Do You Have a Cooking “Pet Peeve”?

fishlessman

Botch said:

Wow.  This was a stunning thread read, for me.
Years ago, when I was dating what's-her-name and still playing in a band, we all cooked for each other all the time, parties, and had a great time, never had any of the above problems.  
Nowadays I have no local friends or family, and cook for myself.  I do have one issue, but its so infuriatingly consistent, I'm gonna post it.  
 
I like beer.  A lot.  And I drink the utard supermarket stuff with an alcohol content lower than my GPA, so a lot of twist-tops are tossed at my garbage can.  
And >clink<, they bounce out.  Onto the floor.
Every.
Single.
GD.
Time!!  
Honestly, you could stuff an oversized gas can into my kitchen trash, and ask me to bounce a bottle cap off it, onto the floor; and 99 times it would slide down the miniscule crack, INTO the trash, every time; but when I'm just trying to throw away a stupid bottle cap, 99 times >clink< and it bounces off something in the trash, onto the floor.  
Every.
Single.
GD.
Time!!  

i solved this problem many years ago, i added a beer cap only trash can under the wall mount beer opener

xfire_ATX

Markarm4119 said:

my BIL has nicknamed " the burger ruiner 1000".

After an area wide fire nearly burned down my house in 2011 we were camped at my moms house before we could get back into our neighborhood.  My mom has that exact grill- I poked my head out the back window and the entire grill is on fire, the dry grass is now on fire.  Thankfully got the fires out and we still had those hamburgers.

My wife opens the dishwasher the bare minimum and just puts whatever where ever she can find a spot.  Basically about 1/3 space utilized so we run the DW about every 21 hours.

dmchicago said:

My wife loads the dishwasher like Ray Charles during a blackout.

Scout706

SciAggie said:

When my wife won't put my good knives back in the knife block. Also dishes left in the sink when the dishwasher is 6" away...

YES! And not running the dishwasher at 95% capacity, waiting for the next meal. So dishwasher runs while the extra dirty dishes wait in the sink for the next load. . .
Wife won't handle my good knives.

alaskanassasin

after reading some of these... I am a lucky man

northGAcock

YukonRon said:

My personal peeve involves brisket.

I usually do a brisket for dinner parties, normally we will have about 8-10 folks to feed.

My kitchen is not large, but we do have A 60+ bottle, wine fridge, installed in the cabinets, under the counter space where I normally like to slice the meat for our meals.  Everyone knows they are welcome to pull whatever wine they want, to open and drink. I know this, so I move my slicing station to another area to avoid the wine genocide.

It does not matter, everybody drinks wine, in my kitchen, while encircling the meat on the cutting board, like a pack of starved wolves.

The peeve is this; everyone congregates in my kitchen. What is worse while I am slicing the brisket in my kitchen, everybody wants a bite, or three, while drinking wine prior to dinner, which is just  a few minutes away from serving.

Trying to slice while the Neanderthals constantly grab at the meat on the cutting board is frustrating, and pretty tense, due to  trying not to slice off their drunk aszed finger tips, in the process.

I can never get 8 people to wait 5 minutes.

From one neanderthal to another.....lets eat.

Fred19Flintstone

northGAcock said:

YukonRon said:

My personal peeve involves brisket.

I usually do a brisket for dinner parties, normally we will have about 8-10 folks to feed.

My kitchen is not large, but we do have A 60+ bottle, wine fridge, installed in the cabinets, under the counter space where I normally like to slice the meat for our meals.  Everyone knows they are welcome to pull whatever wine they want, to open and drink. I know this, so I move my slicing station to another area to avoid the wine genocide.

It does not matter, everybody drinks wine, in my kitchen, while encircling the meat on the cutting board, like a pack of starved wolves.

The peeve is this; everyone congregates in my kitchen. What is worse while I am slicing the brisket in my kitchen, everybody wants a bite, or three, while drinking wine prior to dinner, which is just  a few minutes away from serving.

Trying to slice while the Neanderthals constantly grab at the meat on the cutting board is frustrating, and pretty tense, due to  trying not to slice off their drunk aszed finger tips, in the process.

I can never get 8 people to wait 5 minutes.

From one neanderthal to another.....lets eat.

Hey!  I’m a caveman!

thetrim

I would say when I pull meat off the grill at a certain time, so that its rested and ready to go on time only to hear that the person inside doing sides is just getting started on their part of the meal.

johnmitchell

When I plan an expensive steak dinner and then see the wife making a samich two hours before.. Happens more often than not..

mEGG_My_Day

Boileregger said:

I finally convinced my wife to eat steaks  and roasts medium rare, but she is still deathly afraid of any pink whatsoever in a hamburger.  So when she eats one of my burgers, she takes a bite, leans back, cocks her head to one side and squints to eyeball each bite to make sure it's been cooked to death.  If there's any hint of pink I hear about it.  I stopped cooking burgers about 2 years ago as a result.  Not worth the argument.

