When we were newly weds my husband only wanted his mom's chocolate cake. In spite of all our friends telling him that mine was the best ever. I didn't mind too much, his mom is an excellent cook and baker and I loved (still do) spoiling my husband.
Until one day I just made my chocolate cake and presented him with a slice. Few bites in, a tentative "love...? You can make this from now on please. Often." Better than Mom's is definitely the best compliment ever.
I made Thanksgiving turkey. My sister in law said it was the best she ever had right in front of her mother (my MIL) who had been making the family Thanksgiving Turkey for over 25 years.
I brought chocolate chip cookies to work for a luncheon. All gone in 15 minutes. The secretaries called me “cookie man” for a week.
I have a small but dedicated following for my chocolate chip cookies at work and it makes my heart so happy.
I'm not winning the office wide Christmas cookie competition but there's like 7 or 8 of my coworkers who go gaga over the cookies I make and that is good enough for me.
Thanksgiving family gathering, mostly wife's side of family. Twenty people. One turkey, one ham, all the traditional side dishes, times 20 people.
Everything came together at the same time, not by chance, I planned it, no commercial kitchen experience, I just knew when everything would be done and started each dish accordingly.
Perfection! Twenty people enjoyed hot meals that were tasty ander expectations for what a Thanksgiving dinner should be.
I received so many compliments that day, so many people telling me I should become a chef.
I never did become a chef because I enjoy cooking.
The cohesiveness of all stations on a well-oiled team is the only reason I ever enjoyed cooking professionally. Passion for cooking is something that the stress of working in a kitchen will destroy. Good for you for knowing to stay out.
My brother in law was going through a divorce and was living with me and my husband for a while. He didn’t eat much outside of a random hot dog or snack food. When I cooked a big meal I would place a bowl or plate in front of him and he would always lick it clean. He would always compliment my cooking, but my satisfaction came from him just enjoying a home cooked meal and scarfing it down. I love cooking for people. It is my way of showing love.
I do Turkey day every year for the last 15 for my wife's family. The response to the invite is always, "Are you making that squash thing again?". It's simply cubed butternut squash and persimmons off my backyard tree tossed with a little butter and brown sugar and roasted. Easy, but they hoover it up like they've never eaten.
Boyfriends mother loves koign amann and asks to have some brought back whenever we went to LA. For Christmas I learned to bake them, took a number of tries (people at work didn't seem to mind). She wanted to cry because someone put so much thought and effort for her.
lol it’s really just get the crostini toasted just right, and fresh ingredients. I don’t have a “recipe,” but it’s like Mexitalian.
Diced red tomato… your favorite kind, I do Roma
Pickled red onion, which should be the least portioned out of the veg
Chiffonade (sp?) cilantro (optional bc coriander listed below, though they’re not totally the same) and basil, as much as you wish
Toasted garlic, I use one clove to mince for four people
Diced yellow tomato, if you’re feelin it
A very small splash of balsamic — we don’t like it much at our house (well. *he* doesn’t.), but it’s an essential note. I sometimes add diced jalapeño or jarapeño brine to this “recipe,” but if you do that, skip this balsamic step because those don’t pair well together, at least not for me
Chopped, roasted asparagus
Salt, pepper, oregano, coriander, cumin, oh and ETA celery salt! yum
Get the whole party into a mixing bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, spritz the mixture with lime, and mix away by hand. If you’re having the food processor do your mincing, dicing, and chopping, run it on pulse for this step
Melt some mozzarella on the crostini. If you want it more Mexican, I use pepper Jack or jalapeño Jack.
ETA I’ve gotta edit this in the morning; I’m too tired, and I’m missing some stuff
So the proposals occurred when I was 20, 25, and 29. Three different men. I said no to No. 1, crashed and burned after saying yes to No. 2, and I married the crap out of No. 3. For him, I added these chicken Caesar salad “spoons” on the side — take a long, sturdy romaine leaf, put all the other typical chicken Caesar salad ingredients into the base of this romaine leaf, and you eat it kind of how you’d eat a celery stick. A chx Caesar that allows you to be mobile, like a canapé or an hors d’oeuvres (whatever you call them, I’m not from a fancy area).
It wasn’t my cooking but my baking. I made my apple crumb pie(recipe fully developed by me) and brought it to work for Thanksgiving. Come Christmas I received a Christmas card from an employee who I wasn’t very close or familiar with so it caught me off guard. Turns out every year she puts her 10 favorite things that happened to her for the year in the Christmas cards. One of her favorite things was trying my pie. This card went to all of her family and friends and she chose to put my pie as one of her 10 favorite things out of the whole year. I was really flattered and it brought a tear to my eye. Will never forget that
One person tasted the dessert I made and looked shocked for a good 10 seconds after tasting it and looked me dead in the eye and said “you could sell this”, “no, really.”
It was a lemon curd tart with raspberry coulis. I don’t have the specific recipe still but it was a standard lemon curd made in the microwave and then set in the fridge in homemade pastry for the tart. Garnished with raspberries and mint leaves and dusted with icing sugar.
I had a similar situation with pizza and in another situation when I cooked something that I can’t recall no but on both cases was something like someone saying “I’d pay for this”. Best compliment for a home cook!
I cook a lot. My husband and I went to a Michelin starred restaurant for our anniversary one year and we were explaining to our small kids about the stars and why that was cool. One of them made me a bit of paper with two cut out gold stars and said I probably had at least 2. Still got that taped up in one of my kitchen cabinets like 8 years later .
My wife is a professional baker and an award winning chocolatier. She's studied everything she could find about food and cooking since she was a teenager. To say she's picky is like saying that Gordon Ramsay can be a bit harsh. Also, she's Creole and has mastered that cuisine. Her gumbo - nothing else like it.
Anyway. FFWD 40 years. Dunno what got into me but I decided to cook Shrimp Creole with polenta and greens. I got the side-eye, but I finished.
She took a bite, her expression changed, and she said "This is really good!".
Once in a lifetime.
Nothing special but GF every now and then says some food is the best version of that she have ever had.
She have been pretty picky eater and only bought some pre-made stuff from stores her whole life so it's nice to broaden her taste buds 1 meal at a time.
My grandmother telling me my clam chowder is better than hers. She is a masterful cook so it feels like the ultimate award/gold star/accomplishment to have her say that
I went to a Friendsgiving and brought a simple roast broccoli side, dressed in lemon juice and chili oil. That’s it. My nobody grabbed it at first bc it just looked like plain broccoli. But one of my friend had a bite and loudly proclaimed it had more “layers of flavor than I’ve ever tasted.” Within 15 the party ate it all.
It’s fantastic! Bake the florets 11-12 minutes at 425. You want char but also a vibrant green. Then just dress in chili oil, less than you think, and lemon juice. Toss thoroughly because the florets will try to soak up all the oil. Optionally add pine nuts if you wanna be fancy.
I (white) was new to learning Indian cuisine a few years ago. Decided to serve an Indian cauliflower, cashew and green pea curry with spiced rice. My husbands coworker looked me in the face after a few bites and said in a rather harsh tone “idk how you can do better than this, this is PERFECTION” 🥴😂 yes I still think about that lol
My sister in law told me she answered “My Sil’s(me) house” to the question “what’s your favourite restaurant” as an icebreaker question at a team building event.
As others have said: Silence. When someone is so focused on eating the food that all conversation at the table just stops.
Also had a friend make weird, orgasmic noises while eating a steak I made one time. He couldn't even form a sentence. When he was done, he just asked me not to mention it to anyone else. I bring it up all the time to embarrass him ha
For thanksgiving 2 years ago I made lamb ribs with the usual fixings. I gave a piece to someone who had never had lamb before, they had some, and said it was great and went onto have another one. That was a compliment I think about a lot. I love lamb and I wish more people could enjoy it
Yes! I have a friend that was hosting her birthday party, asked what I should bring, she requested my Dark Chocolate Ginger with Caramel Drizzle cake because it was her favorite, best compliment ever!
