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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

#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

#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

#3

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

Yossarian287 , masterwes0 Report

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

#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

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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

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

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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

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Kenny Kulbiski
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Guilty but it's my food and I'll eat like I like it. I'm not forcing you to eat it.

Kosh1k
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yea I do that too but already on my plate. I like to actually taste the salt I don't force my heresy upon anyone else so just let me enjoy it.

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KJ
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People salting their food before trying it annoys me so much, the sugar in red wine one I have never heard of before, sounds weird.

XenoMurph
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a trend for sweet red wine. UK has a brand called "Jam Shed". First time I took a sip I thought, oh so rich and fruity. Every sip gets more and more sickly. It's alcoholic sugar syrup.

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Duane Ringlein
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My late wife would always salt her food before tasting it, even ham, and then complain it was too salty, and never understood why I tasted mine first before adding salt or pepper.

Ren Karlej
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had friends who would do that, salt before tasting. I genuinely accidentally served up oversalted food once... I think I forgot and salted it twice. They still didn't learn.

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David Green
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My MiL does this too. On occasion I will salt the cr#p out of her portion, but she still adds salt and eats it. Short of a salt crust, I'm not sure she would ever stop adding more salt and eating it.

Patricia Healton
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I put salt on salt before i put it on my food. I know there is never enough salt.

David
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have read that if you use a lot of salt you get desensitized to it. I'm doing a very low salt diet for health reasons and I notice if I do use something with salt a little goes a long ways. Similar idea with sugar. I never realized common sandwich bread (in the US at least) usually has sugar in it until several years back - was doing no sugar and one day realized I could taste sugar in the bread so looked at the ingredients label.

Kate Jones
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I do the same. I like a lot of salt and it's so rare that something comes salted to my satisfaction so I know to just put salt on almost always. Especially if it's something I've eaten before. I do the same with soy sauce on chinese food. I know how much I'm going to want on there and there's no way it's going to be enough with just the amount they put in it.

Higgleton
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Would the sugar dissolve? Feels like you may end up with crunchy wine

Remi Flynne
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wouldn't dissolve very quickly... I know this from making mulled wine. It needs the heat really. They probably end up with sugar residue at the bottom. Sugar doesn't actually dissolve as easily in wine as it does in water.

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Jared Robinson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When you know you like salt more than most people you know you don't need to try it, it's gonna need salt.

Toni Epple
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seasoning before trying is extremely rude to the cook. My mom used to be very offended by one of my uncles who would add "Maggi" (very popular seasoning sauce in many parts of the world in an iconic dark bottle) to any soup before even tasting it.

Pudgy Panda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fair enough, but then the anti-salting crew rage at you even more if still opt to salt after tasting it.

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LadyJaye
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Henry Ford would take his employees out to lunch before hiring them, and if they salted there food without trying it, he wouldn't hire them!

Remi Flynne
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh dear! Even if I don't agree with salting untasted food I do think that's a daft way of picking staff! I wonder if they ever knew...??? I have been asked by people for feedback on why they didn't get a job... always awkward, but can't imagine the reaction if I'd said 'you didn't taste your spuds before salting them!'.

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Sonja
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My brother did this. But then he ate my food for the first time. I'm one of the very few people with too low salt levels in my blood. I'm constantly hungry for salt and my food is salty! Too salty for many! He couldn't admit that he made a huge mistake by salting without tasting it first and forced a huge bowl of chili con carne in. He didn't look good after that.

EJGeewhiz
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My dad told me a story years ago re' the founder of JCPenney. He would take prospective employees out to lunch; if they salted their food before tasting it, he would not hire them. They made decisions without all available information and that's not a great thing for an employee.

Joey Marlin
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This story is attributed to many: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/movers-and-salt-shakers/

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Erica Knapp
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lol then have some Mad Dog 20/20 and leave my Cabernet Sauvignon alone lol

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EP
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Spoonful of sugar into red wine 🙀. That is majorly shocking.

Duncan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

hmmm, maybe wine will be more palatable if I add sugar. I'll try that.

Jenna Logan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom does that and my sisters fiancee does that too but to be fair their increased intake of salt could be due to a natural occurrence of low sodium in the body so they use excessive amounts of salt on their foods to make up for it.

Demosthenes
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I want to say I just read some research where the saw evidence that hypertension due to sodium intake was seen largely with people who salted their food after it is served. Meaning the salt in the recipe is not enough, they always salt additionally.

Surfing Panda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Salt is as addictive as sugar. I avoid to use it while cooking with some exceptions: fries need salt, the yolk of an egg, the boneside of a porkchop. No salt in my vegetables, pasta, potatoes, soup, etc. I do admit to like salty snacks (chips, etc)

Steve Robert
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Salt is an acquired taste. The less you use, the less you need. We already consume more sodium than we should

Water dog
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My brother's wife would go through a box of salt in a week. Her food on her plate would have more salt on it than food. She was often mistaken for a pre-teen. I always wondered if that was from all that salt she ate.

Regina Machamer
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My sister does this but with pepper instead of salt. She peppers the weirdest things and she'll literally put like a full layer of pepper like so thick you can't even seen the color of the actual food anymore. And now my daughter pepper weird things.. a bagel with cream cheese. She puts a bunch of pepper on top. When she makes sandwiches she puts mayo on one slice and then peppers the mayo (okay that one isn't so crazy) but she peppers Mac and cheese!

Rae Ramirez
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have high blood pressure and I cannot use a lot of salt. The amount of salt that my niece and nephew have her on their food is astounding. Yeah the same kids think the ocean tastes salty.

Lina
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I read once that it is an insult to the chef if you taste the food and then add extra salt.

Monique Pol
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband does that 😡 and always want to put mayonnaise or ketchup on almost everything 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Iblowsheep_V3.2
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

both of my parents used to do this. i remember seeing by father come home with McDonald's fries and burger, put them on a plate, and salt the F*k out of it. Both of my parents were f•ing awful people, not because of this, but because they were just dumba$$ self-absorbed, manipulative imbeciles....oh wait this was supposed to be about salt.

Jodi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My friend does this with everything I'm talking pizza crisps anything it's gross

devotedtodreams
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For years now, I don't salt my fries anymore because there's enough salt in the other foods anyway.

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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

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

#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

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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

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

#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.

discountFleshVessel Report

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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

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.”

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

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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

#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

#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

#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

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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.

nobody_likes_beets Report

#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

#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

#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.

Daverotti Report

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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

#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

#27

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

ConstableToad , mandingobigdick Report

#28

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

ties__shoes , BrokeBankVegan Report

#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

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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

#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

#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

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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

#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

#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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