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Why are restaurant foods so dellicious?

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the fact that most people have an unsophisticated pallet, so eating food carefully prepared and seasoned seems to magically make food better.

I have to disagree with bmxx; fat, sugar, and salt are use as fillers not as some sort of 'addictive' taste. They are simply bolder, yet unrefined tastes, that are basically universal throughout the worlds cuisine. Restaraunts butcher, prepare, order, and pair food at such a higher level than most people. Honestly it's an unfair comparison. I would much prefer to go to a nice restaurant than eat someone's home cooked pseudo-gourmet food. Most people lack the ability to balance flavors or are just too stuck in their own type of cooking to see their own faults.

I work in fine dinning, and I can tell you the difference is exponential, even from food that would normally be considered very good in an amateur setting. Hell, even cutting meat with a poorly honed blade can reduce the meals over all quality.

In all honesty I would rather have one of my chefs or even an apprentice cook me a meal than someone's grandmother, if its something outside of tht persons specialty. Many home cooks have horrible culinary technique and lack the open minded mess to see what their dish is missing.
 
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i need to come back and read ac's post, and further read others'.
anyway: hydrozyed proteins /= msg. As an example, hydrolyzed whey* protein is, arguably, one of the best proteins you can consume. bar none.
(whey being a great protein on its own, available in many forms, the most common being concentrated/extract forms like powdered bb powders like whey-concentrate/isolate, or even via milk<about 80% of the prteins in milk are whey, ~20% are caseinate proteins)
edit: need to re-read entheo's post; at quick glance it looked like animalcookie's avatar.
/i much prefer my real/sangerrainsford's avatar- ie, caligula - but won't change right now because i feel it's odd/unfair to swap identity like that.
 
The main reason restaurant food tastes so good?


....You don't have to cook it.

/smartass.
 
i was referring to the high levels of cancer causing chemicals in soy sauce made using the HCl method.

naturally brewed also contains msg (and it tastes a hell of a lot better), just not the dodgy cancer causing chemicals. msg/salt combo is part of why soy sauce makes food taste nicer when used in moderation. also fuck kikkomans- its naturally brewed but it tastes like shit

pearl river bridge naturally brewed superior soy sauce is my favourite for being cheap and tasting amazing. their mushroom flavour one though is on the dodgy cancer chemical list so avoid.

if you consume as much soy sauce as i do its good to avoid unnecessary pollutants
 
I find it amazing how much of a difference spending an extra 10$ can make at the supermarket in regards to your health. For example, i live with a few young guys in their 20's(me included). Now, at the supermarket the 2 cheapest vegetable oils are soya bean oil, and sunflower seed oil... the price difference is less than 50c, yet they ALWAYS choose the soya bean... argh!!

Same goes for soy sauce.. dont buy crappy generic soy sauce, buy a quality naturally brewed. And when it comes to oil, use avocado or olive, and ALWAYS cold pressed, anything else is bad for you(actually).
 
I've been using MSG for a lil bit now, and am just blown away that it's not more popular amongst home-cooks. Umami is part of the 'secret arsenal' ;)
 
bmxxx said:
I've been using MSG for a lil bit now, and am just blown away that it's not more popular amongst home-cooks. Umami is part of the 'secret arsenal' ;)
Click to expand...

Most people already use it because they use prepackaged foods that contain it or they use spice mixes that contain it.
 
yeah but those ppl aren't really the type that would be trying to cook food at home to replicate restaurant tastes, or the type that comment was directed at. I prepare almost everything i eat, when i eat it (not out of irrational fears of processed stuff, though I do like that fresh food's healthier), because i just prefer my own cooking. For someone like me, finding out about MSG was pretty cool!
I should note that I use it more on food i cook for others, than on my own servings, simply because I already douse the hell out of my servings w/ sodium/potassium to the point that MSG is overkill!
 
Virtually all foods in non-French-speaking Canada is complete fucking garbage. These people have no clue how to cook, most people seem fine eating "Chinese" food which is basically you whip up some sugary, tarty sauce and slather it on some Grade F meat and push it out the door. Shit is gross.
 
im not sure i agree with the title of this thread :)
not all restaurant food is delicious. some is pretty crap and no amount of sprinkled herbs or drops of oil on a gigantic plate will save it.

when it is good, it is because

1. i admit there are some really good cooks out there who know what they re doing and have been doing it for some time
2. they can afford rare/expensive ingredients as they use them up more. as anyone who s tried cooking at home will tell you, getting all the spices and herbs together fresh makes a lot of difference but can get expensive fast. not to mention the pots pans and whatnots...
3. some food just tastes better when done in quantity. im thinking stews for instance. or bread dough. even ice cream. sure you might be able to mix some up great once or twice but its much easier to do consistently in big volumes
4. not cooking it yourself helps a lot.
5. like all drugs, set and setting play a part. imagine always taking your acid/weed/mdma in your living room. could get old after a few months eh. then you go and roll care free with different music and some is serving it up on a platter, with actual care given to the presentation...
 
I like to use Lovage leaves to support Umami taste. Flash frozen herbs can also taste pretty fresh, and keep much longer than fresh. Also, as many have said skimping on important basics is not a good idea. Having a quick decent back up dish is a good idea for those who like to experiment. Nothing worse than messing up, and having to eat it lol.

Restaurant quality can be achieved at home, but it is a significant investment of both time and money. 5 star probably not, but some pretty tasty meals can be had.

This thread made me hungry !
 
butter / fat / salt

restaurant food is terrible for you one way or another. if its not high in fat it's usually high in sodium or made out of fake ingredients

plate appearance, your subconcious expecation of getting a good meal, the smell of food cooking

this all factors into it
 
Salt and love.

Also, most people haven't got a fucking clue interms of technical abilty when it comes to cooking. I used to work in a restaurant that was in the last San Pellegrino awards top 10 restaurants, and on the whole the methods they used weren't overly complicated, they were just carried out by people who knew how to do them possibly. You could never execute them at home really because you need multiple people to get most high level dishes correct.

Good ingredients treated properly is the long and short of it really. Oh, and tasting. Taste, taste and taste again before anything is put on a plate.
 
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