the biggest problem with cooking at home

I've been to a good number of restaurants over the years, but I am one of those people who sincerely believes eating out was better in the '90s. Early-to-mid '90s, specifically.

I used to think this was all in my head, thinking yeah, I'm older now, so of course I'll say eating out was better in the past. I don't think that way anymore.

What changed my mind? I learned how to cook.

An example of something I made very recently: Jasmine rice, cheap baby frozen shrimp fried, cheap fresh green bell pepper chopped and fried, then when all mixed together, add a pat of unsalted butter, a light salting and garlic powder. And it was good. Really good, actually. All that stuff together really brought the flavor...

...and that right there is why eating out sucks now. I learned how to bring the flavor, which really made me notice how flavorless food is when eating out. Or if not flavorless, it's some chemical trash masquerading as flavor.

It is really depressing that I can take genuinely cheap food bought at the grocery store, cook at home and make it taste fantastic, and can't get the same flavor experience at a restaurant.

Has the food quality at restaurants gone down? Yes. Big time. It doesn't matter if you pay $15 or $150 a plate. What you get is flavorless trash. It may look the same as food from 30 years ago, but it certainly doesn't taste like it.

What does restaurant food taste like? Nothing. It's all just texture. Oh sure, you can salt it yourself using the cheapest grade table salt the restaurant has (they never use decent quality salt). But all that does it make the food taste like salty texture.

I wish I could say that if you go to a more expensive restaurant, you get better food, but you don't. All you get a nicer environment to eat in. The food is no better than what you can get at a gas station. I'm not kidding. If you don't believe me, go to a high-end chicken place and order some wings. The next day, go to 7-Eleven and get some cheap wings there. No significant difference at all where food quality is concerned. And that's not because 7-Eleven got better. It's because restaurants got worse.

The chemical trash restaurants use is comical. Any kind of flavor you could hope to get out of the food will either be from fake cheese, the lowest grade table salt or "sauce". That sauce will taste like one of three things. Candy-like sweet, fake-tangy hot, or both. There will be mild variations with a fake cheese flavoring and the level of salt within the sauce itself, but make no mistake, it's 100% artificial.

When I go out to eat now...

...I set the bar low. Really low. To-the-floor low. I know that what I'll get will be flavorless texture. Since I know the food will just be fake garbage, I just aim for places with decent atmosphere now.

It's sad that atmosphere is the only thing that sells me on a restaurant these days, but that's the way things are.

Exceptions to this are some bakeries, some Asian places and some Indian places. It takes some hunting around to find any that bring the flavor. And it's interesting that the ones I do find are rarely high-end places. For where I live, the smaller locally owned bakeries and restaurants usually have the best food. That may sound cliche, but it's true.

If you want to bring the flavor...

...you're going to need some proper kitchen stuff to get it at home.

A decent kitchen knife set is mandatory. Gotta have that.

It also helps to have a mesh strainer set for draining things like rice and pasta. Bear in mind the mesh is typically different from a colander, although some colanders are mesh-like, so you might be able to get double duty out of one or a set.

Steam pots are great to have for steaming veg. True, you could always use a rice cooker for the same function, but I like being able to cook rice and steam the veg at the same time, which is doable with steam pots.

It is worth it to have a decent cutting board set (always go wood, don't use plastic), not only for chopping veg but also for things like using a box grater.

Speaking of the box grater, fun fact: Making your own cole slaw is stupidly easy with a box grater since it's just cabbage. You can do cabbage-only or mix it up with cabbage + carrots.

Prep bowls aren't mandatory, but nice to have when putting together something that involves multiple ingredients, especially in smaller amounts.

A decent food container set is mandatory, however. True, you can just use a bowl and put plastic wrap or aluminum foil over it, but it's better to use the container. The square or square-ish ones are the best kind because they're easier to organize and move around in the fridge.

You get the idea. If you're sick of the flavorless trash when eating out (and who isn't?), get the stuff necessary to cook at home. Get the foods, the spices, the oils, whatever. You'll eat better than you ever have in your life once you figure out your way around a kitchen.

As for eating out, do what I do. Go for atmosphere, because any food you get will be terrible. The good stuff will always be better at home.

Published 2024 Nov 26