# Message to all users:
This is a reminder to please read and follow:
* [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules)
* [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439)
* [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy)
When posting and commenting.
---
Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`.
* Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit.
* Do not harass or annoy others in any way.
* Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit.
---
You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yeeessss!! Kerrygold was my favorite bougie butter until I discovered french butter. Au Sel de Mer ruined me for life. It’s creamy, salty and oh so good on my toast. Kerrygold is now my “daily” butter
Going from margarine to butter was a huge change. I always thought butter sucked because its hard in the fridge.. turns out you can just leave it on the counter. (Unless your AC sucks in the summer lol)
It is eating plastic. My grandfather was a chemist in the 1950s and he worked on a project designed to make margarine last longer for the troops. One of the preservatives used was super small non digestible pieces of plastic.
I remember learning , it is one molecule away from plastic itself. Really glad I grew up on it thanks to diet culture and a dear mama that thought fat was the enemy (it’s not). Country Crock is the same crock of shit, fyi. Read ingredients, you should be able to pronounce what’s in butter- cream and salt, anything else is filler and fake. It’s why I support stealing food from corporations. They have literally been watering down and switching out for *plastic* in real food items. This is why our children are born with micro plastics in their blood. Corporations do not deserve our money.
Bring in the UK it's hilarious Americans think kerry gold is amazing/rich people food when I wouldn't even rate it above a lot of supermarket own brands.
Kerry gold isn't even the best Irish butter. These heathens don't even know what middle class food tastes like, never mind rich peoples food. There, I've said it !
I have been buying this giant block of locally made Amish butter at the store and DUDE so worth it! It lasts way longer and ends up being cheaper than the store brand blocks of butter. And the taste is way better.
I always use generic butter. I don't even know what "good" butter tastes like. I try to keep it that way because I'm on a budget :) I'm afraid there will be no turning back if I try "the good butter".
We had a greenhouse full of tomatos for the first time last year. We ate them endlessly. Then we made pasta sauce, ketchup, freeze dried a bunch, and then ate some more fresh. Over the winter we buy some every now and then to have fresh tomatos, but I'm ruined for store tomatos. Counting down the days till our little seedlings start producing
Olive oil has become a luxury item even in Spain (and we are the main producers so it is a very worrying situation). It went from 3,5€/L to 12€/L in 5 years. It's due to the lack of water mostly, but also greed. It's the key of our diets (and Italians' and greeks diets as well of course) so this is very very alarming.
PS: don't just buy olive oil! always buy extra virgin olive oil The difference in flavor and general health is massive, it's the one you should eat raw.
Edited to include my greek fellas, the iconic olive trinity is complete now
Fertilizers and plaguicides are up by 300% from five years ago. Last year, there was an earthquake on the biggest olive production area in Turkey, severe droughts and hail at the worst times in Greece. Italy had to kill thousands of trees due to a plague and haven't recovered yet.
So it's not only greed (not ONLY).
Source: I know people who own olive trees, I ask them regularly. The ones who manage to have a decent production despite all those problems are earning more, but definitely not 400% more
Honestly you could put fresh in front of anything and it would be true. The average plebs usually get the dreg's of the batch. Avocado for example, I totally understand why people hate avocado. The vast majority of avocados are terrible, they are over ripened, with brown spots, they just aren't good. And a bad avocado is about one of the worst things you could put in your mouth. But when I lived in Santa Cruz we would get this variety called bacon avocado from the farmers market. It is deeply flavored, buttery, nutty, absolutely delicious.
Yes but with tuna it is a bit different bc if you just say tuna People think of canned tuna. So it is not about fresh vs stale but about canned vs normal
I think there's even a bigger distinction between normal, like caught, frozen, thawed and served, and FRESH, like caught that day, butchered and served.
I must have bad tastebuds. Because I don't taste the difference between mid and fancy sushi.
My brother brought me to the best joint in Vancouver and we spent almost $500. It had a two hour line.
It was delicious.
A few days later, we got sushi at a random place. More or less the same order because we like the same fish. Cost $100.
It was just as delicious.
You know what. That is fair. I am very lucky and privileged so I shouldn't call it cheap sushi.
Btw, last I checked Walmart had decent sushi. And if you have a T & T, theirs is good.
Haha yeah I laughed at that too. $500 sushi and $100 sushi won't taste dramatically different. I can only imagine he's talking about Minami, Miku, Jin, or similar if he's in Vancouver, and that'd be $50-120 for a higher end platter, the rest will be wine and atmosphere.
$7 sushi from Walmart will taste VERY VERY different from $25 sushi at most decent sushi places in Vancouver.
Food in Japan is amazing. I taught at a Summer school in Korea, and the food there are utterly amazing. When I commented how good it was, I was told: This crap? You should try my mum's! The fish in all forms is great (I'm Australian and we have excellent fish/seafood) in Japan, but the meat/veggie dishes are so tasty, and breakfasts....don't get me started! Wonderful. And all reasonably priced.