My boyfriend asked if he could invite one of his friends over for dinner because the guy had been having a really rough week. He said "make your macaroni and cheese, that would cheer anyone up". That was a nice enough compliment in itself. But when he came over for dinner and took his first bite, his eyes lit up and I saw him give a big, genuine smile for probably the first time ever. And he said "this might be the best thing I've ever eaten!"
Last year we had a big dinner for my friend's birthday. We had traveled a few hours to stay at her sister's place out in the country for a few days.
My contribution was that I made the mac and cheese. The birthday girl loves cheese but usually avoids it due to digestive issues. She only treats herself to cheese a few times a year. She bit into it and began crying tears of joy.*
* Cue Grinch narrators voice: "the cook's ego grew three sizes that day." But to be fair, she's a very emotional person in general. She loved the mac and cheese, but that reaction was subdued compared to when her sister gave her a hand-stitched Harry Potter themed apron 40 minutes later.
Making a brisket for a group of people with my sister in Austin, TX and having people say it was the best bbq they had. May have just been being nice and I don’t really cook anymore, but it’s a nice memory.
Once I hired a guy to do some farm work and made him a sandwich for lunch. Five years later I hired the same guy again and he said “can you make me that same sandwich? That was the best sandwich I ever ate.”
Whenever I’m feeling down about myself I remember this story and then I feel pretty good.
Damn. Think about how long five years is. How many *meals* you eat. At home, with friends, restaurants and events, snacks on the couch. This man had over 5,000 meals and *still* remembered your sandwich.
I used to inspect nursing homes for Medicare/Medicaid compliance for about 10 years. As part of the inspection, our team would supervise the meals (how they were prepared, food temps, palatability, etc.) and I have to agree with you that in most of the nursing homes, the food was abyssmal.
However on rare occasions, we would find a facility that had actually provided tasty food to the residents. On one inspection, the residents were praising the potato salad so much that our team requested a 'test meal' to determine food temp, flavor, portion size etc. We all agreed that was the best potato salad we'd ever had! We learned that a 19 year old young man had prepared the potato salad, and the residents usually praised the meals when he was responsible for the preparation. Our inspection team went into the kitchen and gave him a standing ovation, which was probably the first time he'd ever been recognized for his efforts.
You shold probably write a cookbook with recipes from your favorite meals, along with how to prepare them. I've seen a lot of cookbooks that are focused on those who are college students, but as far as I know, there is no cookbook out there focused on residents in a nursing home using the resources available to them to prepare a decent meal.
I bet your meals are amazing!
I moved to South Korea for my husbands job and I tended to cook for all of their holiday potlucks and when we were leaving I had multiple people complain that it wasn’t going to be the same without my cooking. I also got coined by his captain for cooking and helping out so much
Oh wow, it was tonight, actually!
Nice restaurant my mom's been wanting to take us to forever. This place is in magazines, everyone loves it, the question is not "will you love this place more than anything else", but "how many visits until you settle on a favorite dish"?
We go. We order. A few bites in my fiancee says very matter of factly, "you make this better. In fact, your (appetizer) is better, too." Pause. "Now that I think about it, I can't think of anything we've had out recently that I wouldn't rather eat when you make it at home."
That's not what we usually spend our time talking about. I was surprised. It was nice.
I made my father-in-law a peanut butter pie because it was his favorite dessert that his mom used to make when he was a child. It's a graham cracker crust, a layer of peanut butter blended with cream cheese, sugar, and whipped cream, and then more whipped cream on top. When I served it to him I had to stop him from putting Cool Whip on it like he did with every other pie. He seemed suspicious, but tucked right in. When we were finished he gave me a shy smile and said "Could you leave me the rest of the pie?"
I was delighted the next time I made it when he asked me if I'd make two of them. I cried a lot when my mother-in-law asked me if I would make it for his funeral.
It's become my go-to dessert that people request. When people ask for the recipe, my final draft is named after him.
On 3 or 4 occasions someone said, “This is the best [blank] I ever had.”
The funniest was when it was tacos and this guy slowly realized it…”I think this is the best taco I’ve ever had”
My Lebanese friend tried my hummus and was amazed at the flavour bomb of my secret ingredient. He guessed it immediately, and was like, “OMG it makes so much sense, why don’t we use it?!”
He started doctoring his grandmother’s hummus by adding it in, but he will never tell her that for fear of death, lol.
Haha, I’m all about fusion cooking. Most of my dishes contain fish and oyster sauce as my arsenal of choice. I would probably make an Italian cry if they saw what I put in my ragu but who cares? Lol
I made Thai food, and one of my fiancé's coworkers asked if I was from that region because what I packed for him looked and smelled like what his family makes
I made ribs for 4th of July while my wife and I were first dating. After one bite, she looks at me and just says “I love you”.. we now have “I love you” meals when dinner tastes so good all we can say is that
"This brought me back"
My Italian grandfather died Spring 2017, pancreatic cancer. He felt too sick to do the Feast of the Seven Fishes for Xmas Eve 2016. My dad (his Xmas helper for the previous 25 years) and I made all the Xmas dishes to the best of our ability. Sante used to call his brothers at midnight on Xmas Eve (CST) so that they would get to talk to him right when Christmas started.
Both his brothers had died years prior, and his wife died in 2011. So my dad and I are cooking a bunch of seafood, and my very sick grandpa starts inserting himself and swatting our hands. We get the bivalves out, then the shrimp, the the (blech) salt cod, then the crab, then the mackerel, finally the canned fish (we just randomly pick seven fishes, don't judge).
He got up and about, then ate a bunch of food while bantering with his son, his son in law, and his grandson. He said it felt like he was back home as a kid on Ischia.
"This brought me back."
No compliment per se, but people who don't get seconds, got seconds and thirds. Also my neighbor who likes to mess with me and give me "it was ok", immediately telling me this is a 5/5.
“I was expecting pizza. This is better than pizza!”
This was heartily said by one of the guests.
A friend asked me to cook the welcome meal for a nonprofit training future farmers in Central Texas. I immediately agreed as she’s a dear friend.
Then she tells me there are dietary restrictions.
The rest of the story is here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/s/Wo2tvWzk54
You need to make casseroles and sell them.
You’re a great chef.
I cook for all the holidays and usually have @30 people.
Writing a cookbook at the moment.
All original recipes and family recipes
I am a knight of Columbus. So when we do dinners, usually bbq or fish. I make all the side dishes. And homemade desserts too
I made a Palestinian chicken dish for a family when I lived in Amman ( the wife was sick and we did a meal train for her so the family never met me). The husband had never met me and was convinced that I was a Palestinian octogenarian grandmother. I was a white American in my thirties and it was the first time I had made that dish. Not the last time tho!
I recently went through a few bins of my 15 year old son's school work. So many were "my mom makes me really good food every night." "My favorite dinner is..." I love my mom because she cooks such good food"
He had a couple of friends spend the night and told them on the ride home that I would make such a good dinner for them. BBQ chicken, roasted corn on the cob and broccoli. Both boys said they would absolutely not eat broccoli, it was gross. All the chicken and corn were eaten and they wanted seconds of broccoli but I had cooked it all. One asked if I could go to the store and get more.
Another is my egg-in-a-hole. He asked what seasoning I use because it is so good. It's just oil, salt, pepper, and butter. He was amazed it was just that. So simple but so good. He knows how to make it now :)
I guess my meatloaf is apparently the best. I had my non gay friend kiss me on the lips saying it's better than his mom's. Also my wife's mom say it's better than she ever had, and insisted I make it for her mom when she visited. Which I did, 100% puerto rican mother loves this white boys meatloaf haha
My neighbor usually asks what goodies I’m bringing her when I cook. She lives alone and doesn’t really cook for herself. She says I sometimes remind her of her childhood cooking from her family.
My daughter asks if I experimented. Sometimes she add if it was a good experiment afterwards.
I owned a restaurant and cooked, my bolognese was the best bolognese ever. Lots of folks would tell me it was the best they ever had, I ALWAYS credited my first chef because he gave it to me.
*Receiving* compliments sometimes takes a lot of work! But if you can get yourself to start believing even some of the compliments you get, it's pretty wonderful.
