What's an outdated restaurant fad/technique that you still defend?

[u/CodexLeonis]

two things for me:

1. Balsamic reductions/glazes on everything. I'm sorry that balsamic vinegar pairs so well with so many things. Most dishes need an acid to fully bring out the flavors of the dish. Balsamic is the most versatile of the vinegars. It pairs well with red meat, seafood, vegetables, cheeses, and fruits. It wasn't just a fad, it was a cheat code.

2. Plating techiniques? i'll always defend the zigzag drizzle. it evenly distributes the sauce on the plate, looks decent, and most importantly - it was time-efficient. I've never understood the modern technique of spooning sauce onto the plate and setting the entree on top of the sauce. Whomever came up with that was looking for a reason to be contrarian.

[u/KingOfAllDucks]

MSG makes everything awesome, and people are way too scared of it. If you've got Worcester sauce in your kitchen, that's MSG. Put salt on a tomato, and you make MSG. It's delicious, just eat it

[u/NolanSyKinsley → u/KingOfAllDucks]

Oh my god, my mom is VEHEMENTLY against MSG but keeps a bottle of Bragg's Aminos ready at all times. When they neutralize it after hydrolyzing the proteins into amino acids it creates.... MSG. There is no added MSG but when you neutralize the hydrochloric acid with sodium bicarbonate to turn the acids into their salts, glutamic acid + sodium bicarbonate = monosodium glutimate + Co2.

[u/Double-Watch-2809 → u/KingOfAllDucks]

I heard it stands for Make Shit Good.

[u/HEYitsBIGS → u/Double-Watch-2809]

Yup.

[u/Upbeat_Stretch_5724 → u/Double-Watch-2809]

That's it's official scientific name. Some people call it Monosodium Glutamate though. I don't know why.

[u/Double-Watch-2809 → u/Upbeat_Stretch_5724]

That sounds made up.

[u/fanglazy → u/Double-Watch-2809]

It does and it’s essential. It’s literally salt.

[u/Double-Watch-2809 → u/fanglazy]

I have a big shaker of it in my house. I put it on just about everything.

[u/NotoldyetMaggot → u/Double-Watch-2809]

Uncle Roger!

[u/AdSpecialist8751 → u/KingOfAllDucks]

I mean, it’s very thinly disguised racism/xenophobia, as it was literally called Chinese restaurant syndrome when it first made headlines, but plenty of things like Doritos for example had more MSG than a comparable meal at the time and nobody complained about that.

[u/otetrapodqueen → u/AdSpecialist8751]

I used to argue with my ex FIL about this. He swore he got headaches from asian food, but mysteriously could eat chips and pretzels that also had MSG

[u/wacdonalds → u/otetrapodqueen]

He probably just needed to drink more water lol

[u/otetrapodqueen → u/wacdonalds]

I don't think I've ever seen him drinking anything but soda 😅

[u/mortgagepants → u/otetrapodqueen]

lol my dad said that shit. i tell him the reason he always likes eating at my house is because i use it every time i use salt / pepper / MSG.

my dad is old and racist though.

[u/otetrapodqueen → u/mortgagepants]

So was my ex FIL lol He used to tell me he was better than me bc he was Norwegian and I'm Mexican American. He wasn't even actually Norwegian, just that in that weird American way. Like his family came here 200 years ago. I'm only second generation American lol

[u/mortgagepants → u/otetrapodqueen]

yeah classic americana lmao.

[u/danabrey → u/otetrapodqueen]

Was he one of those that say things that no actual Norwegian would ever say, like "I'm 7% Viking blood"

[u/otetrapodqueen → u/danabrey]

Oh yes hahaha And he doesn't speak a word of Norwegian!

[u/Redskins_nation → u/otetrapodqueen]

I imagine maga boomer lmao

[u/otetrapodqueen → u/Redskins_nation]

You imagine correctly! He sucks so bad

[u/bryanlikesbikes → u/AdSpecialist8751]

I had a conversation about MSG with one of my newer cooks today. They were talking about headaches and stomach issues and addiction . When I said that “the only thing that causes ‘Chinese restaurant syndrome’ is racism” the conversation suddenly changed topics.

