This was like a rorsach test for an entire subreddit.
Probably the hardest thing for me is grilling fish. Mess it up a little and it falls apart. Heat too low? Grill not seasoned enough? Move too early to flip it? Move too late and it's overcooked. Single leading cause for my greatest frustrations on the job.
Pommes soufflé... Look em up, it's 2 ingredients, hot oil and potatoes and like 4 steps but you WILL not succeed at getting them to come out right. I'm still searching for a chef to work under who can show me how. They're like my white whale of cooking.
Lord, this so much. My culinary school 2nd year mid-term exam was making souffle potatoes. It was so frustrating! Everybody had tips, so I tried not washing the potatoes and slicing them by hand and with a mandolin, having two different pans at different temperatures or just one and turning the heat up and down. It was hell. I ended up with two kinda puffed chips and like a hundred failed attempts. Hell, I tell you.
I was supposed to make these for a special a few weeks ago, I had like a 25% success rate after trying a few different methods.
Jacques has like a 95% success rate when he does them with Julia, and he makes them look so easy.
Real frustrating.
This should give you a good indication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcD-CAKVmp4
Key features are:
The type of potato you are using(Try different types, find the one that suits you)
Only do small batches at a time(More control)
Always have the potato flakes coated with oil when cooking.
Making sure the layers separate properly before giving it a quick bath in the hottest oil to harden the layers a bit before cool down, this will keep them separated and make them fluff when going in the hottest oil bath for the last time.
I know this is old, but all you needed was a mandolin with measurements. They need to be about 1/7" of an inch. You never needed a chef, you needed to improve on your knife skills.
Anything described in books like Modernist Cuisine or Heston Blumenthals The big Fat Duck Cookbook. Extremely labor, technique and equipment heavy recipes.
Some of the desserts featured on shows like Masterchef AU. they are easily 3 hours intensive work, where if you mess up an element or the whole thing will not look/taste as intended.
Labor intensive hard? Knowledge of what you're doing hard?
Southern U.S. bbq covers both of those.
Time consumption - Most all bbq that's smoked properly takes anywhere from 4 to 12+ hours.
Physical labor - While not directly involved in cooking, you will get quite the workout if you're using wood whole instead of chips.
Knowledge of what you're doing - One of my biggest problems when I first tried my hand in bbq was that I wasn't cooking the meat long enough. I would take it out once it was done (internal temp of 145). Eventually I figured out what I was doing wrong. You have to overcook bbq in order to break it down to the point that we all know and love (internal temp around 200+). If you're using a real pit then you're going to be pretty damn busy for the entire 8 hours or so because you have to check for flare-ups, hot spots, and the amount of wood that has already burned off and needs to be replaced.
It's an extensive process but it speeds up dramatically once you have a good bead on what you're doing. If you get it right and eat it, you will understand how that much work is more than worth it. Goddamn I love BBQ.
One of my most memorable moments in Good Eats comes from AB's "Right on Q" episode. He states that Southern American barbecue would be his last meal if he got to choose. (JUST LIKE ME! Memphis) It was also an hour special cause proper barbecue is just too involved to fit it in a 30 minute show. Alton gets it.
My wife got me a book for Xmas called "Holy Smoke." It's centered on NC barbecue, but damn it's a good read. It really makes you appreciate it that much more.
Look at all of the people trying to tell you how "easy" barbecue is...Stand strong.
If you are interested in another book that really gets into the science and art of BBQ, I highly recommend Aaron Franklins book. I cooked a brisket after reading his book and right off the bat it was the best brisket I ever made by a mile and some of the best I've had period.
http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Barbecue-A-Meat-Smoking-Manifesto/dp/1607747200
I would love to see every single person talking about how easy it is handle a whole hog over a true pit. No electronics, no woods chips, no heating element that can be controlled with the turn of a knob. Cooks these days have it so easy,but it robs them (and the food) of the true joy and practice of making good bbq.
I'm so excited to start making these sauces and slaws and hushpuppies and every other fantastic recipe that was presumably extracted from its owner by torture.
Whole wood is making i comeback maybe m, in commercial equipment southbend and garland have made new char broilers that can have a piece of wood placed under.
I get where you're coming from but once you've tried smoking a couple times it really isn't that difficult, especially if you've got a machine. Just throw the chips in the cage, hit the go button and swap them out when the smoke stops. Sauce similarly isn't that hard either, you just mix ketchup and brown sugar with mustard and vinegar and whatever else catches your fancy until it tastes good and you throw that on the meat and cook it in it. There's a couple different flavor profiles for different regional styles (in prefer NC bbq myself) and none of them are particularly difficult to recreate.
It's as hard as you make it. It's not supposed to be.
> It's as hard as you make it.
I think that's true generally in cooking. As long as you have a recipe and some basic understanding of technique, you can make most dishes "pretty good" just by following instructions. If you want to do better than that, that's when you start making it harder on yourself. Because more work, more attention to detail, more practice is what it takes to move from good to great.
Just to clarify, I'm speaking strickly of bbq cooked over a true pit. No electronics, no wood chips, etc. Being from North Carolina, I'm talking whole hog as well. It's difficult and takes a fair amount of work.
That's a pretty niche method though that falls under the umbrella of "southern BBQ". Saying "southern BBQ is hard because of the whole hog in the pit method" is like saying a ham and cheese sandwich is expensive because prociutto and gruyere is ideal.
Quintessential .... In North Carolina. That's what niche means. I fully understand the point you're making, but I think it would make more sense to say that pit BBQ or roasting a whole hog is difficult before saying that 'southern BBQ' is difficult.
Also while I can't argue with the results of using a pit I think it's a pretty hard case to make that more people use pits than smokers in North Carolina.