Today my boyfriend ate the cookies I burnt in the oven without me offering. He has been an outspoken denier of my baking for the last few years, so that was a lifetime highlight.
I invited a guy over for a home cooked meal and sexy times. Decided to make something from his childhood, something his mom would have made. He ate so much he could only unbutton his pants and groan, asked me to rub his belly. No sexy times were had that night.
it was my lasagna. Brought one over to a friend’s place. Said friend brought it to his work to share. Then I got to make about 20 more for some events over 2 months
This past thanksgiving I hosted my husbands side of the family for the first time. Everything was good, but the highlight was actually the turkey. EVERYONE told me it was the best turkey they’ve ever had. As a person that never like the thanksgiving turkey, it was a big win.
I'm as white as it gets. My wifes family is mostly Filipino. I've always loved pancit at the family gatherings etc and I have really nailed my own recipe down. All of her family loves it and they dubbed me an honorary Filipino based on my pancit😂. I am now in charge of making the pancit for any Filipino food gathering. I'll take that as a compliment.
The best compliments I’ve received have been for my pork green chili, of all things. I am a nurse in western Colorado and I made it for a pot luck at work. One of the docs who was a sous chef in New York before becoming a doctor (he’s had a wild life lmao) asked me for the recipe and complimented me on the great flavor. More importantly, one of my coworkers from New Mexico asked me where I am from because he couldn’t believe I wasn’t a New Mexico native with my mean green chili. My husband has also said, “you don’t even need teeth to eat this” in reference to how tender the pork becomes.
well... I've recieved one specific compliment about a turkey i made at christmas one year. A friend of my mom's was given some of the leftover bird the next day as a treat. apparently she's had bad experiences with turkey in the past... mostly dry white breast meat. Mine was the best she had ever had; as i love basting my bird between the skin and meat as it cooks... so basically extra moisture goes into the meat.
otherwise it's basically any time I make something without a recipe... and just cook by taste and smell... adding spices and sauces on a whim without thinking about it. I call those the meals I could never replicate again, because I really wasn't paying attention. Just cooking on instinct. Anyone who's had one of these meals made by me is always impressed.
My cooking turns vegetarians into meat eaters.
My dumplings are famous within our friend circle. So when my vegetarian friends break their vegetarian diet just to try one of my dumplings (and have no regret doing so) I consider it a pretty big compliment. Missing out on my dumplings is worse than being vegetarian.
I make vegetarian dumplings too.
Christmas at my brother's house. SIL had made a delicious brown sugar glazed ham, which I complimented her on. My nephew told me later how happy SIL was with the compliment, because, "Coming from Auntie A, that's a real compliment because she's such an awesome cook!"
'Just cook whatever you want; I like everything you make'.
From our fairly fussy young cousins who come to stay with us. It was a compliment,.but also just nice to hear I was expanding their horizons and helping them enjoy food
I was staying with my bff and helping her out with her 2nd pregnancy. She had been vegetarian for years, but asked me to make her my chicken salad for lunch. Three days in a row. She was just tipping her toes into meat eating again.
Then she asked me to make Beef Stroganoff. Granted she was so pregnant she was past her due date, but she asked me and that felt great.
She also went into labour that night. ;)
Maybe 10 years or so ago, I made pancit. (Filipino noodle dish) I brought some to my grandma and my grand-aunt. My grandma was the biggest food critic. Imagine a Filipino Igor. If she didn’t like it, her face would let you know. When she tried it, she said “Tangina Sarap” (roughly translated from Tagalog) “F’ing A, this is delicious”. Best compliment ever!
When my mom was in home hospice, my sister & I asked her what she craved & we’d make it. One afternoon she said she wanted my pot roast. Not my elder sister’s (who is a great cook, by the way). Turned out to be her last meal before dying. I still feel privileged to have made it. Sis even said it was better than hers😝
I’m a fireman—and fairly regular cook—at a large municipal department; about 700+ personnel, ~25 stations, etc…
It’s not a competition by any means, but, I LOVE it when guys tell me I’m their favorite cook, or how much they look forward to working at my station in case it’s my turn to be in the pot.
Always puts a smile on my face!
I made chili for my family and they all loved it. My mother said it was the best chili she’d ever had, and it seemed genuine but I thought at the time *maybe* she was also being nice and playing it up a little.
Then a few months later I made it again, and brought a bowl up to my sister, who was studying late and hadn’t eaten yet. My mom, who had eaten something else for dinner an hour prior, smelled it then sheepishly looked at me and asked if she could have a tiny bowl of it as well. She was full from dinner but liked it so much she wanted a little for taste.
Being able to properly cook for my mom is one of the greatest parts of becoming an adult, I think.
As a low-ranker at an acquaintance's Thanksgiving dinner at the local JCC (I am not American, have never been to the US and don't live there, for more context), we'd been assigned aubergine (eggplant) as the ingredient. Obvious choice: parmigiana di melanzane (NB - if this is not an obvious choice to an American with aubergine at Thanksgiving, I am sorry, but to me it seemed like the most celebratory dish I know made primarily of aubergine).
At the end of the dinner, the director's wife, who organises the JCC's catering and teaches courses on Levantine cuisine, took home one dish of leftovers - what was left of my melanzane. I let her keep the IKEA dish it was made in, the silent compliment was worth the €10 to replace it.
they eat all of it, and want more.
I have made vegan chocolate chips and no one could tell the difference from the regular recipe. I'm not vegan, I mostly wanted to prove to a vegan guy I know that vegan food can taste good. It's a standing joke between us.
all I did was take the nestle recipe, replace butter with crisco, found vegan chocolate chips that taste good (harder than it sounds), and used egg replacer. though I think the egg replacer did nothing and made the cookies slightly bitter with a strange taste that it appears only I could taste.
I brought my enchilada casserole to a potluck. A friend told me that woman he was with said that she was eating it slowly because she "didn't want it to end!"
I had a very toxic breakup with a toxic ex and we both went no contact. She broke the no contact 6 months later to ask me to please make her my salmon and dill chowder. She also told me I should find a way to sell it
This is going to sound so lame. But when my kid is sick and he says he has to have my homemade chicken soup so he can feel better, it’s better than any compliment I’ve been given.
As for regular compliments, I once overheard some people who had stayed at my house at the end of a foodie trip telling extended family that the best meal they had the whole vacation was the dinner I made them.
I brought a turkey that I had grilled on my Weber to a Christmas potluck at work.
One of my coworkers, who used to be a pastry chef, took one look at the turkey and demanded to know, “Who brought this turkey? A Chinese person made this!”
I made my sister and her boyfriend steaks for her 30th. Promptly choked on my own steak, needed the heimlech. Her boyfriend, who saved me, joked “man these are really good, to die for”
I have people speak glowingly about dishes I served them years ago. A soup. A pasta. Fried chicken. A pie. One woman cried over a meal and still mentions it 5 years after we dined.
I enjoy making different cheesecakes. One Christmas my niece was eating a piece (it was a turtle cheesecake) and said it was better than The Cheesecake Factory’s cheesecake.
My daughters boyfriend came over and I made steak (filet) and he said it wasn’t just the best steak he’d ever had, but the best meal he had EVER had. Sure sure he’s dating my daughter but when I talked to his dad later he apparently took tons of pics and sent to him and asked him to start seasoning their food. Lol.
Long ago, a friend who might have had a lot of LSD in their brain at the time tried my chocolate cake and ended up on the floor rubbing their knees together and moaning my name and "It's so good" over and over with tears running down their face
My coworker’s husband remembered my bruschetta pasta salad from the previous year’s company picnic, and got her to ask me to make it again. That was pretty nice.
My wife's family is very Italian. My FIL was born in Trieste and my MIL near Rome. When my wife and I just started dating my FIL told me that my lasagna reminded him of his grandmother's except mine was better.
Brought homemade caramel corn to work one day and for the rest of the week they called me the "crack corn dealer". I even ended up making a couple of batches for coworkers to take to parties they were going to (birthday parties /football game day get togethers)
I was in nursing school and at lunch time I microwaved my homemade chicken korma. A fellow student from Pakistan walked in and said It smelled like her mother's cooking. I told her what I made and told her what I put in it. She nodded as I listed each ingredient and said that was how her mom taught her to make korma. I'm a white dude from the Intermountain West, so I was pretty proud to have done that dish right.