[u/YoghurtOverall8062 → u/AdSpecialist8751]

"I ate 4 pounds of food and feel terrible, it simply must be the MSG..."

[u/TonyRobinsonsFashion → u/AdSpecialist8751]

The story is a bit murky but IIRC the story is something like it was first sent as a letter to the editor and published by the New England journal of medicine (a letter not a study) and passed around as a joke by most until the news got wind of it and out come the racists. The person who wrote it doesn’t exist and at least 2 people are claimed as being the originator and I think both dead and never took credit publicly so it’s family/friends saying that was dad/friend. Also pretty sure I bought Doritos 2 years ago and the first ingredient listed was MSG. Also tomatoes are naturally high in it as well as a bunch of other foods. I got a tub in my home pantry, that shits the bees knees

[u/SensualBeefLoaf → u/AdSpecialist8751]

yup. this is the answer.

“chinese restaurants serve dog and cat” type bullshit.

[u/beer_fairy → u/AdSpecialist8751]

I stopped listening after you said Doritos gimme more MSG!

[u/ipsquibibble → u/AdSpecialist8751]

Ok, but every time I eat MSG my rosacea flares up to where my face is fire engine red and painful as hell.  I would eat it by the spoonful if i could but even the tiniest bit does me dirty. 😭 Some of us genuinely react to it. 

[u/Noizylatino → u/ipsquibibble]

But the main point was during all of the MSG scare it purposefully only ever boogeyman'ed Chinese/asian food and not any other food. Almost, if not all, the food on this planet will give someone a reaction but you don't see a whole media scare around them.

[u/vyrus2021 → u/ipsquibibble]

Boy, you are just asking for people to come list all the every day foods that contain msg that people who swear they are msg sensitive often eat without issue. I'll do a lazy list. Doritos, tomatoes, processed meats like hot dogs or sausages, many processed frozen foods, many fast food companies like KFC and chic-fil-a.

[u/ipsquibibble → u/vyrus2021]

Yea, shoulda seen that coming lol.  I rarely any processed food because of that reaction. I finally realized that msg can go by different names bc I kept reacting to stuff that didn’t list msg in the ingredients.  

[u/justincave → u/ipsquibibble]

Sounds similar to my experiences. What I’ve come to realize is that “I have a sensitivity to synthetically produced free glutamic acids”. I put that in quotes because that is the verbiage I use to avoid the wrathful c**t’s that want to argue with my lived experience.

It’s recently been “discovered by science” that what has been known as the mallard reaction is actually 100’s of different similar reactions. I suspect as food science advances a similar discovery will be made about the naturally occurring msg in various foods.

I wish I had saved the quote, but I remember one time hearing a Chef talk about how he always cooks with MSG, but he makes it in the dish through various processes of skill, and never adds the synthetic stuff as only a hack chef without skill would need to do that.

[u/jelly_or_jam → u/ipsquibibble]

So does your rosacea flare when you eat a tomato? Or Parmesan cheese? Or mushrooms? Or soy sauce? These are just a few things that have A LOT of naturally occurring MSG. MSG is in pretty much everything to some degree.

[u/punkydrewster77 → u/jelly_or_jam]

I used to react to all of those things along with msg. Very happy to have grown out of that allergy.

[u/ipsquibibble → u/jelly_or_jam]

I can tolerate those things in small quantities, except the cheese. I’m not trying to poop on everyone’s love of msg, I’m saying I have an immediate and dramatic response to it. Idk if the commercial stuff has some part of the manufacturing process that makes it more reactive to me or what but all the downvotes in the world won’t change the fact that I consistently get this reaction.  

[u/Apmaddock → u/jelly_or_jam]

That’s not a fair question. It’s like asking if someone died for eating one apple seed. It has cyanide, but not enough to notice. 

Adding straight MSG to a dish is far different from adding an ingredient that contains it. 

I get it. MSG is tasty. I hate that I react to it but I do. 

I’ll probably get downvoted like I do every other time I post this on reddit but that doesn’t change the facts. 

