hell shouldn't they be allowed to do so?

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#24

I used to share a house with a guy, and every time a bottle or jar of sauce was only about a third full, he would fill it up with water and shake it 'to get his money's worth.' That's not saving money, it's just making your condiments taste awful.

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A Wild Bean
A Wild Bean
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I understand using a little bit of water to get the last of the condiments, but... one-third condiment to two-thirds water???

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#25

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most My neighbor used to pull all the cheese off her pizza and cover it in ketchup

NastySassyStuff , FascistSqualodon Report

Final score:
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#26

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most I just had a coworker tell me he puts sugar in with his spaghetti nothing else

space_tripping_vato , Takanori Ishikawa Report

Final score:
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Loverboy
Loverboy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Italian in me wants to strangle you. I have trouble believing this. I like a sweeter sauce, but this...

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#27

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Multiple open packages of the exact same food.

ConstableToad , mandingobigdick Report

Final score:
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#28

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most When people do not warm their flour tortillas.

ties__shoes , BrokeBankVegan Report

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#29

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Putting ice cubes in milk. My daughter does this and it drives me nuts. There's nothing worse than watery milk.

Threeloudkids , Yulia Goncharuk Report

Final score:
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A Wild Bean
A Wild Bean
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to do this, as long as you don't take forever to drink it, it doesn't get watery

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#30

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most I cannot stand the way my mother eats sandwiches. Take, for example, a roast beef sandwich. She takes it all apart and eats the roast beef and then the bread separately. It's meant to be eaten all together...that's what makes a sandwich taste good!

ApprehensiveCard6 , Suzy Hazelwood Report

Final score:
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#31

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most My aunt stirs a spoonful of sugar into her glass of red wine. Now that is a new one for me, and it's unforgivable. An ice cube in wine is pretty common, but sugar in your wine? Absolutely not.

HardwareLust , Elina Sazonova Report

Final score:
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#32

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most My brother was allergic to cow's milk when we were younger. I have witnessed him pour orange juice into his cereal and eat it.

nakedreader_ga , [deleted] Report

Final score:
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Huddo's sister
Huddo's sister
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fair enough reason, I've heard of a number of people who do this for the same reason. Sounds better than water. Mind you, now alternative milks are more common, I imagine less people will be doing it.

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#33

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Grilling burgers and not putting the cheese on the burger while it's on the grill or toasting the buns.

Kunkyskunts , Marcia Salido Report

Final score:
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Ace
Ace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a thousand ways to prepare burgers. You do it your way and I'll do it mine.

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#34

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Italian: Undressed noodles with a pool of sauce on top.

(I don't fuss that much with carbonara purism. I think non Italian redditors get more worked up about it than Italians TBH. Mostly I don't know why people call something carbonara that's not.)

joemondo , Daniel Lindstrom Report

Final score:
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Loverboy
Loverboy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I want all of my pasta coated in sauce. I do not want to get bites of bland noodle and then bites of sauce. Just no.

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#35

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Chopped tomatoes in bechamel? That's just Mormon queso.

Judas_Feast , French Cooking Academy Report

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#36

35 People Share "Food Crimes" They Hate The Most Using a food processor for a recipe that clearly states to grind herbs together with a mortar and pestle until it becomes a paste. It takes a good amount of time, but this is the cooking method for a reason. Tossing the ingredients into a food processor or blender just isn't the same. I am Cambodian, and this is a true offense in our home when cooking.

koalandi , Yan Krukau Report

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Roan The Demon Kitty
Roan The Demon Kitty
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I will confess sometimes I can't do it because of pain (thanks fibromyalgia) but otherwise, I find using the pestle and mortar kind of therapeutic...

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