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Friday Fun Thread for February 17, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Hate to put out the AskReddit tier question. But what did you find to be grossly overrated?

I'm a Chinese food enthusiast and shop far and wide for authentic ingredients to recreate dishes at home. Once I found out that a 'chili oil with beef 'is a thing that exists and is apparently delicious, I immediately hit the Asian grocery store and got some. It was even more enticing to me because said product is not available in North America, well I don't live in a communist country (joke) so I got my hands on some fairly easily.

It was meh. Really did not live up to the hype from the linked video. Regular chili oil with fried minced beef, that's it. Maybe the American who made the video just finds it to be better because he knows there is a forbidden quality to it and his subconscious mind does the work. Obviously, not everyone's tastes are the same. Mildly regretting driving 45 minutes each way to the Asian market for one product.

As a non-American, I say American BBQ is uniquely American. And a worthy contender for its biggest culinary achievement. Definitely not overrated.

All other American foods have foreign counterparts. Fried Chicken is just about universal, So is pizza, Cajun food has a similar flavor profile African food (obviously), etc.

Most grilled meat dishes around the world are cooked using high heat and the dominant flavor profile is the char, not the smoke. Southern American BBQ is unique because it relies on slow cooking (totally different choice of meats) and smoke as the primary flavor. The closest counterpart is maybe Argentinian Asado or Brazillian Churrasco, but they are still closer to char based than smoke based.


I do agree that Southern American cuisine in general does suffer from a lack of balance. BBQ is good, mac and cheese is good, They don't need to go together. Southern BBQ should take a page from Korean BBQ which comes with 15 different kinds of pickles/pallete cleansers. Or even Brazillian Churrasco of which the salad bar is a crucial component.

Which is why I specified flavor profile. The cajun paprika, pepper,coriander and garlic forwardness is also present in West African cooking, which is immediately obvious to anyone who has tried both cuisines broadly. Look up the list of spices in Old Bay seasoning and see if those spices look American or French.

Cajun is African flavor with French techniques (roux,mirepoix (holy trinity), etc).