Reminds me when I spent several hours cooking a cubano sandwich and my brother just added tonkatsu sauce to it before ever tasting it. I begged him to taste it first, I’ve nvr even seen him add tonkatsu sauce randomly like that, but nope
I can’t find a link to verify this story, but I remember reading a story that an officer was given the opportunity to eat with Napoleon, and he seasoned his food before he took a bite, and it ruined his military career.
Napoleon decided that that person was not worthy of being entrusted with an army because he wouldn’t even try what was presented in front of him before changing it.
Ok, to start I completely agree… but for devil’s advocate sake where is the dividing line?
Let’s say cheese pizza with red pepper flakes; you like your cheese pizza with a little bit of spice on it but otherwise don’t want any other toppings on there.
If you and a few friends are ordering cheese pizza together from a local place that you haven’t tried yet, would it still be wrong to add the pepper flakes before trying the plain cheese pizza first?
There is a bit of generalization here because I know there are millions of variations of cheese pizza and some wildly different takes around the world but for the most part the vast majority of cheese pizza, especially from a standard, local to you, take out/delivery spot, has a small standard deviation from the norm.
Or put another way, does someone have to try a french fry plain first before they dip it in ketchup if they know they like their french fries with ketchup?
Is this rule more specifically geared towards fine dining, less fast food/mass produced type of foods/eating establishments?
Sorry if my autism is showing here but I do like hearing other people’s take on the narrow grey area between black and white social situations/faux-pas’.
Good questions. In my opinion, I think if it is fast food or delivery, do whatever you wish. Similarly, if it is a food you’ve had at a place before and remember it needed more of XYZ spice/sauce, it is fair to add it prior to eating.
For new experiences, especially with company, at a nice restaurant, or at someone’s home, definitely taste first.
But in the end, as a fellow poster stated, life is too short, enjoy whatever makes you happy.
I would add to it that this was also not fast food, like in Napoleon’s time, each meal had to be cooked personally, so you may not know what the chef was doing, you don’t know necessarily what to expect. So I think Napoleon’s reasoning in that case was that you should try what the chef prepared for you to see if you like it as is before you start altering it.
After all, like food science was very much in its infancy at that time, so you can eat the exact same meal prepared by the exact same recipe by two different chefs and have two wildly different food experiences.
Reminds me when I spent several hours cooking a cubano sandwich and my brother just added tonkatsu sauce to it before ever tasting it. I begged him to taste it first, I’ve nvr even seen him add tonkatsu sauce randomly like that, but nope
I can’t find a link to verify this story, but I remember reading a story that an officer was given the opportunity to eat with Napoleon, and he seasoned his food before he took a bite, and it ruined his military career.
Napoleon decided that that person was not worthy of being entrusted with an army because he wouldn’t even try what was presented in front of him before changing it.
Ok, to start I completely agree… but for devil’s advocate sake where is the dividing line?
Let’s say cheese pizza with red pepper flakes; you like your cheese pizza with a little bit of spice on it but otherwise don’t want any other toppings on there.
If you and a few friends are ordering cheese pizza together from a local place that you haven’t tried yet, would it still be wrong to add the pepper flakes before trying the plain cheese pizza first?
There is a bit of generalization here because I know there are millions of variations of cheese pizza and some wildly different takes around the world but for the most part the vast majority of cheese pizza, especially from a standard, local to you, take out/delivery spot, has a small standard deviation from the norm.
Or put another way, does someone have to try a french fry plain first before they dip it in ketchup if they know they like their french fries with ketchup?
Is this rule more specifically geared towards fine dining, less fast food/mass produced type of foods/eating establishments?
Sorry if my autism is showing here but I do like hearing other people’s take on the narrow grey area between black and white social situations/faux-pas’.
Good questions. In my opinion, I think if it is fast food or delivery, do whatever you wish. Similarly, if it is a food you’ve had at a place before and remember it needed more of XYZ spice/sauce, it is fair to add it prior to eating.
For new experiences, especially with company, at a nice restaurant, or at someone’s home, definitely taste first.
But in the end, as a fellow poster stated, life is too short, enjoy whatever makes you happy.
I would add to it that this was also not fast food, like in Napoleon’s time, each meal had to be cooked personally, so you may not know what the chef was doing, you don’t know necessarily what to expect. So I think Napoleon’s reasoning in that case was that you should try what the chef prepared for you to see if you like it as is before you start altering it.
After all, like food science was very much in its infancy at that time, so you can eat the exact same meal prepared by the exact same recipe by two different chefs and have two wildly different food experiences.