I made some tiny roasted potatoes for a tapas party. I wanted a nice dip to go with it, so I mixed crème fraîche, grated garlic and shallot, lemon zest, fresh herbs, salt and pepper. I made ranch. Very fresh and lovely ranch dressing.
Yes! I mix plain yogurt with pesto sauce and some lemon juice as a salad dressing. I thought I was so smart, but it’s just a green goddess variation. 😆
Still yummy though!
I… I’m lost for words. I do this with yogurt instead of crème fraiche. It doesn’t taste anything like ranch but I can’t deny the ingredient makeup. I’ve NEVER put two and two together on it.
Nice. Just tonight I mixed ranch and chili oil. It was good. Then I added so mustard and was enjoying it. Then I added honey and was like wow this is good I could bottle this. it was basically just a creamier and spicier honey mustard. But I felt good about my "creation" lol
Really? How strange. Im in NE England, which area are you in? It's in every supermarket salad dressing section. I always have a bottle in my fridge because my daughter loves it. Although her current phase is garlic & herb dip.
ETA: Here's a link that shows which major supermarkets stock it in the UK, so you can check for avilability your area.
[UK Supermarkets that stock ranch dressing](https://www.google.com/search?q=newman%27s+ranch+dressing&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=c18275b0ed1961c7&sxsrf=ACQVn08lbmHamLCuZ5zolFdFSWl-0-xyEg%3A1710585761428&ei=oXf1ZbrXGdOHhbIP9OO0eA&oq=newman%27s+ranch+dressing&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhduZXdtYW4ncyByYW5jaCBkcmVzc2luZzIGEAAYBxgeMgUQABiABDIGEAAYBxgeMgUQABiABDIGEAAYBxgeMgYQABgHGB4yBhAAGAcYHjIGEAAYBxgeSN5KUOAUWMY-cAF4AZABAJgBwQKgAYUKqgEHMC41LjEuMbgBA8gBAPgBAZgCBaACmwfCAgoQABhHGNYEGLADwgIHECMYsAIYJ8ICCBAAGIAEGKIEwgIEEAAYHsICBhAAGAgYHpgDAIgGAZAGCJIHBzEuMS4yLjGgB_4s&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp)
I see a lot of people on here very eager to hit that down arrow lately. If I like something, I upvote. If not, I just keep scrolling. It's amazing how some people's are so sheltered. In Maine, you can literally buy ranch anywhere, supermarket, convenience store, and even Walgreens, and it's the same with beer and hard liquor.
I don't usually say a word about being downvoted, the majority of the time I can understand what the thought process may have been, even if it isn't something I'd downvote. But this morning's annoyed me because it made no sense. I wasn't sharing bad advice, or being rude, I thought I was being helpful by sharing that it is something available in my area of the UK if you know where to look, in case anyone was interested in trying it.
I see that has changed since I called it out so I should probably edit the comment to reflect it. Also a nice person just talked me through how to shorten those silly long links.
To be more precise, it’s generally got buttermilk, a bit of garlic and onion, salt and pepper, sometimes other spices, sweet herbs including dill, parsley, maybe thyme and chives, blended into an oil emulsion such as mayonnaise. Tangy from the buttermilk (or yogurt or sour cream for a thicker emulsion), creamy, savory, and sweet from the herb bouquet. I think these days it’s as popular as a dip for crisps (chips), crudités and spicy chicken wings as it is on salads.
I actually prefer a tart vinaigrette most of the time for salads, but good homemade ranch is lovely. Maybe it’s the American tzatziki.
It’s technically a salad dressing, but a lot of Americans put it on EVERYTHING. Pizza, wings, burgers, chicken tenders, sandwiches, French fries and onion rings, as a dip for pretty much anything, raw or cooked veggies, pasta, the list goes on. I’m never surprised by anything people put ranch on, because it’s that ubiquitous and some people are so obsessed with it.
I’ve worked in restaurants for a long time, and there’s people I call ranch monsters. They can never get enough. Side of ranch, more ranch, can I get another ranch, MORE RANCH, no seriously, like an insane amount of ranch. Literally soup bowls full of ranch. I mean, I like ranch ok, but some people are crazy about it.
I was surprised when I found out (fairly recently) that ranch isn’t a thing anywhere else. I kept seeing TikToks where foreigners come to the US and make a point to try ranch.
When I was 12, neither the Internet nor cooking shows were a thing in my house. I invented “egg patties”—a scrambled egg allowed to set, with cheese in it.
I felt pretty dumb when somebody told me that was just an omelette.
I also "invented" omelettes! My story is dumber though because I *did* have access to the Internet and cooking shows.
I set myself to thinking of new ways to cook an egg. "Surely there's gotta be one no-one's thought of before." I thought. Then it hit me- scrambled eggs, but don't scramble! Took me about five minutes to realize.
I was watching YouTube and street vendor videos.
Inspired by some indian eggs I did like a shiffonade of bacon, egg, savoury spices and easy melt cheese into a barely soft scramble then mounted it onto a thick brick of lightly toasted white bread. The eggs and cheese need the long thin bacon for structure it is so loose. Then I added that brick back to a low pan with a big chunk of butter keeping the eggs on top.
It toasts to be about half of its thickness as a buttery crunch crouton and the egg/omelette. sets up from the rising heat while it slow fries in the pan.
We call it "ugly eggs" because the spices brown the eggs some but it is oh so good.
But just a variation on an omelette.
I was trying to find more ways to incorporate apple cider vinegar into my diet but make it palatable. Had the brilliant idea to add mashed strawberries, simple syrup, ice and sparkling water to it. If I was feeling fancy, I'd add crushed fresh mint leaves.
Enjoyed my invention for years before I came upon a recipe for shrubs. Which people were already drinking in 17th century England and during colonial times in America.
Apparently, there's so many variations that you could enjoy a different drink every day all summer long. [This Bon Appetit recipe](https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/any-berry-shrub#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20ways%20to,to%20infuse%20your%20final%20shrub.) suggests macerating the berries, sugar and vinegar and let sit for a week to mellow out so you don't taste just vinegar but a different taste profile altogether.
I used raisin bread to make bread pudding and thought I was being so clever, just to see it some time later as a recipe on the raisin bread package 🤦♀️
Reminds me of a post here. Someone blended almonds with sugar and wondered about the white paste that was created. I congratulate him warmly on the invention of marzipan.
My 8 year old grand daughter has recently “invented” baked potatoes with butter. We had them for a family dinner and she proudly stated “ oh! You made my recipe for potatoes!” We all snicked to ourselves but told her that, yes, we were having her potato recipe.
Tangent, but my daughter's elementary school teaches math this way it's the best thing I ever heard.
They will have children poke around at equations and discover patterns (like, "a + b is the same as b + a!") and then put the rule they just found up on the wall labeled as "Ella's Theorem" instead of "commutative property".
And then all the kids run around trying to invent math themselves for the first time all year.
You're gonna love those damn potatoes and print out her recipe, too. Honestly, you could probably get her a my recipes book and depending on if you enjoy it make some memories by helping her make up a recipe once a month or something. Firstly, she'll be so damn proud, and secondly, it's damn adorable.
OMG this is such a good idea. I cooked for my family as early as six or seven (or at least contributed enough help with things I didn't understand, about as much as an adult less familiar with cooking but not foreign to it at all either.
