My preference is to buy AAA beef, not sure what it's graded in the States. I try not to cook it more than medium.

I don't like any food substitutes either, give me real sugar or give me nothing. I won't use that fake edible oil product (whipped topping), either. My one exception to the rule would be soft margarine for toast, it has to be Becel, which is only available in Canada. I wished I could carry it in my luggage when we go on vacation. :) I use butter for most baking and a combination of butter and lard for pastry.

My family insists on Heinz Ketchup, HP sauce, and French's mustard; we keep both Hellman's and Miracle Whip in the house.

I'm not too snobby about coffee, but I can't buy the cheap stuff because I did once and my husband told me not to buy those "sticks and twigs" ever again.

Sort of related to food: I am meticulous in the kitchen when it comes to cleanliness. I wash my hands frequently and always practice good sanitary habits. I cringe when I see people cross contaminate food. I like to clean as I go and often will have the cooking dishes done before sitting down to a meal.

Whipping cream with one ingredient: cream! Everything in our regular grocery store has guar gum or other thickeners added so it takes trip to Whole Foods or Trader Joes (or sometimes Smart and Final, but usually only their half gallon "manufacturing cream" is unadulterated).

In general, I avoid foods with those thickeners - I feel like I can tell they are there and they make the food gummy and interfere with the flavor.

I don't particularly like any jarred mayo, real or not. I'll tolerate it in small amounts in a tuna salad. Fresh made mayo is a different beast so, on rare occasions, I'll make some. Usually I just do vinaigrette based things instead.

We keep kosher so we can't mix milk and meat at a meal so I use to substitute pareve (no milk or meat derived ingredients) margarine to adapt a recipe with butter for a meat meal but the stuff is vile. I learned about coconut oil on this forum so now I either substitute that or choose a recipe that doesn't need milk ingredients. E.g. making a biscotti instead of a buttery cookie.

I'll also second the real maple syrup. If I'm traveling and they don't have that, I'll use jam on my pancakes instead of syrup or get something that doesn't need syrup.

At home I usually use loose leaf tea, but bags are okay when traveling. But what I hate is when they bring out a bunch of flavored teas. I just want black tea or green tea with nothing else except occasionally a fresh sprig of mint, chai spices (but the pre-made chai blends are sometimes not to my taste) or the green tea with toasted rice. No flowers - I hate Earl Grey.

My niece gave me a collection of Fortnum and Mason tea bags as a thank you for funding her attendance at a summer program in London. Those make tea as good as any loose tea.

Clod, I can sigh under each one of tea comments. Flavored tea blends in bags are something I really dislike. To make it even worse they often contain hybiscus flowers for color and I am allergic to them. So it is taste issues plus health issues to me. Give me a good black or greean loose tea anytime. When I am trveling black tea in bags w/o flavoring are better than nothing.
Olga

I also agree on the tea. I drink black tea, or occasionally a mint tea to settle a queasy stomach. I don't care for herb tea, flavored tea or even green tea. Just give me plain old black tea. Even Lipton and Red Rose bags are better than some of those herbal things.

My favorite tea is from the Mediterranean Market, it's in their bulk section and simply marked "ceylon". It makes the best pot ever and is really good iced too.

Annie

I'm pretty easygoing on foods since it's a subjective thing. Some like one, while others like something else. I too like Miracle Whip. I don't taste the sweet in it people sometimes comment on, rather I find it more of a "tangy" or tart, almost approaching a citrus like description where Hellmans is totally flavorless so I won't bother with it at all if that's the only option. I do like to mix things up in slaws, potato and pasta salads, mixing sour cream, Miracle Whip (or a decent mayo) and a touch of ranch. I'll even use a dash of ranch in place of mayo on a sandwich but I'm surprised nobody is fussy about the sour cream. Never hear that mentioned. Interesting.

No margarine for me and if it's not fresh ground, I'll pass on pepper. Vanilla - only real.

If you can't drink the coffee black, then it's not made properly. Drink hot chocolate then AFAIC.

Iced tea is to be ice and tea. Maybe some lemon but *no* sugar. The overuse of sugar in everything in this country (or make that continent) is disgusting. Sugared vegetables, sugared meats, sugared water, etc. No wonder so many women's feet look like footballs and people resemble barrels.