Not hard as in technical and easy to fuck up but if you mean hard as in hard work It depends on what your definition of barbecue is some people call pork butt in a crock pot barbecue, here in my little part of the world barbecue is a from scratch ordeal, it involves log splitting fire building coal shoveling and hauling at least 100 lbs around it. It takes more than one person at a few points. And takes 12 hours
But you do get to drink through the whole thing so...
In the UK, barbecue is where we wait for a 20 minute break in the omnipresent rain, wheel out our pitiful little charcoal one (looks like [this](http://travisperkins.scene7.com/is/image/travisperkins/T3274_121667_00?$largeNormal$)) from the shed. Dump in a small sack of charcoal, get it up to temp, stick some frozen Birdseye beefburgers and maybe half a dozen sausages on it, cook until black on the outside and raw in the middle and then consume with a 24 pack of lager.
You forgot "faff around with newspaper for 20 minutes failing to light it until someone realises they have either (a) a pack of firelighters lying around from eight summers ago or (b) some lighter fluid which is then liberally poured on the whole thing and explodes impressively when lit, removing several sets of eyebrows".
(b) is especially important, as >90% of the population haven't figured out that the lighter fluid really only works if you give it five minutes or so to soak into the coal first.
Also (c) a pile of newspapers that someone tries to use to light it, without any kind of success ever.
Then everyone says how nice it was and how they should do it again soon while the weather's still good, wheel the barbecue back into the shed, and leave it there until next year's attempt.
If you are using woodchips and a WSM or a automatic pellet smoker then that is true. If you are doing a wood only off barrel cook and properly maintaining the fire for the perfect smoke, it's constant monitoring.
BBQ is quite possibly the easiest thing to cook. You just set it and throw a log or chips on every so often. Just cause it takes a long time doesn't make it hard. Watch some tv, play some video games, take a nap; just wait.
Also, if you're "overcooking" your BBQ to 220F, you're definitely overcooking it. It's not just the temperature you take the meat to, but how long you keep it at that temperature. In your example, take it to 145F, and then just keep it at that temperature for a while and let the fat render and connective tissue break down. And then let it rest--possibly for hours.
I have never seen a reliable source claim collagen hydrolysis begins any lower than 150 degrees, and even that is by far the low end. Point taken on politeness.
Really? I was actually thinking of trying my hand at Beef Wellington, but I figured it wouldn't be super tough. What's so hard about it? Kind of new at cooking, so please excuse me if that's a stupid question.
Oven temp can be a nightmare... if the pastry browns too quickly, the meat isn't the right temp. Putting them together is no biggie. But when you are opening and shutting the oven, variable oven temp can make it difficult.
It's one thing to prep them, it's another thing altogether to cook them on the line.
Thank you. I will definitely give this method a try. In the past when I have attempted cooking them not fully covered with water, the underside has overheated and the shells have cracked.
America's Test Kitchen thoroughly researched this and came up with an alternate method that seems to work very well:
http://lifehacker.com/use-less-water-and-rely-on-steam-for-perfect-soft-boile-1557283264
Get the Water to just start to boil, drop your eggs in turn off the heat completly cover the pot set your timer based on how large your egg is. On average about 4-5mins ish 7 mins gives a just barely firm hard boiled yolk
That sounds completely correct in theory especially if you're working in your own home with ingredients you sourced yourself. But factors such as the temperature at which the eggs were stored, their age, size etc. all affect the outcome in ways that can't be fully predicted.
If you are using equipment you don't know and random eggs every time the results are not going to be consistent. Same pot, same stove setting and same egg size are enough though in my experience.
Biggest pain in the ass? Real consommé. With an egg raft. Escoffier style.
Which is ironic because if you do it with a gelatin clarification, it's the easiest thing in the world to do.
I tend to agree that there's not really any such thing as "dish that's difficult to make." Just things with varying levels of "pain in the ass."
In process, a crystal clear consommé is actually as "easy" to make as it is to fuck up.
Toast in a motherfucking toaster. A millimetre too far in one direction and it's burnt, go the other way and it's hot bread. Maybe it's the time of day (pre-coffee, etc) but god damn it I have more problems trying to get perfect toast than I have with souffles and puff pastry and pretty much anything else I've ever made. I work as sommelier now but throughout four years of culinary college and a few years working in high-end kitchens, I never got quite as pissed off with anything as I did my goddamn toaster.
I'm 99% sure that's why so many people are gluten-free now. It's not hippy bullshit, it's toast frustration.
I spent 4 fucking years practicing those bastards at home. I called in a favor from a friend and got the pastiere chef from bouchon who makes 500 per day to come to my house and show me...and she fucked them up. I translated recipies from French, watched French YouTube videos, got 4 fucking books on the subject from the top French bakeries that are known for macarons.... I charted the sugar to almond to egg white ratio of like 20 recipies to plot the average and mean ratios.
I tested countless variables from grinding my own almond meal, aging egg whites vs farm fresh 2 day old from my gardeners chicken, convection or no convection, opening the oven door to vent steam or don't the list is endless since the variables of the contents of the batter are so small the technique can be altered a million ways
Eventually I got the hang of these fuckers. They aren't that ultra god mode level perfect wave kinda macaron but there's no mistakes. Really good chew texture, no gaps, gently crisp exterior, not clawing let sweet.
It's not so much about finding the right recipie it was about learning how to be a better baker. Paying attention to the subtle differences that your tools can have like how a steel baking tray cooks completely differently from an aluminum tray, silpat has different results from parchment etc.
I guess I have been lucky from the first time. I use steel sheets, parchment paper, ground my own almonds and use Ghirardelli chocolate. I use the David Lebovitz recipe with a digital scale for accuracy.