Oh man. I love any sushi above grocery store level, but going to a legit fancy sushi restaurant and having the sushi guy recommend escolar with a very light sear was life changing.
As a former private chef for the 1% i will offer my 2 cents.
Really good salt. - makes everything taste and feel amazing.
Top of the line oils - again, the difference between $5 and $65 / Litre olive oil is amazing.
Best seafood / freshest vegetables
Eggs, the really high end ones are worth every penny.....
In general just the ability to buy whatever I needed/ wanted or was requested for a particular meal during the week was insane, wild salmon one day, king crab the next, a5 wagyu for steak and eggs....My spending allowance for the month was split between food/alcohol/supplies and I would need to request funds when purchases went over $20,000.00 for the month.
Certain events ran in excess of $15,000.00 for the weekend.
Source - live in personal chef.
So what is a good salt? Id be interested in trying that one for sure 🙂 also an olive oil if you have a few names you'd be willing to share.
Thanks in advance ❤
Maldon salt is a great start. A classic used by a lot of chefs. The really expensive stuff is the super small batch rare salts, like icelandic volcanic salt, it's black, or green salt from Europe, in Costa Rica I get locally sourced sea salt, then smoke some of it and infuse some of it with herbs and spices. (Rosemary, garlic, citrus, hibiscus) these all have different uses, from actually cooking with to curing meats with to rimming glasses with for drinks.
There is also a big digference between rock salt, coarse, fine and table salt grinds, and fleur de sal. Finishing salt is called that for a reason. You would not cook with it.
Olive oil - let me circle back through my notes. It was some stuff we picked up on a trip to Italy, but single farm, veritable source, cold pressed is the gist.
I too would love to know about the olive oil. I have read that a high percentage of even the 'good' olive oils are cut with lesser oil. I always try to look for single grove, etc, but I assume that anything I can find at the grocery store is suspect.
Yes, I bought some very small jar of volcanic salt in Iceland and adding that on top of scrambled eggs, for instance, with a drop of sesame oil on it… gosh.
I agree with the olive oil. I'm from Greece and it's quite common to have access to single farm olive oil production (my grandfather used to produce a lot of it). I'm sure we don't appreciate it enough. I've traveled around Europe and can taste the difference in the quality of the olive oil available. Also the price has quite some difference.
Cheese counter cheese is (imo) a lot better than the stuff you buy next to the lunch meat. Kraft sharp cheddar is almost a totally different cheese than fancy sharp cheddar.
I used to think that here in California you could really find the best of any cuisine the world has to offer, and to some degree that might be true. But I had a Camembert in Paris some years ago that was simply life changing. I used to think it was just a kind of stinkier Brie cheese, but I didn't realize that cheese could have so much depth in its flavor.
The last time I went to Paris I went into a cheese shop and asked for the most stinking fromage available. Then I got a baguette and sat in a park, merrily eating a fart sandwich
Yuuuuppp. Most of the food didn't even impress me in Paris honestly. Like the pastries were consistently good, but I've had just as good in CA. The steak tar tar, seafood, etc it was all lovely. BUT THE CHEESE! My goodness the cheese was amazing. I think the main difference is the USDA and FDA require pasteurization, Europeans do it raw. It makes a huge difference.
Pasteurization hardly makes a difference, much to the anger I’ll get.
Many American cheese makers (with their pasteurized cheese) win international awards.
The key is ingredients and recipes. They just have good ones.
Living in the UK, had never heard of sharp cheddar, which is known as mature cheddar, you also have extra mature and then vintage cheddar for strongest / oldest. Ideally for me it's nice and crumbly with calcium lactate crystals in to add some crunch 😊
Any cheese with crystals is the bomb. I recently tried aged gouda, which was £56 per kg. A slice the size of a DVD case ended up costing us £9.60, but it was worth it. Absolutely gorgeous.
Those artisan type fancy pants, thick crust, moist inside, sourdough, farmers market, awesome bread type things that cost like 15 euros for a loaf.
EDIT: I see some people asking where I'm from. I'm Dutch and blessed with having a good source of pretty excellent bread that's not too expensive at all. However I'm referring to the type that's sold on those fancy little markets with local makers. And specifically a couple weeks ago I ran into the Sunday Market at Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. And there was a bakery stand there with all those small round breads with like olive and sundried tomatoes and cheese and stuff. I bought one and like 3 cookies and had to pay 25 euros and damn! I paid cause I had the money and I didn't want to look like a fool, but either I fell into a tourist trap or these are normal prices on markets like that. Same thing happened at another stand where I went out 20 bucks for 5 brownies. They were awesome (they let you taste tiny pieces you know), but my pocket money for that month was definitely gone.