Ha - I used to have this same problem with burgers.  My hack to solve the problem was to take half the ground beef (my wife’s burger(s)) and add a bunch of Worcestershire to it before making patties.  My wife loves Worcestershire, so she thought this was an excellent idea.  If you do this far enough in advance ( say an hour or so), the Worcestershire adds color to the ground beef. I could still cook to medium and the ‘rarer’ parts in the middle would have a grey/brown tint.  She thought these burgers were awesome and gave credit to the Worcestershire for the new found tenderness and juiciness of the burgers.  And they still cooked at the same time temp as my non-Worcestershire burgers. 

hoosier_egger

This probably sounds bad, but I hate it when people offer to help. I'm kind of picky Even prepping veggies and all that, just let me do it and get out of the kitchen/my way.

The only exception to this is when cooking at events. For some reason, I'm surrounded by people that are just as passionate and peculiar as I am.

cclarke142

I am still fighting tomatoes in the fridge. I thought I was the only one. 

Canugghead

the chicken is not cooked because I see red fluid at the leg joint

fence0407

As a guest, I can't stand it when the meat for the meal isn't seasoned at all. I mean, a little salt and pepper is all I'm asking for!

Griffin

xfire_ATX said:

My wife opens the dishwasher the bare minimum and just puts whatever where ever she can find a spot.  Basically about 1/3 space utilized so we run the DW about every 21 hours.

dmchicago said:

My wife loads the dishwasher like Ray Charles during a blackout.

You can always tell who had to do dishes as a kid for chores and who didn't. At my house, anything that you couldn't fit into the dishwasher, you had to wash by hand. Who wants to spend time scrubbing all those dishes by hand? Needless to say, I can cram a whole bunch more into the dishwasher than my wife who never had to do dishes until she moved away from home. Just saying...

Sea2Ski

northGAcock said:

 You coming yes or no? It ain't real hard.

Yea @northGAcock, when people are unsure and you need to make final plans, it can be really annoying. 

DoubleEgger

fence0407 said:

As a guest, I can't stand it when the meat for the meal isn't seasoned at all. I mean, a little salt and pepper is all I'm asking for!

Imagine paying $65 for a steak that was cooked that way. 

fence0407

DoubleEgger said:

fence0407 said:

As a guest, I can't stand it when the meat for the meal isn't seasoned at all. I mean, a little salt and pepper is all I'm asking for!

Imagine paying $65 for a steak that was cooked that way. 

One reason we will never eat at "The Ridge" again. Worst 2 steaks we've ever had.

smbishop

As @Griffin mentioned "When is dinner going to be ready"  and

@SciAggie mentioned "The dishwasher is only 6 inches away".

GrateEggspectations

smokingal said:

Like many have pointed out here, my biggest pet peeve are things other people do when I'm cooking.  Cooking is a zenful activity and creative outlet for me, so people who behave in ways that disrupt that aggravate me to no end.

Some time ago, I invited a new friend over for Sunday supper, who managed to tell two other acquaintances, who happily invited themselves last minute.  There was going to be plenty of food, so no big deal.

Well, one guy showed up and acted like he had never been taught how to interact with animals, cats in particular.  Yes, once a cat begins biting your hands, he's telling you he doesn't enjoy the way in which you are touching him.  He proceeded to ignore the fact that my cat was biting him for most of the evening, despite my protests.

The other guy walked into my home complaining.  "Where's the food?!"  "Why am I not eating right now?!"  "Why isn't it done yet?", followed 30 seconds later with an "I'm hungry!" and an "I don't wait!" summarizing statement.

When the food was done, the super hungry guy helped me lay out the table and I went to fetch the other two from the living room.  They were engrossed in a video game and weren't budging.  I peeked in the kitchen and saw the other guy already starting to eat.  Well, when we got to the table, that guy hadn't even bothered to fix himself a plate.  He literally had the wings and rib platter in front of him and was going to town.  He looked up only to say, "I would have eaten it all if you guys hadn't come back here".

None of them were ever invited back. 

Yeah..... sorry about that. 

northGAcock

Sea2Ski said:

northGAcock said:

 You coming yes or no? It ain't real hard.

Yea @northGAcock, when people are unsure and you need to make final plans, it can be really annoying. 

We will be trueing this up in near future. 

Markarm4119

Forgot the Big one on me : forgetting to take pics of cooks.
Too many adult beverages is my story and I'm sticking to it !

jdsmithii

My wife is a lovely woman.  She drinks the kind of beer that I drink.  She eats her steaks medium rare.  She hand washes the good knives and the cast iron.  When I come home with another cooking gadget, she shrugs, knowing she'll probably eat well from that device for a time.

But holy cow, she can't cut a vegetable.  

While I'm cooking, she is charged with salad prep.  She has no interest in consistency or common sense in breaking down veggies for a salad.  One onion slice razor thin, the other as thick as a #2 pencil?  Perfect.  Carrots so big you need a hacksaw to get through them or risk dental work? Of course.  Lettuce so big it's like trying to fold a refrigerator box on your fork?  Sure.  It isn't a salad, it is an adventure.