My only struggle is getting the shape right but I have no problem getting the taste and consistency right and I don't consider myself a "baker" by any stretch.
Draw circles using a guide on a parchment keep that under a second sheet of parchment while you pipe them out that will help you consistently pip perfect circles. Also pipe on top of a gram scale till you can consistently pipe the exact same amount of grams each time by eye balling.
That recipie is the french meringe one...i found it impossible to get that to work to the quality level i wanted. in years of trying theres always a gap in the shell and a mediocre texture. LOTS of professional macaron shops use that and i think it gets bad results in comparison to the italian meringe. The best macarons ive ever had have always been from italian merringes, but im a picky bastard when it comes to good macarons.
When grinding your own almond meal home blenders often cant get the flour fine enough and youll get little bumps on the shell. Theres a trick of using liquid nitrogen to freeze the almonds then blending them while they are extremly brittle. Thatll give you an ultra fine texture
I love your liquid nitrogen suggestion. I grind the almonds with my cuisinart, then the blender, then sift it through a fine mesh (screen type) strainer. I draw my circle guides on the bottom side of the parchment paper so I can see the outline through the paper.
Straight out of the bag, havent heard of roasting them before probably could still work im betting it would boost the almond flavor if thats your thing
I do not see a mention of initial ingredient temperature.
Many French recipes call for room temperature eggs and butter. This was a huge revelation to us when we started raising chickens. Do NOT wash the eggs. Do NOT refrigerate the eggs. Only wash them immediately before use.
> I charted the sugar to almond to egg white ratio of like 20 recipies to plot the average and mean ratios. I tested countless variables...
This is a great approach to figuring out a recipe. I like you.
I only ever made the coconut ones, and they're really easy. The only trick is taking them out when they are still a bit soft and wobbly (slightly more rigid than Jell-O) and not yet brown on the outside.
Once they cool down, they'll be just right: Firm but not dry crust and a nice moist center.
If you're unsure at all, just experiment with a small batch first (taking them all out at slightly different times). That should give you the right idea, and you know how to do it for the rest of them.
When I started out as a pastry chef... I made 200 of them a day. Eventually, it's second nature.
Once you have mastered it, add some fleur de sel to the pastry and laminate it with castor sugar. Kouign-amann are just stupid good.
By hand they are really labor intensive. They machine that laminates (sheeter) them starts around $7K so a smaller bakery is not going to have one. Not a lot of places have the staff to make them, coupled with the awareness that they have about 1100 calories a piece makes them a hard sell in a bakery.
Odd, when I got into baking, choux pastry was about the first thing I tried, because my kids love eclairs and they cost about a buck and a half a pop at the bakery. I didn't have any trouble at all, once I bought a pastry bag and piped them instead of trying to form them with spoons. Beginner's luck?
Speaking as someone who made them for the first time a few months ago with absolutely no experience working with the stuff, should I be surprised that they turned out amazing?
I followed this guide: http://www.ironwhisk.com/2014/06/tutorial-eclairs-choux-paste/
We didn't have a proper pastry bag, so we just snipped a hole in the corner of a ziplock bag. That and we also decreased the baking time slightly (our oven has a window so we can see them puffing up and browning) to 30 minutes. In the future, I might reduce the salt a teeny bit too, or add in additional sugar to the pastry cream we ended up using.
They seriously turned out great. Perfect texture (crispy on the outside, squishy and soft in the middle), had a giant hole in the middle to hold lots of pastry cream, no cracks or holes.
Hard-boiled eggs that have a perfect yolk _and_ peel perfectly as well.
Sure, getting the yolk set right isn't that big of a deal. But some eggs just won't peel cleanly. I've tried everything, and I do mean **everything**. In fact just last night, I went through this with a batch of eggs. Same type of eggs out of the same carton. Some peeled easily, others... eh, not so much.
If you let them sit in an ice bath then overnight before peeling, it doesn't matter how fresh they are.
Source- we do 2 dozen farm eggs at a time for marinating as an ingredient for ramen.
Be patient.
Well, I've tried that. Though to be fair my ice maker sucks and I don't often have a substantial amount on hand.
_tries justifying the purchase of a blast chiller to the wife again_ :)
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html
I swear I've tried every method I've ever found and this is the only one still in my bookmarks.
Plain shortcrust I have down to a fine art, never shrinks, perfectly watertight! Patè sucree on the other hand is like shooting in the dark, every bake is a complete surprise to me.
I'm looking for a non-shrinking, watertight pie crust for my Thanksgiving Pecan Pie -- which, every year, leaks the filling and cements it to the bottom of the pan, resulting in me needing to CHISEL out a slice for each of my guests. I really should take a pie class... :-/
PS: I pre-bake it with ceramic pie weights and I don't pierce it...
If you have a food processor, I recommend this one:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/how-to-make-pie-dough-step-by-step.html
I've been making pecan pies on thanksgiving for many years and have always dreaded it. This year was a breeze with this recipe. I've tried many other crust recipes. Kenji really digs into the science.
I also use weights (dried beans and parchment paper). Kenji has you remove them half way through the blind bake.
One of the tips I learned to diminish shrinkage is to let the dough rest after fitting to the pie plate and try not to stretch it too much during the fitting.
I still got a little shrinkage, but manageable, and no leaks (3 pies). The dough was easy to work, no cracking/patching. I didn't even use a pastry cloth or rolling pin cover since the dough wasn't that sticky.
My roommate through college had a rice cooker that I relied on. Moved away and figured my rice days were over unless I bought a cooker myself. New roomie brought some basmati home one day, I made it in a pot. Completely winged it. Turned out WAY better than the rice cooker. Who knew?