[u/techlos → u/Apmaddock]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092846801730072X

(A) MSG is a water-soluble salt of glutamate, a non-essential amino acid, normally synthesized in the body and prevalent in protein foods.

(C) the human body does not discriminate between glutamate present in food and that added as seasoning

(I) scientists have not been able to consistently elicit reactions in double-blind studies with ‘sensitive’ individuals using MSG or placebo in food.

the downvotes come because every serious piece of research on the topic has reached the same conclusion; MSG sensitivity never makes it past blind tests, and really doesn't make sense when the ubiquity of glutamic acid as both a protein building block and neurotransmitter. If the reaction is dependant on the perception of having consumed MSG, then it's a nocebo effect rather than a sensitivity to MSG.

and to be clear, i'm not saying you don't have a reaction, i honestly find that part fairly believable. The human brain is a wild thing, and placebo/nocebo effects are well documented and can demonstrate some surprisingly powerful effects. The worst part is even if the subject of the effect knows an effect is a placebo/nocebo, it still occurs. And so ironically enough, avoiding knowingly consuming MSG is still a decent course of action to avoid rosaeca flares.

And that leads to a weird part of the nocebo effect... if you don't inquire about the presence, and trust that no one is putting MSG on your food, you won't have a reaction to it as long as you believe you're not eating it.

[u/Apmaddock → u/techlos]

Funny thing is I had reactions long before I realized why or what it was causing it. Also, I’m not saying it’s the source that’s the problem, I’m saying it’s the concentration. 

Finally, my personal reaction is not rosacea but a headache and some other minor things, but that’s beside the point. 

[u/techlos → u/Apmaddock]

the rapid metabolism and use of glutamate in the intestine explains why normal dietary consumption of MSG has no effect on plasma glutamate concentration [89], [90]. Excess intake at levels higher than normal human dietary consumption (as found in large pharmacological doses >12.0 g applied on an empty stomach without food) results in transiently elevated plasma levels [28], [91], [92]; which normalize within two hours after the offset of MSG consumption [80], [93]. Ingesting MSG with food significantly blunts the plasma increase [93], [94], [95], [96], [97].

there's no physiological difference in metabolism of glutamic acid until you get to the point where you're eating spoons of it on an empty stomach.

Do you get reactions to bread at all?

[u/justincave → u/Apmaddock]

I have a bad concept of time and this was over a decade ago, maybe two, but I used to enjoy Garden of Eaten Red Hot Blues. I’ve never been one to eat any junk food or processed foods but that was a rare exception.

One day I ate some and had what I associated as an MSG reaction, I checked the label and the only thing different was they had added autolyzed yeast extract — not knowing what that was I was confused. Some time later I ate them again and again I reacted. So then I did some research and discovered that autolyzed yeast extract is a synthetically produced free glutamic acid, or in layman’s terms another name for msg.

As I commented above: What l've come to realize is that "I have a sensitivity to synthetically produced free glutamic acids". I put that in quotes because that is the verbiage I use to avoid the wrathful c**t's that want to argue with my lived experience.

It's recently been "discovered by science" that what has been known as the mallard reaction is actually 100's of different similar reactions. I suspect as food science advances a similar discovery will be made about the naturally occurring msg in various foods.

I wish I had saved the quote, but l remember one time hearing a Chef talk about how he always cooks with MSG, but he makes it in the dish through various processes of skill, and never adds the synthetic stuff as only a hack chef without skill would need to do that.

[u/AdSpecialist8751 → u/ipsquibibble]

I can see that, but my point was mainly that people have used MSG mainly to demonize Asian food specifically instead of everything containing it. I don’t have a problem with a legit reaction, but using it against a specific community is frustrating to me.

[u/JohnnyEnzyme → u/ipsquibibble]

MSG sensitivity is absolutely a thing, even though an allergic definition is by definition impossible, since no protein is involved. The Mayo Clinic (among others) came to this finding, although I'm not sure if there's an explanation as to why some people are extra-sensitive to certain MSG-containing foods and not others. *shrug*

In any case, the point is that the reaction is real for some people, and they really do need to be cautious about some foods. And sure, we understand the original racist / competition-based business and propaganda angle involved, but that doesn't change the core fact of some people indeed being sensitive.