“I’m going to remember that meal for a long, long time.”
A very appreciated compliment from my uncle after a multi-course Christmas dinner that took me a lot of time, effort, and cost. It made all of it feel worth it, because everyone enjoyed both the togetherness and the food so much.
A friend of mine who is turning 80 soon recently told me that some clams I cooked for him were "the best damn clams I've had in my entire life."
That felt good.
It was probably this past Thanksgiving. I made my green bean casserole - a recipe I had just finally perfected - for a Friendsgiving and all of my friends went fucking bananas. Two girls, who were sisters, made a HUGE deal out of telling me how they only eat their grandma's GBC and no one else's, but they got seconds and thirds of mine and took some home. My favorite part is that it's been, what, 7 months? And one of the girls still tells everyone we work with how good mine is, and it's just my favorite thing.
A young guy I work with likes the food I bring to our work potlucks so much he has started asking recipes from me and trying to learn how to cook so he can make them at home.
People having arguments about who gets my food.
I also have a friend who is a born chef. He did attend culinary school eventually and worked professionally as a chef for several years—and then returned to IT because it pays a lot better—but even before he was trained, he was very talented. If HE tells me something I made is good, I can take that to the bank. No higher praise than that!
My son in law told me “I’ve been to a couple of 5 star restaurants and this is just as good as anything I had there”. I was so nervous as it was my first time cooking for my husband’s family, that made me feel much better lol
I cooked a steak for a very wealthy person and he said he's never had a steak that tasted so good. He wasn't the type to blow smoke, which made me feel pretty good.
A Frenchman at the restaurant I worked at (in Portland, or) once told me he didn't trust my cooking until he tasted it, then he said I made him Bavette steak frites with bordelaise that was as good as he could get in paris.
Once I cooked Liver and Onions for my FIL (I really made pork chops and the liver and onions was a side dish so that my kids and I could sample it and just have the life experience). My FIL very sweetly said it was the "most inoffensive" liver he's ever tasted. It was equal parts hilarious and flattering. I plan to never coook/eat it again.
I have people tell me I should sell my baked items but the wildest thing was when I had some one actually argue over the last piece of my cake in the pan.
Late husband and I went to a new years potluck around 15 years ago. I had to work that day so didn’t have a lot of time after work but I managed to put 2-3 dishes together. One of these was a mousse cake I had made the day before but was mostly whole and still looked good. I cut it to fit a smaller pan then covered it and we were off.
I set my dishes with the others when we arrived and I cut the cake in pieces for ease of service. Every one that had it remarked how much they enjoyed it. When there was only a piece left the two daughters of the host started arguing over who was getting that last piece. One suddenly snatched the pan and dashed out the door!
She went down the block to her house put the cake in her own container, washed my pan and smugly returned to the party.
It happened to me and I still am awed. Maybe it was the new years libations 😂
1: this reminds me of my moms cooking - said by someone from Taiwan. I’m a white dude who made wintermelon soup. The owner of a nearby guangdong bbq gave me the recipe and I made it for a Friendsgiving 🥹🥹
2: them going for seconds, and an empty plate
I used to cook for a local elderly woman just to help her out cause I knew she wasn't eating well. She had money but with her health issues she didn't care for boring food. She tried to get me to open a restaurant where she invested everything but we split ownership. I've been around the business enough to know I wasn't interested in that life even if it was a sweet offer. When her heart was failing and she was in a hospice house she only requested that I bring her an orecchietti pasta dish that I made her before. She ate it even though she was refusing other food, gave me a hug and an I love you, and it was the last time I saw her. That was the last meal she ate and her desiring it at that moment was the biggest compliment. Food, at its best, is pure care and love for people. It helps tie us all together.
I run the kitchen at a bar and grill a couple of my creations ended up on the menu. My absolute favorite though is when I made a cheeseburger for a guy and yes he was intoxicated but when I came by to pre bus, he handed me a $20 and loudly proclaimed that it was the best burger he’d ever had and that if he were gay or a woman, he’d blow me like a screen door in a tornado
When picky toddlers actually eat my food.
My nuggets-only nephew really liked some cinnamon twist bread I made that he kept stealing slices. And his little friend ate the smoked gouda mac and cheese I made for Thanksgiving.
If I can get a toddler to eat something of mine, that's a huge victory.
My husband tells me I am a better cook than my mom (who is a great cook).
My Father In Love will say "Good cook Delores" (there is a story there). I am not a Delores.
Someone saying, I grew up my entire life with barbecue and I don’t like barbecue but your pulled chicken barbecue is the best I’ve had in my life
Thank you, America’s test kitchen and some other tricks that I learned going along the way
I never thought that I would like (pork chops for my husband, chicken breast for me ), but I can’t stop eating this! Also, when our kids (currently 6&4) have loudly rejected something new, only to end up asking for thirds after actually eating some. Yeah, thought so
"Thats better than my Mom makes"
my bf said i make his favorite meal better than his mom does, i don’t know if i believe him but i appreciate it.
He knows what he's doing either way 😁
My husband told his mother that my mother's pastry was better than hers!
When we were newly weds my husband only wanted his mom's chocolate cake. In spite of all our friends telling him that mine was the best ever. I didn't mind too much, his mom is an excellent cook and baker and I loved (still do) spoiling my husband. Until one day I just made my chocolate cake and presented him with a slice. Few bites in, a tentative "love...? You can make this from now on please. Often." Better than Mom's is definitely the best compliment ever.
I made Thanksgiving turkey. My sister in law said it was the best she ever had right in front of her mother (my MIL) who had been making the family Thanksgiving Turkey for over 25 years. I brought chocolate chip cookies to work for a luncheon. All gone in 15 minutes. The secretaries called me “cookie man” for a week.
I have a small but dedicated following for my chocolate chip cookies at work and it makes my heart so happy. I'm not winning the office wide Christmas cookie competition but there's like 7 or 8 of my coworkers who go gaga over the cookies I make and that is good enough for me.
For me it’s when I visit my parents and cook for them and my mom asks me for the recipe afterward.
Thats pretty cool :)
I'd die from happiness if I ever got this compliment god damn that's the apex of cooking.
Thanksgiving family gathering, mostly wife's side of family. Twenty people. One turkey, one ham, all the traditional side dishes, times 20 people. Everything came together at the same time, not by chance, I planned it, no commercial kitchen experience, I just knew when everything would be done and started each dish accordingly. Perfection! Twenty people enjoyed hot meals that were tasty ander expectations for what a Thanksgiving dinner should be. I received so many compliments that day, so many people telling me I should become a chef. I never did become a chef because I enjoy cooking.
Best reason not to
The hours being second best reason not to, but two very good reasons all up.
The cohesiveness of all stations on a well-oiled team is the only reason I ever enjoyed cooking professionally. Passion for cooking is something that the stress of working in a kitchen will destroy. Good for you for knowing to stay out.
This is the dream!
Nonverbal. My skinny, picky eater of a brother in law went and got seconds of my food. That silent compliment has yet to be topped.
This is beautiful and made me tear up. So special.
I don’t think the brother is nonverbal. I’m pretty sure he just means the compliment was nonverbal.
tbf a really good meal leaves you a little nonverbal because you're shoveling it in like coal into an old train
Me every time I eat birria
My brother in law was going through a divorce and was living with me and my husband for a while. He didn’t eat much outside of a random hot dog or snack food. When I cooked a big meal I would place a bowl or plate in front of him and he would always lick it clean. He would always compliment my cooking, but my satisfaction came from him just enjoying a home cooked meal and scarfing it down. I love cooking for people. It is my way of showing love.
Food is a poweful love language...and I know where he's at, nowadays I get usually one hot meal a day, and a few days a week it's from a gas station.
If you’re ever in Houston, I’ll make you something.
My best compliment was that few minutes of silence at Thanksgiving when all the food I cooked when hosting was served and everyone was eating.