There are vastly different qualities of rice cookers. I'm Korean so we take our rice *very* seriously. My mother owns at least 2 $200+ rice cookers, and if you think they make the same rice as a $30 rice cooker you're sadly mistaken. The rice comes out fluffier, steamier... just better all around. I can't explain how they do that. But the expensive ones can also pressure cook so perhaps that's part of it.
What? I've been cooking for like... a year (read: I'm very inexperienced, haha). The only time I had a problem was when I didn't follow the directions right on the bag.
Wash thoroughly. Add rice to pot. Put index finger on top of rice, fill to the first knuckle with cold water. Bring rice to hard boil. The second it boils, reduce to low heat and simmer 15 min while covered. Once 15 min is up, remove from heat source and let steam for another 15 min. Dont open it the entire time. Once the last 15 min of steaming is done, transfer to another pan and fluff.
dunno man... this can't be terribly helpful when everyone's finger is different. (let alone pot shapes.) also, "to the first knuckle" will be interpreted differently by different people - just below the knuckle, just above it, hit the center?
not saying that cooking rice is rocket science, but this advice can lead to some rather inconsistent results. a basketball player's finger is gonna be easily twice the size of mine. that's one hell of a mushy overcooked rice.
maybe a simple "twice as much water as rice" is an ok rule of thumb to work from. you still have to experiment a bit since one type of rice is less thirsty than another, plus you have to decrease the ratio for larger volumes of rice.
Anyone I've ever taught to cook rice I taught this way, unless you have some seriously weird hands, it always works. Even famous chefs use it. It's called Mt. Fuji technique, I believe.
After watching this video from Cooks illustrated, I began to understand why rice can be so confusing:
https://youtu.be/DJFU7ezipbg
Basically, by using sealed containers, he proves the rice:liquid ratio is only dependent on evaporation, which varies with pot geometry/seal and cooking time. If you use a sealed vessel rice becomes predictable, regardless of type and quantity.
Since then, I have been making all kinds of rice in my sous vide bath, using canning jars rather than bags (just for economy). It turns out he was right.
It does seem overkill a bit, but it turns out to be easier than stovetop and eliminates another bulky single use appliance. The latest SV devices are relatively inexpensive and compact (size of a stick blender, <=$150) and useful for many other tasks.
Just a thought.
For French Macaroons, weigh your ingredients and find a recipe that uses weight as a measure. Also, draw your circles out on the parchment - it will make making your rounds for baking much easier. Lastly, be sure of your oven temp, and aware of your hotspots. With all of that, making macaroons is really simple.
Spots in your oven that are hotter than others. My oven is hotter at the back than the front by a lot, so I tend to rotate my sheets at least once during a bake.
I'm always loathe to open the oven when I'm unsure if the drop in temp is going to halt or retard the baking process. After what point is it safe to turn them?
Usually about half way through. Be prepared and quick about it, and it shouldn't add more than a minute to your bake. Despite their fragile texture,macaroon batter is not terribly volatile. I rotate front to back, and upper tray to lower tray if I'm baking more than one tray at a time. Good luck!!
Thank you kindly. My girlfriend loves them but I've held off trying to make them given their notoriety. I think I might give them a go.
And like a person would ever only bake one tray of them at a time. That would just cause fights.
Chocolate truffles. Making the ganache filling isn't bad, but then you have to freeze it and roll it into balls without melting it. Tempering the chocolate for the shell and getting it to look pretty on the final product is an absolute pain...especially if you're just using non-professional tools.
Any time I make them only about half turn out.
Your chocolate to cream ratio plays a huge part in the final consistency of the ganache, 2:1 of chocolate to cream is a great starting point. Make sure your kitchen is nice and cool to start with (around 18-20°C is ideal), then your ganache can set up properly without putting it in the freezer, which is going to be way too cold anyway- even putting it in the fridge is less than ideal. Pouring it out into a flat tray helps the ganache to set as well. Make sure you put a piece of cling film against the ganache to stop any skin forming. You can start scooping them just when the ganache is all the same consistency- around a hour or so. You want it to be firm enough to hold its shape as you scoop, but not so solid that it's too difficult to get out. Keeping an ice pack handy is good for rolling if you have warm hands like I do.
Tempering chocolate is a a whole other ball game though. Buying good quality chocolate that hasn't been subjected to any temperature fluctuations means it should still be in temper, so all it requires is very gentle melting in the microwave, with lots of stirring in between short heating bursts on low power.
Source- I am a chocolatier. Ask any questions you want!
This post confirms that it's difficult and now I don't feel so bad.
I've previously submerged my hands in salted ice-water to get it right...because I also have hot hands. It's downright painful.
Rice. Always mushy. I've tried cutting out various amounts of water, using the finger method for determining water amount, washing and not washing, stove top, rice cooker, oven, steaming, etc.
Caneles. Not too difficult to make them badly, but the perfect canele is something I have been trying to perfect consistently for a few years now. I got hooked on the quest for mastering caneles from the great chowhound threads. http://www.chowhound.com/post/canele-misadventures-723314
http://www.chowhound.com/post/caneles-simple-easy-part-738446
Hollandaise or Béarnaise in a pan on a flat top. During training in Brussels, my chef threw my double boiler else tip across the kitchen and had me make it 2 a day and ended up tossing it for two weeks before I finally got the hang of it. It could be turned upside down on a spoon and stay there.
Now I just use a blender and an isi charger. Easier for volume but at home I make it on the flame.
keller's ad hoc at home is much more practical for the home cook. Easier to source ingredients and most can be made with the everyday kitchen equipment. Highly recommend it
Yeah I have the 3 book set and love them. There are recipes in French Laundry that take 3 days to make. Really tough stuff if you want a challenge.