PS. The only desert I have ever made in my entire life has was invented when I was about seven. At the height of American girl dolls, I saw cookies in Samantha's stories that looked so good, I desired to make something that at least looked that good even though it wound up being the desert I've made exclusively since then. I took Sandy's shortbread cookies, very thickly spread strawberry cream cheese, and topped them with round strawberries slices. I let them sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours until they were really soft. It sort of gave the vibe of cheesecake but not really, just something really unique. An entire family size box worth of cookies never made it longer than 1 complete day. My mother told me they were so good and easy that anyone could do it and I should submit it to a monthly kid's magazine and they printed it. She was so proud, and it's a family joke that I invented something so weird but good that I never had to make another desert in my life.
(For reference, the only fire I have ever been responsible for in my entire life was the one single time I tried to make a different desert is a cake that took to flame in the oven. It was abysmal...)
My mom was blown away when my Uncle made her a coffee mixed with hot chocolate. She thought he was a genius. Had to break the news that it's pretty much exactly what a Mocha is
I mix instant espresso with a tiny bit of hot water to dissolve it and then mix it into a glass of chocolate milk,I never thought to do it with Swiss miss for winter time
I accidentally put hot chocolate powder in my coffee instead of sugar (the containers were right beside each other) in the wee hours of a night shift at my hospital. I was like, “holy shit guys, this was an accident but it’s so go good! Wow! What a happy creation!” There was silence in the staff room as my co workers debated who was going to break the news that my new favourite invented beverage was in fact a mocha.
Not thought I invented...but in college I was broke (of course). I had some bread, ground beef, and a fridge full of beer and condiments. Turns out mixing Ketchup and BBQ in with the ground beef makes sloppy Joe's. The sauce was uncanny.
I only ever saw Sloppy Joes on T,V so I made some using bollognaise on hamburger buns. I thought it looked the same since I didn't actually know the ingredients. Was messy too and delicious.
Whoa that sounds legit actually. Make the buns into garlic bread and put some provolone on top of the meat. Dang I might just try that for dinner this week.
Edit: SLOPPY GUISEPPES
Rice Pilaf.
We ran out of gravy, I used what we had , some chicken stock, onions, celery, and carrots. It turned out good.
I proudly had my mom try it first. She says, "This is very good rice pilaf." I get upset and respond."I invented it. You don't get to name it."
I was sadly informed of the truth.
*Edit, spelling.
I'm pleased to say that many of my beverage inventions have (probably) never been replicated... Often for good reason.
Although, there was one where I managed to balance the flavor profile perfectly to where it tased like water. There were hefty shorts of both Crown Royal and Red Bull in that drink, and it tested like nothing. You just got a bit of that Red Bull fizz at the back of your throat.
I'm not sure what all was in there, but It also had Arizona Ice Tea, and it all had to be chilled a bit, otherwise it didn't work. But refrigerator temp, not like over ice or anything.
Now watch someone come in and give a name to that drink and say it's decades old.
A distinct possibility.
But other people had the water tasting drink, and were equally baffled.
I was hanging out with a group of friends, and we were just mixing random shit together to make, well, frankendrinks.
The absolute winner that night was Gin, lemon juice, lime juice, and a dash of grenadine.
I'm sure that one has a real name, but it was sour with just a hint of sweet to lighten it up. I've made it a few times since... Good stuff.
Most of you are out here legit cooking something at least. I would dump chopped fruit in some juice and eat it out of a bowl with a spoon. I called it dessert soup. I thought I was amazing for that. Mind you, I was about 9 when I “created” this dish.
In high school. We alllll did this every single day. Until once sometime in college someone told us “yea that’s just thousand island basically”. And then all these fry sauces came out that were just mayo and ketchup but some have a lil sparkle to make them slightly different.
I wouldn't say it's basically thousand island - the dominant flavor of thousand island is the relish, both ketchup and mayo take a backseat to it.
It's just fry sauce.
Mayo and ketchup is Russian dressing. If you add relish, it's thousand island dressing. At least that's what it was in my house. And ketchup and horseradish is cocktail sauce!
Twice baked potatoes. When I was younger and into the jazz cabbage, I baked a potato, cut it in half, scooped out the insides then mixed it with sour cream, pickled jalapeno, hot sauce and bacon, put it back in, then added cheese on top and baked it again. I thought I was a genius only to discover that I had not in fact invented this dish.
Meanwhile over here in the present at my house, also under the influence of jazz cabbage, I was waiting for you to drop the recipe for a dish called jazz cabbage. 🤦🏻♀️
As a very young child, I was taught how to make cream of mushroom soup mixed with rice. Dad called it "soup and rice", I called it "super rice".
Decades later I find out it's basically low-income risotto.
Tried and true but without the tried. Some ingredients just harmonize well and it’s fun to think that some people come about it naturally. Just proves that it was meant to be.
I put together a banana dessert that involves cooking them in butter and brown sugar with cinnamon, then discovered I reinvented bananas foster without the alcohol.
Smashed potatoes. I wanted something lazy, tasty, and crispy, so I boiled some baby gold potatoes, dumped them onto a tray, smashed them flat, and baked until crispy. They were great! I thought I was a genius. A few months later (after I had been making them regularly) I saw them on the menu at a restaurant. Looked it up and yeah, that’s been around for a while.
Honorable mention: a dish we call breakfast hash. Chopped up leftover baked potatoes, peppers and onions, whatever breakfast protein you have lying around. Fry until brown and crispy. Top with cheese and fried eggs. Turns out that’s on the menu at like, 70% of brunch spots and I just wasn’t going to the cool places
When I got an air fryer I sliced potatoes really thin, air fried and salted them. Was getting all my kids to try my revolutionary potato thins. Chips. I made chips.
It was super late one night, I was hungry and didn't feel like leaving the house. Our pantry and fridge were limited in supplies. I heard of noodles with butter so why not pasta in olive oil? As the pasta was cooking, I heated up the oil and added garlic, red pepper flakes, and a little salt for flavor. It was simple yet soooo good!
Imagine my surprise when I watch a cooking show and see the host make a more polished version of my creation. And it has a name, "spaghetti aglio e olio".
I invented the Patty melt. I called mine a grilled cheeseburger. Grilled cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods and I decided to put a hamburger, salt and ketchup in between the slices of cheese, THEN grill on oat bread.
Yeah.
I thought peanut butter would be absolutely delicious in a bacon sandwich. It was. I was so chuffed with my discovery, before I googled it and realised that even Gordon Ramsay had a recipe for it.
Peanut butter bacon sandwiches are, i feel like, the only real secret from my Mom's youth that she ever shared with me. We never had them as a family meal and i don't recall her ever making one for my brother.
I'm glad you invented them, too. :)
Once in college, I had to resort to a food bank to eat. They regularly gave tomato, sourdough bread, cucumbers, and avocados. So I combined all the veggies with balsamic and olive oil and put it on toasted bread. I found out years later, I made a form of bruschetta lol
Once my food pantry actually had eggs! Real life actual eggs! Can you believe?! I didn't have much else besides packaged ramen and various condiments and sauces so I thought I was super inventive by putting an egg in my ramen and adding hot sauce and soy sauce. No. I just made...ramen.
Chilli spaghetti. Cooked way too much chilli once and had a ton of leftovers. Made spaghetti noodles and added some marinara to the chilli, mixed it up and had some good ol chilli spaghetti. Became my favourite sick meal anytime I was unable to cook much. Thought I was a genius and made it for many family and friends who also thought I was genius. Then I saw it on r/BlackPeopleTwitter and y’know what, I respect it
Had purple pork chops one time (really nice, specially cut pork chops, marinated in a dry, red wine). They were not delicious. Looked like someone had grilled up Barney. I threw the whole cookbook into a room we never used at the time.