I do Turkey day every year for the last 15 for my wife's family. The response to the invite is always, "Are you making that squash thing again?". It's simply cubed butternut squash and persimmons off my backyard tree tossed with a little butter and brown sugar and roasted. Easy, but they hoover it up like they've never eaten.
Boyfriends mother loves koign amann and asks to have some brought back whenever we went to LA. For Christmas I learned to bake them, took a number of tries (people at work didn't seem to mind). She wanted to cry because someone put so much thought and effort for her.
That's love.
This is real effort!
Three marriage proposals. It’s my bruschetta
I'm already married but I'd like to take my marriage to the next level with your bruschetta recipe please.
lol it’s really just get the crostini toasted just right, and fresh ingredients. I don’t have a “recipe,” but it’s like Mexitalian. Diced red tomato… your favorite kind, I do Roma Pickled red onion, which should be the least portioned out of the veg Chiffonade (sp?) cilantro (optional bc coriander listed below, though they’re not totally the same) and basil, as much as you wish Toasted garlic, I use one clove to mince for four people Diced yellow tomato, if you’re feelin it A very small splash of balsamic — we don’t like it much at our house (well. *he* doesn’t.), but it’s an essential note. I sometimes add diced jalapeño or jarapeño brine to this “recipe,” but if you do that, skip this balsamic step because those don’t pair well together, at least not for me Chopped, roasted asparagus Salt, pepper, oregano, coriander, cumin, oh and ETA celery salt! yum Get the whole party into a mixing bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, spritz the mixture with lime, and mix away by hand. If you’re having the food processor do your mincing, dicing, and chopping, run it on pulse for this step Melt some mozzarella on the crostini. If you want it more Mexican, I use pepper Jack or jalapeño Jack. ETA I’ve gotta edit this in the morning; I’m too tired, and I’m missing some stuff So the proposals occurred when I was 20, 25, and 29. Three different men. I said no to No. 1, crashed and burned after saying yes to No. 2, and I married the crap out of No. 3. For him, I added these chicken Caesar salad “spoons” on the side — take a long, sturdy romaine leaf, put all the other typical chicken Caesar salad ingredients into the base of this romaine leaf, and you eat it kind of how you’d eat a celery stick. A chx Caesar that allows you to be mobile, like a canapé or an hors d’oeuvres (whatever you call them, I’m not from a fancy area).
Try substituting Jerez sherry vinegar for the balsamic. Less sweet and goes well with tomatoes. A Spanish grandma clued me into it.
It wasn’t my cooking but my baking. I made my apple crumb pie(recipe fully developed by me) and brought it to work for Thanksgiving. Come Christmas I received a Christmas card from an employee who I wasn’t very close or familiar with so it caught me off guard. Turns out every year she puts her 10 favorite things that happened to her for the year in the Christmas cards. One of her favorite things was trying my pie. This card went to all of her family and friends and she chose to put my pie as one of her 10 favorite things out of the whole year. I was really flattered and it brought a tear to my eye. Will never forget that
Wow that's lovely!
One person tasted the dessert I made and looked shocked for a good 10 seconds after tasting it and looked me dead in the eye and said “you could sell this”, “no, really.”
What was the dessert??
Right? You can’t drop that and not tell us what it was. Also a recipe would be awesome.
It was a lemon curd tart with raspberry coulis. I don’t have the specific recipe still but it was a standard lemon curd made in the microwave and then set in the fridge in homemade pastry for the tart. Garnished with raspberries and mint leaves and dusted with icing sugar.
I had a similar situation with pizza and in another situation when I cooked something that I can’t recall no but on both cases was something like someone saying “I’d pay for this”. Best compliment for a home cook!
Ooo that could be mine too. Have a buddy that runs a fairly successful bbq joint and told me I should be selling my chocolate chip cookies.
I cook a lot. My husband and I went to a Michelin starred restaurant for our anniversary one year and we were explaining to our small kids about the stars and why that was cool. One of them made me a bit of paper with two cut out gold stars and said I probably had at least 2. Still got that taped up in one of my kitchen cabinets like 8 years later .
One of my sons, when he was about 5, told me I was a 'good cooker'. He's 34 and a dad now. He still tells me that.
My son called me the same thing when he was around the same age ☺️
My daughter said that to me as well! " Mama, you're a good cooker!"
This is so sweet!
My wife is a professional baker and an award winning chocolatier. She's studied everything she could find about food and cooking since she was a teenager. To say she's picky is like saying that Gordon Ramsay can be a bit harsh. Also, she's Creole and has mastered that cuisine. Her gumbo - nothing else like it. Anyway. FFWD 40 years. Dunno what got into me but I decided to cook Shrimp Creole with polenta and greens. I got the side-eye, but I finished. She took a bite, her expression changed, and she said "This is really good!". Once in a lifetime.
My son wrote in his 2nd grade school journal that he loved "his moms soup"
“This chicken looks like it’s trying to sell me a knife set.” —my husband commenting on a really lusciously crispy roast chicken
Nothing special but GF every now and then says some food is the best version of that she have ever had. She have been pretty picky eater and only bought some pre-made stuff from stores her whole life so it's nice to broaden her taste buds 1 meal at a time.
This, but wife. It's so nice to "rescue" ingredients/flavors that got ruined for her in the past.
"Wow! You didn't overcook the turkey this year!" --my 44 year old son
I am 46 and finally figured out how to make turkey this year, and said this to myself.
My grandmother telling me my clam chowder is better than hers. She is a masterful cook so it feels like the ultimate award/gold star/accomplishment to have her say that
I went to a Friendsgiving and brought a simple roast broccoli side, dressed in lemon juice and chili oil. That’s it. My nobody grabbed it at first bc it just looked like plain broccoli. But one of my friend had a bite and loudly proclaimed it had more “layers of flavor than I’ve ever tasted.” Within 15 the party ate it all.
Simple food often gets overlooked. I'm going to try this one.
It’s fantastic! Bake the florets 11-12 minutes at 425. You want char but also a vibrant green. Then just dress in chili oil, less than you think, and lemon juice. Toss thoroughly because the florets will try to soak up all the oil. Optionally add pine nuts if you wanna be fancy.
I made a dill pickle soup a friend said I "put [my] whole pussy in"
That’s quite a sentence.
I don't cook for people often so I was flattered.
You should be
I don't think...I get that but...it sounds good?
My uncle (RIP) was visiting and he *always* harassed me about being vegan. I made a chocolate raspberry cake and he *wolfed* it! And gave compliments.
I (white) was new to learning Indian cuisine a few years ago. Decided to serve an Indian cauliflower, cashew and green pea curry with spiced rice. My husbands coworker looked me in the face after a few bites and said in a rather harsh tone “idk how you can do better than this, this is PERFECTION” 🥴😂 yes I still think about that lol
My sister in law told me she answered “My Sil’s(me) house” to the question “what’s your favourite restaurant” as an icebreaker question at a team building event.
Oh wow! So nice!!
My toddler tried a bite of liver and asked for more “cream steak”.
That toddler of yours has a refined palette! Cream steak sounds wonderful and I also grew up loving calf liver, and other offal!
Aww! My daughter as a toddler loved pate and liverwurst and even Underwood deviled beef. She called it all "meat can." Mama, can we has meat can?
As others have said: Silence. When someone is so focused on eating the food that all conversation at the table just stops. Also had a friend make weird, orgasmic noises while eating a steak I made one time. He couldn't even form a sentence. When he was done, he just asked me not to mention it to anyone else. I bring it up all the time to embarrass him ha
I love the steak-groan story!
I’ve had 3 different Koreans tell me my kimchi is better than their mom’s.
That's insane!!
I just use the Frugal Gourmets recipe
For thanksgiving 2 years ago I made lamb ribs with the usual fixings. I gave a piece to someone who had never had lamb before, they had some, and said it was great and went onto have another one. That was a compliment I think about a lot. I love lamb and I wish more people could enjoy it
Lamb ribs make for the best barbecue. Pork and beef don’t stand a chance.
Asking me to making it again :D
Yes! I have a friend that was hosting her birthday party, asked what I should bring, she requested my Dark Chocolate Ginger with Caramel Drizzle cake because it was her favorite, best compliment ever!
