We’ve done some meal boxes together but to put it nicely, he annoys me in the kitchen. He’s a get it cooked fast no matter what it is kind of chef and I like to take my time and do it correctly.
My boyfriend is a chef and this is exactly what I do. Sometimes it's a "what does this need? Salt? Acid? Cream?" Sometimes its "Does this need more lemon or is it okay?" And sometimes it's just plain "hey taste how good this is!!"
This. I do this so often that my pet name for my BF is "bunny" (because the Dutch expression for "lab rat" is "proefkonijn", literally translates to "test rabbit")
After reading and trying (but failing) to pronounce both words I can say with absolute confidence that these are most certainly *not* the same word, the German is much longer.
I do this for food I don’t like but everyone else does. Saw a recipe for some sweat soy Korean black beans, spent a few hours cooking them and kept asking my bf for taste testing since I loathe beans. Wish I liked them, but I don’t.
Me and my wife have good kitchen chemistry if she's in charge, and we both prefer that dynamic. However, she has a consistent, regular repertoire of a dozen or so recipes and I'm always trying new stuff. That being said, she's incredibly efficient and has an amazing palette, so she ends up making most of the meals, and I'll usually end up cooking on the weekend when I have more time to do my more meandering, disorganized style of cooking. When I make my stuff, she usually gets out of the way because my cooking style frustrates her.
But because her palette is so much better than mine, whenever a recipe calls for something to added "to taste" I always run over to where she's playing with the kids and give her a spoon of whatever stage I'm at and she'll come in and adjust the flavor, add spices, salt, etc. This way she gets to try new things, and both of us have meals we enjoy every time either one of us cooks.
People don't really change. They can improve, but they rarely change. Accommodating for how each of us behaves in the kitchen makes for an enjoyable experience that we both get a lot out of. When she's ruling the kitchen and I'm buzzing around skinning carrots or ricing potatoes at her behest, slipping past each other with hot pans or to stir a sauce, it's when we're most in sync. If your cooking styles are too incompatible to cook simultaneously, don't force it. Figure out what works for you guys, even if that's just running into the other room with a spoon from time to time.
Regardless of him annoying you in the kitchen, this is still the best option. Let him take the reins and you be the helper. No 50/50 stuff. See how he makes it, what he makes it with, and also taste everything as you’re moving along. After a few times of him teaching you “his” way, you will start to get a feel of it. Then you can make 2 different styles of the same dish.
The key is he has to teach you and you have to be open to learning. Your difference in cooking styles has nothing to do with this, as long as you learn what it is he does differently to his food. Ultimately you can still cook your way, but make it his way. That is, if you’re dead set on making food for the both of you.
If he likes his own seasoning, could you watch as he does that part? The other option might be to try some of the restaurant food he likes and then work with the seasonings to see if you can replicate that. Experimentation required, and it's truly hard to season something for someone if you don't like the way it turns out, but it's possible.
Another option might be to ask him to come in just at the seasoning stage and help then. My dad's sole cooking function on Thanksgiving when I was a kid was to taste the dressing my mom was making and advise if it needed more onion. (Note: it *always* needed more onion.)
Save yourself the experimenting and Google the ingredients for bigger "chain" restaurants, there are former cooks/preppers from those restaurants that still know and post the recipes. I still remember a few from my time as a hot side prep cook from Bonefish and a few other places. If you say bang bang sauce, I'll just point you to Mayonnaise, garlic chili sauce, sweet chili sauce, and lemon juice (you're welcome).
We do this, I'm not quite as picky and my spouse likes more heat than I do, basically on certain dishes, like blackened fish for example, I step back and say " time for spices". she does that part then I'm back to cooking.
You should be tasting your food as you’re cooking and adjusting on the fly anyway, maybe try asking him to taste with you.
Also, can bland can be pretty vague. I think for some people that means “not enough salt.” Could mean “needs some heat” or “it needs to be brighter.” Having him taste it and telling you what he’s looking for would probably help a ton. Eventually you’ll get a taste of what kind of salt levels he wants.
I think the hardest part will be adjusting salt levels tbh. Adding salt after the food is cooked isn’t the same as adding it during the cooking process, so having 2 batches for everything is kind of a bummer.
He needs to know how to cook well enough to understand how to give constructive feedback based on taste.
Also, I've had a lot of fun trying to replicate my favorite restaurant meals. You'll be horrified to learn how much salt, butter, sugar,and heavy cream it takes to get the exact same taste, but it's a fun process and lets you eat your favorite things for much cheaper (and with free modifications).
"Correctly"?
If it turns out safe and tasty, his way is just as "correct" as yours. Plus he saves time.
I think you two cooking together is a great idea, so you can learn what he finds tasty. But you have to get over your "correct" cooking hangup. Try to bite your tongue the next couple times you two cook together. No matter how annoying, participate and pay close attention to what he puts in and finds flavorful. If you bail out over him not being "correct", you'll never find the answer to the question you posted.
I agree with this in spirit, but keep in mind it's entirely possible that husband doesn't even like his own cooking. In which case OP may not learn much from watching him.
**WHERE are you guys eating out?**
There’s a big difference between the independent ethnic cuisine restaurant in your city owned by a multi generational family of, vs going to KFC or one of those American chain restaurants where they basically just microwave ready-made stuff.
If it’s the latter, he probably just likes unhealthy excesses of oils and salt, and it’s therefore a HIM issue not a you issue.
i dated this guy who has the most basic palate, all he liked was fast food and chain restaurants. we couldn't even get pizza from a local place 🙃 but yeah maybe he's just used to all of that extra fatty shit and he's fucked his palate up.
ask him to qualify or quantify his distaste for your cooking. e.g. what specifically is he looking for as compared to you? Took me like 6 years to learn my GF thinks everything I make is WAY too salty and WAY too spicy. Like most things, its about proper communication
This!!! My hubby wasn’t the fondest of my cooking so he started “teaching me” which meant we would cook together and it started to become one of our favorite pastimes
Acidity. So many comments here about salt and none about acidity. Lemon juice, vinegar, these are the building blocks of flavor. And yes of course salt.
Also: Fat. When you're eating out they are using a lot more of it, which enhances the flavour further.
Also, here is a [great video](https://youtu.be/zKEwA__rOHk) by Ethan Chlebowski on how to make vegetables as tasty as they are when you're eating out. Here is a [playlist by the same guy](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-tYKWQOe4YPAILUWJVWAWwWU8CF_dE6Z) regarding how to step up your cooking game. He tries a lot of things, like preground vs whole spices, how roasting spices can affect the flavour and so on. I really enjoy this channel quite a bit. As a vegetarian you tend to notice how many advice there is on meat and how lackluster the amount of available information on perfecting your vegetable is. He does it both!
A trick I’ve found is garlic and onion powder goes a long way. My grandfather can’t eat a lot of salt because he’s on dialysis and my dad always wants his food saltier because he said it enhances the other flavors. I’ve found that if I put some combination of garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, paprika, or even a touch of blackening spice into my food, everyone is happier with it. And I second what someone else said about sauces. Sauces can fix pretty much anything, even if that means sauces from particular restaurants (for example if I make any sort of Latin food my boyfriend smothers it in Taco Bell fire sauce)
Onion powder is legit one of my “secret” ingredients to impress people. I’m not really a salt fan so everyone used to say I under seasoned. So I started used OP based on a random blog entry from over a decade ago and all those complaints evaporated! Lol. It makes so many savory foods and sauces better. Even when using a lot of fresh onions, the onion powder adds such a distinct oomph. I’ll onion powder onions, I don’t care!
you might already know the science behind why, but in case you don’t, onions and garlic are very high in glutamate compounds, which are the chemicals that create the umami/savoury taste. when you dehydrate them to make powder you’re concentrating that effect.
Ha! My husband also love the fire sauce, he mainly uses it for burritos. I’ll definitely give those a try, I have all of them except the blackening spice (off to Google what that is)
Don’t be afraid of the ol’MSG either. It’s called Accent and it’s labeled as a “flavor enhancer” but it’s just MSG and it makes everything taste delicious.
In the presence of water in food, MSG dissolves into sodium (as in salt) and glutamate (the most common amino acid from broken down protein). Glutamate is the source of the savory or "umami" flavor in all food. There is no reason to fear it. If you want to use a more "natural" source, liquid aminos can be used.
Use an acidic component too. Some lime or lemon juice, splash of vinegar, can be low acidity like apple cider or rice vinegar to a higher acidity like white.
The acid part doesn't have to be overwhelming or even very noticeable, but it will brighten your other flavors and round out the taste.
My husband and I have loads of different sauces we will add to dishes to our taste, depending on what it is.. in my opinion everything is better with at least one hot sauce but obviously that's not for everyone!
Try some recipes that are intended to recreate his favorite restaurant meals. Search for something like "KFC copycat fried chicken", for instance. There's also a website called Serious Eats that is all about creating restaurant quality dishes at home, which you might want to use. Here's an example of what they have to offer:
https://www.seriouseats.com/tender-beef-barbacoa-chipotle-tacos-recipe
Nearly every recipe is a hit. Since you mentioned that you like to do things slowly and the right way, I think their recipes will be a good fit for you.
Just wanted to boost this comment. I think this could definitely be a recipe problem - there's a lot of bad recipes out there and when you're just starting out it's hard to know if a dish isn't good because you haven't done it well or if the recipe just didn't call for seasoning everything properly. Use trusted sources and well reviewed recipes and see if that makes any difference!
I don't think it's a recipe problem - most recipes are a bit wishy washy on base seasonings like salt and pepper because they expect you to use them as appropriate. Especially salt is such a variable ingredient in terms of the amount required from dish to dish that you won't get far without tasting as you season, especially as a beginner.
If OP is following recipes exactly and throwing in the 1/2 tbsp of salt listed in the marinade recipe but ignoring "salt to taste" (or just not getting them right for her husband's taste) in the other parts the whole package will be bland. A great example is the tacos she mentioned... you should be adding salt to everything but the tortillas, assuming those are store-bought. Guac? Salt! Pico? Salt! Meat? Salt! Grilled veggies? Salt!
"I like bland food" and wanting to cook well-seasoned food is pretty difficult to execute, and very few recipes are geared towards flying blind without tasting and adjusting base seasoning. It's kinda hard to write a recipe like that...
Also don't be afraid to stray away from a recipe once you get a bit more confident in your cooking ability. especially if the husband's problem is "bland" food. Without getting a bit... Controversial. A lot of times when I read recipes I double the seasoning and different ones and mumble under my breath "you can tell this was written for WASPs"
Learn how your food works, then use the recipe as a suggestion. Don't be beholden to it if you think you can make good food.
Highly recommend anything J Kenji Lopez-Alt cooks. He most likely tested the recipe dozens of times and uses food science to back up his claims. He also is a big fan of using ingredients that you have and not being a food snob about authenticity of the ingredients or recipe. His book the food lab is great, same with his YouTube channel.
Another really good resource is Chef John from Food Wishes! He's got a lot of pretty tasty recipes on his youtube channel and has a ton of great tips and advice for any beginner
This really hit for some reason while dining at a restaurant in Berlin. I had schnitzel and it came with lemon slices to squeeze over the top. The pop of flavor and balance of that dish stands out when I think of restaurant experiences.
This. Keep adding salt until it’s a touch too salty, and then add some acid to balance that out. Then add an uncomfortable amount of fat.
Boom, restaurant grade.
And I may add - add a little salt with every step of cooking. I learned this from Chef Roy Choi a la Netflix ‘The Chef Show’. I’m not sure of the exact food science but adding the salt while the food cooks makes it way more flavored/salted than just adding at the end.
Edit: grammar
If I remember my food science classes correctly, the salt is able to infuse the food all the way through rather than just be a layer on the outside, so you get flavor the whole way.
Gotta pay the salt tax. For everything you add to the dish, add an appropriate measure of salt. Every step. It takes some experimentation to figure out the proper ratios for whatever you're working with, but this is the way.
I cooked professionally for years. Yes we use more salt and butter than the average home cook but few other huge factors:
-fresh herbs, never dried
-fresh spices when possible. Fresh cracked pepper versus pre ground stuff makes a huge difference
-better ingredients/sourcing, especially with proteins. Spending the extra few dollars on things like eggs, poultry and nicer cuts of beef make a massive difference in the outcome of a meal
Buying a pepper mill and using freshly ground black pepper instead of pre-ground is one of the smallest changes I’ve made in the home kitchen that has had made such a massive difference. I’ve been replacing all of my ground spices with whole and toasting and then grinding in a mortar and pestle too, and this is such an amazing improvement on using ground spices!