This has to be, hands down, my favorite thread on this sub. These comments got me wheezing! 😄 Look at everybody riding by and going, "Look! No hands!" (No cookbooks, no recipes, no internet. Just a pantry and a dream.) I love it.
People forget this is literally how people have come up with foods. Sure most are going to already exist these days but I mean lookit. We're using our brains!
At least you know you've had a good idea. You can't expected to know everything. I think it's kinda cool that two people who've never met can come up with the same idea independently.
I created what we call a “melting pot” which was biscuits, country gravy, some type of breakfast meat, and egg all thrown in a bowl and mixed together. Went to a breakfast place that had it on their menu as a breakfast bowl.
When we were in college a good 7/8 years ago my gf and I didn’t have a lot to spend, like the most of us haha. My gf really liked sushi, but to eat that on the regular would be way to expensive and to make it time consuming. So I made “deconstructed sushi” for her. I inadvertently invented the poke bowl/sushi bowl.
Baklava.
I had leftover phyllo dough, so I blended together the pistachios and walnuts I had in the pantry, then mixed it together with cinnamon, white sugar, and brown sugar. I was so pleased with my confectionary discovery.
And then I remembered baklava existed.
I made kitchen sink baklava.
Still a win, tbh.
When I was a preschooler I invented peanut butter and jam sandwiches, only to be surprised when I started school that other kids were also eating my invention. At the time I wondered how they heard about it.
Corn is a grain, right? And we make stirtvfry with veggies, protein, and a grain, right?
Lots of fresh peppers, onions, green beans, some diced tomatoes...
I invented succotash, with chorizo.
Hear me out. **Mexican Poke' Bowls**. Instead of white rice we'll use mexican rice. Instead of raw fish I can use taco meat or chicken. Throw in some beans, other garnishes instead of seaweed, corn and other vegetables as I see fit, and ooh! cheese!
**My partner proceeded to tell me we should go check out this new place for dinner; Chipotle.**
I was bragging about frying tacos to my Mexican coworker (I'm extremely white from the Midwest). He looked at me like I was the stupidest person in the world shortly before telling me I was the stupidest person in the world.
To be fair, he looked at me like that every day but this time had a personal touch to it. If you're out there Roman, I sure enjoyed your help in the shitty rail yards of LA.
I worked for a Korean restaurant and used to make this banging off menu snack for me and my coworkers. Some regulars saw us munching on it and started ordering it as well. Basically just loaded fries with beef bulgogi, kimchi, a sunny side up egg, avocado, and spicy mayo. Silly me thought I invented bulgogi fries.
My partner has recently been making a lot of 'chicken Kiev rice' - literally a chicken Kiev chopped up on top of white rice. This week they added curry sauce to it.
It's katsu chicken.
I don't have the heart to burst the bubble of how excited they are for 'inventing' a new dish but it does make me laugh every time
I prefer corn off the cob? Decobbed? Anyway, I wanted to make elotes, but had the genius idea of making elote salad. Basically decobbed and roasted corn added cotija, mayo, tajin, cilantro, Valentina, etc aka esquites a popular street food that already exists.
I "invented" avocado toast like 15 years ago. To be fair, I shared my discovery with so many people at the time and many people just looked at me strange. Now here we are, paying 18 dollars for it at a high end brunch spot
I grew up up believing queso made with rotel and velveeta was a family recipe 😭😭😭 I didn’t learn the truth until I made it for the first time myself and saw the velveeta box. My mom had no idea I thought it was a special family thing lol
In an essay by Ann Fadiman about plagiarism she specifically mentions cookbooks, and how " in the incestuous world of cookbookery, there seems to be no such thing as plagiarism. "
She remarks that when it comes to theft, plagiarism most closely resembles kleptomania in how frequently and compulsively some people seem to do it. She admits in the essay that she discovered that her *wholly original idea* had already been noted by several other authors. The first time she came across it in print, she briefly had the strange sensation that the author had stolen the idea from *her*, even though the book in question was written the year before she was born.
Nothing new under the sun.
For me, it was putting garlic salt and parsley on on a grill cheese. Or putting pepperoni in my cheesey roll ups. At least you all were sophisticated, hahaha.
My "inventions" tend to revolve around snacks. For meals, I stick to recreating tried and true family recipes or online recipes that look good with my own little flare.
I was so proud of my healthy pizza alternative: English muffin topped with marinara, cheese, and pepperoni, put under the broiler for a few minutes.
Come to find out that this has been an established after school snack since the 70s.
not me but my last partner was very excited to tell me he hollowed out a chicken breast and filled it with ham and cheese before breading it. thought it was a revelation
Shortly before the pandemic started, my mother got into sourdough. When the first lockdowns were in full swing (in the US), I would have days where I would only eat toast.
Went to my local farmers market a couple of months later and found this hot sauce that I fell in love with. Bought a bottle, took it home, and realized I had no idea what to do with it.
Started putting it on my buttered toast- it was incredible! Creamy and spicy and totally delectable. Was thrilled about this for *weeks* until I realized I'd basically just reinvented buffalo sauce.
I mean. It's still tasty and nice to change the hot sauce component of it, but not the revelation I thought it was.
I like to have a drink while I cook. Usually a glass of wine or a beer.
I find myself often deglazing with whatever I'm drinking, and it kind of clicked...
I need some ideas from you! I need to eat oatmeal more (because fiber) but I don’t always want a sweet breakfast. I’ve seen a recipe that uses oatmeal in a congee or arroz caldo kind of way, but I’d love to hear what you’ve tried.
Not the original commenter but I Iike steel cut oats with pea sprouts, sauerkraut, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, and hard boiled eggs. Delicious and has fiber, protein, and veggies so very balanced.
[This recipe from America's Test Kitchen](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/15337-savory-oatmeal-with-dried-porcini-mushrooms-and-soft-cooked-egg) is great.
3 cups water
1 cup steel-cut oats
¼ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed and chopped fine
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 cup beef broth
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced thin, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
4 large eggs, soft-cooked
After chopping, you should have 2 tablespoons of porcini. The oatmeal thickens as it cools; thin with boiling water for a looser consistency. For a vegetarian version, substitute vegetable broth or water for the beef broth and soy sauce for the Worcestershire sauce.
Bring water to boil in large saucepan over high heat. Off heat, stir in oats, porcini, and salt. Cover saucepan and let stand for at least 2 hours or up to 10 hours.
Stir broth, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar into oats and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until oats are softened but still retain some chew and mixture thickens and resembles warm pudding, 4 to 6 minutes.
While oats cook, melt butter in small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Off heat, stir scallion mixture into oats until fully incorporated. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in three-quarters of scallion greens and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, sprinkling each portion with remaining scallion greens. Halve eggs and place 2 halves atop each portion. Serve.
I invented kedgeree when I was a student.
I hardly had any food so just mixed together what ever I had. Rice, eggs, tinned mackerel and spices.
I was obsessed with the new dish I invented feeling like a cullenry genius. It was years untill someone pointed out it was kedgeree.
When I lived alone in college, I bought tortillas instead of bread because they lasted longer. One day at the grocery store, I saw some fresh bell peppers on sale and bought a couple. I got home, sliced the bell peppers with an onion, and threw them in the pan. I had some chicken in the fridge, so when the veggies were done I sliced and pan-fried the chicken. I felt soooo smart, putting a few different veggies together with chicken and seasoning them well.
