pancakes /syrup

Latkes/sour cream

Toast/butter

Bagels/cream cheese

Y'know, I have preferences, but I can't think of any must pairings. Interesting question. Too bad most people will just read the title and not the full question.

There are some traditional pairings on my must not have list, though. Like I love lamb, but don't ruin it with rosemary or mint. Those are for covering up the gaminess of mutton, not overwhelming proper lamb, AFAIC.

I eat and enjoy most things.

I find it peculiar when people are so inflexible that they MUST have this with that, or won't eat X if there's Y too. Lighten up and get frisky, doing new things is interesting and fun.

The only thing I can think of is scrambled eggs or omelets. I pretty much have to have either toast or tortillas (of some sort) with them, but then I don't really like eggs. I eat them because they are on my diet, but I have to limit how much toast or tortilla I can have with them. Almost everything else I will eat plain or else do not require something to go with it, even if I generally do have something with it.

Baked potatoes without the trimmings :-) And now that Lars brings it up, other than hard boiled eggs (and that includes deviled), I don't care for eggs without a bread or toast to go with. Seems incomplete somehow.

Please don't serve me liver or any raw fish! Thanks! :)

Artichokes dipped in hollandaise. Capers and hard boiled eggs with carpaccio. Pudding and my pudding spoon.

gardengal, I figured out one way around the whole egg and bread thing. I'm in love with huevos rancheros. If I spread a bit of the beans on the plate, top it with an egg and then the salsa, I don't need the tortilla (toast-ish), etc. with it. Wait, two ways. Another is to put a small spot of hollandaise on a plate and then top it with a poached egg. I can skip the Canadian bacon and English muffin

I enjoy most things fairly plain, even without salt and pepper. And I could eat most things without embellishment if I had to. The hot dog comment made me think though that I don’t even like hot dogs that much but will eat one if it has plenty of pickle relish and mustard on it. Otherwise, no thanks.

Oatmeal cookies without chocolate chips. Banana bread without chocolate chips. Peanut butter on graham crackers without chocolate chips. Yes, I can eat those foods plain but I vastly prefer "wit' " to "wit'out" :-)

For starches, I can eat plain potatoes, plain rice, plain corn, even plain boiled barley, without any sauce or seasoning at all. But pasta needs at least butter. Plain unadorned noodles of any type is not appetizing to me at all.

LOL!! And here I go intentionally leaving out (or seriously reducing) the chocolate chips in my chocolate chip cookie recipe :-) Isn't it great we all have these little quirks about our likes or dislikes? How boring it would be if we all felt the same.

Vive la différence!!

Elmer J. Fudd, the operative word is *rather* not have. Not *must* have.

Say I were standing in front of a firing squad and forced to choose between pickled chicken feet, bat paste, or a puff from a cigarette, this non—smoker would opt for the latter, because talk about life being too short.

So it’s not that I’m ‘inflexible,’ it’s just that...I’d *rather not.*

One thing I would rather not have is a boiled hot dog, when grilled tastes so much better to me.

Sol

Kathsgrdn,

If you have a J Alexander or Redland's Grill, those are crabcakes you will want. If you click on their Facebook picture, the only peppers on it, are what it has. It's all lump crab meat held together magically(?) because there are no breadcrumbs in it even! So good. And the only crabcakes I'll eat.

Solsthumper - I agree about the way to cook hot dogs. I boil them and then I grill them and then I get out the dill pickles and slice them up.

Hmmmm. I can't think of anything in particular except I don't really like plain food. I had a friend who liked plain baked potatoes. No butter,no salt or pepper. Just plain. I would eat it if starving but would prefer some buttah please. And I do not like underseasoned food. It's why i don't go to the "home cooking" meat and 3 type places around here. No seasoning,no flavor. I am NOT wasting carbs or calories on bland food.

I also am noticing that I tend to like over the top food.(by other people's standards, not mine) I don't mean like a 5 pound cheeseburger,but when it comes to something like chocolate I like it dark,rich, and abundant. I want dark chocolate ice cream on my gooey chocolate brownie. Topped with hot fudge. I want melted cheese on my fries. Or gravy. I don't NEED all of that, but I like it. I want butter on my bread.

SO is weird about eggs. He will only eat 1, scrambled and covered in cheese and ONLY if he has either rice or grits to mix them into. He will not eat them by themselves. If I make him a breakfast sandwich, he only wants the egg scrambled, and not the whole egg. Only a half if that. I eat the other half. I don't know why he tries to eat them at all I just cook what he asks me to.

Good question and the question was not "what don't you like" or "what won't you eat" it was what you'd rather not have unless served with something else. For me, mashed potatoes without gravy is a true "why bother?".

Might be some other things but that's the one that comes to mind immediately.

Now 'twer the question what would you rather have by itself instead of paired, I could probably have more. But that's a completely different topic.

"Elmer J. Fudd, the operative word is *rather* not have. Not *must* have."

solsthumper, the second and third sentences of the first post say "I don't want A unless B" and "I don't want C unless D". That's not "rather", that's "either with X or not at all". That's "must have" to me if not to you. Bafflingly and unnecessarily inflexible, which was my point.