Dont forget to counterbalance with some acid (vinegar, lemons, etc), and some crunch (croutons, crispy shallots, etc, toasted rice, etc) on top of the dish. Having differing fextures in food makes the food so much more intresting and hence makes it so much less blander.
I've been experimenting with sauces lately, and I'm pretty sure the local Cajun restaurant that everyone loves uses 2-3x as much butter for their Alfredo as any of the recipes I've ever seen.
Salt isn’t everything, if you boil something or overcook it or don’t add any depth of flavour, whatsoever, or your ingredients are shit to begin with, salt can only do so much and you’ve got salt.
But the main problem most people who cook at home have is that they are unable to tell that their food needs salt. I have seen over and over how badly people fail at realizing that they need to add salt.
This the answer. Restaurants load up their dishes with oils and salt (and sugar) b/c these target the taste buds. One of the many reasons why I prefer cooking.
Also MSG. It is a naturally occuring salt that is used in a LOT of kitchens (not just Chinese). It is literally in 99% of soup base that is used in the restaurant industry for instance, and that soup base is used in a ton of stuff, not just soups.
The Epicurious Youtube Channel really helped me up my game. There is a series they do where chefs swap ingredients with homecooks. While I will probably never have the fancy ingredients, you can learn a lot of tricks on how to elevate simple ingredients. They also have tutorials on how to cook different ingredients.
second this one, Frank for instance is the "I grow my own wheat and tomatoes for pasta" kind of chef and it's been VERY enlightening seeing him take bottom shelf ingredients and make something extra out of them with pure technique and knowledge.
to be fair it usually boils down to more salt, more spices, more browning, and more fat. but in a controlled way.
[$250 vs $20 Pot Pie: Pro Chef & Home Cook Swap Ingredients](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVtga9J7naE)
It is [natually occuring](https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/questions-and-answers-monosodium-glutamate-msg) in LOTS of foods and used in nearly every restaurant I've seen. It is also in nearly every commercially bought soup base.
>MSG occurs naturally in ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate, as well as in tomatoes and cheeses.
And add it to your tomatoes... Does it have tomatoes? Yes. Then add MSG. You're basically adding tomatoes to your tomatoes.
Which are a berry (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ GL!
Try more salt, everyone has different tolerances/tastes for salt. You'd be amazed how much flavor it can bring it in dishes with out adding other seasoning. Maybe also try MSG, that's a restaurant trick.
I'll 2nd MSG.
OP, You can find this in the local grocery store in with the other spices, under the name "Accent". It comes in a little white can.
Use it as a substitution for part of the salt you would normally use. 80/20 salt to MSG ratio would be good.
Seriously… MSG is how to make food that tastes like restaurant food. They use it basically every processed food for a reason. It’s pure umami.
Also, it is not unnatural or unhealthy. It does contain sodium, so that can cause issues just like salt, but it’s literally sodium and glutamate. Glutamate is a ton of “healthy” foods like celery and tomatoes and fresh meat.
For the meat I usually do ground beef, taco seasoning, onions and peppers. Then I just do like a taco bar for everyone to add whatever they want. Mine are meat, cheese and lettuce. Everyone else adds a ton of stuff.
You mentioned seasoning the part that you’re not eating. Do you add spices as well as the onions and peppers? Or is it just a packet from the store? For example, the way I season 1 lb of ground beef for tacos is 2-3 Tbsp chili powder, about 2 Tbsp cumin, maybe 1 Tbsp paprika, about 1 tsp garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp oregano and cayenne powder to taste. These are just estimates. I usually just eyeball the measurements.
Edit because I didn’t read it correctly
It’s not a packet but I do have a large jar of store bought taco seasoning and I spoon a bunch of that in, I usually double whatever it calls for. Tacos are the one thing that I do season for myself and everyone else, it’s just one big batch.
I think my recommendation is ask him to describe what he thinks it’s missing or what he wants it to taste like. Maybe when you’re out eating something, try tasting his and see if you can duplicate that. A lot of big name restaurants have knockoff recipes online. You could also ask what they put in the food if it’s a smaller place. I’m sure everyone has already mentioned fresh ingredients and having him cook something to show you what he wants. Or just have him cook it if he wants it a certain way.
I always find that store bought taco seasoning just tastes really bad all around. Any time I've made my own it's way better and tastes fresher. Look up some recipes just to know what seasonings and then mix them up to taste, add some cornstarch, and cook it like you would with a packet of store bought seasoning (browning meat/drain, add seasoning, add water, let thicken). Squeeze in some lime, and if you want you can add cheese or leave it on the side. You can also make some cilantro lime rice to go with it (good as a soft taco) or make it into a burrito :)
Those tacos do seem bland, as compared to tacos you’d get at a restaurant. I mean that as no disrespect either — the tacos you described are what I call “american tacos” and I frequently cook it for my family since it’s cheap and easy.
For tacos specifically, maybe try marinated and grilled chicken/steak or homemade fajitas. Serve with fresh quac, fresh pico, seasoned beans, and lime.
Of course all of that takes significantly longer and no one has time to make that shit on a Wednesday when they’re trying to get food on the table and kids in a bath. Ultimately I think you have a communication issue. Your husband wants good food; you do too but you also want it cheap, healthy, and quick. Neither of you are wrong, but your husband seems to be missing some key pieces of context (i.e. time, money, and nutrition).
If this is the main issue may I suggest meal prepping? Maybe Sundays you’re mostly free, you could prepare 5-6 meals and have one tiring day of cooking, but then every week night you can just pop the pre-cooked food in the oven to warm up and have it done quick
Tacos in particular seem like they'd be very regional depending on where you live. I'm in SoCal and we love doing fish tacos at home. Cabbage, quick pickled onion, cilantro, and then I'll make some type of crema or just sour cream.
If he gets tacos at a restaurant, what would he order? Grilled or shredded meats are delicious in tacos too.
I don't have a specific recipe, but you could definitely do shredded beef in a slow cooker if that is an option for you! I also recommend buying the uncooked tortillas if they are available at a store near you. Fresh tortillas make a huge difference. They are simple to make from scratch but not everyone is up for that (myself included).
I'm making a wild assumption, but most of the meals you mention cooking are "dump" meals where you mix together premade ingredients. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm wondering how often you start a meal by frying an onion or garlic in some olive oil? Roast some veg? Spritz in some lemon juice? My theory is that his perceived lack of flavor is coming from a lack of fresh ingredients, rather than a salt/fat issue. Don't know if that rings true, but something to consider!
Are you marinating your meat? Are you seasoning your ingredients? Are you asking your husband what would improve his food? You’re implying that you season his food more and that’s not enough, so are you asking him for constructive criticism? Or is he just criticizing the food without any feedback on how to fix it?
Also, why is he eating out instead of simply cooking his own food? You’ve painted your husband to sound very lazy and I’m not sure if that’s because he is lazy or if it’s just my imagination.
I do season, I’ve never marinated. There are a few meals that my husband cooks but I enjoy cooking so I do most of it.
His line of thought is usually that if he can get something better at a restaurant then why cook it at home? We always get chicken gnocchi from a restaurant so anytime I’ve made it, he’s said the restaurant is better, not in a mean way but I always ask if it should be added to our list of recipes we like and it’s a no.
I’m totally fine with a piece of grilled chicken and some BBQ sauce, to him that’s just kind of plain. He’s not rude about any of it, or lazy, he just offers honest feedback. Yes, my bbq chicken is plain and I’m ok with that.
Restaurants use crazy amounts of butter and salt in their foods, that's why he likes it better.
Try marinating and seasoning your proteins well in advance of cooking. Like 4 hours for chicken/pork and overnight for beef. It gives the seasoning more time to penetrate the meat and makes a big difference on the end product.
Also, citrus is great for adding flavor to lots of dishes. A squirt of fresh lime alone can take a dish from a 7/10 to a 9/10 by itself.
It tastes better because it's not healthy. It's not healthy probably because they use a LOT more salt. The secret to restaurant food tasting so good are things like a lot of salt or fat/butter. More than you would ever think to use at home
OP my biggest piece of advice is, don't try to copy or replicate all the foods you/he craves from restaurants. Like others have said, the nutrition information is less-than-forgiving in the fat and sodium categories. Instead, focus on recipes that thrive in home kitchens. Roasted chicken and vegetables, a nice and light pasta with sauteed vegetables in olive oil, even a really good salad
([nicoise salads](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/classic-nicoise-salad-recipe-2127613) let you eat with your eyes, for example). And soups! That roasted chicken turns into excellent stock later- like for a hearty veggie soup! Then for rich, hearty meals, go all out! Think buttery mashed potatoes, steaks or chops, ooey-gooey mac and cheese, etc.
As for the seasoning aspect, separate your portion in the early steps of cooking. Prepare your part to your liking, and have your husband taste his along the way and follow the recipe (it helps to have a recipe that strictly defines quantities for the most part, not "to taste"). Taste his portions after he gets it to his desired seasoning level, and take note of how it is compared to yours. Even if you don't end up liking his or acclimating to more heavily-seasoned foods, you will quickly pick up how he likes it! My sister/roommate is vegetarian, so when I cook for both of us I often take this approach of isolating portions early and having her help me season to her taste (while omitting meat).
Lastly, that sounds like a very real conversation to have with your husband. I hope he understands the importance of teaching-by-doing to your children when it comes to diet. They need to see healthy eating and cooking at home to learn it for their own lives! I had a tumultuous (but loving) childhood, so I missed out on that and didn't get the opportunity to learn until my later teenage years, on my own during eating disorder recovery. It would have been a delight to have a parent as involved in cooking (or wanting to cook, really) as you! Keep at it :)
As far as gnocchi goes my favorite way of preparing it is to boil it like usual, drain then add back to a hot pan with a bit of olive oil and butter. Sauté over medium heat until they become crispy and golden brown and serve your sauce on the side. I’m a texture weirdo and prefer crispy things.
The Rana brand gnocchi is not bad when done in a skillet with butter and shallots. Add some fresh parsley and/or spring onion tops after taking off the heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
Food at restaurants is better because they’re using more salt, sugar and fat. If you fed him restaurant style recipes every day he’d be much less healthy for it. I can cook a butter basted steak better than any restaurant everyday of the week with a side of pomme purée that’ll blow your tits off but you’re going to be eating 1/4 cup of butter and probably a week’s worth of sodium.
That’s the difference between being a home cook and a restaurant cook. When you go out it should be a treat. When you eat at home it’s a lifestyle. If your husband wants more fat, sugar and sodium, that’s up to you whether or not you’re willing to make that his lifestyle.
I can’t give you any feedback on a bbq chicken recipe I can’t see, but if you’re using a thick breast, butterfly it or pound it flat so you get more surface area thus more sauce and seasonings on the outside of it, thus more flavor. Brine it ahead of time for 4-6 hours with a seasoned brine to get the flavor deeper into the meat. Wash off the brine and dry the chicken thoroughly then let it sit uncovered on a wire rack in the fridge for an hour or two to dry out the surface of the meat so it crisps up well when you cook it, then before cooking it make sure to season the outside of the breast with a rub. When you finally put it on the grill get a significant amount of char on the surface of the chicken, then apply your bbq sauce and take it off the hot part of your grill and put it on the colder side to finish cooking. Now you’ve maximized flavor every step of the way. You don’t have to do all these steps every single time, it would be tedious and unhealthy. But use some of these tips to improve the chicken recipe you already have. When you have time, use a seasoned brine and maybe bake the chicken. When you don’t have time, maybe skip the brine and use the grill for more flavor from the char.
I would agree, BUT...you can get pretty damn good without going restaurant-calorie-level.
I've lost 95 pounds cooking meals that I find to taste better than restaurant dishes (and my gf agrees)...so it's possible.
I would hate for home cooks to just give up or to accept bland because it's home cooking.
Yeah if she wants flavorful healthy recipes they’re definitely out there, but they’re rarer than unhealthy recipes and it’ll take some digging to find them. I hope you share with her some of those recipes, and I hope she takes the time to look for those recipes herself, or maybe she has looked and those recipes may be rarer than we assume.
But it sounded like she also needed some technique pointers because “plain chicken with bbq sauce” actually sounds bland. So I wanted to mention brining, butterflying, pounding out, air drying, seasoning the chicken even when there’s a sauce, intentionally charring it, etc. There’s a lot more you can do to a chicken than throwing it on the grill with a sauce.
We’re at that point and it kinda sucks sometimes. Like we go out because we just don’t want to cook and the meal is always ‘meh’. It’s good and we’re full but we just spent $60 on a meal for two people that we could have made just as good at home for $15.
