Condiment skills
Ishmael Marx
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in The Bridge
Cassie’s build includes ketchup, which gives her Dip (reasonable) and Eng (interesting). As I pondered the engineering value of ketchup, it got me thinking about other condiments and the skills they might provide. Just some quick ideas:
Mustard - Med (grinding up seeds sounds plausibly medical to me).
Ranch - Sec (‘cause you need to guard your farmland and/or cattle herd on the ranch?).
BBQ - Sci (bbq sauce recipes are the secret science of exquisite bbq dishes).
For Cmd, no idea. Mayo? Relish? Olive tapenade?
Mustard - Med (grinding up seeds sounds plausibly medical to me).
Ranch - Sec (‘cause you need to guard your farmland and/or cattle herd on the ranch?).
BBQ - Sci (bbq sauce recipes are the secret science of exquisite bbq dishes).
For Cmd, no idea. Mayo? Relish? Olive tapenade?
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Comments
Have you ever "married" two low ketchup bottles to get one fuller and one empty?
It's tricky and takes some engineering to get the balance just right!
COMMAND: Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is finicky and must be applied with great care. Not enough and its effects are overwhelmed by other flavors. Too much and it ruins the entire entrée. There are also people who do not like it in any amount and servers must demonstrate tact in guiding their patrons into accepting that the inclusion of mayonnaise will enhance the dining experience. For all these reasons mayonnaise requires the wielder to demonstrate a command of their craft.
DIPLOMACY: Ketchup. As this is already established in game and this post, it is locked in. That being said, I would have selected it anyway for a host of reasons. Ketchup is a staple of the backyard cookout, which yes is related to food but serves just as importantly as a social function. In this regard ketchup brings people together, which is the core of diplomacy. It also opens doors in conversation based on what food selections an individual chooses to place ketchup on as people tend to have strong opinions about ketchup and its uses. And last, ketchup is about as common a condiment as there is, it is not universal in application but it can be used on a wide array of diverse foods which makes it excellent accommodating cultural differences.
ENGINEEERING: Pickles / relish. There are whole pickles, pickle strips, and coined pickles. Within those shapes there are also sweet pickles, sour pickles, dill pickles, hot pickles, and other varieties. There are also different pickle-based products including hamburger relish and pickle relish. There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding which pickle to use and how to apply it to food in a way that it will support the structure and not spill out onto the plate (or the patron!) after a single bite. This requires the expertise, precision, and training of an engineer.
SECURITY: Hot sauce. Anybody that has ever defeated a food thief at work already knows this to be true, but hot sauce is one of only two options for food security that avoids legal complications associated with poisoning.
MEDICINE: Wasabi / hot mustard. A crucial part of good health is the ability to breathe, a person with difficulty breathing will find maintaining overall health to be a great challenge. Enjoying a dish with either wasabi or hot mustard will open the sinuses and allow the lungs to breath deep, which should allow a host of other small but significant health benefits.
SCIENCE: Butter. Butter is very hard to use, it requires many hours of trial, error, study, and practice to master. It can go from a solid to liquid to burned rapidly, and it must be shown great care when applied to any food items. Anybody that is a master of butter has undoubtedly employed the scientific method to achieve said mastery.