And the other thing that gets me is I can be working on dinner for hours, HOURS, and say "Dinner at 6."  I finish up, plate up, it is six o'clock, and where is the wife?  Just started doing the dishes.  That...or, upstairs in the john.  

GrateEggspectations

My cooking “pet peeve” is guests standing in my way in the kitchen. I’m always good to converse with company while prepping dinner, but please give me some space while I’m going to town with a gyuto. 

BigreenGreg

thetrim said:

I would say when I pull meat off the grill at a certain time, so that its rested and ready to go on time only to hear that the person inside doing sides is just getting started on their part of the meal.

This^^^, I do a lot of coordinated cooks with my lovely neighbors, I’ve taken to trimming 30 minutes off my expected time to get close.

GrateEggspectations

jdsmithii said:

My wife is a lovely woman.  She drinks the kind of beer that I drink.  She eats her steaks medium rare.  She hand washes the good knives and the cast iron.  When I come home with another cooking gadget, she shrugs, knowing she'll probably eat well from that device for a time.

But holy cow, she can't cut a vegetable.  

While I'm cooking, she is charged with salad prep.  She has no interest in consistency or common sense in breaking down veggies for a salad.  One onion slice razor thin, the other as thick as a #2 pencil?  Perfect.  Carrots so big you need a hacksaw to get through them or risk dental work? Of course.  Lettuce so big it's like trying to fold a refrigerator box on your fork?  Sure.  It isn't a salad, it is an adventure.

And the other thing that gets me is I can be working on dinner for hours, HOURS, and say "Dinner at 6."  I finish up, plate up, it is six o'clock, and where is the wife?  Just started doing the dishes.  That...or, upstairs in the john.  

Enroll her in a knife skills class under the guise of safety - you know... with her doing all the veg prep and all.

She’ll become more consistent and might even like it. 

Fred19Flintstone

jdsmithii said:

My wife is a lovely woman.  She drinks the kind of beer that I drink.  She eats her steaks medium rare.  She hand washes the good knives and the cast iron.  When I come home with another cooking gadget, she shrugs, knowing she'll probably eat well from that device for a time.

But holy cow, she can't cut a vegetable.  

While I'm cooking, she is charged with salad prep.  She has no interest in consistency or common sense in breaking down veggies for a salad.  One onion slice razor thin, the other as thick as a #2 pencil?  Perfect.  Carrots so big you need a hacksaw to get through them or risk dental work? Of course.  Lettuce so big it's like trying to fold a refrigerator box on your fork?  Sure.  It isn't a salad, it is an adventure.

And the other thing that gets me is I can be working on dinner for hours, HOURS, and say "Dinner at 6."  I finish up, plate up, it is six o'clock, and where is the wife?  Just started doing the dishes.  That...or, upstairs in the john.  

Your wife sounds like a keeper.  She knows how to properly clean your cooking stuff and she knows good food & drink.  So she can’t cut a veggie?  Meatloaf put it this way.  Two out of three ain’t bad.

Just messing with you buddy!  I hope you nail your cook this weekend!

Holepuncher

     When a family event has been planned for weeks. I do my best to have the protein finished as close to the scheduled time, as possible. Then we have to wait for people that are late. Last time about an hour.  

Boileregger

mEGG_My_Day said:

Boileregger said:

I finally convinced my wife to eat steaks  and roasts medium rare, but she is still deathly afraid of any pink whatsoever in a hamburger.  So when she eats one of my burgers, she takes a bite, leans back, cocks her head to one side and squints to eyeball each bite to make sure it's been cooked to death.  If there's any hint of pink I hear about it.  I stopped cooking burgers about 2 years ago as a result.  Not worth the argument.

Ha - I used to have this same problem with burgers.  My hack to solve the problem was to take half the ground beef (my wife’s burger(s)) and add a bunch of Worcestershire to it before making patties.  My wife loves Worcestershire, so she thought this was an excellent idea.  If you do this far enough in advance ( say an hour or so), the Worcestershire adds color to the ground beef. I could still cook to medium and the ‘rarer’ parts in the middle would have a grey/brown tint.  She thought these burgers were awesome and gave credit to the Worcestershire for the new found tenderness and juiciness of the burgers.  And they still cooked at the same time temp as my non-Worcestershire burgers. 

You, sir, are a genius.

llrickman

vb4677 said:

When you get an LBGE, Sous Vide, Cast Iron, Joe-Tisserie, et al and your wife wants her beef roast or steak well-done, so you don't cook steaks or beef roasts anymore...except until when she's gone for the weekend.

When EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. you  get asked if the 'blood' (myoglobin) has been cleaned up and the kitchen completely sterilized because her germaphobic butt 'doesn't want to get sick' and you think to yourself, when was the last time you or anyone else gotten food poisoning from my cooking? 

LMAO. when I met my now wife she wanted her steaks med well to well done and her iced tea sweet. I would hide the sugar and only cook medium rare steaks. She's a fan of both unsweet tea and a juicy Med rare  now 😂😂

llrickman

Cornholio said:

  At least she finally stopped putting tomatoes in the fridge!  

this one !!