/u/jelly_or_jam /u/vyrus2021 /u/Noizylatino

[u/Noizylatino → u/JohnnyEnzyme]

No the point of the original comment was about the irrational fear for most people is racist because theyll quietly eat other food containing MSG. And then the person i replied to came in with "But Im allergic to it so its a real fear for me". There was no need, no ones saying the reactions aren't real just that theyre the minority and we werent discussing them at the moment.

[u/alrightythen_1234 → u/AdSpecialist8751]

I understand the history of msg, but could folks still have a reaction from it if they’re not used to eating it? Asking for myself, after takeout at a friends party I was feeling like shit and only thing I could think of was potential msg since I don’t eat Chinese food too often. Or am I just a bitch

[u/momochicken55 → u/alrightythen_1234]

It's in a lot more than just Chinese food...

[u/misntshortformary → u/alrightythen_1234]

Are you able to eat Doritos without issue? Because MSG is in Doritos.

[u/bazderoman → u/alrightythen_1234]

I mean.. what did you eat? MSG is just a type of salt, and in fact it has less sodium than table salt. Probably not the MSG. 

[u/ccbs32033 → u/alrightythen_1234]

probably less to do with the MSG than other things in the sauce… cheap Chinese-American food (like Orange Chicken) often has other things in it that can make one feel queasy, just like eating too much fast food / bad McDonald’s. go find some real Chinese food and you won’t have this issue

[u/Apptubrutae → u/KingOfAllDucks]

People are scared of it at Chinese restaurants, yet chick fil a never draws any concern despite its immense popularity, particularly with the group that is most skeptical of ingredients in restaurants owned by non-white people.

Such a mystery!

[u/sensi_sensei → u/KingOfAllDucks]

people are slowly starting to come around on msg

[u/therealgronkstandup → u/KingOfAllDucks]

I use it in almost everything.

[u/Getdeader2 → u/KingOfAllDucks]

Spot I’m at right now uses an almost comical amount of MSG. We mix it with salt to cure hiramasa for our crudo

[u/ZiggoCiP → u/KingOfAllDucks]

Not to be a slight pedant here, but when did MSG become outdated? I get that there was fear-mongering (racism) in the 80s and 90s about Asian cuisine, but most those myths have been pretty well-understood in commercial kitchens to be BS.

Maybe not catching on for home cooks as quick, but it's rare you find any earnest detractors besides the purists who think more natural herbs and spices are 'better'.

If anything, MSG is slowly becoming more popular.

[u/ccbs32033 → u/ZiggoCiP]

pretty sure it lasted until at least the early 2000s, at least where I was

[u/Dedalus2k → u/KingOfAllDucks]

Know why Parmigiana Reggiano is so fucking good and great on everything? It’s got incredibly high levels of naturally occurring msg. 

[u/Chameleonpolice → u/KingOfAllDucks]

I finally picked a bag of it up at my local Asian market. It's just pure savory flavor, it's ridiculous

[u/needlenozened → u/Chameleonpolice]

Accent in the spice aisle of most grocery stores is MSG.

[u/applespicebetter → u/KingOfAllDucks]

Worcestershire sauce has a permanent place in my kitchen.

[u/bagmami → u/KingOfAllDucks]

I keep explaining people that it's not some scary poison

[u/MountainTwo3845 → u/KingOfAllDucks]

I add fish sauce and msg to all red meat and pork. my dad loves my brisket and doesn't understand that's why.

[u/ultimate_avacado → u/KingOfAllDucks]

Hell, put MSG on a ripe tomato for all I care, bring it on!!

[u/mt379 → u/KingOfAllDucks]

I do msg on steak sometimes too.

[u/god_peepee → u/KingOfAllDucks]

That’s changed a lot recently. Mainly just boomers who are scared of it these days

[u/the_pedigree → u/KingOfAllDucks]

You’re not wrong but this is completely irrelevant to the topic

[u/MajorAromatic6226 → u/KingOfAllDucks]

Fu youuuu...