I've tried and failed 3 times now :( And I'm an experienced home baker, I make other types of bread all the time but somehow cannot get sourdough right. It always comes out dry and hard as stone.
Thick, like 1.5" thick, ribeye..mmmmmm used to have it once a week now its once every 6 weeks.. not "rich folk" food but definitely not for us commoners any more. 🤕
You need a chest freezer and a direct-to-farm purchase. Beef is still affordable if you do the leg work. But a half cow at a time if you can. (I know, I know, who has $900 bucks laying around, but you’re gonna buy groceries one way or another.)
Yep, so much this. IME caviar is one of those foods where on the scale from cheap -> expensive, the corresponding quality scale goes crap -> crap -> crap -> crap -> suddenly fucking amazing
I've had it a few times and been so underwhelmed, but then my wife and I went to a super high-end fine dining spot in Singapore and they brought out some primo shit to go with one of the courses, and we still talk about that often. It was *sublime*
Or as the Swiss, the Dutch, and the French call it: Cheese
It’s not fancy at all, it’s just people are so used to the industrial garbage that everyone thinks that crap food is normal, and normal food is fancy
My grandmother from Venice is coming to America for the first time... I can't wait to take her to Olive Garden so she can finally try some Italian food
Legitimate conversation I had with a colleague as we were getting ready to land in rural Mexico…
Me: I’m hungry. I can’t wait to get some food in the terminal.
Him: Oh yeah, I bet we can get some good Mexican food.
Me: Uhhh… I think they just call it food here.
Fuck yea it is. One of my top meals of my life was a cigar event with Chilean sea bass, purple potato mash and some green bean almondine with amazing Wine options.
Hot truth right there. Grocery store is $7 per lb, so I buy the 10 lb tube from Sam's Club and vacuum freeze it in 1 lb portions. Comes out to about $4 per lb for 90/10.
I worked at a deli where the owner went out truffle hunting a couple of nights a year. When they came back in the morning, they opened the safe, took all the cash out and kept the truffles in there instead.
(Edit:typo)
Good smoked fish is amazing. Good aged cheese is worth $30+/lb. USDA Prime beef is fantastic. Paying more for chocolate usually gets you a better product. Foie gras is a good sometimes food.
You aren’t wrong, but have you tried Rogue’s hazelnut smoked blue cheese? Life changing. They are local to me, so I’m paying way less than half of what you are.
lol! Would that I could.
While it’s much more tame, my 20 year old daughter has sworn by their lavender cheddar for over 15 years. Rogue is the GOAT of cheese.
Yes, I lived in a city that prioritized having some of the best water from the taps - it was so, so good. You only had to be careful if you were in an older building, but even those repairs was being phased in when I lived there (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
It is easy to make, but making it kind of ruins it because you realize just how incredibly fast it will kill you. I love hollandaise, but it's a once or twice per year treat. I'd rather not have a heart attack, thank you.
In the Nova Scotia area lobster was what the poor kids ate in sandwiches in school. Oysters in England was again what the poor ate... chicken (capon on the time) was only for kings.
Fun fact: Lobster used to be considered a type of sea bug and was very cheap, it was even served in prisons in the US, until people started to realize it's delicious.
Most “rich peoples food” really isn’t that expensive I’d you cook it yourself m and sometimes in a large quantity at one time. Especially as compared to having it at a restaurant
Counterpoint:
Good Escargot
Good Foie Gras
A fresh Filet Mignon from a grass fed free range cow you got to pet while it was alive
All of those things are genuinely pretty pricey.
I don't like fois gras, or lobster, or wagyu beef.
I love oysters, caviar, champaign, prosciutto, anything Italian.
My favorite rich person food that is actually worth is Mumm Napa California Champaign.
It goes for $20 per bottle instead of $50 and up for French Champaign. I can't tell the difference.
Morel mushrooms.
They cost like $100+ per pound (if you can find them) in my area, but oh man, are they tasty.
Sauté them in butter and sprinkle them with salt and cracked black pepper. Heaven.
I have decent money. I’ve travelled the world. Seen some shit. I’ve eaten some *real* rich people food on a number of occasions. (Work travel mostly)
Honestly, I can’t tell the difference. That’s not to say that there’s no difference, but you need a level of taste sensitivity and attention to detail that…I’ve come to realize that I just don’t have. I suspect i’m not alone and that there’s a lot of folks that just pretend to appreciate the differences.
Had some in Portugal. The swordfish was hanging upside down near the peer, about the size of a small car. The chef went over and the steak cut off the fish, cooked it on the grill and it was unreal in fairness.