Mashed potatoes is an interesting question -- my recipe for mashed potatoes includes so much butter and buttermilk that it isn't even close to "plain, unadorned potato". Yes it's good with gravy but its quite yummy even without gravy.

Vanilla ice cream only if served with something like pie. I would never, ever eat a bowl of it alone.

I don't like smooth, single flavor ice cream either. There must be chunks or swirls of something.

Chi, I think you are my long lost food twin.....

Sol, my friend and sister-in-cooking, we'll have to part ways on this one. I'd take the chicken feet. (grin)

I'd never just eat gravy by itself, I think it needs something else.

Annie

I guess I'm guilty of not reading the question more thoroughly !! But I stand by my remark about liver and raw fish and it wouldn't matter what they were served with!

LOL, marylmi...my thought exactly!. ;-)

mary, we had sushi (really sashimi) for dinner last night. Maybe this is regional, it's extremely popular in my area and there are good sushi restaurants all over. I like liver and haven't had any on its own in a long time. As an occasional thing, I'd go for it.

Taste is personal but people with limited and narrow preferences really would benefit by venturing out a bit from what's "normal".

I'll gladly admit that I'm narrow minded and won't eat raw seafood. There's not much I won't eat, raw fish and poultry or pork that isn't done are two I stay away from. But I do love liver if it's prepared right. I just don't cook it myself because DH doesn't care for it and I really don't like handling it during preparation. So when I get a yen for it we go up the road about 30 miles to the last bastion of old world cookery around here and have some there.

Eating hot dogs with sliced dill pickles is already outside of the norm. I already ventured out from normal.

For those of you who don't have pairing preference a simple response of "no" to the OP;s question would have sufficed.

Not much comes to mind except salt on eggs and mustard on hot dogs. I’ve had many different topping combinations on with hot dogs, but something just feels right about including mustard.

Oh and sushi/sashimi, I no longer enjoy it as much as I used to, but when I do eat it I want loads of wasabi. Even the pickled ginger palate cleanser gets wrapped around a lump of wasabi. And when I’m out of fish and ginger I’m still eating wasabi. Call me uncouth but that’s how I like it.

Elmer, I have tasted liver a few times but I still don't like it and I have also had sushi but the fish was cooked. If it has the raw fish then no, I'll pass. I also don't like steak floating in blood. Everyone is different with different tastes. That's what makes life so interesting.

Elmer, "get frisky" --love it! I plan on quoting you a lot

Of course, everyone is different but some approaches, especially "I haven't tried it but I don't like it" can seem hard to grasp. We didn't let our kids get away with that. Try it first was the rule. As adults, they all have wide palates and enjoy most things.

I have family members (none are in my immediate family) with the following preferences:

One who won't eat meat with a bone or bones in it. If deboned before being given to them, fine. Always reminds me of the all time great Far Side cartoon Boneless Chicken Ranch. Google it if you haven't seen it.

Another who doesn't like food on the plate touching other items on the plate.

Another who eats items on the plate entirely, one at a time, before moving to the next item. Like, first all the green beans, then all the beets, then all the meat.

Another who has a peculiar habit (that I've seen in some places in Europe) that every forkful has a little bit of everything on the plate. That makes no sense to me.

Elmer, is that person who eats one thing at a time a smaller person(weight wise?) The reason I ask is because a company provided weight loss program I participated in a few years ago suggested that in order to stay slim, one needs to only eat one food at a time,eat all they wanted of that one food then move on to the next and dont go back to the other food. They claimed that people who have no trouble keeping weight off naturally eat this way. Something about taste satiety. I am skeptical.....

No. A thirty something female who I know from her parents is very athletic/active. Not skinny but a normally proportioned female figure and I suspect not a pound overweight. Maybe 5'7" if I had to guess but I've never thought about it. She's picky in other ways too (I blame her parents for that, they're that way too) but I left out the less peculiar stuff.

I don't like a martini without an olive. If no olive, I order a different cocktail. Same with coffee, don't like it without cream. If no cream, I drink tea. I agree about bare mashed potatoes - they're unappealing without something to put on them.

the second and third sentences of the first post say "I
don't want A unless B" and "I don't want C unless D". That's not
"rather", that's "either with X or not at all". That's "must have" to me
if not to you. Bafflingly and unnecessarily inflexible, which was my
point. Taste is personal but people with limited and narrow preferences really
would benefit by venturing out a bit from what's "normal".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeepers, could it be we were misguided by the OP's binary title and first sentence, or maybe the second and third sentences?

Not to be a noodge, but I have tried foods most people would consider bizarre, from Jutía (large rodent) to fish eyes (although not voluntarily ☺).

Regardless, your labeling of others' personal preferences as 'inflexible, limited and narrow,' is solely your opinion. On that, we can agree.

Bifenton -- Your idea has given me such a craving!

Robin -- I don't often come here, but when I do, it feels good to see you!