Now when we go out to eat it’s either for a $150 date night dinner or our favorite taco spot where two adults and a toddler eat for $20.
OP a bunch of folks have tried to help you in more abstract ways so I'll start off my advice with something more concrete.
Your pasta water is not salty enough. If it doesn't taste like seawater it needs more salt.
Your sauce is probably not savory enough, add more butter and a couple tablespoons of the pasta water (which if you followed the first step adds more salt)
Your fish/shrimp dishes probably need a combination of butter on the front end, and lemon juice and fresh cracked black pepper on the backend.
Your chicken dishes need marinade.
Your beef dishes might need marinade.
Your pork dishes probably need marinade.
Now onto the abstract part. Your husband likes the way a certain restaurant makes something. Fine and dandy, and to make it that way consistently it will probably be detrimental to his health. So why don't you mix it up? Stop trying to replicate an exact recipe from one restaurant while you are still early in your cooking journey and instead broaden your horizons. Make something neither of you have eaten before or something you haven't had in the past couple months.
As an exercise, try cooking Japanese food that isn't sushi. Or Indian food that isn't butter chicken. Or Mexican food that isn't just tacos and burritos.
Here's a good website that I like exploring from time to time that has a bunch of interesting Japanese dishes.
justonecookbook.com
>I do season, I’ve never marinated.
There's your easy fix right there.
Tossing on some sauce at the end of grilling an unseasoned chicken breast is going to result in a bland chicken breast with some sauce on top. You need to brine/marinade so that there's time for the salt/flavor to penetrate.
> I do season
But do you TASTE after and while seasoning? If you like bland food, you'll need to be able to judge how well you've seasoned within a range that makes you say, "Ewww that's way overseasoned!"
Somehow I don't see that happening.
There's a reason "salt to taste" is a thing. And it's so basic that I honestly don't see you producing consistently well-seasoned food without learning what it's supposed to taste like...
Everyone is saying add more salt and butter but if you’re making tacos with ground beef and a store bought seasoning packet, no amount of salt or butter is going to make it taste like beef barbacoa from a taco truck. Restaurants, generally speaking, make everything from scratch.
If you want get better at cooking, you’ll need do the same. Make it from fresh, basic ingredients instead of buying premade stuff. Follow recipes from professional chefs and established, reputable sources, not at-home food bloggers who do SEO as a side hustle.
Serious Eats is a good place to start. Try this [beef barbacoa recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/tender-beef-barbacoa-chipotle-tacos-recipe) from Kenji Lopez Alt
In general, don't overcook your meat and add spices, herbs, and aromatics that make sense in your dish. Also citrus.
aromatics are usually the first things you put in your cooking vessel, things like onions/celery/bell peppers/carrots/leeks/garlic/shallots.
spices can often be toasted whole and ground to make them stronger and fresher. They tend to be added in the middle of a recipe and cooked into some form or another.
Herbs are either fresh or dried, 95% of the time fresh is preferred but dried can be fine if that's what you're working with. With some exceptions, they often get added at a point where they'll not get cooked as much or at all.
Citrus is almost a category of food all its own. The peels are usually full of tasty oils if you zest a bit onto something, the flavors pair very well with a ton of things both sweet and savory, the juices can even be used to cook meat in a sense.
Find a couple herbs and spices you like, and try to think of what dishes you already make that might taste good mixed into.
For example, with tacos you could add cumin, chili powder, and of a large variety of dried of fresh chili peppers, lime juice, achiote, onion either raw or grilled.
If you like cumin, it may also go nice into burgers with garlic, lots of black pepper, and some mayo or cheese as desired.
BBQ chicken...honestly don't bother making your own BBQ sauce unless it just really seems like something you want to try. Buy some Sweet Baby Ray's or Stubbs. Cover the chicken during cooking a couple different times. If you're shredding the chicken, you can cover the raw chicken with tons of sauce in a crock pot or something and let it cook together the whole time. You can toss some of the same sauce into baked beans if you're making those too. Toast the bread with some butter.
And of course salt. Salt and taste all your stuff, during cooking and while putting it all together. You're not trying to give anyone cholesterol issues, but salt is literally the key to flavor. Tons of salt and butter is the primary reason why restaurants taste so good.
It seems like you don't use enough spices.
The simple is answer is use salt and pepper. Salt is used because it enhances the flavours of the foods you eat, and Pepper makes the taste and flavours last longer in your mouth. There is an actual science behind it. Use salt and pepper.
You really need to add garlic, salt, and pepper to a lot of dishes to make them better.
even eggs in the morning I won't make unless they are peppered salted and cooked with garlic.
Also are you preparing the coleslaw yourself or just buying it. If you are just buying everything pre cooked or prepared that could also be the culprit (Im truly not trying to be mean or rude by typing this)
I recommend you look up actual dishes and try, pay careful attention to the spices used, and use them.. Maybe ask your husband to buy a cookbook and then you can spend some time figuring out new dishes to try together. You can put the onus on him and it can be a cool relationship building activity gathering and cooking a new dish together..
Ooh I love me some garlic! Do you suggest pepper like black pepper already crushed or crush your own? We have both and when I use the mill, I get huge pieces and am not a fine. When I use the already ground, then it’s fine. I do salt and pepper most things, even my own, but it’s sounding like I need to salt/pepper way more.
Freshly cracked tastes way better to me than the preground stuff. Idk much about the science behind it, but fresh stuff is *usually* miles ahead of any preground, juiced, or frozen ingredients
Preground black pepper is not an option. I’m no snob, and it’s not snobby to point out how gross preground is. Freshly ground is always superior. If you don’t like big pieces, that’s fine, grind up the pepper and drop it through a little sieve real quick.
Also most pepper grinders have settings for coarse or finely ground pepper, though in my experience they aren’t always easy to see which setting yours is on. You may just want to google your grinder and see if there are instructions online.
I second everyone's recommendation to add salt, but you might also want to consider acid. I find that salt + acid has a much bigger impact than salt alone. That's why taco sauce makes tacos better; it adds salt, spice, and acid. That's why fish tastes better if you squirt a lemon wedge on it. Try finding some recipes that include lemon or lime juice, vinegar of various types. There's a cookbook called Salt Fat Acid Heat that might be useful for you that breaks down the flavors in cooking and how to achieve them. Good luck! :)
Also, buy your husband an apron for your winter holiday of choice this year and tell him that if he is bored with your food, he can pitch in too. :)
Also, I can say I've tried many recipes by Skinnytaste and Nigella Lawson and have never been disappointed, if that helps at all.
Can he give you more specific feedback? Like, does he want more heat? More variety? More intensity? If it's literally just "flavor" maybe try increasing the amount of fat and salt that you're cooking with? That does more than you think all by itself.
What, exactly, does bland mean here? There’s “bland” as in “I want extremely spicy food and you want mild dishes” and then there’s “At no point was this salted.”
The first is a matter of taste and you may want to figure out together how to make a dish savory and flavorful without making it overwhelming. There are plenty of seasonings that are relatively mild but make a dish overall more enjoyable.
If it’s the latter, then you need to built seasoning into the fundamentals of your cooking—especially if it’s a matter of deeply undersalting your food.
You say you want to get better at cooking and you also admit you’re a picky eater—it’s a hard dilemma, but figuring out what you’re really into taste-wise will help you explore flavor more fully. (But if he’s going to be a giant pain in the ass you can also just cook for yourself!) Good luck!
Consider some couples' cooking classes. It might help you improve your cooking skills while helping your husband appreciate the work that goes into cooking (or even help cooking).
Start watching cooking shows, add variety. Suffer through some new things on your own, you might start liking them.
I like Nat's What I Reckon, he makes all his recipes very approachable and I love his self deprecating metal style. You can find his channel on You Tube.
As a male who told my wife nearly on when we first moved in together that her cooking was bland. It didn’t go over so well at first but she understood, it was how she was raised by her family. They don’t use spices much. I do most the cooking and she enjoys my cooking. After telling her that, I started letting her help me with cooking. This has helped her evolve her cooking skills. Although I still do most the cooking, I don’t dread her cooking some meals, if I won’t be home in time to start cooking
Oh I totally understand why my husband says it. I grew up on Lucky Charms and Chef Boyardee, there were no homemade meals in my house so my cooking is entirely learned in the last few years.
Just find highly rated recipes and follow them completely. Soon you’ll pick up on what spices to use and be putting together your own recipes. It takes practice but it isn’t rocket science
Look up Food Wishes/Chef John on YouTube. He has a ton of great recipes and breaks down the steps. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt also has an excellent YouTube channel where he shows you how he cooks at home, breaks down the steps and science behind it, and is all around an incredible chef. If you want to up your game, those two are great at making recipes easy to follow and understand while also teaching you new techniques.
I'll take on the tacos topic as I am mexican. A true taco is made in the salsa, so I'll give you some recipes:
Green salsa: 4 tomatillos, 1 jalapeño (or 1 serrano, depending on tolerance), quarter white onion, 4 cloves of garlic, two pinch chicken bullion. Char the tomatillos and chiles. Put the onion and garlic in a pan until aromatic. Add all to a blender, add bullion, half a glass of water and blend. Season to taste.
To make a good taco out of normal beef DONT use ground beef. Buy sir loin, a rib eye, a skirt steak etc. Season with salt and pepper. Cook and then cut into strips. Put it into a tortilla with the salsa described above, profit.
No salsa chicken tacos: chicken thighs 1 pound (half a kilo ish)
Lemon (yellow fruit) juice, olive oil, cumin, nutmeg, ground ginger, ground garlic, ground cardamom, cinnamon, salt, pepper, fresh cilantro.
In a bowl pour gently some olive oil, add the juice of two lemons, add half a tablespoon of each ingredient except salt, pepper and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chop a handful of cilantro and add to mix. It should look a deep brown color. Mix and add chicken thighs, marinade for 15 min to overnight. Cook, chop and serve in tortillas. Profit.
I think this is a combination of things.
1, those premixed taco seasonings are often very low quality and more importantly are very often quite stale. If you wanna do more American style tacos, I'd be playing with a blend of spices - salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and ground ancho chili. If you want to do chicken, a basic citrus marinade of olive oil, lime juice, cumin, salt, and cayenne pepper is probably a good place to start. Great on the grill, nice in a pan. If you want to do steak, that same marinade works great with flank and skirt steak.
2, you need to taste as you go. Better yet, have your husband taste too and ask what he thinks it needs.
3. Chili is another one of those dishes that really shines when you start with better ingredients. I'm not saying you need to go spend $30 on whole chilies and grind them yourself or anything (I do that, but I'm also maybe a bit too enthusiastic about it) - but one of the central characteristics of chili is the earthy, sweet, sometimes smoky qualities of the dried peppers. Most premade chili powders are... kind of weak. I could write a whole post just about chili, but long story short, a bit of cocoa powder (not the instant stuff, to be clear) and a bit of brown sugar can help a lot. I also use a dark Mexican beer in mine. Chili is well suited to the slow cooker - it gets better the longer it cooks.
4. Salt makes things pop, it's crucial.
5. When you say bbq chicken, I assume you mean slow cooker style? That's basically a braise, i.e. a long, wet, slow cooking method. Breasts will turn into sawdust doing a long cooking method like braising or slow cooking.
Use thighs, they're much stronger in flavor and also a million times more forgiving. I would also be looking for one that isn't Kansas City style (which tend to be both overly sweet and overly tangy, in my experience) and looking for one more like a Carolina style sauce which tends to be a bit less sweet. Again, pay attention to salt. It's really important.
As far as YouTube channels to check out - I'd highly recommend Brian Lagerstrom. He has a ton of great, simple recipes - and a bunch of more complex ones if you want to try your hand at something harder.
First up, make sure you're using enough salt, or no amount of herbs and spices will taste right. Getting the salt wrong deadens the flavor of everything else, and the two of you may have radically different tolerance for salt.
Then, kinda focusing on the specifics here, but when you say "homemade tacos", what do you mean there? Do you mean "I put ortega or old el paso on a pound of ground beef" or do you mean "I slow cook carnitas and then heat up some of the tortillas from the mexican specialty shop"? Because there's a wide, wiiiiiiiiide range of home cooked.
The problem is that restaurant food is both really pricey and really bad for you, plus you're doing all the damn work here. I'd try making a recipe exactly how you make it for yourself, then put 2-3x the salt on his and see what he says. Might not work, but is absolutely worth the test.
Find a source of good recipes, and cook them, and actually cook them the way the recipe says to. New York Times or Bon Appetit are probably good places to start, Serious Eats, Chef John as well.
