Do You Have a Cooking “Pet Peeve”?

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!!  

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...

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.

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.

northGAcock said:

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

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. 

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. 

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.  

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?