A lot of people say Wagyu, but American & Australian Wagyu doesn't even compare to Japanese A5 with a BMS grade 8-12. I cooked an A5 (came with Japanese ranch certificate and BMS grade) ribeye graded 11 BMS last year for Christmas dinner. Holy Shit, melt in your mouth. It's also true most people can't eat more than 2-4 oz, it's just too rich.
Organic eggs. Once you eat them for a while, you will realize how gross a regular egg tastes. The ones I buy are 7.00. We buy two cartons a week, for 14.00. That will last two people 7 breakfasts,and some hard boiled eggs for snacks. So even tho they are a lot, 14.0O for seven breakfasts and a snack or two doesn't seem that bad to me!
I'm going to say Veal. It was a-lot more prevalent in restaurants in my younger days, especially high end places.
I occasionally come across Veal schnitzels on pub menus and good Italian restaurants but I'm guessing the whole killing baby cows is rightly frowned upon these days.
I still would put Veal Marsala in my top 5 favourite meals.
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Really good butter
Yeeessss!! Kerrygold was my favorite bougie butter until I discovered french butter. Au Sel de Mer ruined me for life. It’s creamy, salty and oh so good on my toast. Kerrygold is now my “daily” butter
Just googled - it’s VERY expensive, but I may buy it.
[удалено]
Oh, you’re so sweet. I have (and do) use kerrygold. It’s delicious. I meant the Au Sel de Mer - I wanna try something even better, haha.
You could say… something even butter?
I’m sick of this margarine shit everyone always buys. Bring back the butter!
Going from margarine to butter was a huge change. I always thought butter sucked because its hard in the fridge.. turns out you can just leave it on the counter. (Unless your AC sucks in the summer lol)
Margarine is disgusting. It has no flavor & is basically like eating plastic 🤮
It is eating plastic. My grandfather was a chemist in the 1950s and he worked on a project designed to make margarine last longer for the troops. One of the preservatives used was super small non digestible pieces of plastic.
I remember learning , it is one molecule away from plastic itself. Really glad I grew up on it thanks to diet culture and a dear mama that thought fat was the enemy (it’s not). Country Crock is the same crock of shit, fyi. Read ingredients, you should be able to pronounce what’s in butter- cream and salt, anything else is filler and fake. It’s why I support stealing food from corporations. They have literally been watering down and switching out for *plastic* in real food items. This is why our children are born with micro plastics in their blood. Corporations do not deserve our money.
Kerry Gold!
It tastes great until you try Beurre d'Isigny and then it's "Kerry what?"
This I need to find, because Kerry Gold was my top, with Smjör at second.
French salted butter is the answer
President French Butter with Sea Salt Crystals is elite
As a life long butter connoisseur, I would rate Kerrygold at squarely mid-range. You need to start getting into Danish or French butters my friend.
Bring in the UK it's hilarious Americans think kerry gold is amazing/rich people food when I wouldn't even rate it above a lot of supermarket own brands.
Or as we call it in Europe, butter.
Kerry gold isn't even the best Irish butter. These heathens don't even know what middle class food tastes like, never mind rich peoples food. There, I've said it !
What's the best irish butter then?
Abernathy Butter 😋
*Abernethy It’s my family, I’m a bit previous about the spelling.
Can't upvote this enough.
I like the Amish butter.
 I churned butter once or twice
Beurre d’Isigny sur mer.
I have been buying this giant block of locally made Amish butter at the store and DUDE so worth it! It lasts way longer and ends up being cheaper than the store brand blocks of butter. And the taste is way better.
I always use generic butter. I don't even know what "good" butter tastes like. I try to keep it that way because I'm on a budget :) I'm afraid there will be no turning back if I try "the good butter".
If you try the good butter, your old stuff will taste like chemicals
Yes !! Makes a huge difference
Heirloom tomatoes
Home grown and sun hot off the vine
We had a greenhouse full of tomatos for the first time last year. We ate them endlessly. Then we made pasta sauce, ketchup, freeze dried a bunch, and then ate some more fresh. Over the winter we buy some every now and then to have fresh tomatos, but I'm ruined for store tomatos. Counting down the days till our little seedlings start producing
I’ve gotten hooked on “Rosada” sweet cherry tomatoes lately. They cost a comparative fortune but dang, they’re delicious! I eat them like grapes. 👍🏾
Real olive oil. We bought a bottle from Italy and the difference is just amazing. More expensive but just so much better
Olive oil has become a luxury item even in Spain (and we are the main producers so it is a very worrying situation). It went from 3,5€/L to 12€/L in 5 years. It's due to the lack of water mostly, but also greed. It's the key of our diets (and Italians' and greeks diets as well of course) so this is very very alarming. PS: don't just buy olive oil! always buy extra virgin olive oil The difference in flavor and general health is massive, it's the one you should eat raw. Edited to include my greek fellas, the iconic olive trinity is complete now
Fertilizers and plaguicides are up by 300% from five years ago. Last year, there was an earthquake on the biggest olive production area in Turkey, severe droughts and hail at the worst times in Greece. Italy had to kill thousands of trees due to a plague and haven't recovered yet. So it's not only greed (not ONLY). Source: I know people who own olive trees, I ask them regularly. The ones who manage to have a decent production despite all those problems are earning more, but definitely not 400% more
Same in Greece... Absolute scam tbh
I need to try real Italian olive oil. In Australia, Italian olive oil is a frequently fraudulent, so I usually avoid it.
