autocondimentors

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

I have shamelessly stolen this term from Terry Pratchett.

I do most of the cooking in my house as I quite enjoy it and am not in work right now so have the time to do lots of different things.I do my best to make interesting, tasty meals from scratch. Aibu to want to tear my hair out and to throw things when without even tasting it, someof my fanuky put loads of salt, pepper, mustard, pickle and ketchup (or Mayo if fish) all over a meal I've put time and effort into cooking? This happens even if there is sauce.


I know that sometimes those things do make it better, but is it so much to ask that my family at least TRY the food before covering it in stuff?

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

Family. Stupid autocorrect.

[ooerrmissus]

YANBU. I hate it to.

I also call them autocondimentors. I thought I was the only one!

[ooerrmissus]

too. Grammar fail.

[LastTango]

I have never understood people who insist on dousing their food with salt etc. before tasting it. My mother does it, and it is completely out of habit. She's 93, says she's been doing it all her life, and will continue to do so until she dies. Mind you, it is ONLY 5 twists of the salt cellar, not 6

[iwantgin]

Do you tell them off?

I do.

[WitchWay]

DH always adds salt before he's tasted it. If we're having lasagne he likes mayo on it because apparently that's how Italians like it - is it BTW?? & if we have any sort of meat pie he adds ketchup. It annoys me when I've cooked something from scratch.

He likes to swamp his food in any sauce or gravy that is part of the meal, which annoys me as well, especially since we all like sauce/gravy & he is greedy with it.

DH DS & I all add black pepper before tasting though.

[Mrsmorton]

Love that word. My family do this but judge guests if they autocondiment

I only do it with horseradish

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

If anyone can remember which discworld book the quote is in I'll dig it out.

[WitchWay]

What is really daft is that he'll sometimes add a load of salt & then comment that he's made it too salty - well taste it first then!!

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

If anyone can remember which discworld book the quote is in I'll dig it out.

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

Tonight, I did chicken and spinach, cauliflower and onion, in a load of herb and mustard creme fraiche sauce. He puts mustard on without even trying it. Ffs - he'd had to bring I over from beside the pan and had watched me put it in!

[caroldecker]

reaper man I think

[TheBookofRuth]

I come from a family of autocondimentors - I think that's a real word btw, not a Pratchettism, though I could be wrong - and I've been trying to break the habit for years. When serving my mother I'll tell her the salt is there if she wants it but to taste it first as there's already salt in it. It sometimes works!

DH, on the other hand, rarely adds salt and pepper, even to things I think would benefit from them. For example, he thinks he doesn't like boiled new potatoes - I think the problem is he doesn't add salt, pepper and butter to them!

[AnotherSpinningFuckingRainbow]

Can't remember the book but it's Archancellor Ridcully who has the amazing cruet set and the Wow-wow sauce I believe.

[AnotherSpinningFuckingRainbow]

Reaper Man! caroldecker

[weebarra]

It's one of my favourite words. My DM always comments on how we don't pre-salt our food (have three DCs, 6 and under, so no, we don't!).

[ViviPru]

I'm very particular with my autocondimentation. If something has been cooked by someone else, I will always be very careful to taste first before adding salt, and try and make out like I'm not adding much (but it's usually shitloads.)

Certain dishes require default autocondimentation though IMO; ketchup with fish pie, mayonnaise and malt vinegar with chips, mango chutney with curry & naan and so forth. I would quietly judge if a guest autocondimentated outside of my own strict guidelines. Yes, IABVU.

[slithytove]

DH does this and it drives me mad, I think it's really rude.

For things which are already in the dish, just overdo it on their portion. They soon get the message when they salt an already oversalted dish. And then you get to sit there making yummy noises, since you tasted yours before condimenting

[JoeyMaynardsghost]

witchway

I would serve a small jug of the sauce/gravy that's just for him if he can't share the main jug fairly. Or make him go last with the jug so he can empty it once everyone else has had their share.

[Enb76]

Pretty sure "autocondimentor" is older than Terry Pratchett, I can't remember a time it wasn't used in our family as it's one of my mother's pet hates. She deliberately cooked a salty ham so that when a family friend came round and was overly liberal with the salt he made his food inedible.

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

Reaper man! Yes, too much life force (came out as love sauce, thanks autocorrect) and he gets hit in the head with a nail. My mum sees me getting annoyed and so tells my dad that he has to try it before he adds thing, which is good for me. Dsis adds salt to everything, but I mind less since she trys a bit first.

I just find it so frustrating when you've put great time, or effort, or thought (or all three) into a meal and then it gets covered in stuff. I make pretty good chilli con carne, and roast and grind spices myself, cook it for 4 hours etc (yes, I have too much time), generally try really hard to make a really tasty thing. Then df adds pickle, mustard and ketchup immediately. How does that go with cumin, chilli and coriander?

Gravy hogs deserve everything coming to them.