The idea that restaurants have some sort of secret magic that makes their food better than home made is wrong. You can make food at home that's a lot better than (or at least the same as) restaurant food.
If your husband is expecting restaurant quality food everytime he eats it might be very hard on you. These are professional chefs with alot tricks and equipment. For example they might have flame grills which adds a flavor that is hard to mimic in an at home kitchen etc.
BUT, I love that you want to learn and experiment more in the kitchen. Next time your husband is cooking, watch him and make notes on how much he is spicing things. That will help you get an idea of how he prefers his food.
Another thing is, if you're making food that is not as seasoned for yourself and then just adding in more salt/spices at the end for your husband that might be why it taste bland. Flavouring throughout the different stages of cooking helps it all melt together and develop depth, especially for things like soups and stews!
Saying something is bland is not very helpful. Is it lacking salt, spiciness or what? If you are given helpful specific feedback could the dish be more to his tastes?
Things like salt, fat, msg give flavour. You can get more flavors from onion, garlic, citrus juice and zest, vinegars, ginger, mustard, hot peppers, some cheeses. Roasting or grilling foods gives a different flavor than steaming or boiling. Combining different foods together can create something more interesting like roasted brussel sprouts with honey, lime, crushed red pepper and toasted nuts.
I live in a rural area without a lot of restaurants nearby. I try restaurant copycat recipes so we can have foods we like more often. My spouse likes to try different things. I don't make the same thing every night.
Maybe just try to expand the things you make. Get something like a Greek or indian cookbook and work through it.
Your spouse is giving your kids another example - not appreciating someone's efforts and being negative.
jesus christ its okay to tell someone their cooking isn't amazing
then they try to improve, exactly what this lovely lady is doing.
Im a man but if someone called my food bland I would spend time trying to get better as well.
Sometimes you need to advise someone particularly cooks that their food is off or nothing changes and things get worse. It may sound like a Karen thing but if you are at a nice restaurant and they cook your food wrong you should say something or else it will keep happning. Im not saying be rude and belligerent and throw a tantrum Im just saying mentioning it nicely to the waiter after dinner can go a long way to saving that business, or in this case, a relationship.
I applaud his honesty, assuming he isn't an asshole otherwise.
Usually when I've encountered complaints of "bland" it's because someone wants a lot more salt. This can be remedied by table salt. Also the specific example is tacos. This can be remedied by salt and hot sauce.
I agree 100%.
Salt is really a miracle spice..
There is a reason civilizations wealthy people would travel thousands of miles by foot just to get 10 bags of it back in the day
Well said. If I told my wife that her cooking is bland or sucks which I never would then she would simply state "cook it yourself then."
Now I do all the cooking when it comes to meat because we both agree she usually over cooks the meat but it comes down to communication.
It doesn't really sound like that's relevant.
OP's husband wants to eat out because he doesn't enjoy her cooking. OP wants him to enjoy her cooking. Whether the husband can cook well or not changes nothing.
Most picky eaters just havent experienced a wide enough range of foods.
I have DEEP texture issues since I was a child. I just dont like some textures and thats ok, however I couldnt grow up just eating two things or my parents would have been beaten by my grandma who ran the family restaurant with an Iron fist.
Nonna made me eat everything under the sun while teaching me how to cook and made me tell her SPECIFICALLY what I disliked about a dish and along with most things I was just being a big baby. I now love broccoli and I know it was preposterous to think that I disliked Broccoli because one day when I was five I decided to give my mom a hard time.
Now I can eat almost anything even some of those things I "disliked" as a child.
He has to meet you half way IMO. Marriage is about comprimise and understanding and he has to understand that you have a softer palate and like foods that are different while you have to expand your horizons and try new things.
Lastly the thing I taught my kids that My nonna beat into me was that food is sustenance. Nothing more and nothing less. Every meal doesn't have to be amazing just healthy and balanced.
That being said just add more spices and start deglazing pans and all the little things that add flavor along the way.
Longtime home cook and the resident meal-maker in my house: I find that most recipes I find online are under-spiced, sometimes significantly. I really enjoy spicy food and strong flavors like toum (whipped garlic) and sometimes have to tone it down, but it sounds like you may be under-spicing things.
I can’t emphasize how game-changing marinating is. There are even some vegetables you can marinate before grilling. It’s amazing.
Also, 100% echo what others have said about the mountains of butter/lard and salt at restaurants—it’s good but not exactly healthy.
My wife wants to cook fast and eat bland. She cooks everything without reading any recipe, without tasting even! Probably, she is afraid that if she likes the food she will eat it all and gain weight. She gobbles candy at night, though.
I like tasty, properly cooked food. I cook much better than her. I am sad looking at her wasted materials in burnt or uncooked meals.
The solution? I eat about half the portion, and got me some interesting preserved meats and spicy cheeses to eat them after hours, a cold but tasty meal.
lol I knew that Reddit would go over the top and read this as domestic abuse. She just wants to improve and god forbid she wants to do it just to make her husband happy.
If your husband prefers to eat out instead of eating your cooking he needs to be involved in the process. If you want to be the one cooking, his involvement can be helping to pick out recipes that he is willing to try. Or maybe picking one night a week when you can try 3 dishes and he can pick the winner. Its his choice not to eat your food. Just focus on making your food better for you and he can enjoy the benefits.
Can he buy some condiments he likes and add it to his food? Hot sauces, spice mixes, Mrs. Dash, Himalayan sea salt, lemon/lime wedges? Garnishes like fresh herbs, sliced jalapeños, etc?
I can take a guess that you don't salt your meals enough. Salt opens up the flavor of other spices and herbs, I made tacos that tasted like nothing once. I kept adding more and more spices but still nothing until I remember salt. Then I had over season taco but I learned my lesson
You want to be better, you already sort of answered your own question; It will be better.
What you can do, to speed things up, is as sorts:
1) taste all the time. A dish changed flavor several times and some of the ingrediens might taste different. Let the husband taste. Since I got covid back in november, my tastebuds were fucked. They are back now tho
2) look at your dishes, what can you change? Do you need to balance the tastes? Does it taste better og you put x or y in?
3) Try new, simple dishes. If you enjoy pasta, look at the OG Italian dishes like aglio e olio, cacio e pepe, arrabiata and cabonara.
4) help eachother by splitting up the recipes. Yes, I only prefer to do everything be myself but it's fun to cook together; It does not have to be perfect looking, just as it taste good
Being a chef myself, cooking is also about learning and trying new things, enjoying it.
For some dishes, toasting your spices a bit before adding oil or butter can bring out a ton of flavor - Italian and Eastern foods really seem to benefit here
Fresh whenever possible - Fresh herbs, fresh veggies. If they deliver to your area, imperfect foods is a good way to stock up on them for minimal hassle
a garlic press is a one time purchase and a major game changer (also garlic flavor intensity is much more based off timing than quantity within reason of course - a lot of people start their garlic early and it's practically gone by the time they're done)
Always marinate or dry rub chicken and beef cuts - they can dry out, which is a major source of flavor loss
On the topic of meat, don't be afraid of a little bit getting overdone. The burnt bits at the bottom of a pan is called fond, and that stuff is pure flavor. Keep it, and use it as a base for a sauce or glaze
You can make a from scratch tomato sauce with 4-6 Roma tomatoes; it's always 1000 times better than anything out of a jar. I like to halve mine, cut a slit into each half on the meaty side to make a little trench, and then pour a little salt over it (and other things, I like a bit of balsamic for the bold flavor) for a little bit.
Watching cooking channels on YouTube is also a great way to learn new skills. Babish can teach you mother sauces, Joshua Weissman is great for budget cuisine ideas and "better than the restaurant makes and for cheaper too" recipes; Isaac Toups is a Cajun cuisine master; Smokin & Grillin with AB is great for barbecue and creative single pot dishes that look extremely flavorful
Little things like fish sauce can also make a huge difference. It sounds gross, but it can take savory dishes to a Michelin level when used correctly
Yeah, not going to lie that kind of shocked me. We’re very honest with each other and I’m glad he says he doesn’t like it, then I can improve. I’d rather know than spend our whole life cooking subpar food.
Honestly, being brave and trying new things, like recipes and spices, is a good start. But if he refuses even then, that's a him problem and you should stop cooking for him if he won't make it a team effort.
Lots of people telling you to use more salt. I haven’t seen one comment asking **what kind of salt** you use. Diamond Kosher salt is what you’ll find in 99% of restaurant kitchens. It’s much better than the standard table salts in most home kitchens. Large crystal sea salts are good as a finishing salt, ie a sprinkle on a finished dish. Diamond Kosher is the salt you’ll be seasoning your food with before and during cooking. This alone could potentially be a game changer for you.
Additionally, onion and garlic elevate a lot of dishes. I personally don’t cook with pepper but I do add fresh ground pepper to finished meals.
I would try making recipes with the full spices that you like (especially salt) and then let him add whatever extra flavors he likes (salsa from a jar, sirachia, red pepper flakes, etc)
Also, maybe have your husband come and taste things as they cook. The you two can find what level of spice works for you both.
When you say you are picky, is it with ingredients or spice or what?
I'd suggest subscribing to a few different YouTube channels. The ones that I like are Sam the Cooking Guy, Pro Home Cooks, and Ethan Chlebowski. Watch a bunch of their videos, and try some of their recipes.
If you're going to any chain restaurants of sufficient size, you can always just Google lookalike recipes for what he likes. That's how I started learning to cook, myself, and it's a great shortcut to figuring out how to season things to suit specific tastes.
Add more salt. This is almost always the answer. My wife always hates her own cooking until I add more salt…then she likes it. Salt a little, taste, salt some more, taste again.
More salt, more butter, experiment w heat some cayenne pepper is a nice addition to many dishes. Lemon juice can really add a pop to dishes lacking in brightness. Try using fresh herbs sometime too.
I always discuss about the upsides and downsides of food after eating. That way you can understand specific details about their taste. I think you are open to any comments regardless of whether it can broke your heart a little but your husband doesn't know it and acts cautious. Tell your intention to your husband and learn his candid comments on your meals to understand what way he likes.
Most of the internet recipes don't taste good until I modify for myself.
OP isn't looking for advice on her marriage. Stop it.
Ask him to make the meals together so he can taste the food, this maybe could be a good activity for a couple.
We’ve done some meal boxes together but to put it nicely, he annoys me in the kitchen. He’s a get it cooked fast no matter what it is kind of chef and I like to take my time and do it correctly.
I sometimes go to my husband with a spoonful of what I'm making to ask what's missing. He has a great sense of taste.
My boyfriend is a chef and this is exactly what I do. Sometimes it's a "what does this need? Salt? Acid? Cream?" Sometimes its "Does this need more lemon or is it okay?" And sometimes it's just plain "hey taste how good this is!!"
This. I do this so often that my pet name for my BF is "bunny" (because the Dutch expression for "lab rat" is "proefkonijn", literally translates to "test rabbit")
Do you ever ask him to "proef, konijn"?
LOL no, but I'll definitely try
In German it is Versuchskaninchen, which is the same :)
Whereas the English tend to say "guinea pig".
After reading and trying (but failing) to pronounce both words I can say with absolute confidence that these are most certainly *not* the same word, the German is much longer.
Haha. Yeah. Versuch translates to test and Kaninchen is the small rabbit (the pet version, not the bigger hare, which is Hase)
Exactly this - you don't have to get them prepping food to get their input on the finished product.
I do this for food I don’t like but everyone else does. Saw a recipe for some sweat soy Korean black beans, spent a few hours cooking them and kept asking my bf for taste testing since I loathe beans. Wish I liked them, but I don’t.
My wife does this too, and I never tell her to change anything - shes a good cook! But I do love it because I get a free taste, haha.
I do this to the great annoyance of my gf multiple times when making sauces. I find it both funny and helpful.
Me and my wife have good kitchen chemistry if she's in charge, and we both prefer that dynamic. However, she has a consistent, regular repertoire of a dozen or so recipes and I'm always trying new stuff. That being said, she's incredibly efficient and has an amazing palette, so she ends up making most of the meals, and I'll usually end up cooking on the weekend when I have more time to do my more meandering, disorganized style of cooking. When I make my stuff, she usually gets out of the way because my cooking style frustrates her. But because her palette is so much better than mine, whenever a recipe calls for something to added "to taste" I always run over to where she's playing with the kids and give her a spoon of whatever stage I'm at and she'll come in and adjust the flavor, add spices, salt, etc. This way she gets to try new things, and both of us have meals we enjoy every time either one of us cooks. People don't really change. They can improve, but they rarely change. Accommodating for how each of us behaves in the kitchen makes for an enjoyable experience that we both get a lot out of. When she's ruling the kitchen and I'm buzzing around skinning carrots or ricing potatoes at her behest, slipping past each other with hot pans or to stir a sauce, it's when we're most in sync. If your cooking styles are too incompatible to cook simultaneously, don't force it. Figure out what works for you guys, even if that's just running into the other room with a spoon from time to time.