The silence as the diners were just eating steadily.
Silence due to shoveling is always a perfect complement
My husband says "I didn't like this until I had it when you made it".
My now husband after knowing him for about a year. “You can make dirt taste good”.
My boyfriend asked if he could invite one of his friends over for dinner because the guy had been having a really rough week. He said "make your macaroni and cheese, that would cheer anyone up". That was a nice enough compliment in itself. But when he came over for dinner and took his first bite, his eyes lit up and I saw him give a big, genuine smile for probably the first time ever. And he said "this might be the best thing I've ever eaten!"
Last year we had a big dinner for my friend's birthday. We had traveled a few hours to stay at her sister's place out in the country for a few days. My contribution was that I made the mac and cheese. The birthday girl loves cheese but usually avoids it due to digestive issues. She only treats herself to cheese a few times a year. She bit into it and began crying tears of joy.* * Cue Grinch narrators voice: "the cook's ego grew three sizes that day." But to be fair, she's a very emotional person in general. She loved the mac and cheese, but that reaction was subdued compared to when her sister gave her a hand-stitched Harry Potter themed apron 40 minutes later.
Making a brisket for a group of people with my sister in Austin, TX and having people say it was the best bbq they had. May have just been being nice and I don’t really cook anymore, but it’s a nice memory.
Once I hired a guy to do some farm work and made him a sandwich for lunch. Five years later I hired the same guy again and he said “can you make me that same sandwich? That was the best sandwich I ever ate.” Whenever I’m feeling down about myself I remember this story and then I feel pretty good.
Damn. Think about how long five years is. How many *meals* you eat. At home, with friends, restaurants and events, snacks on the couch. This man had over 5,000 meals and *still* remembered your sandwich.
I used to inspect nursing homes for Medicare/Medicaid compliance for about 10 years. As part of the inspection, our team would supervise the meals (how they were prepared, food temps, palatability, etc.) and I have to agree with you that in most of the nursing homes, the food was abyssmal. However on rare occasions, we would find a facility that had actually provided tasty food to the residents. On one inspection, the residents were praising the potato salad so much that our team requested a 'test meal' to determine food temp, flavor, portion size etc. We all agreed that was the best potato salad we'd ever had! We learned that a 19 year old young man had prepared the potato salad, and the residents usually praised the meals when he was responsible for the preparation. Our inspection team went into the kitchen and gave him a standing ovation, which was probably the first time he'd ever been recognized for his efforts. You shold probably write a cookbook with recipes from your favorite meals, along with how to prepare them. I've seen a lot of cookbooks that are focused on those who are college students, but as far as I know, there is no cookbook out there focused on residents in a nursing home using the resources available to them to prepare a decent meal. I bet your meals are amazing!
I moved to South Korea for my husbands job and I tended to cook for all of their holiday potlucks and when we were leaving I had multiple people complain that it wasn’t going to be the same without my cooking. I also got coined by his captain for cooking and helping out so much
I was a pastry chef and I'll never forget the woman who said my creme brulee tasted better than when she was in France.
Oh wow, it was tonight, actually! Nice restaurant my mom's been wanting to take us to forever. This place is in magazines, everyone loves it, the question is not "will you love this place more than anything else", but "how many visits until you settle on a favorite dish"? We go. We order. A few bites in my fiancee says very matter of factly, "you make this better. In fact, your (appetizer) is better, too." Pause. "Now that I think about it, I can't think of anything we've had out recently that I wouldn't rather eat when you make it at home." That's not what we usually spend our time talking about. I was surprised. It was nice.
I made my father-in-law a peanut butter pie because it was his favorite dessert that his mom used to make when he was a child. It's a graham cracker crust, a layer of peanut butter blended with cream cheese, sugar, and whipped cream, and then more whipped cream on top. When I served it to him I had to stop him from putting Cool Whip on it like he did with every other pie. He seemed suspicious, but tucked right in. When we were finished he gave me a shy smile and said "Could you leave me the rest of the pie?" I was delighted the next time I made it when he asked me if I'd make two of them. I cried a lot when my mother-in-law asked me if I would make it for his funeral. It's become my go-to dessert that people request. When people ask for the recipe, my final draft is named after him.
Such a sweet story! Please share your recipe with us, I'd love to try making it
On 3 or 4 occasions someone said, “This is the best [blank] I ever had.” The funniest was when it was tacos and this guy slowly realized it…”I think this is the best taco I’ve ever had”
I can vividly picture that and it is awesome!
Made a meal for ten. Tons of talking before food was served. Then food served conversations stopped. I just sat back and admired my work.
My Lebanese friend tried my hummus and was amazed at the flavour bomb of my secret ingredient. He guessed it immediately, and was like, “OMG it makes so much sense, why don’t we use it?!” He started doctoring his grandmother’s hummus by adding it in, but he will never tell her that for fear of death, lol.
Well...? Are you going to share or just tease?
I’m Chinese. In addition to tahini, I add sesame oil. Call it fusion if you want! :) Lebanese friend thought it was genius, lol.
Oh, I could totally see how that would work! Great idea.
Haha, I’m all about fusion cooking. Most of my dishes contain fish and oyster sauce as my arsenal of choice. I would probably make an Italian cry if they saw what I put in my ragu but who cares? Lol
A 50 year old friend said it was the best meal he ever had.
I made Thai food, and one of my fiancé's coworkers asked if I was from that region because what I packed for him looked and smelled like what his family makes
I made ribs for 4th of July while my wife and I were first dating. After one bite, she looks at me and just says “I love you”.. we now have “I love you” meals when dinner tastes so good all we can say is that
"This brought me back" My Italian grandfather died Spring 2017, pancreatic cancer. He felt too sick to do the Feast of the Seven Fishes for Xmas Eve 2016. My dad (his Xmas helper for the previous 25 years) and I made all the Xmas dishes to the best of our ability. Sante used to call his brothers at midnight on Xmas Eve (CST) so that they would get to talk to him right when Christmas started. Both his brothers had died years prior, and his wife died in 2011. So my dad and I are cooking a bunch of seafood, and my very sick grandpa starts inserting himself and swatting our hands. We get the bivalves out, then the shrimp, the the (blech) salt cod, then the crab, then the mackerel, finally the canned fish (we just randomly pick seven fishes, don't judge). He got up and about, then ate a bunch of food while bantering with his son, his son in law, and his grandson. He said it felt like he was back home as a kid on Ischia. "This brought me back."
No compliment per se, but people who don't get seconds, got seconds and thirds. Also my neighbor who likes to mess with me and give me "it was ok", immediately telling me this is a 5/5.
“I was expecting pizza. This is better than pizza!” This was heartily said by one of the guests. A friend asked me to cook the welcome meal for a nonprofit training future farmers in Central Texas. I immediately agreed as she’s a dear friend. Then she tells me there are dietary restrictions. The rest of the story is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/s/Wo2tvWzk54
That all looks amazing! 🖖
You need to make casseroles and sell them. You’re a great chef. I cook for all the holidays and usually have @30 people. Writing a cookbook at the moment. All original recipes and family recipes I am a knight of Columbus. So when we do dinners, usually bbq or fish. I make all the side dishes. And homemade desserts too
I made a Palestinian chicken dish for a family when I lived in Amman ( the wife was sick and we did a meal train for her so the family never met me). The husband had never met me and was convinced that I was a Palestinian octogenarian grandmother. I was a white American in my thirties and it was the first time I had made that dish. Not the last time tho!
Do you remember what it's called? I could use more chicken inspiration
I recently went through a few bins of my 15 year old son's school work. So many were "my mom makes me really good food every night." "My favorite dinner is..." I love my mom because she cooks such good food" He had a couple of friends spend the night and told them on the ride home that I would make such a good dinner for them. BBQ chicken, roasted corn on the cob and broccoli. Both boys said they would absolutely not eat broccoli, it was gross. All the chicken and corn were eaten and they wanted seconds of broccoli but I had cooked it all. One asked if I could go to the store and get more. Another is my egg-in-a-hole. He asked what seasoning I use because it is so good. It's just oil, salt, pepper, and butter. He was amazed it was just that. So simple but so good. He knows how to make it now :)
I guess my meatloaf is apparently the best. I had my non gay friend kiss me on the lips saying it's better than his mom's. Also my wife's mom say it's better than she ever had, and insisted I make it for her mom when she visited. Which I did, 100% puerto rican mother loves this white boys meatloaf haha
A Guatemalan woman told me “You don’t cook like white people!”