I know I'm different than many on meats, but I still have teeth and want to be able to use them when eating meat. I still chew meat, not gum it and I don't like squishy meat that resembles a cross between Jell-O and mushrooms which rare is especially the way they bury it in "tenderizer" these days. Very few people realize that cooking past medium rare does *not* mean cremation or hockey puck. Same with cooking eggs past over easy.

I'll use the onion soup mix for a dip on rare occasion but I laugh at (and pass on) the "Souper Meatloaf"! No wonder it gets buried in catchip! LOL I'll take the time to chop an onion, thank you.

And it's disgusting to not remove the membrane on ribs.

I use very little salt these days (other than when mixed in the seasoning mixes I buy but I'm doing less of them too) and when I do I prefer kosher or sea salt.

And any cooking device that has high and low as the only options is a waste of time. I want to control temperatures when I cook.

But the one thing I'm the most stubborn purist about is my motto: Homemade is *not* always better!

The main ingredient in chili sauce must be chilies - otherwise it should be called something else. Also, it should never have sugar and should not have tomatoes. If it has tomatoes, it could be called ketchup, adobo sauce, salsa, enchilada sauce, or barbeque sauce, but it is no longer chili sauce. In fact, the best enchilada sauce does not have tomatoes either. Texas chili also does not have tomatoes. I so much love the pure flavor of chili and it is so much a part of my childhood and growing up that I get very disturbed when I find it with extraneous ingredients that detract from the essential chili flavor. Also, it is important to be careful which chilies you combine, as not all of them are compatible, and there is quite a bit of variation in the flavor of one chili to another. I'm growing a lot of my own chilies so that I can get an even purer and fresher flavor. Fortunately, chili plants do well for me, unlike tomato plants.

I like adobo sauce as well, but I do not call it chili sauce. I'm hoping more people will learn to appreciate the true unadulterated flavor of chilies, which is one of my all time favorite ingredients.

Lars

Another New Englander here so it has to be Cains Mayo when we don't make it ourselves. Maine lobsters, real butter not margarine or "oleo", New England maple syrup. We eat very little processed foods. So fresh fruits and veggies in season. Eggs/chickens from our local farm here in town. (Altho when we are making hot wings we will by in bulk at the wharehouse stores). Skippy peanut butter. Not Jiff or homemade. Tried making that once...ewwww. NancyLouise

Congratulations Cynic, you win the prize for knowing
what Miracle Whip is all about. Maybe if a Miracle
Whip representative read this, I will make all kinds
of money, (chortle, chortle).

I'm with Annie on this one. How unuusal. NOT! I use Mayo in loads of things and only Miracle Whip in others. Different tastes for different applications.

I didn't think I was a purist, but I really don't like anything flavored, those mentioned repeatedly, e.g. vanilla, chocolate, and maple. I'll do without rather than eat those things. So I guess I am somewhat picky. Huh, whodda thunk it?

Ripe tomatoes - off season for the most part I use canned tomatoes rather than the grocery store ones. Sometimes I roast GS plum tomatoes with good results. And more recently there is an enormous european style tomato greenhouse nearby - their tomatoes are okay.

As has been mentioned before real over artificial ingredients. Real cheese, real butter, real eggs, real chocolate, real maple syrup etc...

I tend to like things on the tart side - so usually I use less sugar in pies, tarts, cookies - I really don't like pie fillings that taste like life savers or koolaid.

I don't like mayo or miracle whip so I have no opinion on that debate.

Fake vanilla extract is awful and if I get something made with it I'll likely leave some on my plate. It's so easy to have homemade.

Real butter - if not available, I'll pass.

Real maple syrup. There really isn't a substitute, IMO. The fake is another product entirely - it's not maple syrup.

Mayo/Miracle Whip - I don't eat either so those are items I would take a polite pass on, if offered.

Cool Whip - I don't even know if that's food? Nope, I'll pass.

I'm with Lars on the chili sauce - no tomatoes, please. But, that's if they call it "Chili Sauce" and use it as such. If it's used in some other way, I'm okay with it, like if it's thick and called "Spicey Ketchup" used to dip a French fry, maybe.

I can tell by looking if a dip is made with a "packet of something" and they're easy to avoid without being rude.

And, I don't eat homemade canned things unless I know who did the canning.

There's probably more.

/tricia

My spread has to be butter.
The steak has to be medium rare.
Pepper must be fresh ground.
The pie crust must be home made.