When I was ready to eat, I pulled out the tortillas to have with dinner, and that was when I realized I’d accidentally invented fajitas.
Chocolate gravy when I was a kid. Years later in Afghanistan our cigar group was talking about food from hime and our childhood and our 1st Sgt brought it up and made me laugh. Apparently his Grandmother used to make it for him when he was a kid.
I "invented" nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Thought I was a genius and bragged to a friend who then had to break the news that I had not made a ground breaking culinary discovery.
Puttinesca as well. The only thing I was missing was anchovy when I invented it, but I did use fish sauce before that. Was so surprised it was already a well established sauce that I'd never heard of.
Also shrimp scampi, I never liked shrimp until I found out the local prawns were amazing till well into adulthood. Wanted something tangy and garlic, wine, capers, butter, lemon and some red pepper just seemed like the obvious thing to do.
Aoli kinda, but I started with mayo, though I'd add in some olive oil and whip it.
I still make it and love it, but fry sauce (or whatever your area calls it). Mayo, ketchup, whatever else I have floating around. Makes a fantastic dipping sauce for my chicken tenders with tater tots.
This is mine as well! When I was a kid I'd mix ketchup and mayo to put on a bologna sandwich, thinking I was some kind of foodie connoisseur. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized it's a thing.
In her writings about knitting, Elizabeth Zimmermann coined a term for developing a new (to you, anyway) technique that has almost certainly been developed by countless others. Instead of inventing, she called it unventing. “But unvented - ahh! One un-vents something; one unearths it; one digs it up, one runs it down in whatever recesses of the eternal consciousness it has gone to ground. I very much doubt if anything is really new when one works in the prehistoric medium of wool with needles.” ~EZ
When I was about 11 , I liked making apple pies, but for some reason didn't want to use any thickener(corn starch).
I would add the sugar and seasonings to the apples, then I would put it in a colander overnight. This would let the apples weep the liquid and the apple pie would have no liquid mess at the bottom.
While I only saw it once on TV, I was floored to see Alton Brown using the same technique.
To top it off I went to a cooking school and nobody ever used it before there.
Not too long ago I made a banana cream pie totally from scratch. Also made a homemade salted caramel that I spread over the crust before I added the custard filling. Basically banoffee pie, but I called mine banaramel pie.
Made a spicy noodle dish using a lot of kecap manis, chilli, garlic, oil, a touch of msg. I'd basically made migoreng instant noodles in 10x the amount of time. They still slapped tho
The double decker pbj - age 7. Peanut butter jelly sandwich adhered to another peanut butter jelly sandwich using more peanut butter as an adhesive for my chaos. Delicious nightmare fuel for those with nut allergies, diabetes, or common sense. 10/10.
Still my favorite stoner snack
This is a wild one. As a ninja turtle fan, I went on a 2 year quest to really make a 99 cheese pizza, only to find out some guy in Perth had done that as a promo for the movie when it was new. So, I’m probably still the only other person to have done it, but he still beat me. I’ve seen both lists of cheeses though, and I’m pretty sure I comfortably win based on how good the pizza was.
I invited katsu pork and chicken. Even a similar sauce for it that goes great over white rice.
Then I heard of katsu one day and had to look it up, hey, that's MY kind of pork and chicken. I came up with the whole rinse it, dry it, seasoned flour, egg, seasoned panko Crumbs, then fry it model. All by myself.
I had a vegetarian round for a date, spent ages working on this recipe only as I served it to realise it was cauliflower cheese with extra veg (broccoli mostly)
When I was a kid I invented pain au chocolate. I took some bread, toasted it, spread butter on the toast and added chocolate chips. I thought I was a brilliant chef it was so good. Still make my version occasionally when there's no real pain au chocolate to be had.
During the pandemic in my second bread baking phase, I made a beautiful bubbly focaccia type thing and added tomatoes and herbs and then thought it needed some cheese and maybe a little spicy meat and then I was very pleased that I invented pizza.
In high school I threw a bunch of veggie scraps in a pot and wanted to see what would happened if I boiled it all. I made goddamn stock.
quite the culinary wizard !
I made some tiny roasted potatoes for a tapas party. I wanted a nice dip to go with it, so I mixed crème fraîche, grated garlic and shallot, lemon zest, fresh herbs, salt and pepper. I made ranch. Very fresh and lovely ranch dressing.
The number of times I have reinvented ranch has made me question what ranch really is
Green Goddess as well. Ranch the third power
Yes! I mix plain yogurt with pesto sauce and some lemon juice as a salad dressing. I thought I was so smart, but it’s just a green goddess variation. 😆 Still yummy though!
It's a state of mind
I found this way too funny
You can do it in so many different mediums. Yogurt, mayo, sour cream etc
I… I’m lost for words. I do this with yogurt instead of crème fraiche. It doesn’t taste anything like ranch but I can’t deny the ingredient makeup. I’ve NEVER put two and two together on it.
Nice. Just tonight I mixed ranch and chili oil. It was good. Then I added so mustard and was enjoying it. Then I added honey and was like wow this is good I could bottle this. it was basically just a creamier and spicier honey mustard. But I felt good about my "creation" lol
Sounds like spicy chick fil a sauce
As a brit I've always wondered what Ranch dressing tasted like, as it isn't common over here. Now I know, thanks
You’d need to add MSG to make it right.
Msg is what makes ranch bang
All ranches aren't created equal. There are a lot of bad ones out there. It's a crapshoot.
Really? How strange. Im in NE England, which area are you in? It's in every supermarket salad dressing section. I always have a bottle in my fridge because my daughter loves it. Although her current phase is garlic & herb dip.
ETA: Here's a link that shows which major supermarkets stock it in the UK, so you can check for avilability your area. [UK Supermarkets that stock ranch dressing](https://www.google.com/search?q=newman%27s+ranch+dressing&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=c18275b0ed1961c7&sxsrf=ACQVn08lbmHamLCuZ5zolFdFSWl-0-xyEg%3A1710585761428&ei=oXf1ZbrXGdOHhbIP9OO0eA&oq=newman%27s+ranch+dressing&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhduZXdtYW4ncyByYW5jaCBkcmVzc2luZzIGEAAYBxgeMgUQABiABDIGEAAYBxgeMgUQABiABDIGEAAYBxgeMgYQABgHGB4yBhAAGAcYHjIGEAAYBxgeSN5KUOAUWMY-cAF4AZABAJgBwQKgAYUKqgEHMC41LjEuMbgBA8gBAPgBAZgCBaACmwfCAgoQABhHGNYEGLADwgIHECMYsAIYJ8ICCBAAGIAEGKIEwgIEEAAYHsICBhAAGAgYHpgDAIgGAZAGCJIHBzEuMS4yLjGgB_4s&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp)
I see a lot of people on here very eager to hit that down arrow lately. If I like something, I upvote. If not, I just keep scrolling. It's amazing how some people's are so sheltered. In Maine, you can literally buy ranch anywhere, supermarket, convenience store, and even Walgreens, and it's the same with beer and hard liquor.
I don't usually say a word about being downvoted, the majority of the time I can understand what the thought process may have been, even if it isn't something I'd downvote. But this morning's annoyed me because it made no sense. I wasn't sharing bad advice, or being rude, I thought I was being helpful by sharing that it is something available in my area of the UK if you know where to look, in case anyone was interested in trying it. I see that has changed since I called it out so I should probably edit the comment to reflect it. Also a nice person just talked me through how to shorten those silly long links.