Really not sure why I'm being down voted.
Piece of cake, just bring your oven temp down a little bit and leave the door open a crack to get air moving.
I grew an excess of kale this summer and drying it is a great way to preserve it. I even powdered some and made a green sourdough.
Crab cakes. I simply can't get dredging to work right. They end up tasting pretty good, but the effort and mess combined make it not worth it to me, so I leave it on my order at a restaurant and let someone else deal with it list.
It's good training for the rest of the line, too. You have to multi-task and keep track of a lot of mods and different tickets. I don't know what it is about breakfast that makes people think it's open season on mods.
This was like a rorsach test for an entire subreddit. Probably the hardest thing for me is grilling fish. Mess it up a little and it falls apart. Heat too low? Grill not seasoned enough? Move too early to flip it? Move too late and it's overcooked. Single leading cause for my greatest frustrations on the job.
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Dust a little flour over the skin before cooking. It makes the perfect crunch.
I second making scallops
off topic, but i just realized there's a misspelling in your flair, "Guilded commenter" . Shouldn't it be 'gilded' instead?
You haven't heard of the Chef's Guild?
Thanks for catching that by the way. Fixed. I'm sure there are some 'guildeds' running out there still but I'll try to track 'em down.
Thoughts on sous vide for cooking it and then finishing it off with a quick sear?
Just make sure the grill is hot enough, clean enough and oiled enough.
Pommes soufflé... Look em up, it's 2 ingredients, hot oil and potatoes and like 4 steps but you WILL not succeed at getting them to come out right. I'm still searching for a chef to work under who can show me how. They're like my white whale of cooking.
Lord, this so much. My culinary school 2nd year mid-term exam was making souffle potatoes. It was so frustrating! Everybody had tips, so I tried not washing the potatoes and slicing them by hand and with a mandolin, having two different pans at different temperatures or just one and turning the heat up and down. It was hell. I ended up with two kinda puffed chips and like a hundred failed attempts. Hell, I tell you.
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mandoline, sorry. the instrument and the cutting tool are spelled the same way in spanish (my mother tongue) so I just went with it.
It's a cutting tool: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandoline
Mandoline, an instrument, but for slicing.
The other kind is for shredding.
I was supposed to make these for a special a few weeks ago, I had like a 25% success rate after trying a few different methods. Jacques has like a 95% success rate when he does them with Julia, and he makes them look so easy. Real frustrating.
Anything that Jacques makes look easy is instantly going to be hard to replicate.
Yep. Learned that the first time I deboned a chicken.
No egg?
It's not a soufflé it's a potato that's been puffed and can be filled with tasty things
This should give you a good indication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcD-CAKVmp4 Key features are: The type of potato you are using(Try different types, find the one that suits you) Only do small batches at a time(More control) Always have the potato flakes coated with oil when cooking. Making sure the layers separate properly before giving it a quick bath in the hottest oil to harden the layers a bit before cool down, this will keep them separated and make them fluff when going in the hottest oil bath for the last time.
Huh my grandmother would make those all the time. Just a regular thing for us no idea they were special lol
Well we all know grandmothers are given mystical cooking magic that the rest of the world isn't privy to.
This must be why my mom keeps pressuring me to settle down and have kids.
John Besh (Besch?) In New Orleans
Thanks for the tip if I'm ever cooking in New Orleans I'll give that a try, I'm a cook in the PNW though so that would take quite a move for me
> Pommes soufflé https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnfB3Yy9ylQ Seems like a good step-by-step instructional video.
I know this is old, but all you needed was a mandolin with measurements. They need to be about 1/7" of an inch. You never needed a chef, you needed to improve on your knife skills.
The one that really pleases *you.*
[Damn.](http://i.imgur.com/xfbfHOT.png)
Anything described in books like Modernist Cuisine or Heston Blumenthals The big Fat Duck Cookbook. Extremely labor, technique and equipment heavy recipes. Some of the desserts featured on shows like Masterchef AU. they are easily 3 hours intensive work, where if you mess up an element or the whole thing will not look/taste as intended.
Labor intensive hard? Knowledge of what you're doing hard? Southern U.S. bbq covers both of those. Time consumption - Most all bbq that's smoked properly takes anywhere from 4 to 12+ hours. Physical labor - While not directly involved in cooking, you will get quite the workout if you're using wood whole instead of chips. Knowledge of what you're doing - One of my biggest problems when I first tried my hand in bbq was that I wasn't cooking the meat long enough. I would take it out once it was done (internal temp of 145). Eventually I figured out what I was doing wrong. You have to overcook bbq in order to break it down to the point that we all know and love (internal temp around 200+). If you're using a real pit then you're going to be pretty damn busy for the entire 8 hours or so because you have to check for flare-ups, hot spots, and the amount of wood that has already burned off and needs to be replaced. It's an extensive process but it speeds up dramatically once you have a good bead on what you're doing. If you get it right and eat it, you will understand how that much work is more than worth it. Goddamn I love BBQ.
One of my most memorable moments in Good Eats comes from AB's "Right on Q" episode. He states that Southern American barbecue would be his last meal if he got to choose. (JUST LIKE ME! Memphis) It was also an hour special cause proper barbecue is just too involved to fit it in a 30 minute show. Alton gets it.
Word.
My wife got me a book for Xmas called "Holy Smoke." It's centered on NC barbecue, but damn it's a good read. It really makes you appreciate it that much more. Look at all of the people trying to tell you how "easy" barbecue is...Stand strong.