I cannot think of a thing to add. We are just idiots about our food as we often spend so much for the good things to eat.
And quietly I will whisper one thing I do that I NEVER tell to the guests...
One container of COOL WHIP with one container of really cheap rasberry yogurt (has more thickening) and dip really good and ripe strawberies.
I have never told this recipie but it is gone in seconds.
I think it is heroric to cheat once in awhile.
I am usually so much a perfectionist when it comes to food and nutrition. :)

GAD --such bad spelling!

I was raised on Miracle Whip. When I got married, DH wanted a tuna salad sandwich. I made it with Miracle Whip. He took one bite and cringed. Now after years of mayonnaise I don't like Miracle Whip. Also prefer real maple syrup, real vanilla extract, real home-made cakes, not mixes, real whipped cream, not Cool-Whip. I want my steak naked and medium rare with only salt and pepper. I want my baked potato baked au naturel, NOT in aluminum foil. I want my fresh veggies either steamed or roasted, not boiled. MUSTARD is allowed on hot dogs - NOT EVER ketchup. Other than that I am pretty versatile, except for one very important thing - NO SQUARE PLATES!!!! I detest them, and if I see one I get very angry. In fact, if I am ever served in a restaurant with one, I will probably have to ask for a round plate, I don't know what my problem is with them, it's just one of those wierdities.

I have to have crisp bacon, crisp enough that I rarely order bacon or anything with bacon (BLT, for example) in restaurants. Every once in a while, I'll try bacon, and I ask for it burnt, and on a separate plate so I can send it back easily. If it bends, it isn't crisp.

Nothing is off limits for me. I even enjoy Spam, Slime, Scrapple ---.

Except two: No store tomatoes, and no canned fish.

dcarch

Dcarch, you better go hide.
Ritaweeda dispises square plates,(grin).

On a more positive note, (if there is such a thing),
What if there was never such a thing as Miracle Whip?
And . . . if someone came up with a recipe to make
mayonaisse 'tangy', (like Miracle Whip is), would
it replace sliced bread as the best thing ever?

I have both mayo (Dukes) and MW because to me they have different uses and aren't interchangeable.
RARE color=red> steak.
Ketchup on hot dogs, celery seed, cayenne pepper, Vidalia onion relish, spot of mustard.
Baked potatoes (not steamed in foil)..

I have to agree with all the above. Has to be Best Foods, east of the Rockies thatâÂÂs Hillmans, no MW has ever been in my kitchen. Real butter, usually Tillamook, and real cheese. Lately I have been buying organic beef and chicken from Costco.

I do have canned meat and chicken, again Costco, in my emergency supply pantry along with canned butter and cheese. I donâÂÂt use many canned foods but do use freeze dried and dehydrated a lot.

Cynic,
IâÂÂm fussy about sour cream has to be Daisy itâÂÂs the only one that I could find that has cream as the only ingredient.

Claudia

Posted by lbpod "Dcarch, you better go hide.
Ritaweeda dispises square plates,(grin). ----"

:-)

I use square plates for practical purposes.

1. They do not roll around in the dishwasher and dish drainer by the sink.

2. They take less room on the table.

3. The shape makes it less possible for food to drop on the table.

4. They fit nicely in the microwave and toaster oven.

5. Oh yeah, they are trendy too! LOL!

dcarch

Wow! I'm fairly picky when it comes to the following:

Salt: Diamond Crystal Brand (and no other) Kosher salt
Cilantro or Lemongrass: Fresh, never dried
Standard Soy Sauce: Kikkoman only
Chile: Spelled this way when speaking of the fruit
Chili: Spelled this way when speaking of the prepared dish. Everything else is incorrect, whether or not you live in Canada. And, yes. There is only one 'L.'
Pizza: Work around the pie in one direction or the other. If you pull a slice from the middle - after we've already started serving - I'm going to slap your hand.
Cookies: Should ALWAYS be removed from the oven before done. There are no exceptions.
Hamburgers: should be built from the bottom up - cheese, meat, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, pickles, sauce, top bun. There are very good reasons for this.

And finally ...

Hot Dogs: Beef only

Speaking of hot dogs, they can be grilled, fried, broiled, microwaved, seared - or boiled. *But* the bun must either be steamed or toasted.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Unorthodox Epicure: Confessions of an Aspiring Food Snob

But, but, but, when I try to put things like onions, tomatoes and pickles on top of lettuce, they fall right off. Maybe it's because I put a salad's worth of lettuce on my sandwiches. I put pickles, then tomatoes, then lettuce on top of whatever I'm putting on a sandwich or hamburger, so they don't fall off.