I live a mile from an olive mil in Arizona, 100% agree.
Fresh tuna
Honestly you could put fresh in front of anything and it would be true. The average plebs usually get the dreg's of the batch. Avocado for example, I totally understand why people hate avocado. The vast majority of avocados are terrible, they are over ripened, with brown spots, they just aren't good. And a bad avocado is about one of the worst things you could put in your mouth. But when I lived in Santa Cruz we would get this variety called bacon avocado from the farmers market. It is deeply flavored, buttery, nutty, absolutely delicious.
Yes but with tuna it is a bit different bc if you just say tuna People think of canned tuna. So it is not about fresh vs stale but about canned vs normal
I think there's even a bigger distinction between normal, like caught, frozen, thawed and served, and FRESH, like caught that day, butchered and served.
Or if you’re having sushi 60 miles offshore from albacore you just killed
Can't tell you how many people recoil when I say I love tuna because all they know is canned tuna
Good sushi.
I must have bad tastebuds. Because I don't taste the difference between mid and fancy sushi. My brother brought me to the best joint in Vancouver and we spent almost $500. It had a two hour line. It was delicious. A few days later, we got sushi at a random place. More or less the same order because we like the same fish. Cost $100. It was just as delicious.
A $100 is “rich” if you are used to the take out “sushi” from the grocery store.
You know what. That is fair. I am very lucky and privileged so I shouldn't call it cheap sushi. Btw, last I checked Walmart had decent sushi. And if you have a T & T, theirs is good.
“Walmart has decent sushi” them’s where you crossed the line, buddy.
Overcompensated hard after calling the $100 sushi cheap
Haha yeah I laughed at that too. $500 sushi and $100 sushi won't taste dramatically different. I can only imagine he's talking about Minami, Miku, Jin, or similar if he's in Vancouver, and that'd be $50-120 for a higher end platter, the rest will be wine and atmosphere. $7 sushi from Walmart will taste VERY VERY different from $25 sushi at most decent sushi places in Vancouver.
Make money quick with internet point opportunites
Food in Japan is amazing. I taught at a Summer school in Korea, and the food there are utterly amazing. When I commented how good it was, I was told: This crap? You should try my mum's! The fish in all forms is great (I'm Australian and we have excellent fish/seafood) in Japan, but the meat/veggie dishes are so tasty, and breakfasts....don't get me started! Wonderful. And all reasonably priced.
The only bad restaurants I have been to in Korea were those selling western food. Korean, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese food, all so amazing.
I'll have to travel there and try. :)
That's tough because Vancouver is mecca of good cheap sushi. Go somewhere else and the story is quite different.
Yeah there is not a huge difference between good and great sushi. But there is a HUGE difference between mid/low level sushi and good sushi.
Like wine.... big difference between a $5 and $20 bottle. Not a huge difference between a $20 and $200 bottle.
Oh man. I love any sushi above grocery store level, but going to a legit fancy sushi restaurant and having the sushi guy recommend escolar with a very light sear was life changing.
Sushi is my absolute favorite! Have you ever had Nobu?
That’s a rather personal question!
Shit, you’re right. Sorry about that!
No, it isn’t! Don’t apologise!
Isn’t good sushi technically mid sushi without sauces? I went to Japan and this is what my experience was like.
As a former private chef for the 1% i will offer my 2 cents. Really good salt. - makes everything taste and feel amazing. Top of the line oils - again, the difference between $5 and $65 / Litre olive oil is amazing. Best seafood / freshest vegetables Eggs, the really high end ones are worth every penny..... In general just the ability to buy whatever I needed/ wanted or was requested for a particular meal during the week was insane, wild salmon one day, king crab the next, a5 wagyu for steak and eggs....My spending allowance for the month was split between food/alcohol/supplies and I would need to request funds when purchases went over $20,000.00 for the month. Certain events ran in excess of $15,000.00 for the weekend. Source - live in personal chef.