My neighbor usually asks what goodies I’m bringing her when I cook. She lives alone and doesn’t really cook for herself. She says I sometimes remind her of her childhood cooking from her family. My daughter asks if I experimented. Sometimes she add if it was a good experiment afterwards.
I owned a restaurant and cooked, my bolognese was the best bolognese ever. Lots of folks would tell me it was the best they ever had, I ALWAYS credited my first chef because he gave it to me.
Feel free to pass it onto us too. 😁
I don't believe any compliments I get I always think they are just trying to be nice
*Receiving* compliments sometimes takes a lot of work! But if you can get yourself to start believing even some of the compliments you get, it's pretty wonderful.
Today my boyfriend ate the cookies I burnt in the oven without me offering. He has been an outspoken denier of my baking for the last few years, so that was a lifetime highlight.
I invited a guy over for a home cooked meal and sexy times. Decided to make something from his childhood, something his mom would have made. He ate so much he could only unbutton his pants and groan, asked me to rub his belly. No sexy times were had that night.
it was my lasagna. Brought one over to a friend’s place. Said friend brought it to his work to share. Then I got to make about 20 more for some events over 2 months
Had a couple of friends over for dinner last night and one of them said the potatoes were the best she’s had in years. They were pretty damn good.
This past thanksgiving I hosted my husbands side of the family for the first time. Everything was good, but the highlight was actually the turkey. EVERYONE told me it was the best turkey they’ve ever had. As a person that never like the thanksgiving turkey, it was a big win.
It feels so good when you master the food item you never used to like! Especially when other people like your version too.
I'm as white as it gets. My wifes family is mostly Filipino. I've always loved pancit at the family gatherings etc and I have really nailed my own recipe down. All of her family loves it and they dubbed me an honorary Filipino based on my pancit😂. I am now in charge of making the pancit for any Filipino food gathering. I'll take that as a compliment.
The best compliments I’ve received have been for my pork green chili, of all things. I am a nurse in western Colorado and I made it for a pot luck at work. One of the docs who was a sous chef in New York before becoming a doctor (he’s had a wild life lmao) asked me for the recipe and complimented me on the great flavor. More importantly, one of my coworkers from New Mexico asked me where I am from because he couldn’t believe I wasn’t a New Mexico native with my mean green chili. My husband has also said, “you don’t even need teeth to eat this” in reference to how tender the pork becomes.
well... I've recieved one specific compliment about a turkey i made at christmas one year. A friend of my mom's was given some of the leftover bird the next day as a treat. apparently she's had bad experiences with turkey in the past... mostly dry white breast meat. Mine was the best she had ever had; as i love basting my bird between the skin and meat as it cooks... so basically extra moisture goes into the meat. otherwise it's basically any time I make something without a recipe... and just cook by taste and smell... adding spices and sauces on a whim without thinking about it. I call those the meals I could never replicate again, because I really wasn't paying attention. Just cooking on instinct. Anyone who's had one of these meals made by me is always impressed.
Tarragon chicken from my gf's daughter who didn't like me
My cooking turns vegetarians into meat eaters. My dumplings are famous within our friend circle. So when my vegetarian friends break their vegetarian diet just to try one of my dumplings (and have no regret doing so) I consider it a pretty big compliment. Missing out on my dumplings is worse than being vegetarian. I make vegetarian dumplings too.
Wanting 2nds
Someone getting seconds.
“This is the best white people food I’ve ever had”
I made Gen Tsos chicken for my mom and she said it was better than her favorite Chinese restaurant!
Christmas at my brother's house. SIL had made a delicious brown sugar glazed ham, which I complimented her on. My nephew told me later how happy SIL was with the compliment, because, "Coming from Auntie A, that's a real compliment because she's such an awesome cook!"
'Just cook whatever you want; I like everything you make'. From our fairly fussy young cousins who come to stay with us. It was a compliment,.but also just nice to hear I was expanding their horizons and helping them enjoy food
“Can you make this for my birthday?” i actually cried 🥹
I was staying with my bff and helping her out with her 2nd pregnancy. She had been vegetarian for years, but asked me to make her my chicken salad for lunch. Three days in a row. She was just tipping her toes into meat eating again. Then she asked me to make Beef Stroganoff. Granted she was so pregnant she was past her due date, but she asked me and that felt great. She also went into labour that night. ;)
Maybe 10 years or so ago, I made pancit. (Filipino noodle dish) I brought some to my grandma and my grand-aunt. My grandma was the biggest food critic. Imagine a Filipino Igor. If she didn’t like it, her face would let you know. When she tried it, she said “Tangina Sarap” (roughly translated from Tagalog) “F’ing A, this is delicious”. Best compliment ever!
When my mom was in home hospice, my sister & I asked her what she craved & we’d make it. One afternoon she said she wanted my pot roast. Not my elder sister’s (who is a great cook, by the way). Turned out to be her last meal before dying. I still feel privileged to have made it. Sis even said it was better than hers😝
You bake like a grandma 😂.
I’m a fireman—and fairly regular cook—at a large municipal department; about 700+ personnel, ~25 stations, etc… It’s not a competition by any means, but, I LOVE it when guys tell me I’m their favorite cook, or how much they look forward to working at my station in case it’s my turn to be in the pot. Always puts a smile on my face!
I made chili for my family and they all loved it. My mother said it was the best chili she’d ever had, and it seemed genuine but I thought at the time *maybe* she was also being nice and playing it up a little. Then a few months later I made it again, and brought a bowl up to my sister, who was studying late and hadn’t eaten yet. My mom, who had eaten something else for dinner an hour prior, smelled it then sheepishly looked at me and asked if she could have a tiny bowl of it as well. She was full from dinner but liked it so much she wanted a little for taste. Being able to properly cook for my mom is one of the greatest parts of becoming an adult, I think.
As a low-ranker at an acquaintance's Thanksgiving dinner at the local JCC (I am not American, have never been to the US and don't live there, for more context), we'd been assigned aubergine (eggplant) as the ingredient. Obvious choice: parmigiana di melanzane (NB - if this is not an obvious choice to an American with aubergine at Thanksgiving, I am sorry, but to me it seemed like the most celebratory dish I know made primarily of aubergine). At the end of the dinner, the director's wife, who organises the JCC's catering and teaches courses on Levantine cuisine, took home one dish of leftovers - what was left of my melanzane. I let her keep the IKEA dish it was made in, the silent compliment was worth the €10 to replace it.
Someone licking the plate
“I knew your wife could cook good food but this is a surprise”
P.S. fuck you, mark
Mark sucks.
they eat all of it, and want more. I have made vegan chocolate chips and no one could tell the difference from the regular recipe. I'm not vegan, I mostly wanted to prove to a vegan guy I know that vegan food can taste good. It's a standing joke between us. all I did was take the nestle recipe, replace butter with crisco, found vegan chocolate chips that taste good (harder than it sounds), and used egg replacer. though I think the egg replacer did nothing and made the cookies slightly bitter with a strange taste that it appears only I could taste.
For my cakes and desserts: "It's not too sweet."
“Mama’s bread is the freaking bomb!”
I brought my enchilada casserole to a potluck. A friend told me that woman he was with said that she was eating it slowly because she "didn't want it to end!"
My roommates gf told me my tacos tasted like her favorite tacos she grew up with in LA.