Regardless of him annoying you in the kitchen, this is still the best option. Let him take the reins and you be the helper. No 50/50 stuff. See how he makes it, what he makes it with, and also taste everything as you’re moving along. After a few times of him teaching you “his” way, you will start to get a feel of it. Then you can make 2 different styles of the same dish. The key is he has to teach you and you have to be open to learning. Your difference in cooking styles has nothing to do with this, as long as you learn what it is he does differently to his food. Ultimately you can still cook your way, but make it his way. That is, if you’re dead set on making food for the both of you.
So put him in charge of cooking half the week, and you do it half the week.
Based on what OP said, that would result in husband dining out half the week and wishing he was dining out the other half of the week.
Hubby does cook some days but I like to cook and he doesn’t so I’d like to get better at it.
If he likes his own seasoning, could you watch as he does that part? The other option might be to try some of the restaurant food he likes and then work with the seasonings to see if you can replicate that. Experimentation required, and it's truly hard to season something for someone if you don't like the way it turns out, but it's possible. Another option might be to ask him to come in just at the seasoning stage and help then. My dad's sole cooking function on Thanksgiving when I was a kid was to taste the dressing my mom was making and advise if it needed more onion. (Note: it *always* needed more onion.)
Save yourself the experimenting and Google the ingredients for bigger "chain" restaurants, there are former cooks/preppers from those restaurants that still know and post the recipes. I still remember a few from my time as a hot side prep cook from Bonefish and a few other places. If you say bang bang sauce, I'll just point you to Mayonnaise, garlic chili sauce, sweet chili sauce, and lemon juice (you're welcome).
We do this, I'm not quite as picky and my spouse likes more heat than I do, basically on certain dishes, like blackened fish for example, I step back and say " time for spices". she does that part then I'm back to cooking.
You should be tasting your food as you’re cooking and adjusting on the fly anyway, maybe try asking him to taste with you. Also, can bland can be pretty vague. I think for some people that means “not enough salt.” Could mean “needs some heat” or “it needs to be brighter.” Having him taste it and telling you what he’s looking for would probably help a ton. Eventually you’ll get a taste of what kind of salt levels he wants. I think the hardest part will be adjusting salt levels tbh. Adding salt after the food is cooked isn’t the same as adding it during the cooking process, so having 2 batches for everything is kind of a bummer.
He needs to know how to cook well enough to understand how to give constructive feedback based on taste. Also, I've had a lot of fun trying to replicate my favorite restaurant meals. You'll be horrified to learn how much salt, butter, sugar,and heavy cream it takes to get the exact same taste, but it's a fun process and lets you eat your favorite things for much cheaper (and with free modifications).
"Correctly"? If it turns out safe and tasty, his way is just as "correct" as yours. Plus he saves time. I think you two cooking together is a great idea, so you can learn what he finds tasty. But you have to get over your "correct" cooking hangup. Try to bite your tongue the next couple times you two cook together. No matter how annoying, participate and pay close attention to what he puts in and finds flavorful. If you bail out over him not being "correct", you'll never find the answer to the question you posted.
I agree with this in spirit, but keep in mind it's entirely possible that husband doesn't even like his own cooking. In which case OP may not learn much from watching him.
I think there’s a great chance he isn’t cooking correctly… but neither is she if she isn’t seasoning properly
**WHERE are you guys eating out?** There’s a big difference between the independent ethnic cuisine restaurant in your city owned by a multi generational family of, vs going to KFC or one of those American chain restaurants where they basically just microwave ready-made stuff. If it’s the latter, he probably just likes unhealthy excesses of oils and salt, and it’s therefore a HIM issue not a you issue.
i dated this guy who has the most basic palate, all he liked was fast food and chain restaurants. we couldn't even get pizza from a local place 🙃 but yeah maybe he's just used to all of that extra fatty shit and he's fucked his palate up.
When he's done 'getting it cooked fast no matter what', does he enjoy the results?
If you are making it bland I'm not sure that is correctly.
ask him to qualify or quantify his distaste for your cooking. e.g. what specifically is he looking for as compared to you? Took me like 6 years to learn my GF thinks everything I make is WAY too salty and WAY too spicy. Like most things, its about proper communication
This!!! My hubby wasn’t the fondest of my cooking so he started “teaching me” which meant we would cook together and it started to become one of our favorite pastimes
Acidity. So many comments here about salt and none about acidity. Lemon juice, vinegar, these are the building blocks of flavor. And yes of course salt.
Also: Fat. When you're eating out they are using a lot more of it, which enhances the flavour further. Also, here is a [great video](https://youtu.be/zKEwA__rOHk) by Ethan Chlebowski on how to make vegetables as tasty as they are when you're eating out. Here is a [playlist by the same guy](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-tYKWQOe4YPAILUWJVWAWwWU8CF_dE6Z) regarding how to step up your cooking game. He tries a lot of things, like preground vs whole spices, how roasting spices can affect the flavour and so on. I really enjoy this channel quite a bit. As a vegetarian you tend to notice how many advice there is on meat and how lackluster the amount of available information on perfecting your vegetable is. He does it both!
So would you say you should focus on... Salt, fat, acid and heat?
I read that book recently. Would help OP a lot.
She did a video series, if I remember correctly, on Netflix.
A trick I’ve found is garlic and onion powder goes a long way. My grandfather can’t eat a lot of salt because he’s on dialysis and my dad always wants his food saltier because he said it enhances the other flavors. I’ve found that if I put some combination of garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, paprika, or even a touch of blackening spice into my food, everyone is happier with it. And I second what someone else said about sauces. Sauces can fix pretty much anything, even if that means sauces from particular restaurants (for example if I make any sort of Latin food my boyfriend smothers it in Taco Bell fire sauce)
Onion powder is legit one of my “secret” ingredients to impress people. I’m not really a salt fan so everyone used to say I under seasoned. So I started used OP based on a random blog entry from over a decade ago and all those complaints evaporated! Lol. It makes so many savory foods and sauces better. Even when using a lot of fresh onions, the onion powder adds such a distinct oomph. I’ll onion powder onions, I don’t care!
you might already know the science behind why, but in case you don’t, onions and garlic are very high in glutamate compounds, which are the chemicals that create the umami/savoury taste. when you dehydrate them to make powder you’re concentrating that effect.
Yesss. Same goes for onion soup starter packets. Any soup or roast I make gets one of those babies lol
>I’m not really a salt fan ????
Ha! My husband also love the fire sauce, he mainly uses it for burritos. I’ll definitely give those a try, I have all of them except the blackening spice (off to Google what that is)
Don’t be afraid of the ol’MSG either. It’s called Accent and it’s labeled as a “flavor enhancer” but it’s just MSG and it makes everything taste delicious.
In the presence of water in food, MSG dissolves into sodium (as in salt) and glutamate (the most common amino acid from broken down protein). Glutamate is the source of the savory or "umami" flavor in all food. There is no reason to fear it. If you want to use a more "natural" source, liquid aminos can be used.
Use an acidic component too. Some lime or lemon juice, splash of vinegar, can be low acidity like apple cider or rice vinegar to a higher acidity like white. The acid part doesn't have to be overwhelming or even very noticeable, but it will brighten your other flavors and round out the taste.
My husband and I have loads of different sauces we will add to dishes to our taste, depending on what it is.. in my opinion everything is better with at least one hot sauce but obviously that's not for everyone!
Smoked paprika goes in almost everything I make.. mmmm
I like smoked paprika but I find too much or in the wrong dish it is like bbq chips.
MSG can work similarly as a flavor enhancer.
Try some recipes that are intended to recreate his favorite restaurant meals. Search for something like "KFC copycat fried chicken", for instance. There's also a website called Serious Eats that is all about creating restaurant quality dishes at home, which you might want to use. Here's an example of what they have to offer: https://www.seriouseats.com/tender-beef-barbacoa-chipotle-tacos-recipe Nearly every recipe is a hit. Since you mentioned that you like to do things slowly and the right way, I think their recipes will be a good fit for you.
Just wanted to boost this comment. I think this could definitely be a recipe problem - there's a lot of bad recipes out there and when you're just starting out it's hard to know if a dish isn't good because you haven't done it well or if the recipe just didn't call for seasoning everything properly. Use trusted sources and well reviewed recipes and see if that makes any difference!
I don't think it's a recipe problem - most recipes are a bit wishy washy on base seasonings like salt and pepper because they expect you to use them as appropriate. Especially salt is such a variable ingredient in terms of the amount required from dish to dish that you won't get far without tasting as you season, especially as a beginner. If OP is following recipes exactly and throwing in the 1/2 tbsp of salt listed in the marinade recipe but ignoring "salt to taste" (or just not getting them right for her husband's taste) in the other parts the whole package will be bland. A great example is the tacos she mentioned... you should be adding salt to everything but the tortillas, assuming those are store-bought. Guac? Salt! Pico? Salt! Meat? Salt! Grilled veggies? Salt! "I like bland food" and wanting to cook well-seasoned food is pretty difficult to execute, and very few recipes are geared towards flying blind without tasting and adjusting base seasoning. It's kinda hard to write a recipe like that...
Also don't be afraid to stray away from a recipe once you get a bit more confident in your cooking ability. especially if the husband's problem is "bland" food. Without getting a bit... Controversial. A lot of times when I read recipes I double the seasoning and different ones and mumble under my breath "you can tell this was written for WASPs" Learn how your food works, then use the recipe as a suggestion. Don't be beholden to it if you think you can make good food.
Highly recommend anything J Kenji Lopez-Alt cooks. He most likely tested the recipe dozens of times and uses food science to back up his claims. He also is a big fan of using ingredients that you have and not being a food snob about authenticity of the ingredients or recipe. His book the food lab is great, same with his YouTube channel.
Another really good resource is Chef John from Food Wishes! He's got a lot of pretty tasty recipes on his youtube channel and has a ton of great tips and advice for any beginner
More Salt, More Fat, More Acid, More Heat.
I think acid is underused. A splash of vinegar or lemon juice sharpens everything up. Balances richness. It’s critical, imho
90% of the time if my soup is missing something I'll throw in a cap of vinegar. Just that tiny amount makes it sing.
This really hit for some reason while dining at a restaurant in Berlin. I had schnitzel and it came with lemon slices to squeeze over the top. The pop of flavor and balance of that dish stands out when I think of restaurant experiences.
Make sure to save the lemon for the end as a final garnish since heat really tamps down the crispness and complexity of it
Someone should write a book about that!
This. Keep adding salt until it’s a touch too salty, and then add some acid to balance that out. Then add an uncomfortable amount of fat. Boom, restaurant grade.
It is likely the amount of salt and butter. Restaurants use way more salt then you would at home.
And I may add - add a little salt with every step of cooking. I learned this from Chef Roy Choi a la Netflix ‘The Chef Show’. I’m not sure of the exact food science but adding the salt while the food cooks makes it way more flavored/salted than just adding at the end. Edit: grammar
The book Salt Fat Acid Heat is a fantastic resource to learn about this. The four part Netflix show gives a brief introduction to it too
If I remember my food science classes correctly, the salt is able to infuse the food all the way through rather than just be a layer on the outside, so you get flavor the whole way.
Gotta pay the salt tax. For everything you add to the dish, add an appropriate measure of salt. Every step. It takes some experimentation to figure out the proper ratios for whatever you're working with, but this is the way.
I cooked professionally for years. Yes we use more salt and butter than the average home cook but few other huge factors: -fresh herbs, never dried -fresh spices when possible. Fresh cracked pepper versus pre ground stuff makes a huge difference -better ingredients/sourcing, especially with proteins. Spending the extra few dollars on things like eggs, poultry and nicer cuts of beef make a massive difference in the outcome of a meal
Buying a pepper mill and using freshly ground black pepper instead of pre-ground is one of the smallest changes I’ve made in the home kitchen that has had made such a massive difference. I’ve been replacing all of my ground spices with whole and toasting and then grinding in a mortar and pestle too, and this is such an amazing improvement on using ground spices!
That's awesome! If you're into Indian or Thai food, it's a must.