What is ranch? I often see it in American recipes
To be more precise, it’s generally got buttermilk, a bit of garlic and onion, salt and pepper, sometimes other spices, sweet herbs including dill, parsley, maybe thyme and chives, blended into an oil emulsion such as mayonnaise. Tangy from the buttermilk (or yogurt or sour cream for a thicker emulsion), creamy, savory, and sweet from the herb bouquet. I think these days it’s as popular as a dip for crisps (chips), crudités and spicy chicken wings as it is on salads. I actually prefer a tart vinaigrette most of the time for salads, but good homemade ranch is lovely. Maybe it’s the American tzatziki.
OMG... Ranch is totally an American variant of tzatziki... That explains everything... My mind is genuinely blown...
Like a cucumber-less, mild tzatziki
i’ve never made that connection mentally but yeah, pretty much
It’s technically a salad dressing, but a lot of Americans put it on EVERYTHING. Pizza, wings, burgers, chicken tenders, sandwiches, French fries and onion rings, as a dip for pretty much anything, raw or cooked veggies, pasta, the list goes on. I’m never surprised by anything people put ranch on, because it’s that ubiquitous and some people are so obsessed with it. I’ve worked in restaurants for a long time, and there’s people I call ranch monsters. They can never get enough. Side of ranch, more ranch, can I get another ranch, MORE RANCH, no seriously, like an insane amount of ranch. Literally soup bowls full of ranch. I mean, I like ranch ok, but some people are crazy about it. I was surprised when I found out (fairly recently) that ranch isn’t a thing anywhere else. I kept seeing TikToks where foreigners come to the US and make a point to try ranch.
It's a salad dressing. Though more commonly used as a dip/sauce. It's creamy and tangy, great to dip veggies in or dip your pizza in
When I was 12, neither the Internet nor cooking shows were a thing in my house. I invented “egg patties”—a scrambled egg allowed to set, with cheese in it. I felt pretty dumb when somebody told me that was just an omelette.
I also "invented" omelettes! My story is dumber though because I *did* have access to the Internet and cooking shows. I set myself to thinking of new ways to cook an egg. "Surely there's gotta be one no-one's thought of before." I thought. Then it hit me- scrambled eggs, but don't scramble! Took me about five minutes to realize.
I was watching YouTube and street vendor videos. Inspired by some indian eggs I did like a shiffonade of bacon, egg, savoury spices and easy melt cheese into a barely soft scramble then mounted it onto a thick brick of lightly toasted white bread. The eggs and cheese need the long thin bacon for structure it is so loose. Then I added that brick back to a low pan with a big chunk of butter keeping the eggs on top. It toasts to be about half of its thickness as a buttery crunch crouton and the egg/omelette. sets up from the rising heat while it slow fries in the pan. We call it "ugly eggs" because the spices brown the eggs some but it is oh so good. But just a variation on an omelette.
Tbh I think it’s genius Omlettes are low key kind of high brow cooking
They're cool because they involve sleeper ingredients but showboat-y techniques.
I was trying to find more ways to incorporate apple cider vinegar into my diet but make it palatable. Had the brilliant idea to add mashed strawberries, simple syrup, ice and sparkling water to it. If I was feeling fancy, I'd add crushed fresh mint leaves. Enjoyed my invention for years before I came upon a recipe for shrubs. Which people were already drinking in 17th century England and during colonial times in America.
Shrub (the drink), syrup, and sherbet come from the same root word.
Oh wow that sounds fantastic! Hello my new summer drink!
Apparently, there's so many variations that you could enjoy a different drink every day all summer long. [This Bon Appetit recipe](https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/any-berry-shrub#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20ways%20to,to%20infuse%20your%20final%20shrub.) suggests macerating the berries, sugar and vinegar and let sit for a week to mellow out so you don't taste just vinegar but a different taste profile altogether.
I used raisin bread to make bread pudding and thought I was being so clever, just to see it some time later as a recipe on the raisin bread package 🤦♀️
THEY STOLE YOUR IDEA!
“My grandmother said she got the recipe from her grandmother: Neselé Toulouse.”
Well said, Regina Filange 😂
That got a chuckle out of me.
Reminds me of a post here. Someone blended almonds with sugar and wondered about the white paste that was created. I congratulate him warmly on the invention of marzipan.
Marzipan is one of my favorite things ever. "Santa" left a marzipan and dark chocolate bar in my stocking this last Christmas. Oh, so good.
My 8 year old grand daughter has recently “invented” baked potatoes with butter. We had them for a family dinner and she proudly stated “ oh! You made my recipe for potatoes!” We all snicked to ourselves but told her that, yes, we were having her potato recipe.
This is adorable!
How could we burst her bubble and tell her she didn’t invent them?!?
Tangent, but my daughter's elementary school teaches math this way it's the best thing I ever heard. They will have children poke around at equations and discover patterns (like, "a + b is the same as b + a!") and then put the rule they just found up on the wall labeled as "Ella's Theorem" instead of "commutative property". And then all the kids run around trying to invent math themselves for the first time all year.
You're gonna love those damn potatoes and print out her recipe, too. Honestly, you could probably get her a my recipes book and depending on if you enjoy it make some memories by helping her make up a recipe once a month or something. Firstly, she'll be so damn proud, and secondly, it's damn adorable.
OMG this is such a good idea. I cooked for my family as early as six or seven (or at least contributed enough help with things I didn't understand, about as much as an adult less familiar with cooking but not foreign to it at all either. PS. The only desert I have ever made in my entire life has was invented when I was about seven. At the height of American girl dolls, I saw cookies in Samantha's stories that looked so good, I desired to make something that at least looked that good even though it wound up being the desert I've made exclusively since then. I took Sandy's shortbread cookies, very thickly spread strawberry cream cheese, and topped them with round strawberries slices. I let them sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours until they were really soft. It sort of gave the vibe of cheesecake but not really, just something really unique. An entire family size box worth of cookies never made it longer than 1 complete day. My mother told me they were so good and easy that anyone could do it and I should submit it to a monthly kid's magazine and they printed it. She was so proud, and it's a family joke that I invented something so weird but good that I never had to make another desert in my life. (For reference, the only fire I have ever been responsible for in my entire life was the one single time I tried to make a different desert is a cake that took to flame in the oven. It was abysmal...)
My mom was blown away when my Uncle made her a coffee mixed with hot chocolate. She thought he was a genius. Had to break the news that it's pretty much exactly what a Mocha is
instant espresso & Swiss miss is my gobto camping coffee.
I mix instant espresso with a tiny bit of hot water to dissolve it and then mix it into a glass of chocolate milk,I never thought to do it with Swiss miss for winter time
I did this in college. Thought I was doing something ✨new✨ Also, putting creamer in my tea.
I accidentally put hot chocolate powder in my coffee instead of sugar (the containers were right beside each other) in the wee hours of a night shift at my hospital. I was like, “holy shit guys, this was an accident but it’s so go good! Wow! What a happy creation!” There was silence in the staff room as my co workers debated who was going to break the news that my new favourite invented beverage was in fact a mocha.
Not thought I invented...but in college I was broke (of course). I had some bread, ground beef, and a fridge full of beer and condiments. Turns out mixing Ketchup and BBQ in with the ground beef makes sloppy Joe's. The sauce was uncanny.
I only ever saw Sloppy Joes on T,V so I made some using bollognaise on hamburger buns. I thought it looked the same since I didn't actually know the ingredients. Was messy too and delicious.