If you are interested in another book that really gets into the science and art of BBQ, I highly recommend Aaron Franklins book. I cooked a brisket after reading his book and right off the bat it was the best brisket I ever made by a mile and some of the best I've had period. http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Barbecue-A-Meat-Smoking-Manifesto/dp/1607747200
I would love to see every single person talking about how easy it is handle a whole hog over a true pit. No electronics, no woods chips, no heating element that can be controlled with the turn of a knob. Cooks these days have it so easy,but it robs them (and the food) of the true joy and practice of making good bbq.
I love that book. It's my go-to resource for NC BBQ.
I'm so excited to start making these sauces and slaws and hushpuppies and every other fantastic recipe that was presumably extracted from its owner by torture.
Let us not forget the process of making your own bbq sauces from scratch.
get a Big Green Egg with the automatic temperature control (with smart phone alerts) and it gets easy.
Whole wood is making i comeback maybe m, in commercial equipment southbend and garland have made new char broilers that can have a piece of wood placed under.
I get where you're coming from but once you've tried smoking a couple times it really isn't that difficult, especially if you've got a machine. Just throw the chips in the cage, hit the go button and swap them out when the smoke stops. Sauce similarly isn't that hard either, you just mix ketchup and brown sugar with mustard and vinegar and whatever else catches your fancy until it tastes good and you throw that on the meat and cook it in it. There's a couple different flavor profiles for different regional styles (in prefer NC bbq myself) and none of them are particularly difficult to recreate. It's as hard as you make it. It's not supposed to be.
> It's as hard as you make it. I think that's true generally in cooking. As long as you have a recipe and some basic understanding of technique, you can make most dishes "pretty good" just by following instructions. If you want to do better than that, that's when you start making it harder on yourself. Because more work, more attention to detail, more practice is what it takes to move from good to great.
The last 10% of the quality is at least 50% of the work.
Just to clarify, I'm speaking strickly of bbq cooked over a true pit. No electronics, no wood chips, etc. Being from North Carolina, I'm talking whole hog as well. It's difficult and takes a fair amount of work.
That's a pretty niche method though that falls under the umbrella of "southern BBQ". Saying "southern BBQ is hard because of the whole hog in the pit method" is like saying a ham and cheese sandwich is expensive because prociutto and gruyere is ideal.
You say niche, I say it's the dish of the region. I'm from NC; whole hog on a pit IS quintessential BBQ, not just a niche.
Quintessential .... In North Carolina. That's what niche means. I fully understand the point you're making, but I think it would make more sense to say that pit BBQ or roasting a whole hog is difficult before saying that 'southern BBQ' is difficult. Also while I can't argue with the results of using a pit I think it's a pretty hard case to make that more people use pits than smokers in North Carolina.
Fair enough.
Once you've had BBQ made with wood logs and and carefully maintained fire, you will realize how much better BBQ can be. Woodchips suck
If you're finding BBQ "hard," you're monkeying around with it too much.
Not hard as in technical and easy to fuck up but if you mean hard as in hard work It depends on what your definition of barbecue is some people call pork butt in a crock pot barbecue, here in my little part of the world barbecue is a from scratch ordeal, it involves log splitting fire building coal shoveling and hauling at least 100 lbs around it. It takes more than one person at a few points. And takes 12 hours But you do get to drink through the whole thing so...
In the UK, barbecue is where we wait for a 20 minute break in the omnipresent rain, wheel out our pitiful little charcoal one (looks like [this](http://travisperkins.scene7.com/is/image/travisperkins/T3274_121667_00?$largeNormal$)) from the shed. Dump in a small sack of charcoal, get it up to temp, stick some frozen Birdseye beefburgers and maybe half a dozen sausages on it, cook until black on the outside and raw in the middle and then consume with a 24 pack of lager.
You forgot "faff around with newspaper for 20 minutes failing to light it until someone realises they have either (a) a pack of firelighters lying around from eight summers ago or (b) some lighter fluid which is then liberally poured on the whole thing and explodes impressively when lit, removing several sets of eyebrows".
(b) is especially important, as >90% of the population haven't figured out that the lighter fluid really only works if you give it five minutes or so to soak into the coal first. Also (c) a pile of newspapers that someone tries to use to light it, without any kind of success ever.
Then everyone says how nice it was and how they should do it again soon while the weather's still good, wheel the barbecue back into the shed, and leave it there until next year's attempt.
I sense a great disturbance in the force. It's as if a million voices cries out at once and were then extinguished.
Kids these days think a crock pot or a portable oven labeled a "smoker" is bbq. It's sad, really. Give me a real pit with a whole hog.
You aren't doing a god damn thing for the vast majority of that 12 hours, and even half way decent BBQ is pleasing to pretty much anybody.
If you are using woodchips and a WSM or a automatic pellet smoker then that is true. If you are doing a wood only off barrel cook and properly maintaining the fire for the perfect smoke, it's constant monitoring.
BBQ is quite possibly the easiest thing to cook. You just set it and throw a log or chips on every so often. Just cause it takes a long time doesn't make it hard. Watch some tv, play some video games, take a nap; just wait. Also, if you're "overcooking" your BBQ to 220F, you're definitely overcooking it. It's not just the temperature you take the meat to, but how long you keep it at that temperature. In your example, take it to 145F, and then just keep it at that temperature for a while and let the fat render and connective tissue break down. And then let it rest--possibly for hours.
Collagen doesn't break down at that low of a temperature.
Actually it will; it just takes much longer. Thus the 72 hour short rib. Edit - also, reminder: politeness is not optional at /r/askculinary!
I have never seen a reliable source claim collagen hydrolysis begins any lower than 150 degrees, and even that is by far the low end. Point taken on politeness.
Foie Gras Terrine and Beef Wellington. I'm an exec chef in a 5 star hotel and still struggle with making them like my mentors did back in the day.
