The Flood Line is the 7.0 line for any score. A score of 7.0 on any 10-point scale represents the best you could do at home for that particular type of food.
The score originates from my buddy Flood, who makes very good at-home wood-fired pizza using the Ooni pizza oven. For $400, a working knowledge of how to make pizza dough from a starter, quality ingredients, and practice, you could hit 7.0 at home.
The Flood Line is a considerably higher bar than "better than average." Using pizza again, Costco pizza is a 5.0/10. Domino's is a 4.5 / 10. The Flood Line means you're making a quality product.
Here are other examples of at-home versions that establish a Flood Line:
- Sandwiches. You can make a Flood Line sandwich at home by buying a quality loaf of sourdough bread from a local bakery, using premium turkey from Costco, salted fresh tomatoes, a fresh avocado, and mayo-ing both slices of the bread. To solidify a 7, you can also just throw bacon on it. Bacon and avocado are cheating.
- Ramen. Start with Nongshim Shin Ramyun Black with Premium Beef Broth - that's $5 per pack. Add in a fresh egg, fresh bok-choy, fresh garlic, and leftover chicken/beef/pork from the night before.
You'll notice a big ingredient in at-home 7s (besides the $400 pizza oven) is time. You're going to pay a premium for a great sandwich or pizza because it saves you the minutes or hours it takes to prepare the meal in the first place before even taking ingredients into consideration.
Crossing the Flood Line is no easy task.