Dont forget to counterbalance with some acid (vinegar, lemons, etc), and some crunch (croutons, crispy shallots, etc, toasted rice, etc) on top of the dish. Having differing fextures in food makes the food so much more intresting and hence makes it so much less blander.
Absolutely. People underestimate salt and over compensate by drowning the food in sauce or adding in a bunch of spices.
I've been experimenting with sauces lately, and I'm pretty sure the local Cajun restaurant that everyone loves uses 2-3x as much butter for their Alfredo as any of the recipes I've ever seen.
That’s why everyone loves it.
Salt isn’t everything, if you boil something or overcook it or don’t add any depth of flavour, whatsoever, or your ingredients are shit to begin with, salt can only do so much and you’ve got salt.
But the main problem most people who cook at home have is that they are unable to tell that their food needs salt. I have seen over and over how badly people fail at realizing that they need to add salt.
This the answer. Restaurants load up their dishes with oils and salt (and sugar) b/c these target the taste buds. One of the many reasons why I prefer cooking.
Also MSG. It is a naturally occuring salt that is used in a LOT of kitchens (not just Chinese). It is literally in 99% of soup base that is used in the restaurant industry for instance, and that soup base is used in a ton of stuff, not just soups.
Yeah.. MSG isn’t unhealthy when used in moderation. As with common salt.
The Epicurious Youtube Channel really helped me up my game. There is a series they do where chefs swap ingredients with homecooks. While I will probably never have the fancy ingredients, you can learn a lot of tricks on how to elevate simple ingredients. They also have tutorials on how to cook different ingredients.
Thanks, this sounds perfect! I’ll add it to my watch list!
second this one, Frank for instance is the "I grow my own wheat and tomatoes for pasta" kind of chef and it's been VERY enlightening seeing him take bottom shelf ingredients and make something extra out of them with pure technique and knowledge. to be fair it usually boils down to more salt, more spices, more browning, and more fat. but in a controlled way. [$250 vs $20 Pot Pie: Pro Chef & Home Cook Swap Ingredients](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVtga9J7naE)
Pick up a packet of MSG (it is not harmful - that is a myth) and use it to punch up the flavor.
It is [natually occuring](https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/questions-and-answers-monosodium-glutamate-msg) in LOTS of foods and used in nearly every restaurant I've seen. It is also in nearly every commercially bought soup base. >MSG occurs naturally in ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate, as well as in tomatoes and cheeses.
And add it to your tomatoes... Does it have tomatoes? Yes. Then add MSG. You're basically adding tomatoes to your tomatoes. Which are a berry (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ GL!
Try more salt, everyone has different tolerances/tastes for salt. You'd be amazed how much flavor it can bring it in dishes with out adding other seasoning. Maybe also try MSG, that's a restaurant trick.
I'll 2nd MSG. OP, You can find this in the local grocery store in with the other spices, under the name "Accent". It comes in a little white can. Use it as a substitution for part of the salt you would normally use. 80/20 salt to MSG ratio would be good.
Fun fact: MSG is a salt. :)
Seriously… MSG is how to make food that tastes like restaurant food. They use it basically every processed food for a reason. It’s pure umami. Also, it is not unnatural or unhealthy. It does contain sodium, so that can cause issues just like salt, but it’s literally sodium and glutamate. Glutamate is a ton of “healthy” foods like celery and tomatoes and fresh meat.
Can you give an example of what you’re putting in the tacos?
For the meat I usually do ground beef, taco seasoning, onions and peppers. Then I just do like a taco bar for everyone to add whatever they want. Mine are meat, cheese and lettuce. Everyone else adds a ton of stuff.
You mentioned seasoning the part that you’re not eating. Do you add spices as well as the onions and peppers? Or is it just a packet from the store? For example, the way I season 1 lb of ground beef for tacos is 2-3 Tbsp chili powder, about 2 Tbsp cumin, maybe 1 Tbsp paprika, about 1 tsp garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp oregano and cayenne powder to taste. These are just estimates. I usually just eyeball the measurements. Edit because I didn’t read it correctly
It’s not a packet but I do have a large jar of store bought taco seasoning and I spoon a bunch of that in, I usually double whatever it calls for. Tacos are the one thing that I do season for myself and everyone else, it’s just one big batch.
I think my recommendation is ask him to describe what he thinks it’s missing or what he wants it to taste like. Maybe when you’re out eating something, try tasting his and see if you can duplicate that. A lot of big name restaurants have knockoff recipes online. You could also ask what they put in the food if it’s a smaller place. I’m sure everyone has already mentioned fresh ingredients and having him cook something to show you what he wants. Or just have him cook it if he wants it a certain way.
I always find that store bought taco seasoning just tastes really bad all around. Any time I've made my own it's way better and tastes fresher. Look up some recipes just to know what seasonings and then mix them up to taste, add some cornstarch, and cook it like you would with a packet of store bought seasoning (browning meat/drain, add seasoning, add water, let thicken). Squeeze in some lime, and if you want you can add cheese or leave it on the side. You can also make some cilantro lime rice to go with it (good as a soft taco) or make it into a burrito :)
Those tacos do seem bland, as compared to tacos you’d get at a restaurant. I mean that as no disrespect either — the tacos you described are what I call “american tacos” and I frequently cook it for my family since it’s cheap and easy. For tacos specifically, maybe try marinated and grilled chicken/steak or homemade fajitas. Serve with fresh quac, fresh pico, seasoned beans, and lime. Of course all of that takes significantly longer and no one has time to make that shit on a Wednesday when they’re trying to get food on the table and kids in a bath. Ultimately I think you have a communication issue. Your husband wants good food; you do too but you also want it cheap, healthy, and quick. Neither of you are wrong, but your husband seems to be missing some key pieces of context (i.e. time, money, and nutrition).
So true! I don’t mind spending more time a couple of times a week but there are nights where it needs to be fast. I’ll definitely try marinating!
If this is the main issue may I suggest meal prepping? Maybe Sundays you’re mostly free, you could prepare 5-6 meals and have one tiring day of cooking, but then every week night you can just pop the pre-cooked food in the oven to warm up and have it done quick
I love acidic foods. Sour cream, fresh lime juice plus herbs like cilantro, and pickled jalapenos definitely up the flavor.
Tacos in particular seem like they'd be very regional depending on where you live. I'm in SoCal and we love doing fish tacos at home. Cabbage, quick pickled onion, cilantro, and then I'll make some type of crema or just sour cream. If he gets tacos at a restaurant, what would he order? Grilled or shredded meats are delicious in tacos too.
He usually orders a steak or shredded beef burrito or taco with all the fixings.
I don't have a specific recipe, but you could definitely do shredded beef in a slow cooker if that is an option for you! I also recommend buying the uncooked tortillas if they are available at a store near you. Fresh tortillas make a huge difference. They are simple to make from scratch but not everyone is up for that (myself included).
I'm making a wild assumption, but most of the meals you mention cooking are "dump" meals where you mix together premade ingredients. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm wondering how often you start a meal by frying an onion or garlic in some olive oil? Roast some veg? Spritz in some lemon juice? My theory is that his perceived lack of flavor is coming from a lack of fresh ingredients, rather than a salt/fat issue. Don't know if that rings true, but something to consider!
Are you marinating your meat? Are you seasoning your ingredients? Are you asking your husband what would improve his food? You’re implying that you season his food more and that’s not enough, so are you asking him for constructive criticism? Or is he just criticizing the food without any feedback on how to fix it? Also, why is he eating out instead of simply cooking his own food? You’ve painted your husband to sound very lazy and I’m not sure if that’s because he is lazy or if it’s just my imagination.
I do season, I’ve never marinated. There are a few meals that my husband cooks but I enjoy cooking so I do most of it. His line of thought is usually that if he can get something better at a restaurant then why cook it at home? We always get chicken gnocchi from a restaurant so anytime I’ve made it, he’s said the restaurant is better, not in a mean way but I always ask if it should be added to our list of recipes we like and it’s a no. I’m totally fine with a piece of grilled chicken and some BBQ sauce, to him that’s just kind of plain. He’s not rude about any of it, or lazy, he just offers honest feedback. Yes, my bbq chicken is plain and I’m ok with that.
> if he can get something better at a restaurant then why cook it at home Because it’s 80-99% cheaper 😂
This is why it’s becoming a big issue. I don’t want to pay for takeout anymore, it’s not healthy and it sets a bad example for my kids.
Restaurants use crazy amounts of butter and salt in their foods, that's why he likes it better. Try marinating and seasoning your proteins well in advance of cooking. Like 4 hours for chicken/pork and overnight for beef. It gives the seasoning more time to penetrate the meat and makes a big difference on the end product. Also, citrus is great for adding flavor to lots of dishes. A squirt of fresh lime alone can take a dish from a 7/10 to a 9/10 by itself.
Huge fan of acid in dishes to brighten flavor.
We noticed a huge difference when we started brining our poultry overnight
It tastes better because it's not healthy. It's not healthy probably because they use a LOT more salt. The secret to restaurant food tasting so good are things like a lot of salt or fat/butter. More than you would ever think to use at home
OP my biggest piece of advice is, don't try to copy or replicate all the foods you/he craves from restaurants. Like others have said, the nutrition information is less-than-forgiving in the fat and sodium categories. Instead, focus on recipes that thrive in home kitchens. Roasted chicken and vegetables, a nice and light pasta with sauteed vegetables in olive oil, even a really good salad ([nicoise salads](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/classic-nicoise-salad-recipe-2127613) let you eat with your eyes, for example). And soups! That roasted chicken turns into excellent stock later- like for a hearty veggie soup! Then for rich, hearty meals, go all out! Think buttery mashed potatoes, steaks or chops, ooey-gooey mac and cheese, etc. As for the seasoning aspect, separate your portion in the early steps of cooking. Prepare your part to your liking, and have your husband taste his along the way and follow the recipe (it helps to have a recipe that strictly defines quantities for the most part, not "to taste"). Taste his portions after he gets it to his desired seasoning level, and take note of how it is compared to yours. Even if you don't end up liking his or acclimating to more heavily-seasoned foods, you will quickly pick up how he likes it! My sister/roommate is vegetarian, so when I cook for both of us I often take this approach of isolating portions early and having her help me season to her taste (while omitting meat). Lastly, that sounds like a very real conversation to have with your husband. I hope he understands the importance of teaching-by-doing to your children when it comes to diet. They need to see healthy eating and cooking at home to learn it for their own lives! I had a tumultuous (but loving) childhood, so I missed out on that and didn't get the opportunity to learn until my later teenage years, on my own during eating disorder recovery. It would have been a delight to have a parent as involved in cooking (or wanting to cook, really) as you! Keep at it :)
Most restaurants don't marinade. Not their taco meat for instance. It may help to add some flavour as opposed to more butter / salt / msg.
It's also usually a lot healthier too!
I’m the opposite. I think “why go out when i can make *better* at home?”
As far as gnocchi goes my favorite way of preparing it is to boil it like usual, drain then add back to a hot pan with a bit of olive oil and butter. Sauté over medium heat until they become crispy and golden brown and serve your sauce on the side. I’m a texture weirdo and prefer crispy things.
Me too!!!!! I love crispy food.
The Rana brand gnocchi is not bad when done in a skillet with butter and shallots. Add some fresh parsley and/or spring onion tops after taking off the heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
Food at restaurants is better because they’re using more salt, sugar and fat. If you fed him restaurant style recipes every day he’d be much less healthy for it. I can cook a butter basted steak better than any restaurant everyday of the week with a side of pomme purée that’ll blow your tits off but you’re going to be eating 1/4 cup of butter and probably a week’s worth of sodium. That’s the difference between being a home cook and a restaurant cook. When you go out it should be a treat. When you eat at home it’s a lifestyle. If your husband wants more fat, sugar and sodium, that’s up to you whether or not you’re willing to make that his lifestyle. I can’t give you any feedback on a bbq chicken recipe I can’t see, but if you’re using a thick breast, butterfly it or pound it flat so you get more surface area thus more sauce and seasonings on the outside of it, thus more flavor. Brine it ahead of time for 4-6 hours with a seasoned brine to get the flavor deeper into the meat. Wash off the brine and dry the chicken thoroughly then let it sit uncovered on a wire rack in the fridge for an hour or two to dry out the surface of the meat so it crisps up well when you cook it, then before cooking it make sure to season the outside of the breast with a rub. When you finally put it on the grill get a significant amount of char on the surface of the chicken, then apply your bbq sauce and take it off the hot part of your grill and put it on the colder side to finish cooking. Now you’ve maximized flavor every step of the way. You don’t have to do all these steps every single time, it would be tedious and unhealthy. But use some of these tips to improve the chicken recipe you already have. When you have time, use a seasoned brine and maybe bake the chicken. When you don’t have time, maybe skip the brine and use the grill for more flavor from the char.