Mayonnaise is tangy, Miracle Whip is sweet.

I don't eat snack chips often, but when I do, they can have no more than 3 ingredients. Potatoes, oil, salt....or corn, oil salt. Flavored chips, no matter what flavor they are, taste way too sweet to me. All I can taste is the sugar or corn syrup or dextrose or whatever sweetening ingredient they put in them. Sadly, I guess, for DH, I turned him off a barbecued potato chips, which he used to love, by pointing out to him I don't like them because they're too sweet. Now, all he can taste in them is the sweetness. Why do they have to put sugar in everything?!

I agree with the butter thing - no margarine in my house, thank you. I much prefer fresh ground coffee that's pour through, but my budget doesn't allow that often, so I guess I'm not purist about coffee - I drink what I can afford. But then again, I fork over money for fresh fruit and veggies all the time without blinking an eye.

My eggs can only come from pastured hens. Cage free doesn't cut it. I will pay any amount of money for eggs I know came from chickens allowed to roam freely.

I like pure semisweet chocolate. My chocolate treat is semisweet baking chocolate. Chocolate bars designed as candy are too sweet.

Sally

Oh yeh...hot dog, hamburger & brat buns have to be home made. Those big bakery sawdust cakes are just awful &, esp. with the price of good ground beef nearing the 'luxury food' category, no way am I going to waste good beef on a sub-par bun.

Sally - The lettuce serves as the 'bed' and the insulator between the hot meat and the cool vegetables. On top of the lettuce should go the onions, tomatoes, then pickles. Why? Because the pickle juice trickles down to the tomato slice, and takes some tomato and pickle flavor to the onion. It all rests on the bed of lettuce.

And here is how you should dress a hot dog:

~ mustard on the hot dog bun
~ hot dog in the bun
~ finely chopped fresh raw onion
~ (pickle relish goes next if you are using it)
~ hot dog chili sauce - preferably homemade
~ slaw - also homemade, not too much mayo.

The other toppings keep the onions from falling out! You will notice there is no tomato ketchup listed? That is just not done unless you are a child and not old enough to know better yet. This is, of course, a Southern style hot dog. Yankee or Midwest dogs are dressed differently - and they can be really delicious in their own right!

Bless you, unorthodoxepicure, for the chili/chile explanation. But how do you spell the plural of chile.... chilies?

Teresa

Real butter - no margarine EVER.

Plain coffee - no flavored varieties.

Plain coffee creamer of the liquid variety only. Not non-fat or any flavors.

And NO SALT with my margarita, thank you very much!

Teresa - First, the plural of chile is chiles or chile peppers. ;-)

As for your hot dog rules, I like them. I do, however, believe that it is OK to have mustard directly on the dog, so long as you make the squiggly line with the mustard. We are southern here in northeast Texas, but we do not typically drag our hot dogs 'through the garden' with slaw. We more commonly serve them with kraut, or with chili and cheese (cold cheese beneath the chili so that the heat of the chili melts the cheese nicely).

Thanks for the spelling clarification! And yes, a squiggle line of mustard is absolutely acceptable. If the slaw is too wet with mayo, it can cause the entire hot dog assemblage to fall apart. In a pinch, I will get a little carton of slaw at the local BBQ joint as I know their slaw is not too sloppy.

I'll have to try a chili and cheese dog. Another one I grew up with was a bacon cheese dog: slit cut in the hot dog, fairly thick stick of cheese inserted in the slit, bacon wrapped around (may have been partially cooked bacon) and the whole thing grilled on a flattop until bacon was done and cheese was melted. These could be found at a tiny little diner uptown here in my town.

Teresa

The spelling and associated meanings of chili depend on which authority you choose to follow. In my Random House Dictionary, Chile is a country in South America and is always capitalized. If not capitalized, it is a Spanish word with the same meaning as the English word "chili", which refers to both the fruit and the dish made with the fruit. Canada and Britain have their own standards which are equally valid, although I do not use them. The American Webster dictionary allows for chili to be spelled with a double "L" and also says that "chile" is an alternate spelling of "chili" although "chili" is the preferred spelling for both the fruit and the dish, unless one is using the Spanish spelling, as in the phrase "chile con carne". My dictionaries are probably too old to be considered contemporary today, but that's all I have. My German is even more archaic than my English, or so I have been told by young Germans.