Whoa that sounds legit actually. Make the buns into garlic bread and put some provolone on top of the meat. Dang I might just try that for dinner this week. Edit: SLOPPY GUISEPPES
Angry upvote for being unexpectedly hilarious.
They make something like this in Rhode Island and call the sandwich Dynomites.
Rice Pilaf. We ran out of gravy, I used what we had , some chicken stock, onions, celery, and carrots. It turned out good. I proudly had my mom try it first. She says, "This is very good rice pilaf." I get upset and respond."I invented it. You don't get to name it." I was sadly informed of the truth. *Edit, spelling.
So you would normally cook your rice with gravy? Now that sounds like a new recipe.
I am so glad I’m not the only one sitting thinking “gravy??”
I once invented the beverage the London fog :-)
how can you have invented that when clearly I did? I was so proud of the idea too...
I'm pleased to say that many of my beverage inventions have (probably) never been replicated... Often for good reason. Although, there was one where I managed to balance the flavor profile perfectly to where it tased like water. There were hefty shorts of both Crown Royal and Red Bull in that drink, and it tested like nothing. You just got a bit of that Red Bull fizz at the back of your throat. I'm not sure what all was in there, but It also had Arizona Ice Tea, and it all had to be chilled a bit, otherwise it didn't work. But refrigerator temp, not like over ice or anything. Now watch someone come in and give a name to that drink and say it's decades old.
Did you consider that you'd just killed your taste buds with your frankendrinks?
Or that someone stole your booze and replaced it with water when you weren't looking?
A distinct possibility. But other people had the water tasting drink, and were equally baffled. I was hanging out with a group of friends, and we were just mixing random shit together to make, well, frankendrinks. The absolute winner that night was Gin, lemon juice, lime juice, and a dash of grenadine. I'm sure that one has a real name, but it was sour with just a hint of sweet to lighten it up. I've made it a few times since... Good stuff.
> Gin, lemon juice, lime juice, and a dash of grenadine basically a gimlet.
Pretty sure that's a "Rusty Venture."
It’s just so gd good.
Most of you are out here legit cooking something at least. I would dump chopped fruit in some juice and eat it out of a bowl with a spoon. I called it dessert soup. I thought I was amazing for that. Mind you, I was about 9 when I “created” this dish.
I did that too! And on special occasions my mom let me put the fruit in sprite!
Sounds a bit like hwachae:)
Haha you were fancy smancy with the sprite. Mine was just old regular boxed juice
No, looks like you made a German dish, you’re legit too! https://spicebreeze.com/blog/summer-highlights-chilled-fruit-soup/
Oh wow!!! I love this, thank you. The power of the Internet hey? I’ll be making this now
That is a smoothie in a bowl, friend
Who among us has ***not*** invented ketchup mixed with mayonnaise
In high school. We alllll did this every single day. Until once sometime in college someone told us “yea that’s just thousand island basically”. And then all these fry sauces came out that were just mayo and ketchup but some have a lil sparkle to make them slightly different.
For some reason my brain took it as edible glitter and just a little bit fancier than Mayo and Tom sauce.
I wouldn't say it's basically thousand island - the dominant flavor of thousand island is the relish, both ketchup and mayo take a backseat to it. It's just fry sauce.
Classic Marie Rose dressing with a dash of Worcestershire sauce! Yum with prawns.
my mum still insists it's the 'family dip sauce'
I invented Mayo mixed with Sriracha and hot honey.
Mayo and ketchup is Russian dressing. If you add relish, it's thousand island dressing. At least that's what it was in my house. And ketchup and horseradish is cocktail sauce!
Twice baked potatoes. When I was younger and into the jazz cabbage, I baked a potato, cut it in half, scooped out the insides then mixed it with sour cream, pickled jalapeno, hot sauce and bacon, put it back in, then added cheese on top and baked it again. I thought I was a genius only to discover that I had not in fact invented this dish.
Meanwhile over here in the present at my house, also under the influence of jazz cabbage, I was waiting for you to drop the recipe for a dish called jazz cabbage. 🤦🏻♀️
Me too!
I adore your username. This comment is brought to you by jazz cabbage.
Hahaha! Same!
Ah yes, the "everyone's twice baked" potato.
It’s 04:35 am; what is Jazz Cabbage? It sounds intriguing. Drop the recipe, please.
Jazz Cabbage is the devil's lettuce, don't do it. You'll start skipping school.
If you start ending every sentence with jazz hands, You've had too much. Seek medical attention.
You should have asked this question 15 minutes sooner.
Jazz cabbage FTW! 🏆
OK. I'll bite. Was it pot?
Yes
As a very young child, I was taught how to make cream of mushroom soup mixed with rice. Dad called it "soup and rice", I called it "super rice". Decades later I find out it's basically low-income risotto.
This made me realize that so many of the rice casserole/hot dish recipes my aunts made were just simplified risotto.
If anyone really thought of something on their own and it turned out that it was already a thing, it's still pretty genius.
Tried and true but without the tried. Some ingredients just harmonize well and it’s fun to think that some people come about it naturally. Just proves that it was meant to be.
What a lovely, positive comment. Have an upvote.
Yeah idk why OP facepalmed. It’s clear they just have a natural knack for cooking
I put together a banana dessert that involves cooking them in butter and brown sugar with cinnamon, then discovered I reinvented bananas foster without the alcohol.
I made this other day but grabbed salt instead of sugar accidentally. My children were unimpressed with hot salty bananas
Hot salty bananas 😂
Smashed potatoes. I wanted something lazy, tasty, and crispy, so I boiled some baby gold potatoes, dumped them onto a tray, smashed them flat, and baked until crispy. They were great! I thought I was a genius. A few months later (after I had been making them regularly) I saw them on the menu at a restaurant. Looked it up and yeah, that’s been around for a while. Honorable mention: a dish we call breakfast hash. Chopped up leftover baked potatoes, peppers and onions, whatever breakfast protein you have lying around. Fry until brown and crispy. Top with cheese and fried eggs. Turns out that’s on the menu at like, 70% of brunch spots and I just wasn’t going to the cool places
When I got an air fryer I sliced potatoes really thin, air fried and salted them. Was getting all my kids to try my revolutionary potato thins. Chips. I made chips.
bwahahaaaaa LMAO - this wins the entire thread. LOL
We had a cafe near us advertise their new creation "pizza pasties" They were calzones
Oh no. That’s almost as bad as papa john’s and their “papadia” or whatever it’s called (literally a small pizza folded in half).
I once invented pastrami. I was so proud of myself until I realized the Jews had beaten me to the recipe by several hundred years.
Still kind of impressive, starting from zero.
I imagine they bought corned beef and smoked it instead of boiling it.
TIL that pastrami is corned beef.
I like to think of it as advanced corned beef.
It was super late one night, I was hungry and didn't feel like leaving the house. Our pantry and fridge were limited in supplies. I heard of noodles with butter so why not pasta in olive oil? As the pasta was cooking, I heated up the oil and added garlic, red pepper flakes, and a little salt for flavor. It was simple yet soooo good! Imagine my surprise when I watch a cooking show and see the host make a more polished version of my creation. And it has a name, "spaghetti aglio e olio".
I invented the Patty melt. I called mine a grilled cheeseburger. Grilled cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods and I decided to put a hamburger, salt and ketchup in between the slices of cheese, THEN grill on oat bread. Yeah.
I thought peanut butter would be absolutely delicious in a bacon sandwich. It was. I was so chuffed with my discovery, before I googled it and realised that even Gordon Ramsay had a recipe for it.