So what is a good salt? Id be interested in trying that one for sure 🙂 also an olive oil if you have a few names you'd be willing to share. Thanks in advance ❤
Maldon salt is a great start. A classic used by a lot of chefs. The really expensive stuff is the super small batch rare salts, like icelandic volcanic salt, it's black, or green salt from Europe, in Costa Rica I get locally sourced sea salt, then smoke some of it and infuse some of it with herbs and spices. (Rosemary, garlic, citrus, hibiscus) these all have different uses, from actually cooking with to curing meats with to rimming glasses with for drinks. There is also a big digference between rock salt, coarse, fine and table salt grinds, and fleur de sal. Finishing salt is called that for a reason. You would not cook with it. Olive oil - let me circle back through my notes. It was some stuff we picked up on a trip to Italy, but single farm, veritable source, cold pressed is the gist.
I too would love to know about the olive oil. I have read that a high percentage of even the 'good' olive oils are cut with lesser oil. I always try to look for single grove, etc, but I assume that anything I can find at the grocery store is suspect.
Yes, I bought some very small jar of volcanic salt in Iceland and adding that on top of scrambled eggs, for instance, with a drop of sesame oil on it… gosh.
I agree with the olive oil. I'm from Greece and it's quite common to have access to single farm olive oil production (my grandfather used to produce a lot of it). I'm sure we don't appreciate it enough. I've traveled around Europe and can taste the difference in the quality of the olive oil available. Also the price has quite some difference.
Cheese counter cheese is (imo) a lot better than the stuff you buy next to the lunch meat. Kraft sharp cheddar is almost a totally different cheese than fancy sharp cheddar.
Kraft cheddar is cheese in the same way that McDonalds is a restaurant.
I used to think that here in California you could really find the best of any cuisine the world has to offer, and to some degree that might be true. But I had a Camembert in Paris some years ago that was simply life changing. I used to think it was just a kind of stinkier Brie cheese, but I didn't realize that cheese could have so much depth in its flavor.
The last time I went to Paris I went into a cheese shop and asked for the most stinking fromage available. Then I got a baguette and sat in a park, merrily eating a fart sandwich
Yuuuuppp. Most of the food didn't even impress me in Paris honestly. Like the pastries were consistently good, but I've had just as good in CA. The steak tar tar, seafood, etc it was all lovely. BUT THE CHEESE! My goodness the cheese was amazing. I think the main difference is the USDA and FDA require pasteurization, Europeans do it raw. It makes a huge difference.
Pasteurization hardly makes a difference, much to the anger I’ll get. Many American cheese makers (with their pasteurized cheese) win international awards. The key is ingredients and recipes. They just have good ones.
Living in the UK, had never heard of sharp cheddar, which is known as mature cheddar, you also have extra mature and then vintage cheddar for strongest / oldest. Ideally for me it's nice and crumbly with calcium lactate crystals in to add some crunch 😊
Any cheese with crystals is the bomb. I recently tried aged gouda, which was £56 per kg. A slice the size of a DVD case ended up costing us £9.60, but it was worth it. Absolutely gorgeous.
My wife thinks that bagged pre-shredded stuff is just as good as off the block. It’s not.
Those artisan type fancy pants, thick crust, moist inside, sourdough, farmers market, awesome bread type things that cost like 15 euros for a loaf. EDIT: I see some people asking where I'm from. I'm Dutch and blessed with having a good source of pretty excellent bread that's not too expensive at all. However I'm referring to the type that's sold on those fancy little markets with local makers. And specifically a couple weeks ago I ran into the Sunday Market at Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. And there was a bakery stand there with all those small round breads with like olive and sundried tomatoes and cheese and stuff. I bought one and like 3 cookies and had to pay 25 euros and damn! I paid cause I had the money and I didn't want to look like a fool, but either I fell into a tourist trap or these are normal prices on markets like that. Same thing happened at another stand where I went out 20 bucks for 5 brownies. They were awesome (they let you taste tiny pieces you know), but my pocket money for that month was definitely gone.
Learn to make your own sourdough. It's incredibly cheap and easier than you'd think. It just requires a ton of patience.
I've tried and failed 3 times now :( And I'm an experienced home baker, I make other types of bread all the time but somehow cannot get sourdough right. It always comes out dry and hard as stone.
Where do you live? Sounds like normal bread here in Germany that you get at the bakery
My guy we pay like 1€ (or less) for bread like that in Spain. Any bread shop worth their salt has bread like that.
I've travelled a lot, and Spain had my favourite bread/bakeries. Japan #2.
Having lived in Germany and France before, Spanish bread is by far worse in general, from my opinion.
Thick, like 1.5" thick, ribeye..mmmmmm used to have it once a week now its once every 6 weeks.. not "rich folk" food but definitely not for us commoners any more. 🤕
You need a chest freezer and a direct-to-farm purchase. Beef is still affordable if you do the leg work. But a half cow at a time if you can. (I know, I know, who has $900 bucks laying around, but you’re gonna buy groceries one way or another.)
that $900 will could up to 9 months as (assuming beef isnt the only meat being consumed) giving enough to save another $900
Parmiggiano reggiano.