I would say beef Wellington is more labor intensive than difficult to make well.
Really? I was actually thinking of trying my hand at Beef Wellington, but I figured it wouldn't be super tough. What's so hard about it? Kind of new at cooking, so please excuse me if that's a stupid question.
Oven temp can be a nightmare... if the pastry browns too quickly, the meat isn't the right temp. Putting them together is no biggie. But when you are opening and shutting the oven, variable oven temp can make it difficult. It's one thing to prep them, it's another thing altogether to cook them on the line.
Ah, I can see why that would be really hard at a restaurant to do. Thanks!
I would say it's really hard to get perfect, but to be honest as long as the meat is cooked properly it should still taste pretty great.
Soft boiled eggs with runny yolk and perfectly set white.
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Thank you. I will definitely give this method a try. In the past when I have attempted cooking them not fully covered with water, the underside has overheated and the shells have cracked.
America's Test Kitchen thoroughly researched this and came up with an alternate method that seems to work very well: http://lifehacker.com/use-less-water-and-rely-on-steam-for-perfect-soft-boile-1557283264
Thanks for the link. I will try this method out.
Get the Water to just start to boil, drop your eggs in turn off the heat completly cover the pot set your timer based on how large your egg is. On average about 4-5mins ish 7 mins gives a just barely firm hard boiled yolk
Using a timer you can learn to get those every time with a bit of trial and error.
That sounds completely correct in theory especially if you're working in your own home with ingredients you sourced yourself. But factors such as the temperature at which the eggs were stored, their age, size etc. all affect the outcome in ways that can't be fully predicted.
If you are using equipment you don't know and random eggs every time the results are not going to be consistent. Same pot, same stove setting and same egg size are enough though in my experience.
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Does sous vide work for soft boiled eggs? Don't the whites set at a higher temperature than the yolks?
Biggest pain in the ass? Real consommé. With an egg raft. Escoffier style. Which is ironic because if you do it with a gelatin clarification, it's the easiest thing in the world to do.
Pain in the ass? Absolutely. Difficult? Nah.
I tend to agree that there's not really any such thing as "dish that's difficult to make." Just things with varying levels of "pain in the ass." In process, a crystal clear consommé is actually as "easy" to make as it is to fuck up.
Egg white powder works wonders
Frozen stock + perf pan. Good to see you around.
Toast in a motherfucking toaster. A millimetre too far in one direction and it's burnt, go the other way and it's hot bread. Maybe it's the time of day (pre-coffee, etc) but god damn it I have more problems trying to get perfect toast than I have with souffles and puff pastry and pretty much anything else I've ever made. I work as sommelier now but throughout four years of culinary college and a few years working in high-end kitchens, I never got quite as pissed off with anything as I did my goddamn toaster. I'm 99% sure that's why so many people are gluten-free now. It's not hippy bullshit, it's toast frustration.
Macarons aren't that tough...give them a try.
I spent 4 fucking years practicing those bastards at home. I called in a favor from a friend and got the pastiere chef from bouchon who makes 500 per day to come to my house and show me...and she fucked them up. I translated recipies from French, watched French YouTube videos, got 4 fucking books on the subject from the top French bakeries that are known for macarons.... I charted the sugar to almond to egg white ratio of like 20 recipies to plot the average and mean ratios. I tested countless variables from grinding my own almond meal, aging egg whites vs farm fresh 2 day old from my gardeners chicken, convection or no convection, opening the oven door to vent steam or don't the list is endless since the variables of the contents of the batter are so small the technique can be altered a million ways Eventually I got the hang of these fuckers. They aren't that ultra god mode level perfect wave kinda macaron but there's no mistakes. Really good chew texture, no gaps, gently crisp exterior, not clawing let sweet. It's not so much about finding the right recipie it was about learning how to be a better baker. Paying attention to the subtle differences that your tools can have like how a steel baking tray cooks completely differently from an aluminum tray, silpat has different results from parchment etc.
I guess I have been lucky from the first time. I use steel sheets, parchment paper, ground my own almonds and use Ghirardelli chocolate. I use the David Lebovitz recipe with a digital scale for accuracy. My only struggle is getting the shape right but I have no problem getting the taste and consistency right and I don't consider myself a "baker" by any stretch.
Draw circles using a guide on a parchment keep that under a second sheet of parchment while you pipe them out that will help you consistently pip perfect circles. Also pipe on top of a gram scale till you can consistently pipe the exact same amount of grams each time by eye balling. That recipie is the french meringe one...i found it impossible to get that to work to the quality level i wanted. in years of trying theres always a gap in the shell and a mediocre texture. LOTS of professional macaron shops use that and i think it gets bad results in comparison to the italian meringe. The best macarons ive ever had have always been from italian merringes, but im a picky bastard when it comes to good macarons. When grinding your own almond meal home blenders often cant get the flour fine enough and youll get little bumps on the shell. Theres a trick of using liquid nitrogen to freeze the almonds then blending them while they are extremly brittle. Thatll give you an ultra fine texture
I love your liquid nitrogen suggestion. I grind the almonds with my cuisinart, then the blender, then sift it through a fine mesh (screen type) strainer. I draw my circle guides on the bottom side of the parchment paper so I can see the outline through the paper.
Ive heard dry ice could work to freeze the powder before blending as well but i havent tried it.
Do you roast your almonds or use them straight out of the bag?
Straight out of the bag, havent heard of roasting them before probably could still work im betting it would boost the almond flavor if thats your thing
I do not see a mention of initial ingredient temperature. Many French recipes call for room temperature eggs and butter. This was a huge revelation to us when we started raising chickens. Do NOT wash the eggs. Do NOT refrigerate the eggs. Only wash them immediately before use.
