[tonymet]

When asked why restaurant food tasted so good, Anthony Bourdain chuckled and quipped that "everything you are served begins and finishes with a stick of butter".

People would gasp if they prepared that food for themselves.

When I finish a steak with 2 tbsp of butter it tastes luxurious, and any respectable steakhouse is finishing a steak with a stick of butter and garnishes it with an ice cream scoop of butter.

[cafard]

Years ago we were in Bologna. The ragu was splendid, but I would wake up in the middle of the night feeling absolutely parched. If it wasn't a lot of salt, I don't know what it would have been.

[orev]

He also said that restaurant vegetables taste good because they cook them with sugar.

[tonymet]

this is a good tip at home. At home you can have better results with less seasonings. Sugar, vinegar, salt, a glutamic should be considered the foundation for every dish

[9rx]

I am not all that bothered by the stick of butter as the meal is actually satiating and the calories consumed will remain within the calories I need to be consuming. Besides, most of it gets drained off anyway. The 1,000 calorie fast food meals that leave you still hungry afterward are troubling, though.

[tonymet]

In most dishes like a pasta or curry, it’s not drained off. We’re not talking about a stick of butter, it’s butter, sugar, fat, carbs all in quantities that would make someone shudder if they were preparing food at home.

[9rx]

> In most dishes like a pasta or curry

That seems like a waste of steak. Must be a lot cheaper where you are than where I am.