Sol

"your labeling of others' personal preferences as 'inflexible, limited and narrow,' is solely your opinion."

Everyone's comment is their opinion, your's included. To say "solely" suggests you think the thought is an outlier - I don't think that's the case, as I've encountered and discussed this topic with many friends before. They're like minded with my view. These are then both an opinion and an observation, your's of either or both can be different.

I'm firmly in the "pass me the dill pickles" with hot dogs camp. Corn on the cob is best with butter and salt. I tried the corn with mayo/red pepper thing once. That was one time too many LOL. Every great once in a while I will have a bologna sandwich but not if we don't have catsup. I much prefer freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano on my spaghetti but if I'm at someone else's house and all they have is the stuff in a can I will eat it and smile and say "thank you."

I want applesauce or at least something apple when I eat pork chops.

Throwback to my childhood. I have always loved liver. But unless it is in gravy I have to have a bit of ketchup on the side to dip it in. I am not a big lover of ketchup so another quirk is that I detest it on a burger or hot dog on a bun but will use it as a side condiment for a naked burger or hot dog. Actually, a naked hot dog needs ketchup on the side.

Dislike cold rice or pasta so don't care for sushi. But I do enjoy sashimi.

I eat eggs almost any style (except loose and sunny side up) but if fried I must have either toast or crisp hash browns to dip into the yolk.

On a chili dog I prefer a boiled or steamed hot dog. Any other hot dog is better grilled.

I can't think of any must have pairings. It seems like I would have one, but nothing comes to mind and the idiosyncrasies here are not jogging my memory.

As for liver, I like the taste, but cannot abide the texture, so pate, liverwurst and such are fine, plain liver and onions, not able to eat despite having tried many times.

Miss you Sol

the spinach we had in school back when slime was considered sustenance ...

Hot Dogs require mustard, pickles and chopped onion.

Hamburgers require mustard, and plenty of ketchup for dipping.

Ketchup on my beef roast!! And chips with a grilled cheese. Hate venison, no matter how it is prepared. My dad and husband are deer hunters so I have eaten my fair share.

Eggs. The only way I will eat an egg voluntarily is hard boiled and I won't eat the yolk. I don't mind eggs when they are incorporated into desserts.

My dilemma is Pasta Carbonara, which I either like greatly or dislike intensely depending on how the egg is cooked.

Hate hate hate lima beans and passed it on to my kids. Husband loves them but never gets them since my mother died.

rob333 (zone 7a)

Don't mean to brag, but I just opened a bag of Doritos and intend to stay up late -- because I am an American.

I do try to check several forums here, just not as often as I'd like.

I've missed you too♥

Sol

Sloppy Joes & any kind of BBQ sandwich has to have sliced dill pickles. No dill pickles/ I take a pass.

A Once in a Blue Moon bologna sandwich must have either mustard or Miracle Whip. If I'm yearning mustard, the MW won't do & vice versa. A layer of plain potato chips on the sammie.

Brats must have caramelized onion & mustard, preferably whole seed mustard.

Hot dogs with mustard (any kind) and sweet pickle relish.

Hamburgers must have sliced onion, sliced dill pickle and mustard. Lettuce & tomato, OK, but the tomato has to be a real tomato, not a mealy, mushy store bought one. Or hamburger patty, bun, mashed avocado & bacon about once every two years. Preferably, the bun is a homemade King Arthur Beautiful bun. Never one of those cardboard tasting 'package of 8' from the grocery store.

Meat loaf has to be baked with a ribbon of ketchup on top.

Roast Beef sandwiches have to have some horseradish...I like the packets of horseradish sauce from Arby's. If I don't have any packets of Arby's sauce, I'll make my own.

Fish must have lemon. Tuna is the exception--mayo & chopped onion served on saltines. I like fish but won't eat salmon...not freshly caught, not freshly grilled, not out of the can. Nasty stuff. Mom made salmon patties w/ canned salmon and I remember eating those as a kid and not minding it. I tried making them a couple of times (years apart) and managed to choke them down....decided Never Again after the last trial.

Hot mustard with ham. Ham needs hot mustard. Coleman's powdered mustard mixed up fresh.

I will eat French Toast with syrup occasionally but the "right" way is with a bit of butter, lots of powdered sugar and lemon.

Tri tip always goes better with a little salsa fresca.

Red meat other than ground beef isn't worth eating if there isn't a bit of "blood". Yes I know it really isn't blood but I prefer to think of my nice medium rare or rare meat as my blood meal. ;-)

Vanilla soft serve ice cream should be swirled into a wafer cone and covered in rainbow jimmies.

Vanilla ice cream MUST have hot fudge!

I am not a foodie , never have been. I prefer foods that are very plain and would likely be considered boring by most people. It never occurs to me to purposely try new foods. Plain baked potatoes are fabulous. ( Sorry Amylou). I know what I like and know what makes me not feel well. My choices have no impact on others around me,

No "glazes" or " reductions" for me! :)

No need to apologize to me! I am not eating it after all am I?!?! :)