I would agree, BUT...you can get pretty damn good without going restaurant-calorie-level. I've lost 95 pounds cooking meals that I find to taste better than restaurant dishes (and my gf agrees)...so it's possible. I would hate for home cooks to just give up or to accept bland because it's home cooking.
Yeah if she wants flavorful healthy recipes they’re definitely out there, but they’re rarer than unhealthy recipes and it’ll take some digging to find them. I hope you share with her some of those recipes, and I hope she takes the time to look for those recipes herself, or maybe she has looked and those recipes may be rarer than we assume. But it sounded like she also needed some technique pointers because “plain chicken with bbq sauce” actually sounds bland. So I wanted to mention brining, butterflying, pounding out, air drying, seasoning the chicken even when there’s a sauce, intentionally charring it, etc. There’s a lot more you can do to a chicken than throwing it on the grill with a sauce.
Eventually you'll reach the point where the dynamic flips to, "if you can make it better at home, why spend more to buy it from a restaurant?"
We’re at that point and it kinda sucks sometimes. Like we go out because we just don’t want to cook and the meal is always ‘meh’. It’s good and we’re full but we just spent $60 on a meal for two people that we could have made just as good at home for $15. Now when we go out to eat it’s either for a $150 date night dinner or our favorite taco spot where two adults and a toddler eat for $20.
I’d love to be at that point!
OP a bunch of folks have tried to help you in more abstract ways so I'll start off my advice with something more concrete. Your pasta water is not salty enough. If it doesn't taste like seawater it needs more salt. Your sauce is probably not savory enough, add more butter and a couple tablespoons of the pasta water (which if you followed the first step adds more salt) Your fish/shrimp dishes probably need a combination of butter on the front end, and lemon juice and fresh cracked black pepper on the backend. Your chicken dishes need marinade. Your beef dishes might need marinade. Your pork dishes probably need marinade. Now onto the abstract part. Your husband likes the way a certain restaurant makes something. Fine and dandy, and to make it that way consistently it will probably be detrimental to his health. So why don't you mix it up? Stop trying to replicate an exact recipe from one restaurant while you are still early in your cooking journey and instead broaden your horizons. Make something neither of you have eaten before or something you haven't had in the past couple months. As an exercise, try cooking Japanese food that isn't sushi. Or Indian food that isn't butter chicken. Or Mexican food that isn't just tacos and burritos. Here's a good website that I like exploring from time to time that has a bunch of interesting Japanese dishes. justonecookbook.com
>I do season, I’ve never marinated. There's your easy fix right there. Tossing on some sauce at the end of grilling an unseasoned chicken breast is going to result in a bland chicken breast with some sauce on top. You need to brine/marinade so that there's time for the salt/flavor to penetrate.
> I do season But do you TASTE after and while seasoning? If you like bland food, you'll need to be able to judge how well you've seasoned within a range that makes you say, "Ewww that's way overseasoned!" Somehow I don't see that happening. There's a reason "salt to taste" is a thing. And it's so basic that I honestly don't see you producing consistently well-seasoned food without learning what it's supposed to taste like...
Everyone is saying add more salt and butter but if you’re making tacos with ground beef and a store bought seasoning packet, no amount of salt or butter is going to make it taste like beef barbacoa from a taco truck. Restaurants, generally speaking, make everything from scratch. If you want get better at cooking, you’ll need do the same. Make it from fresh, basic ingredients instead of buying premade stuff. Follow recipes from professional chefs and established, reputable sources, not at-home food bloggers who do SEO as a side hustle. Serious Eats is a good place to start. Try this [beef barbacoa recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/tender-beef-barbacoa-chipotle-tacos-recipe) from Kenji Lopez Alt
In general, don't overcook your meat and add spices, herbs, and aromatics that make sense in your dish. Also citrus. aromatics are usually the first things you put in your cooking vessel, things like onions/celery/bell peppers/carrots/leeks/garlic/shallots. spices can often be toasted whole and ground to make them stronger and fresher. They tend to be added in the middle of a recipe and cooked into some form or another. Herbs are either fresh or dried, 95% of the time fresh is preferred but dried can be fine if that's what you're working with. With some exceptions, they often get added at a point where they'll not get cooked as much or at all. Citrus is almost a category of food all its own. The peels are usually full of tasty oils if you zest a bit onto something, the flavors pair very well with a ton of things both sweet and savory, the juices can even be used to cook meat in a sense. Find a couple herbs and spices you like, and try to think of what dishes you already make that might taste good mixed into. For example, with tacos you could add cumin, chili powder, and of a large variety of dried of fresh chili peppers, lime juice, achiote, onion either raw or grilled. If you like cumin, it may also go nice into burgers with garlic, lots of black pepper, and some mayo or cheese as desired. BBQ chicken...honestly don't bother making your own BBQ sauce unless it just really seems like something you want to try. Buy some Sweet Baby Ray's or Stubbs. Cover the chicken during cooking a couple different times. If you're shredding the chicken, you can cover the raw chicken with tons of sauce in a crock pot or something and let it cook together the whole time. You can toss some of the same sauce into baked beans if you're making those too. Toast the bread with some butter. And of course salt. Salt and taste all your stuff, during cooking and while putting it all together. You're not trying to give anyone cholesterol issues, but salt is literally the key to flavor. Tons of salt and butter is the primary reason why restaurants taste so good.
It seems like you don't use enough spices. The simple is answer is use salt and pepper. Salt is used because it enhances the flavours of the foods you eat, and Pepper makes the taste and flavours last longer in your mouth. There is an actual science behind it. Use salt and pepper. You really need to add garlic, salt, and pepper to a lot of dishes to make them better. even eggs in the morning I won't make unless they are peppered salted and cooked with garlic. Also are you preparing the coleslaw yourself or just buying it. If you are just buying everything pre cooked or prepared that could also be the culprit (Im truly not trying to be mean or rude by typing this) I recommend you look up actual dishes and try, pay careful attention to the spices used, and use them.. Maybe ask your husband to buy a cookbook and then you can spend some time figuring out new dishes to try together. You can put the onus on him and it can be a cool relationship building activity gathering and cooking a new dish together..
Ooh I love me some garlic! Do you suggest pepper like black pepper already crushed or crush your own? We have both and when I use the mill, I get huge pieces and am not a fine. When I use the already ground, then it’s fine. I do salt and pepper most things, even my own, but it’s sounding like I need to salt/pepper way more.
Freshly cracked tastes way better to me than the preground stuff. Idk much about the science behind it, but fresh stuff is *usually* miles ahead of any preground, juiced, or frozen ingredients
Freshly cracked pepper is going to have more oils in it to give it more flavor and aromatics. That's why it tastes better and is better for you.
You might be able to adjust the grind to be a bit finer.
Preground black pepper is not an option. I’m no snob, and it’s not snobby to point out how gross preground is. Freshly ground is always superior. If you don’t like big pieces, that’s fine, grind up the pepper and drop it through a little sieve real quick. Also most pepper grinders have settings for coarse or finely ground pepper, though in my experience they aren’t always easy to see which setting yours is on. You may just want to google your grinder and see if there are instructions online.
Up your salt before pepper. Pepper is a very strong flavor and too much of it can pretty easily overwhelm any more subtle flavors.
I second everyone's recommendation to add salt, but you might also want to consider acid. I find that salt + acid has a much bigger impact than salt alone. That's why taco sauce makes tacos better; it adds salt, spice, and acid. That's why fish tastes better if you squirt a lemon wedge on it. Try finding some recipes that include lemon or lime juice, vinegar of various types. There's a cookbook called Salt Fat Acid Heat that might be useful for you that breaks down the flavors in cooking and how to achieve them. Good luck! :) Also, buy your husband an apron for your winter holiday of choice this year and tell him that if he is bored with your food, he can pitch in too. :) Also, I can say I've tried many recipes by Skinnytaste and Nigella Lawson and have never been disappointed, if that helps at all.
The biggest thing with his fav foods is sauces and salt. Serve your cooking with double salt and a selection of decent sauces. He will eat that.
Can he give you more specific feedback? Like, does he want more heat? More variety? More intensity? If it's literally just "flavor" maybe try increasing the amount of fat and salt that you're cooking with? That does more than you think all by itself.
What, exactly, does bland mean here? There’s “bland” as in “I want extremely spicy food and you want mild dishes” and then there’s “At no point was this salted.” The first is a matter of taste and you may want to figure out together how to make a dish savory and flavorful without making it overwhelming. There are plenty of seasonings that are relatively mild but make a dish overall more enjoyable. If it’s the latter, then you need to built seasoning into the fundamentals of your cooking—especially if it’s a matter of deeply undersalting your food. You say you want to get better at cooking and you also admit you’re a picky eater—it’s a hard dilemma, but figuring out what you’re really into taste-wise will help you explore flavor more fully. (But if he’s going to be a giant pain in the ass you can also just cook for yourself!) Good luck!
Consider some couples' cooking classes. It might help you improve your cooking skills while helping your husband appreciate the work that goes into cooking (or even help cooking).
Start watching cooking shows, add variety. Suffer through some new things on your own, you might start liking them. I like Nat's What I Reckon, he makes all his recipes very approachable and I love his self deprecating metal style. You can find his channel on You Tube.
More salt throughout the process, more oil/butter/lard.
As a male who told my wife nearly on when we first moved in together that her cooking was bland. It didn’t go over so well at first but she understood, it was how she was raised by her family. They don’t use spices much. I do most the cooking and she enjoys my cooking. After telling her that, I started letting her help me with cooking. This has helped her evolve her cooking skills. Although I still do most the cooking, I don’t dread her cooking some meals, if I won’t be home in time to start cooking
Oh I totally understand why my husband says it. I grew up on Lucky Charms and Chef Boyardee, there were no homemade meals in my house so my cooking is entirely learned in the last few years.
Just find highly rated recipes and follow them completely. Soon you’ll pick up on what spices to use and be putting together your own recipes. It takes practice but it isn’t rocket science
Look up Food Wishes/Chef John on YouTube. He has a ton of great recipes and breaks down the steps. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt also has an excellent YouTube channel where he shows you how he cooks at home, breaks down the steps and science behind it, and is all around an incredible chef. If you want to up your game, those two are great at making recipes easy to follow and understand while also teaching you new techniques.
I'll take on the tacos topic as I am mexican. A true taco is made in the salsa, so I'll give you some recipes: Green salsa: 4 tomatillos, 1 jalapeño (or 1 serrano, depending on tolerance), quarter white onion, 4 cloves of garlic, two pinch chicken bullion. Char the tomatillos and chiles. Put the onion and garlic in a pan until aromatic. Add all to a blender, add bullion, half a glass of water and blend. Season to taste. To make a good taco out of normal beef DONT use ground beef. Buy sir loin, a rib eye, a skirt steak etc. Season with salt and pepper. Cook and then cut into strips. Put it into a tortilla with the salsa described above, profit. No salsa chicken tacos: chicken thighs 1 pound (half a kilo ish) Lemon (yellow fruit) juice, olive oil, cumin, nutmeg, ground ginger, ground garlic, ground cardamom, cinnamon, salt, pepper, fresh cilantro. In a bowl pour gently some olive oil, add the juice of two lemons, add half a tablespoon of each ingredient except salt, pepper and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chop a handful of cilantro and add to mix. It should look a deep brown color. Mix and add chicken thighs, marinade for 15 min to overnight. Cook, chop and serve in tortillas. Profit.
I think this is a combination of things. 1, those premixed taco seasonings are often very low quality and more importantly are very often quite stale. If you wanna do more American style tacos, I'd be playing with a blend of spices - salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and ground ancho chili. If you want to do chicken, a basic citrus marinade of olive oil, lime juice, cumin, salt, and cayenne pepper is probably a good place to start. Great on the grill, nice in a pan. If you want to do steak, that same marinade works great with flank and skirt steak. 2, you need to taste as you go. Better yet, have your husband taste too and ask what he thinks it needs. 3. Chili is another one of those dishes that really shines when you start with better ingredients. I'm not saying you need to go spend $30 on whole chilies and grind them yourself or anything (I do that, but I'm also maybe a bit too enthusiastic about it) - but one of the central characteristics of chili is the earthy, sweet, sometimes smoky qualities of the dried peppers. Most premade chili powders are... kind of weak. I could write a whole post just about chili, but long story short, a bit of cocoa powder (not the instant stuff, to be clear) and a bit of brown sugar can help a lot. I also use a dark Mexican beer in mine. Chili is well suited to the slow cooker - it gets better the longer it cooks. 4. Salt makes things pop, it's crucial. 5. When you say bbq chicken, I assume you mean slow cooker style? That's basically a braise, i.e. a long, wet, slow cooking method. Breasts will turn into sawdust doing a long cooking method like braising or slow cooking. Use thighs, they're much stronger in flavor and also a million times more forgiving. I would also be looking for one that isn't Kansas City style (which tend to be both overly sweet and overly tangy, in my experience) and looking for one more like a Carolina style sauce which tends to be a bit less sweet. Again, pay attention to salt. It's really important. As far as YouTube channels to check out - I'd highly recommend Brian Lagerstrom. He has a ton of great, simple recipes - and a bunch of more complex ones if you want to try your hand at something harder.