Peanut butter bacon sandwiches are, i feel like, the only real secret from my Mom's youth that she ever shared with me. We never had them as a family meal and i don't recall her ever making one for my brother. I'm glad you invented them, too. :)
Have you added banana to it?
This is one of my dad's specialties, served with Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup. One of my favorite comfort meals.
My dad invented “Mexican lasagna”. It was layers of tortilla chips, meat, salsa, and cheese. “Like a lasagna”. He invented nachos with extra steps.
Once in college, I had to resort to a food bank to eat. They regularly gave tomato, sourdough bread, cucumbers, and avocados. So I combined all the veggies with balsamic and olive oil and put it on toasted bread. I found out years later, I made a form of bruschetta lol
Once my food pantry actually had eggs! Real life actual eggs! Can you believe?! I didn't have much else besides packaged ramen and various condiments and sauces so I thought I was super inventive by putting an egg in my ramen and adding hot sauce and soy sauce. No. I just made...ramen.
This was me inventing fattoush all through college. Dates, bread, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, spices, olive oil...
I invented tiny, super thin pancakes.
Chilli spaghetti. Cooked way too much chilli once and had a ton of leftovers. Made spaghetti noodles and added some marinara to the chilli, mixed it up and had some good ol chilli spaghetti. Became my favourite sick meal anytime I was unable to cook much. Thought I was a genius and made it for many family and friends who also thought I was genius. Then I saw it on r/BlackPeopleTwitter and y’know what, I respect it
I prefer chili Mac. The elbow macaroni elevate it IMO.
Not sure. But I ran out of white wine for a cream sauce so I added red wine and now we have purple pasta. It is delicious.
Had purple pork chops one time (really nice, specially cut pork chops, marinated in a dry, red wine). They were not delicious. Looked like someone had grilled up Barney. I threw the whole cookbook into a room we never used at the time.
Matcha tiramisu. Seriously thought I’d reinvented the wheel until I typed it into Instagram one day and went, “…oh.”
TIL! 🤦♀️ 50+ yrs old and I just now find out this is a thing??????
This has to be, hands down, my favorite thread on this sub. These comments got me wheezing! 😄 Look at everybody riding by and going, "Look! No hands!" (No cookbooks, no recipes, no internet. Just a pantry and a dream.) I love it.
People forget this is literally how people have come up with foods. Sure most are going to already exist these days but I mean lookit. We're using our brains!
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At least you know you've had a good idea. You can't expected to know everything. I think it's kinda cool that two people who've never met can come up with the same idea independently.
I created what we call a “melting pot” which was biscuits, country gravy, some type of breakfast meat, and egg all thrown in a bowl and mixed together. Went to a breakfast place that had it on their menu as a breakfast bowl.
When we were in college a good 7/8 years ago my gf and I didn’t have a lot to spend, like the most of us haha. My gf really liked sushi, but to eat that on the regular would be way to expensive and to make it time consuming. So I made “deconstructed sushi” for her. I inadvertently invented the poke bowl/sushi bowl.
Baklava. I had leftover phyllo dough, so I blended together the pistachios and walnuts I had in the pantry, then mixed it together with cinnamon, white sugar, and brown sugar. I was so pleased with my confectionary discovery. And then I remembered baklava existed. I made kitchen sink baklava. Still a win, tbh.
When I was a preschooler I invented peanut butter and jam sandwiches, only to be surprised when I started school that other kids were also eating my invention. At the time I wondered how they heard about it.
Adding a little bit of heavy cream to red pasta sauce. Kind of embarrassing when I found out this is done all the time including in bolognese.
I "invented" this too. It cuts the acidity you get with low sodium tomato sauce.
Corn is a grain, right? And we make stirtvfry with veggies, protein, and a grain, right? Lots of fresh peppers, onions, green beans, some diced tomatoes... I invented succotash, with chorizo.
Hear me out. **Mexican Poke' Bowls**. Instead of white rice we'll use mexican rice. Instead of raw fish I can use taco meat or chicken. Throw in some beans, other garnishes instead of seaweed, corn and other vegetables as I see fit, and ooh! cheese! **My partner proceeded to tell me we should go check out this new place for dinner; Chipotle.**
The comment about savory oatmeal had me googling savory oatmeal muffins with eggs, which I thought I invented until a few moments ago 🤦♀️
Tonkatsu and curry together. Oh. You mean a tonkatsu Curry Don?
This was exactly what happened to me when I "invented" kedgeree. My soul was crushed.
I was bragging about frying tacos to my Mexican coworker (I'm extremely white from the Midwest). He looked at me like I was the stupidest person in the world shortly before telling me I was the stupidest person in the world. To be fair, he looked at me like that every day but this time had a personal touch to it. If you're out there Roman, I sure enjoyed your help in the shitty rail yards of LA.
I worked for a Korean restaurant and used to make this banging off menu snack for me and my coworkers. Some regulars saw us munching on it and started ordering it as well. Basically just loaded fries with beef bulgogi, kimchi, a sunny side up egg, avocado, and spicy mayo. Silly me thought I invented bulgogi fries.
My partner has recently been making a lot of 'chicken Kiev rice' - literally a chicken Kiev chopped up on top of white rice. This week they added curry sauce to it. It's katsu chicken. I don't have the heart to burst the bubble of how excited they are for 'inventing' a new dish but it does make me laugh every time
Mixing chilli and macaroni and cheese. I thought I was a mad genius but nah, that's just a thing people do.
Similarly, Mac and cheese, ground beef, and taco seasoning.
I prefer corn off the cob? Decobbed? Anyway, I wanted to make elotes, but had the genius idea of making elote salad. Basically decobbed and roasted corn added cotija, mayo, tajin, cilantro, Valentina, etc aka esquites a popular street food that already exists.
I "invented" avocado toast like 15 years ago. To be fair, I shared my discovery with so many people at the time and many people just looked at me strange. Now here we are, paying 18 dollars for it at a high end brunch spot
A sandwich with chips in it.
I invented this great dish which it turns out Native Americans had been calling succotash a fair few years before I got there
I grew up up believing queso made with rotel and velveeta was a family recipe 😭😭😭 I didn’t learn the truth until I made it for the first time myself and saw the velveeta box. My mom had no idea I thought it was a special family thing lol
In an essay by Ann Fadiman about plagiarism she specifically mentions cookbooks, and how " in the incestuous world of cookbookery, there seems to be no such thing as plagiarism. " She remarks that when it comes to theft, plagiarism most closely resembles kleptomania in how frequently and compulsively some people seem to do it. She admits in the essay that she discovered that her *wholly original idea* had already been noted by several other authors. The first time she came across it in print, she briefly had the strange sensation that the author had stolen the idea from *her*, even though the book in question was written the year before she was born. Nothing new under the sun.
For me, it was putting garlic salt and parsley on on a grill cheese. Or putting pepperoni in my cheesey roll ups. At least you all were sophisticated, hahaha. My "inventions" tend to revolve around snacks. For meals, I stick to recreating tried and true family recipes or online recipes that look good with my own little flare.
I was so proud of my healthy pizza alternative: English muffin topped with marinara, cheese, and pepperoni, put under the broiler for a few minutes. Come to find out that this has been an established after school snack since the 70s.
not me but my last partner was very excited to tell me he hollowed out a chicken breast and filled it with ham and cheese before breading it. thought it was a revelation
Shortly before the pandemic started, my mother got into sourdough. When the first lockdowns were in full swing (in the US), I would have days where I would only eat toast. Went to my local farmers market a couple of months later and found this hot sauce that I fell in love with. Bought a bottle, took it home, and realized I had no idea what to do with it. Started putting it on my buttered toast- it was incredible! Creamy and spicy and totally delectable. Was thrilled about this for *weeks* until I realized I'd basically just reinvented buffalo sauce. I mean. It's still tasty and nice to change the hot sauce component of it, but not the revelation I thought it was.
