Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

The magic dust your kitchen is missing

The case for ranch packets, gravy mixes and other underestimated flavor builders

Published June 2, 2026 10:30AM (EDT)

A version of this essay first appeared in The Bite, Salon's food newsletter. Sign up for early access to articles like this, plus recipes, food-related pop culture recommendations and conversations about what we're eating, how and why.

There is a very specific stage in any hobby where you become, if not insufferable, then at least a little susceptible to insufferability.

You learn enough to know what you’re talking about, but not yet enough to understand that there are many ways to arrive at a delicious outcome.

For me, this phase arrived (fortunately or unfortunately) in my early twenties. I had opinions. Lots of them. I learned to pronounce things correctly. I bought a knife roll that was more expensive than any of the knives inside it. I spent my weekends making elaborate hangover food that required three pans and a homemade aioli. If a recipe offered a shortcut, I generally regarded it with suspicion.

This, in retrospect, is a perfectly normal stage of development. Most hobbies have an equivalent. The newly serious film buff suddenly refuses to watch anything with subtitles turned off. The amateur wine enthusiast learns to pronounce “gewürztraminer” and cannot resist doing so. The novice cook decides every condiment ought to be made from scratch.

To be clear, some of this is useful. Learning technique matters. Making a roux from scratch teaches you something. So does whisking together a........

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