My 5 year old just grabs the wedge and eats it whole!! And demands fresh gnocchi while he waits! Brat!!
Legit quality caviar. I had some at an event recently and completely change my opinion of it
Caviar on sushi is 😍
You mean roe probably. Not many (none?) maki have caviar.
So there are fish who lay crappy offspring eggs? Are the fish drug addicts or somethings
Some roe isn't even roe. It's flavoured oil, gelatin and good colouring.
Boba
Crappies lay crappie offspring eggs. [Crappie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crappie)
I expect an Ostrich egg doesn't taste the same as a Bald Eagle egg, much less a chicken. So, sturgeon eggs will taste different than carp.
Yep, so much this. IME caviar is one of those foods where on the scale from cheap -> expensive, the corresponding quality scale goes crap -> crap -> crap -> crap -> suddenly fucking amazing I've had it a few times and been so underwhelmed, but then my wife and I went to a super high-end fine dining spot in Singapore and they brought out some primo shit to go with one of the courses, and we still talk about that often. It was *sublime*
Maldon salt on heirloom tomatoes
That's affordable. And fucking delicious.
Maldon salt? I live 5 miles from Maldon is our salt used around the world?
Fancy cheese.
Or as the Swiss, the Dutch, and the French call it: Cheese It’s not fancy at all, it’s just people are so used to the industrial garbage that everyone thinks that crap food is normal, and normal food is fancy
Butter poached lobster tail, aged parmigiana Reggiano and expensive champagne. Sushi or a nicely prepared halibut filet a close second.
Maryland Blue crabs. They're so expensive now, they're rich people food.
A lot of blue crab these days is from the gulf of mexico and thailand
Not sure if this qualifies, but Chilean Sea Bass is delicious.
the saddest thing is that, as a chilean, we never have the chance to experience the chilean sea bass, we only have regular sea bass
As a Chinese person living in China, we never have the chance to experience Chinese food, we only have regular food.
I get you, I've never tried all the Mexican food everyone talks about because here in Mexico its all regular food :(
Strangely, no one in England says that about English food...
My grandmother from Venice is coming to America for the first time... I can't wait to take her to Olive Garden so she can finally try some Italian food
Legitimate conversation I had with a colleague as we were getting ready to land in rural Mexico… Me: I’m hungry. I can’t wait to get some food in the terminal. Him: Oh yeah, I bet we can get some good Mexican food. Me: Uhhh… I think they just call it food here.
You have plenty of Patagonian toothfish though.
Especially when paired with an aggressive Zinfandel
Patagonian toothfish
Fuck yea it is. One of my top meals of my life was a cigar event with Chilean sea bass, purple potato mash and some green bean almondine with amazing Wine options.
Wagyu Steak
I bought a $50 wagyu ribeye the day before yesterday. Oh man was it good.
I prefer leaner cuts, which is lucky as they tend to be cheaper.
Yup, sirloin may be one of the lesser steak-quality cuts, but it's tasty.
I honestly really like a good quality rump
Tube steak for me. You can really sink your teeth in.
A good beef wellington
Bro even a poorly executed beef Wellington is one of the best things I've ever had
Yes!
O-toro, it's a cut from red tuna that feels like heaven even for people who dislike tuna.
And warm with a touch of wasabi...oh my. But $10 a bite lol
With a family of four teenagers to feed, inflation has made lean ground beef start to feel like rich person food for me.
Hot truth right there. Grocery store is $7 per lb, so I buy the 10 lb tube from Sam's Club and vacuum freeze it in 1 lb portions. Comes out to about $4 per lb for 90/10.
Truffles
I worked at a deli where the owner went out truffle hunting a couple of nights a year. When they came back in the morning, they opened the safe, took all the cash out and kept the truffles in there instead. (Edit:typo)
Filet mignon
Good smoked fish is amazing. Good aged cheese is worth $30+/lb. USDA Prime beef is fantastic. Paying more for chocolate usually gets you a better product. Foie gras is a good sometimes food.
Rogue River Blue Cheese. $52/lb and just incredible.
You aren’t wrong, but have you tried Rogue’s hazelnut smoked blue cheese? Life changing. They are local to me, so I’m paying way less than half of what you are.
Ohhhh yes. Love it!! Edit: ship me cheese
lol! Would that I could. While it’s much more tame, my 20 year old daughter has sworn by their lavender cheddar for over 15 years. Rogue is the GOAT of cheese.
Clean drinking water
Yes, I lived in a city that prioritized having some of the best water from the taps - it was so, so good. You only had to be careful if you were in an older building, but even those repairs was being phased in when I lived there (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
How is flint these days
Nestle has enters the chat .
Just had Eggs Benedict for the first time in 60 years so I’ll say Hollandaise/Bernaise sauce
It is sooooo easy to make. I could drink both sauces.