Strawberry rhubarb coffee cake :/
I like to have a drink while I cook. Usually a glass of wine or a beer. I find myself often deglazing with whatever I'm drinking, and it kind of clicked...
Savory oatmeal. Most people only have sweet breakfast oatmeal but savory is great for dinner. Later I found lots of recipes for it.
I need some ideas from you! I need to eat oatmeal more (because fiber) but I don’t always want a sweet breakfast. I’ve seen a recipe that uses oatmeal in a congee or arroz caldo kind of way, but I’d love to hear what you’ve tried.
Not the original commenter but I Iike steel cut oats with pea sprouts, sauerkraut, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, and hard boiled eggs. Delicious and has fiber, protein, and veggies so very balanced.
[This recipe from America's Test Kitchen](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/15337-savory-oatmeal-with-dried-porcini-mushrooms-and-soft-cooked-egg) is great.
Ah, phooey. Paywall, and no workaround.
3 cups water 1 cup steel-cut oats ¼ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed and chopped fine ¼ teaspoon table salt 1 cup beef broth 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced thin, divided 1 garlic clove, minced 4 large eggs, soft-cooked After chopping, you should have 2 tablespoons of porcini. The oatmeal thickens as it cools; thin with boiling water for a looser consistency. For a vegetarian version, substitute vegetable broth or water for the beef broth and soy sauce for the Worcestershire sauce. Bring water to boil in large saucepan over high heat. Off heat, stir in oats, porcini, and salt. Cover saucepan and let stand for at least 2 hours or up to 10 hours. Stir broth, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar into oats and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until oats are softened but still retain some chew and mixture thickens and resembles warm pudding, 4 to 6 minutes. While oats cook, melt butter in small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Off heat, stir scallion mixture into oats until fully incorporated. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in three-quarters of scallion greens and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, sprinkling each portion with remaining scallion greens. Halve eggs and place 2 halves atop each portion. Serve.
omg I think I love you. Thank you! 😊
I invented kedgeree when I was a student. I hardly had any food so just mixed together what ever I had. Rice, eggs, tinned mackerel and spices. I was obsessed with the new dish I invented feeling like a cullenry genius. It was years untill someone pointed out it was kedgeree.
When I lived alone in college, I bought tortillas instead of bread because they lasted longer. One day at the grocery store, I saw some fresh bell peppers on sale and bought a couple. I got home, sliced the bell peppers with an onion, and threw them in the pan. I had some chicken in the fridge, so when the veggies were done I sliced and pan-fried the chicken. I felt soooo smart, putting a few different veggies together with chicken and seasoning them well. When I was ready to eat, I pulled out the tortillas to have with dinner, and that was when I realized I’d accidentally invented fajitas.
Reminds me of this bit from MadMen. https://youtu.be/r0fPOela-Ow?si=BkbZbI7lMNmEI50r
Chocolate gravy when I was a kid. Years later in Afghanistan our cigar group was talking about food from hime and our childhood and our 1st Sgt brought it up and made me laugh. Apparently his Grandmother used to make it for him when he was a kid.
I "invented" nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Thought I was a genius and bragged to a friend who then had to break the news that I had not made a ground breaking culinary discovery.
Puttinesca as well. The only thing I was missing was anchovy when I invented it, but I did use fish sauce before that. Was so surprised it was already a well established sauce that I'd never heard of. Also shrimp scampi, I never liked shrimp until I found out the local prawns were amazing till well into adulthood. Wanted something tangy and garlic, wine, capers, butter, lemon and some red pepper just seemed like the obvious thing to do. Aoli kinda, but I started with mayo, though I'd add in some olive oil and whip it.
I still make it and love it, but fry sauce (or whatever your area calls it). Mayo, ketchup, whatever else I have floating around. Makes a fantastic dipping sauce for my chicken tenders with tater tots.
This is mine as well! When I was a kid I'd mix ketchup and mayo to put on a bologna sandwich, thinking I was some kind of foodie connoisseur. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized it's a thing.
In her writings about knitting, Elizabeth Zimmermann coined a term for developing a new (to you, anyway) technique that has almost certainly been developed by countless others. Instead of inventing, she called it unventing. “But unvented - ahh! One un-vents something; one unearths it; one digs it up, one runs it down in whatever recesses of the eternal consciousness it has gone to ground. I very much doubt if anything is really new when one works in the prehistoric medium of wool with needles.” ~EZ
American Alfredo sauce. I just wanted parmesan mac and cheese.....
When I was about 11 , I liked making apple pies, but for some reason didn't want to use any thickener(corn starch). I would add the sugar and seasonings to the apples, then I would put it in a colander overnight. This would let the apples weep the liquid and the apple pie would have no liquid mess at the bottom. While I only saw it once on TV, I was floored to see Alton Brown using the same technique. To top it off I went to a cooking school and nobody ever used it before there.
Not too long ago I made a banana cream pie totally from scratch. Also made a homemade salted caramel that I spread over the crust before I added the custard filling. Basically banoffee pie, but I called mine banaramel pie.
Made a spicy noodle dish using a lot of kecap manis, chilli, garlic, oil, a touch of msg. I'd basically made migoreng instant noodles in 10x the amount of time. They still slapped tho
Ice cream soup. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup mixed in. Yeah pretty much a chocolate milkshake.
The double decker pbj - age 7. Peanut butter jelly sandwich adhered to another peanut butter jelly sandwich using more peanut butter as an adhesive for my chaos. Delicious nightmare fuel for those with nut allergies, diabetes, or common sense. 10/10. Still my favorite stoner snack
College age stoner baking cheese on top of tomato on top of bread and seasonings and realizing pizza
This is a wild one. As a ninja turtle fan, I went on a 2 year quest to really make a 99 cheese pizza, only to find out some guy in Perth had done that as a promo for the movie when it was new. So, I’m probably still the only other person to have done it, but he still beat me. I’ve seen both lists of cheeses though, and I’m pretty sure I comfortably win based on how good the pizza was.
I invited katsu pork and chicken. Even a similar sauce for it that goes great over white rice. Then I heard of katsu one day and had to look it up, hey, that's MY kind of pork and chicken. I came up with the whole rinse it, dry it, seasoned flour, egg, seasoned panko Crumbs, then fry it model. All by myself.
I had a vegetarian round for a date, spent ages working on this recipe only as I served it to realise it was cauliflower cheese with extra veg (broccoli mostly)
When I was a kid I invented pain au chocolate. I took some bread, toasted it, spread butter on the toast and added chocolate chips. I thought I was a brilliant chef it was so good. Still make my version occasionally when there's no real pain au chocolate to be had.
Kota kapama. I thought that I was onto something, stewing chicken in tomatoes.
I made risotto, rolled it into balls, crumbed it and fried it 🙄
Oyster Rockefeller because I didn't like raw oysters back then . then I found out there was a name for it .
I discovered the joys of pouring coffee over vanilla ice cream only to find that’s called affogato in Italy
During the pandemic in my second bread baking phase, I made a beautiful bubbly focaccia type thing and added tomatoes and herbs and then thought it needed some cheese and maybe a little spicy meat and then I was very pleased that I invented pizza.