I had a very toxic breakup with a toxic ex and we both went no contact. She broke the no contact 6 months later to ask me to please make her my salmon and dill chowder. She also told me I should find a way to sell it
This is going to sound so lame. But when my kid is sick and he says he has to have my homemade chicken soup so he can feel better, it’s better than any compliment I’ve been given. As for regular compliments, I once overheard some people who had stayed at my house at the end of a foodie trip telling extended family that the best meal they had the whole vacation was the dinner I made them.
someone told me “the flavors are flavoring”
I brought a turkey that I had grilled on my Weber to a Christmas potluck at work. One of my coworkers, who used to be a pastry chef, took one look at the turkey and demanded to know, “Who brought this turkey? A Chinese person made this!”
I made my sister and her boyfriend steaks for her 30th. Promptly choked on my own steak, needed the heimlech. Her boyfriend, who saved me, joked “man these are really good, to die for”
I have people speak glowingly about dishes I served them years ago. A soup. A pasta. Fried chicken. A pie. One woman cried over a meal and still mentions it 5 years after we dined.
I enjoy making different cheesecakes. One Christmas my niece was eating a piece (it was a turtle cheesecake) and said it was better than The Cheesecake Factory’s cheesecake.
My daughters boyfriend came over and I made steak (filet) and he said it wasn’t just the best steak he’d ever had, but the best meal he had EVER had. Sure sure he’s dating my daughter but when I talked to his dad later he apparently took tons of pics and sent to him and asked him to start seasoning their food. Lol.
"Oooo child that's the best damn chicken I ever ate Fizz!"
“Well it’s not as burnt as last time”
Long ago, a friend who might have had a lot of LSD in their brain at the time tried my chocolate cake and ended up on the floor rubbing their knees together and moaning my name and "It's so good" over and over with tears running down their face
My coworker’s husband remembered my bruschetta pasta salad from the previous year’s company picnic, and got her to ask me to make it again. That was pretty nice.
My Thalapakatti Biryani passes the authenticity and spice level tests with my Indian friends.
My wife's family is very Italian. My FIL was born in Trieste and my MIL near Rome. When my wife and I just started dating my FIL told me that my lasagna reminded him of his grandmother's except mine was better.
Brought homemade caramel corn to work one day and for the rest of the week they called me the "crack corn dealer". I even ended up making a couple of batches for coworkers to take to parties they were going to (birthday parties /football game day get togethers)
I was in nursing school and at lunch time I microwaved my homemade chicken korma. A fellow student from Pakistan walked in and said It smelled like her mother's cooking. I told her what I made and told her what I put in it. She nodded as I listed each ingredient and said that was how her mom taught her to make korma. I'm a white dude from the Intermountain West, so I was pretty proud to have done that dish right.
Oooh this is yummy - me to myself ;)
“That’s the best meal I’ve ever eaten.”
“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” Apparently, I cook and bake better food than my husband’s coworkers’ wives.
I think all you guys should post the recipes of these fabulous dishes. My mouth is watering.
“I’m going to remember that meal for a long, long time.” A very appreciated compliment from my uncle after a multi-course Christmas dinner that took me a lot of time, effort, and cost. It made all of it feel worth it, because everyone enjoyed both the togetherness and the food so much.
A friend of mine who is turning 80 soon recently told me that some clams I cooked for him were "the best damn clams I've had in my entire life." That felt good.
Thanks for reminding me! It was my grandfather's smile as he asked for seconds.
It was probably this past Thanksgiving. I made my green bean casserole - a recipe I had just finally perfected - for a Friendsgiving and all of my friends went fucking bananas. Two girls, who were sisters, made a HUGE deal out of telling me how they only eat their grandma's GBC and no one else's, but they got seconds and thirds of mine and took some home. My favorite part is that it's been, what, 7 months? And one of the girls still tells everyone we work with how good mine is, and it's just my favorite thing.
"You're like a leftover savant."
When my mom told me, “this tastes so good I thought I cooked it.”
My ex, who was mixed, told me I didn't cook like a white guy. Most racist compliment I've ever gotten...
A young guy I work with likes the food I bring to our work potlucks so much he has started asking recipes from me and trying to learn how to cook so he can make them at home.
“Wow, your cheesecake turned out perfect!” Turns out it was beginners luck, but hey, I still hold onto that 😂
People having arguments about who gets my food. I also have a friend who is a born chef. He did attend culinary school eventually and worked professionally as a chef for several years—and then returned to IT because it pays a lot better—but even before he was trained, he was very talented. If HE tells me something I made is good, I can take that to the bank. No higher praise than that!
My son in law told me “I’ve been to a couple of 5 star restaurants and this is just as good as anything I had there”. I was so nervous as it was my first time cooking for my husband’s family, that made me feel much better lol
When my almost 5 year old gives me a thumbs up and says its good
I cooked a steak for a very wealthy person and he said he's never had a steak that tasted so good. He wasn't the type to blow smoke, which made me feel pretty good.
A Frenchman at the restaurant I worked at (in Portland, or) once told me he didn't trust my cooking until he tasted it, then he said I made him Bavette steak frites with bordelaise that was as good as he could get in paris.
Once I cooked Liver and Onions for my FIL (I really made pork chops and the liver and onions was a side dish so that my kids and I could sample it and just have the life experience). My FIL very sweetly said it was the "most inoffensive" liver he's ever tasted. It was equal parts hilarious and flattering. I plan to never coook/eat it again.
I have people tell me I should sell my baked items but the wildest thing was when I had some one actually argue over the last piece of my cake in the pan. Late husband and I went to a new years potluck around 15 years ago. I had to work that day so didn’t have a lot of time after work but I managed to put 2-3 dishes together. One of these was a mousse cake I had made the day before but was mostly whole and still looked good. I cut it to fit a smaller pan then covered it and we were off. I set my dishes with the others when we arrived and I cut the cake in pieces for ease of service. Every one that had it remarked how much they enjoyed it. When there was only a piece left the two daughters of the host started arguing over who was getting that last piece. One suddenly snatched the pan and dashed out the door! She went down the block to her house put the cake in her own container, washed my pan and smugly returned to the party. It happened to me and I still am awed. Maybe it was the new years libations 😂
"Damn!" With a little dance.
1: this reminds me of my moms cooking - said by someone from Taiwan. I’m a white dude who made wintermelon soup. The owner of a nearby guangdong bbq gave me the recipe and I made it for a Friendsgiving 🥹🥹 2: them going for seconds, and an empty plate
I used to cook for a local elderly woman just to help her out cause I knew she wasn't eating well. She had money but with her health issues she didn't care for boring food. She tried to get me to open a restaurant where she invested everything but we split ownership. I've been around the business enough to know I wasn't interested in that life even if it was a sweet offer. When her heart was failing and she was in a hospice house she only requested that I bring her an orecchietti pasta dish that I made her before. She ate it even though she was refusing other food, gave me a hug and an I love you, and it was the last time I saw her. That was the last meal she ate and her desiring it at that moment was the biggest compliment. Food, at its best, is pure care and love for people. It helps tie us all together.
I run the kitchen at a bar and grill a couple of my creations ended up on the menu. My absolute favorite though is when I made a cheeseburger for a guy and yes he was intoxicated but when I came by to pre bus, he handed me a $20 and loudly proclaimed that it was the best burger he’d ever had and that if he were gay or a woman, he’d blow me like a screen door in a tornado
"It was a religious experience."
"marry me again!"
I made puerco pibil for me mexican friends. One of them bit into it, his eyes lit up, and he said it was exactly how his grandma made it.
When picky toddlers actually eat my food. My nuggets-only nephew really liked some cinnamon twist bread I made that he kept stealing slices. And his little friend ate the smoked gouda mac and cheese I made for Thanksgiving. If I can get a toddler to eat something of mine, that's a huge victory.
My husband tells me I am a better cook than my mom (who is a great cook). My Father In Love will say "Good cook Delores" (there is a story there). I am not a Delores.
Someone saying, I grew up my entire life with barbecue and I don’t like barbecue but your pulled chicken barbecue is the best I’ve had in my life Thank you, America’s test kitchen and some other tricks that I learned going along the way
I never thought that I would like (pork chops for my husband, chicken breast for me ), but I can’t stop eating this! Also, when our kids (currently 6&4) have loudly rejected something new, only to end up asking for thirds after actually eating some. Yeah, thought so
You cook pretty good, for a white woman. From the Mexican ladies I work with.