Fortunately, I do not eat hot dogs!!

Lars

Oh yeah, ketchup, (catsup, yadda yadda yadda), on hot
dogs. In my whole elderly life, I have only seen
small children put 'it' on hot dogs. Obviously I am
wrong, but I wonder why. Are the hot dogs that different
in different parts of the country? Eating a hot dog with
ketchup on it is like eating peaches with ketchup on them.
I know, I know . . . to each his own, but YUCKKKKKKKKK.
My appologies if I offended any catsup on hot dog lovers.
There is, however, a tiny, tiny exclusion to the rule,
and that is if there are french fries served with the
hot dog, then it's okay to have Ketchup, after all,
'it all comes out in the same place'.

Thanks, Unorthodoxepicure, your explanation makes perfect sense.

Ketchup goes nowhere anything that I eat. I love almost anything tomato, but not ketchup, nor catsup, either.

Sally

Lars - My dictionaries say the same thing. Chile Pepper Magazine, however, says nothing of the sort. And, this is one thing I'm stubborn about. ;-)

"Eating a hot dog with ketchup on it is like eating peaches with ketchup on them." "That is just not done unless you are a child and not old enough to know better yet."

I was upset with comments like above and others because they made me feel like I had no business participating on this forum due to my obviously juvenile and underdeveloped palate. Then after a few days of stewing over it I thought of the number of times over the years that I shrieked at what posters included in their spaghetti sauce recipes for example. I just never would post my astonishment at those ingredients--nor would I post and subsequently subject my beloved family recipe to public scrutiny. Of course just because we (my family) have loved our sauce recipe for decades, there's no guarantee that it's not from the red-neck area of Italy.

(((Mustangs)))

Come on up, specially in this weather, and I'll eat a rare steak with you! In the meantime, stay safe!

Mustangs, surely you know these pronouncements are mostly said made with "tongue in cheek." I'll admit some of us have gotten a little carried away with being "stubborn purists." I would not injure your feeling or the feelings of anyone else here deliberately and I'm sorry if my words came across that way.

Teresa

I didn't think I was a purist about much but after posting my dill pickle recipe on another thread...I guess I do have things I'm a "purist" about ! LOL

Mustangs, I'm sorry. I was being a little 'childish'
myself. ketchup/catsup is entirely acceptable on
hot dogs, or on anything else, as far as that goes.
I guess I was trying to put forth my 'personal' views.
I guess I was out of line. Again, I'm sorry.

I put catsup/ketchup on my hot dogs(on the rare occasion that I do have one)and lots of other stuff too. So if you need someone to eat your hot dogs with Mustangs, I'm your gal. After all, they are hot dogs. Lord knows what they are made of so I guess I'm not a purist about them or the things I top them with. lol NancyLouise

What seems to have been lost here is the word "you." I'm certainly not trying to stir any pots, especially since my diatribe about chiles (with one 'L') might be considered to be offensive.

My wife insists on putting sauerkraut in her tomato-based sauce when making homemade cabbage rolls. I believe this to be an abomination ... so much so that I eat peanut butter & jelly when she makes this. And she believes that I'm a backwoods hick because I love fried chicken gizzards. I prefer mustard on my hamburger. She prefers ketchup and mayo. I think her taste buds are lacking in refinement. She thinks I'm weird. But, guess what? We love each other .. Or at least, I think we do. ;-)

I still believe that using more than one 'L' in the word 'chile' or 'chili' is wrong. I'm a professional writer and an inaugural subscriber to Chile Pepper Magazine. But, as was pointed out here, different regions, dictionaries and so on and so forth. My opinion is just that ... And nothing more.

Though I don't care what you put on your hot dog, I do know that all of my children used ketchup when they were younger. Heck, even McDonald's goes heavy on the ketchup in their kids' hamburgers. Obviously there is some nationwide association with children and ketchup. That makes it even less fortunate (and more surprising) that anyone would "stew" for a couple of days because someone else thinks it's juvenile to use ketchup on a hot dog.