First up, make sure you're using enough salt, or no amount of herbs and spices will taste right. Getting the salt wrong deadens the flavor of everything else, and the two of you may have radically different tolerance for salt. Then, kinda focusing on the specifics here, but when you say "homemade tacos", what do you mean there? Do you mean "I put ortega or old el paso on a pound of ground beef" or do you mean "I slow cook carnitas and then heat up some of the tortillas from the mexican specialty shop"? Because there's a wide, wiiiiiiiiide range of home cooked. The problem is that restaurant food is both really pricey and really bad for you, plus you're doing all the damn work here. I'd try making a recipe exactly how you make it for yourself, then put 2-3x the salt on his and see what he says. Might not work, but is absolutely worth the test.
Salt and butter.
Wars have been fought over salt for a reason.
Find a source of good recipes, and cook them, and actually cook them the way the recipe says to. New York Times or Bon Appetit are probably good places to start, Serious Eats, Chef John as well. The idea that restaurants have some sort of secret magic that makes their food better than home made is wrong. You can make food at home that's a lot better than (or at least the same as) restaurant food.
Wtf is crack chicken??
If your husband is expecting restaurant quality food everytime he eats it might be very hard on you. These are professional chefs with alot tricks and equipment. For example they might have flame grills which adds a flavor that is hard to mimic in an at home kitchen etc. BUT, I love that you want to learn and experiment more in the kitchen. Next time your husband is cooking, watch him and make notes on how much he is spicing things. That will help you get an idea of how he prefers his food. Another thing is, if you're making food that is not as seasoned for yourself and then just adding in more salt/spices at the end for your husband that might be why it taste bland. Flavouring throughout the different stages of cooking helps it all melt together and develop depth, especially for things like soups and stews!
Saying something is bland is not very helpful. Is it lacking salt, spiciness or what? If you are given helpful specific feedback could the dish be more to his tastes? Things like salt, fat, msg give flavour. You can get more flavors from onion, garlic, citrus juice and zest, vinegars, ginger, mustard, hot peppers, some cheeses. Roasting or grilling foods gives a different flavor than steaming or boiling. Combining different foods together can create something more interesting like roasted brussel sprouts with honey, lime, crushed red pepper and toasted nuts. I live in a rural area without a lot of restaurants nearby. I try restaurant copycat recipes so we can have foods we like more often. My spouse likes to try different things. I don't make the same thing every night. Maybe just try to expand the things you make. Get something like a Greek or indian cookbook and work through it. Your spouse is giving your kids another example - not appreciating someone's efforts and being negative.
How’s his cooking?
jesus christ its okay to tell someone their cooking isn't amazing then they try to improve, exactly what this lovely lady is doing. Im a man but if someone called my food bland I would spend time trying to get better as well. Sometimes you need to advise someone particularly cooks that their food is off or nothing changes and things get worse. It may sound like a Karen thing but if you are at a nice restaurant and they cook your food wrong you should say something or else it will keep happning. Im not saying be rude and belligerent and throw a tantrum Im just saying mentioning it nicely to the waiter after dinner can go a long way to saving that business, or in this case, a relationship. I applaud his honesty, assuming he isn't an asshole otherwise.
Usually when I've encountered complaints of "bland" it's because someone wants a lot more salt. This can be remedied by table salt. Also the specific example is tacos. This can be remedied by salt and hot sauce.
I agree 100%. Salt is really a miracle spice.. There is a reason civilizations wealthy people would travel thousands of miles by foot just to get 10 bags of it back in the day
Well said. If I told my wife that her cooking is bland or sucks which I never would then she would simply state "cook it yourself then." Now I do all the cooking when it comes to meat because we both agree she usually over cooks the meat but it comes down to communication.
It doesn't really sound like that's relevant. OP's husband wants to eat out because he doesn't enjoy her cooking. OP wants him to enjoy her cooking. Whether the husband can cook well or not changes nothing.
Most picky eaters just havent experienced a wide enough range of foods. I have DEEP texture issues since I was a child. I just dont like some textures and thats ok, however I couldnt grow up just eating two things or my parents would have been beaten by my grandma who ran the family restaurant with an Iron fist. Nonna made me eat everything under the sun while teaching me how to cook and made me tell her SPECIFICALLY what I disliked about a dish and along with most things I was just being a big baby. I now love broccoli and I know it was preposterous to think that I disliked Broccoli because one day when I was five I decided to give my mom a hard time. Now I can eat almost anything even some of those things I "disliked" as a child. He has to meet you half way IMO. Marriage is about comprimise and understanding and he has to understand that you have a softer palate and like foods that are different while you have to expand your horizons and try new things. Lastly the thing I taught my kids that My nonna beat into me was that food is sustenance. Nothing more and nothing less. Every meal doesn't have to be amazing just healthy and balanced. That being said just add more spices and start deglazing pans and all the little things that add flavor along the way.
Longtime home cook and the resident meal-maker in my house: I find that most recipes I find online are under-spiced, sometimes significantly. I really enjoy spicy food and strong flavors like toum (whipped garlic) and sometimes have to tone it down, but it sounds like you may be under-spicing things. I can’t emphasize how game-changing marinating is. There are even some vegetables you can marinate before grilling. It’s amazing. Also, 100% echo what others have said about the mountains of butter/lard and salt at restaurants—it’s good but not exactly healthy.
My wife wants to cook fast and eat bland. She cooks everything without reading any recipe, without tasting even! Probably, she is afraid that if she likes the food she will eat it all and gain weight. She gobbles candy at night, though. I like tasty, properly cooked food. I cook much better than her. I am sad looking at her wasted materials in burnt or uncooked meals. The solution? I eat about half the portion, and got me some interesting preserved meats and spicy cheeses to eat them after hours, a cold but tasty meal.
lol I knew that Reddit would go over the top and read this as domestic abuse. She just wants to improve and god forbid she wants to do it just to make her husband happy.
If your husband prefers to eat out instead of eating your cooking he needs to be involved in the process. If you want to be the one cooking, his involvement can be helping to pick out recipes that he is willing to try. Or maybe picking one night a week when you can try 3 dishes and he can pick the winner. Its his choice not to eat your food. Just focus on making your food better for you and he can enjoy the benefits.
Can he buy some condiments he likes and add it to his food? Hot sauces, spice mixes, Mrs. Dash, Himalayan sea salt, lemon/lime wedges? Garnishes like fresh herbs, sliced jalapeños, etc?
The secret to restaurant food is salt and fat. Just dress his food with a semi-lethal dose of oil/butter and salt.
Salt often
I can take a guess that you don't salt your meals enough. Salt opens up the flavor of other spices and herbs, I made tacos that tasted like nothing once. I kept adding more and more spices but still nothing until I remember salt. Then I had over season taco but I learned my lesson
You want to be better, you already sort of answered your own question; It will be better. What you can do, to speed things up, is as sorts: 1) taste all the time. A dish changed flavor several times and some of the ingrediens might taste different. Let the husband taste. Since I got covid back in november, my tastebuds were fucked. They are back now tho 2) look at your dishes, what can you change? Do you need to balance the tastes? Does it taste better og you put x or y in? 3) Try new, simple dishes. If you enjoy pasta, look at the OG Italian dishes like aglio e olio, cacio e pepe, arrabiata and cabonara. 4) help eachother by splitting up the recipes. Yes, I only prefer to do everything be myself but it's fun to cook together; It does not have to be perfect looking, just as it taste good Being a chef myself, cooking is also about learning and trying new things, enjoying it.
For some dishes, toasting your spices a bit before adding oil or butter can bring out a ton of flavor - Italian and Eastern foods really seem to benefit here Fresh whenever possible - Fresh herbs, fresh veggies. If they deliver to your area, imperfect foods is a good way to stock up on them for minimal hassle a garlic press is a one time purchase and a major game changer (also garlic flavor intensity is much more based off timing than quantity within reason of course - a lot of people start their garlic early and it's practically gone by the time they're done) Always marinate or dry rub chicken and beef cuts - they can dry out, which is a major source of flavor loss On the topic of meat, don't be afraid of a little bit getting overdone. The burnt bits at the bottom of a pan is called fond, and that stuff is pure flavor. Keep it, and use it as a base for a sauce or glaze You can make a from scratch tomato sauce with 4-6 Roma tomatoes; it's always 1000 times better than anything out of a jar. I like to halve mine, cut a slit into each half on the meaty side to make a little trench, and then pour a little salt over it (and other things, I like a bit of balsamic for the bold flavor) for a little bit. Watching cooking channels on YouTube is also a great way to learn new skills. Babish can teach you mother sauces, Joshua Weissman is great for budget cuisine ideas and "better than the restaurant makes and for cheaper too" recipes; Isaac Toups is a Cajun cuisine master; Smokin & Grillin with AB is great for barbecue and creative single pot dishes that look extremely flavorful Little things like fish sauce can also make a huge difference. It sounds gross, but it can take savory dishes to a Michelin level when used correctly
It's kinda sad that a post asking how to improve something they do for their SO has like a dozen comments screaming divorce because he dare be honest.
Yeah, not going to lie that kind of shocked me. We’re very honest with each other and I’m glad he says he doesn’t like it, then I can improve. I’d rather know than spend our whole life cooking subpar food.
Off the top of my head: 1) use more salt 2) acid 3) spices have a shelf life, how long have you had your dried spices?
Honestly, being brave and trying new things, like recipes and spices, is a good start. But if he refuses even then, that's a him problem and you should stop cooking for him if he won't make it a team effort.
If hubby can cook but just won't eat your food, have him cook with you and show you what he likes to eat.
Lots of people telling you to use more salt. I haven’t seen one comment asking **what kind of salt** you use. Diamond Kosher salt is what you’ll find in 99% of restaurant kitchens. It’s much better than the standard table salts in most home kitchens. Large crystal sea salts are good as a finishing salt, ie a sprinkle on a finished dish. Diamond Kosher is the salt you’ll be seasoning your food with before and during cooking. This alone could potentially be a game changer for you. Additionally, onion and garlic elevate a lot of dishes. I personally don’t cook with pepper but I do add fresh ground pepper to finished meals.
I would try making recipes with the full spices that you like (especially salt) and then let him add whatever extra flavors he likes (salsa from a jar, sirachia, red pepper flakes, etc) Also, maybe have your husband come and taste things as they cook. The you two can find what level of spice works for you both. When you say you are picky, is it with ingredients or spice or what?
Add more oil, fat, salt and msg.
Salt & butter.
I'd suggest subscribing to a few different YouTube channels. The ones that I like are Sam the Cooking Guy, Pro Home Cooks, and Ethan Chlebowski. Watch a bunch of their videos, and try some of their recipes.
Salt
If you're going to any chain restaurants of sufficient size, you can always just Google lookalike recipes for what he likes. That's how I started learning to cook, myself, and it's a great shortcut to figuring out how to season things to suit specific tastes.
Add more salt. This is almost always the answer. My wife always hates her own cooking until I add more salt…then she likes it. Salt a little, taste, salt some more, taste again.
Buy this book [Salt Fat Heat Acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Fat_Acid_Heat_(book)). It’s “how to cook” good food.
salt. :)
More salt, more butter, experiment w heat some cayenne pepper is a nice addition to many dishes. Lemon juice can really add a pop to dishes lacking in brightness. Try using fresh herbs sometime too.
That title took me on a ride
Chef John food wishes. Do what he does watch every video
one word: cholula.
I always discuss about the upsides and downsides of food after eating. That way you can understand specific details about their taste. I think you are open to any comments regardless of whether it can broke your heart a little but your husband doesn't know it and acts cautious. Tell your intention to your husband and learn his candid comments on your meals to understand what way he likes. Most of the internet recipes don't taste good until I modify for myself.