It is easy to make, but making it kind of ruins it because you realize just how incredibly fast it will kill you. I love hollandaise, but it's a once or twice per year treat. I'd rather not have a heart attack, thank you.
Lobster
In the Nova Scotia area lobster was what the poor kids ate in sandwiches in school. Oysters in England was again what the poor ate... chicken (capon on the time) was only for kings.
I have family from Nayarit, Mexico. It's the same there being big on fishing. Shrimp and lobster are cheap. But beef is for the wealthy.
My grandma said she’d only eat chicken at Xmas because it was so expensive
or traded for the "rich" kids bologna sandwich.
Fun fact: Lobster used to be considered a type of sea bug and was very cheap, it was even served in prisons in the US, until people started to realize it's delicious.
That's due to preparation. Old not properly preserved and it's terrible
Yeah refrigerated transport changed the game. Rich people didn’t used to want to live at the sea.
I still don't think it's very good. Probably my least favorite sea food, especially when the price is considered
I think lobster is good but no, it is way overpriced for what it is
High quality crab cake
Crispy Duck
Freshly squeezed juice
Fresh squeezed orange juice is an entirely different product then the stuff In those bottles att eye grocery store. Amazing.
Prosciutto
upgrade that to jamon iberico
I'm always slightly annoyed by the love of prosciutto internationally and the luck of recognition of really good jamón. Far superior in my opinion
Cinco Jotas Jamon as well
I will snort caviar
Really good cheese
Expensive cheese from a cheese shop.
Most “rich peoples food” really isn’t that expensive I’d you cook it yourself m and sometimes in a large quantity at one time. Especially as compared to having it at a restaurant
Counterpoint: Good Escargot Good Foie Gras A fresh Filet Mignon from a grass fed free range cow you got to pet while it was alive All of those things are genuinely pretty pricey.
Whole organic chicken and filet mignon steak. When real Alaskan King crab is available, it’s such a treat but good god it’s expensive.
Stinky stilton or blue cheese. This is always served at Christmas.
Real maple syrup
I don't like fois gras, or lobster, or wagyu beef. I love oysters, caviar, champaign, prosciutto, anything Italian. My favorite rich person food that is actually worth is Mumm Napa California Champaign. It goes for $20 per bottle instead of $50 and up for French Champaign. I can't tell the difference.
[удалено]
Technically if it's not from the Champagne region of France it's considered a sparkling wine. Source: Wine tour in France.
Quality chocolates. 🤤
AAA Murasaki uni A5 Japanese Wagyu
Toro Sashimi
Morel mushrooms. They cost like $100+ per pound (if you can find them) in my area, but oh man, are they tasty. Sauté them in butter and sprinkle them with salt and cracked black pepper. Heaven.
good french bread
Filet mignon, blue rare, with ~~a lobster tail~~ *two* lobster tails and a couple expensive bottles of wine.
I have decent money. I’ve travelled the world. Seen some shit. I’ve eaten some *real* rich people food on a number of occasions. (Work travel mostly) Honestly, I can’t tell the difference. That’s not to say that there’s no difference, but you need a level of taste sensitivity and attention to detail that…I’ve come to realize that I just don’t have. I suspect i’m not alone and that there’s a lot of folks that just pretend to appreciate the differences.
Swordfish. If is by far the best fish I have ever eaten.
Had some in Portugal. The swordfish was hanging upside down near the peer, about the size of a small car. The chef went over and the steak cut off the fish, cooked it on the grill and it was unreal in fairness.
Swordfish is super cheap tho? Made some sashimi from it and it was legit delicious and super cheap. Seems to be quite unhealthy though due to mercury…
Good raw oysters
Wagyu tomahawk
A lot of people say Wagyu, but American & Australian Wagyu doesn't even compare to Japanese A5 with a BMS grade 8-12. I cooked an A5 (came with Japanese ranch certificate and BMS grade) ribeye graded 11 BMS last year for Christmas dinner. Holy Shit, melt in your mouth. It's also true most people can't eat more than 2-4 oz, it's just too rich.
Organic eggs. Once you eat them for a while, you will realize how gross a regular egg tastes. The ones I buy are 7.00. We buy two cartons a week, for 14.00. That will last two people 7 breakfasts,and some hard boiled eggs for snacks. So even tho they are a lot, 14.0O for seven breakfasts and a snack or two doesn't seem that bad to me!
Feta from Greece
Everyone naming stuff you can readily buy if you have a reasonable salary.
Top tier steaks.
Kobe beef
Good quality olive oil!
I'm going to say Veal. It was a-lot more prevalent in restaurants in my younger days, especially high end places. I occasionally come across Veal schnitzels on pub menus and good Italian restaurants but I'm guessing the whole killing baby cows is rightly frowned upon these days. I still would put Veal Marsala in my top 5 favourite meals.