C'mon already. Aren't we friends here? Can we not joke a little? My goodness. I can think of 9,000 better reasons to "stew." Just saying.

ajh

Well put ajh.....but then again you have endeared me by acknowledging chile as an appropriate spelling. .....I feel vindicated :-)

My boss and I fight about commas,,, and how "canceled" is spelled. It's that Canadian thing (teehee! He is French Canadian). He thinks it's "cancelled". I'm right though! Probably spells favor with a u. TOTALLY KIDDING! Well, we do fight about grammer, but we like (good friends) each other and respect one another. I just didn't like Cathy feeling anything other than wonderful. She's wonderful; I wanted to hug her!!! Internet robs of us of seeing the direction of the emotion. I'm sure unortho didn't mean it against anyone, but Cathy was still hurt. Ortho, you can eat my table any day! I too prefer mustard on a burger, and chicken livers or gizzards, fried please, yum!

Awww, Cathy, I didn't want to hurt yours or anyone else's feelings either. I don't like catsup, but I keep it here because others in my family do like it. Even on their hot dogs. and they're adults. It never occurred to me to dis them or anyone else for liking ketchup on their hot dogs.

I remember a local radio talk show host back in the 70's and 80's. He hated, absolutely despised mayonnaise on hamburgers. He even hated people that put mayonnaise on their hamburgers. It astonished me just how emotional and bent out of shape he got over the subject. He conducted great interviews, but at some point he kind of lost it, and now, well, I don't know what happened to him. Maybe he saw one too many people put mayonnaise on their burgers.

Sally

Cathy? Whoa! I was referring to the possibility of offending Lars with my chile rant. LOL. Unless Cathy and Lars are one and the same...

To whomever I might have offended: Come to Longview, Texas and I'll buy you a really nice seafood dinner at Long John Silver's. ;-)

I've met Cathy, and so I can confirm that we are indeed separate people, although I felt an instant kinship with her when we did meet, and we sat together at dinner at the Indian restaurant in Beverly Hills.

It is possibly a bad idea to bring out everyone's stubborn sides. While I may cling stubbornly to a certain belief for myself, I try to be as tolerant as possible to variations, and I appreciate different points of view, as long as they are tolerant as well. I see absolutely no reason for any group to agree on anything in particular, but then I've been in many groups that were never able to reach conclusions. I like the open-endedness of that, whereas others prefer the finality of concensus.

I've been to Longview and thought it was a very pretty town, but that was back in 1964, and I've not been back there since. I'm sure Cathy would like it.

Lars

This post is really making me want a hot dog with mustard, ketchup and relish! LOL

Angelaid....ya really gotta try ketchup on peaches.
(or was that 'catsup' on peaches?).
Gawd almighty, I knew I should have been an English
major, like my Mother said I should be.

Lars, you are possibly the most tolerant person I've ever met, and I do try to be polite and tolerant too. You are right, it's probably a bad idea to invite people to express all the things they are intolerant of, it can only lead to argument. I keep remembering the CF "motto": "Don't yuck my yum". It's OK to say you don't like something or you do it differently, but not OK to tell anyone else they are wrong because they like something you don't. I try to remember that good manners should always take precedence over my personal food preferences (of which I have many, LOL).

Cathy is a very sweet person, with or without catsup. I always have a bottle of Heinz in the house for my son in law, who eats it on everything from macaroni and cheese to mashed potatoes. He's 30, has an engineering degree, owns his own business as a mechanic. His specialty is working on heavy equipment and semi-tractors. he's definitely not a child, he's a very responsible adult with two children and a wife and he's a very physically tough individual. He certainly may have catsup if he wants it and I can't imagine that anyone would look him in the eye and tell him otherwise, LOL. Funny thing, though, he wouldn't eat a hot dog if he were starving.

So, anyway, I still love you, Cathy, and there's always a bottle of Heinz at my house, feel free to stop by!

And no one here has even mentioned Chicago Dogs.....

Annie

Thanks for the comments!

You know what they say at the Central Market in Houston:

"Chew with your mind open."

I've been away for a while and I thought of a couple of more things:

Hot dogs must be Kosher. No unidentified body parts acceptable.

Chocolate syrup: only Fox's U-Bet will do. It's the only thing to use to make an egg cream and it makes Hershey's syrup taste like dust.

And FYI: I had a former Kraft chemist working for me a while ago and she said NEVER EVER eat Cool Whip. And when I asked why, she told me I didn't want to know. Take that for what it's worth!