Foods that shouldn't be messed around with

[Ginfordinner]

I love cooking, I love eating, and am an adventurous cook. I mix and match and am happy to replace an ingredient I dislike, but there are some things I think just don't need to be elaborated on and are just lovely as they are.

Coffee - I don't like my coffee to taste of anything other than coffee. I don't like all the syrups and flavourings that people put in it

Gin - just no to flavoured gin. Flavoured gin is for people who don't like gin

Fruit crumble - the crumble mix just needs flour, sugar and butter and nothing else

Shortbread - again just flour, butter and sugar. The king of biscuits IMO

Along the same lines as coffee, I can't stand flavoured hot chocolate.

Crumble, I'd never considered anything other than flour, sugar and butter, although I did use brown sugar rather than caster today and it was lovely and caramelised nicely on top.

I am just about to make a crumble, and I have some brown sugar so I think I will try that. Thank you.

And I don't like flavoured hot chocolate either. Sometimes you just want the main ingredient.

Whisky & whiskey. A little water maybe, perhaps even soda water, but NEVER lemonade, ginger ale, etc

I agree with you wholeheartedly on coffee and gin
People who drink flavoured gin and don’t like London dry/old tom just don’t like gin in my book!

Deconstructed stuff, like deconstructed cheesecake. Leave it alone.

I like traditional presentation; I dislike towers of food, & those silly miniature baskets for chips.

Crumble topping has to have oats in it too!!

Sorry you're wrong. Crumble needs oats. It may even need seeds, but it definitely needs oats!

Coffee should be black, but I'll tolerate an occasional latte.
Hot chocolate should probably be Mocha. If I'm somewhere the coffee is shit, I'll make a mocha instead.

Gin, I'm with you. If it's flavoured, go the whole hog and make it a liqueur.

Oh dear, I love flavoured coffee, flavoured gin and I put oats and chopped pecans in crumble! Have no strong feelings on shortbread though!

Cheese should never have bits if fruit in it. Agape with good cheese, yes but not bits of apricot or cranberry mixed in.

Crisps - a bit of salt is all that is necessary. Some of the flavour combinations being sold are quite peculiar (roast chicken flavour???).

I also disagree on some. I like both regular and flavoured gins. I always add oats to crumble to make it healthier and more textured. I actually love the chilli hot chocolate and am rather partial to a splash of booze in my coffee tho don't do it often.

Pizza. No fruit on it, ever. And never fucking BBQ sauce on the base instead of tomato.

A banana

No explanation, other than I can only eat it as it comes, no banoffie etc

Cheese. I like cheese. I like apricots. But don't put bits of dried apricot into my cheese.

Lasagna. No chicken, no fish, no subbing the pasta for leeks, thank you.

No to chocolate chips or weird things in hot cross buns!

Pizza. No fruit on it, ever. And never fucking BBQ sauce on the base instead of tomato

Agreed! I also don't trust any Italian claiming restaurants that put chicken on a pizza!

Carbonara shouldn't be messed with. It shouldn't have cream in it but can let that slide for non-Italians, but when people start adding a bunch of other stuff in, plus cream, and claiming it's still carbonara... No, it's not.

It's not carbonara if it has cream in it. And it isn't shortbread if it is made with anythong other than butter. The whole point of shortbread is its buttery flavour. If it's made with marge it's just a biscuit - just don't call it shortbread.

Pies.
Pies should encase their contents in lovely pastry; deconstructing a pie so you have a sad pastry disk propped against a ladle of stew is an abomination.
I can't believe people are still deconstructing pies and crumbles. It's fucking cowardice, that's what it is.

I do agree about flavoured coffees.

Cider should only be apple flavoured, anything else is just alcoholic juice

I am a purist too with Gin, just plain Gin and Tonic (preferably Gordon’s) twist of lemon and ice, hits the spot every time !

disk propped against a ladle of stew is an abomination

I agree

I've never had any deconstructed food. Unless I've had a serving mishap
I agree on crumble being flour, butter snd sugar. Apple remains the best crumble for me. I like oats but keep them away from crumble.

I've never had a bbq base pizza. It would be wrong. But my favourite pizza topping is mushroom and pineapple. Sorry.

That's how I do my pies. Cant make it any other way ! Never come out right