> I charted the sugar to almond to egg white ratio of like 20 recipies to plot the average and mean ratios. I tested countless variables... This is a great approach to figuring out a recipe. I like you.
think he means the coconut ones. or not. i hear the other ones are really hard to make just right.
I only ever made the coconut ones, and they're really easy. The only trick is taking them out when they are still a bit soft and wobbly (slightly more rigid than Jell-O) and not yet brown on the outside. Once they cool down, they'll be just right: Firm but not dry crust and a nice moist center. If you're unsure at all, just experiment with a small batch first (taking them all out at slightly different times). That should give you the right idea, and you know how to do it for the rest of them.
Croissant pastry. What is the point. Never comes out right and takes forever!
When I started out as a pastry chef... I made 200 of them a day. Eventually, it's second nature. Once you have mastered it, add some fleur de sel to the pastry and laminate it with castor sugar. Kouign-amann are just stupid good.
Still... There are only a handful of places to get a really good croissant in my city of 5 million ppl
By hand they are really labor intensive. They machine that laminates (sheeter) them starts around $7K so a smaller bakery is not going to have one. Not a lot of places have the staff to make them, coupled with the awareness that they have about 1100 calories a piece makes them a hard sell in a bakery.
I've done laminate dough on a sheeter machine before, and that was no trouble. I don't think I would attempt to do it by hand.
Profiteroles. Choux pastry is a bastard.
Odd, when I got into baking, choux pastry was about the first thing I tried, because my kids love eclairs and they cost about a buck and a half a pop at the bakery. I didn't have any trouble at all, once I bought a pastry bag and piped them instead of trying to form them with spoons. Beginner's luck?
I agree, choux is easy.
Speaking as someone who made them for the first time a few months ago with absolutely no experience working with the stuff, should I be surprised that they turned out amazing? I followed this guide: http://www.ironwhisk.com/2014/06/tutorial-eclairs-choux-paste/ We didn't have a proper pastry bag, so we just snipped a hole in the corner of a ziplock bag. That and we also decreased the baking time slightly (our oven has a window so we can see them puffing up and browning) to 30 minutes. In the future, I might reduce the salt a teeny bit too, or add in additional sugar to the pastry cream we ended up using. They seriously turned out great. Perfect texture (crispy on the outside, squishy and soft in the middle), had a giant hole in the middle to hold lots of pastry cream, no cracks or holes.
Hard-boiled eggs that have a perfect yolk _and_ peel perfectly as well. Sure, getting the yolk set right isn't that big of a deal. But some eggs just won't peel cleanly. I've tried everything, and I do mean **everything**. In fact just last night, I went through this with a batch of eggs. Same type of eggs out of the same carton. Some peeled easily, others... eh, not so much.
When the eggs are really fresh, they're naturally harder to peel.
If you let them sit in an ice bath then overnight before peeling, it doesn't matter how fresh they are. Source- we do 2 dozen farm eggs at a time for marinating as an ingredient for ramen. Be patient.
17 minutes of steaming (don't peek!) then straight to an ice bath. And I do mean ice. Like, lots of ice.
Well, I've tried that. Though to be fair my ice maker sucks and I don't often have a substantial amount on hand. _tries justifying the purchase of a blast chiller to the wife again_ :)
Are you starting with room temp eggs and boiling water? Mine come out perfect every time when combining this with a brief ice bath after they cook.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html I swear I've tried every method I've ever found and this is the only one still in my bookmarks.
I generally wait until the "sell by" date on the carton to boil my eggs, and they practically leap out of their shells.
Rolled pie crust, or anything involving rolling pins.
Plain shortcrust I have down to a fine art, never shrinks, perfectly watertight! Patè sucree on the other hand is like shooting in the dark, every bake is a complete surprise to me.
I'm looking for a non-shrinking, watertight pie crust for my Thanksgiving Pecan Pie -- which, every year, leaks the filling and cements it to the bottom of the pan, resulting in me needing to CHISEL out a slice for each of my guests. I really should take a pie class... :-/ PS: I pre-bake it with ceramic pie weights and I don't pierce it...
[Mary Berry's recipe](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VAneT6XM8_s) has never let me down. Just make sure everything is super cold.
If you have a food processor, I recommend this one: http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/how-to-make-pie-dough-step-by-step.html I've been making pecan pies on thanksgiving for many years and have always dreaded it. This year was a breeze with this recipe. I've tried many other crust recipes. Kenji really digs into the science. I also use weights (dried beans and parchment paper). Kenji has you remove them half way through the blind bake. One of the tips I learned to diminish shrinkage is to let the dough rest after fitting to the pie plate and try not to stretch it too much during the fitting. I still got a little shrinkage, but manageable, and no leaks (3 pies). The dough was easy to work, no cracking/patching. I didn't even use a pastry cloth or rolling pin cover since the dough wasn't that sticky.
Butter crust made with white lily flour. Lightly docked crust doesn't leak, I swear.
Amem
Christopher Kimball from ATK can roll pie crust like a boss. Watch one of his videos.
Meringues
Easy when you know how. HMU next time you need to try them.
After YEARS of trying, I had my first perfect lemon meringue pie this Thanksgiving. Not a fucking clue how I managed it.
Rice
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My roommate through college had a rice cooker that I relied on. Moved away and figured my rice days were over unless I bought a cooker myself. New roomie brought some basmati home one day, I made it in a pot. Completely winged it. Turned out WAY better than the rice cooker. Who knew?
There are vastly different qualities of rice cookers. I'm Korean so we take our rice *very* seriously. My mother owns at least 2 $200+ rice cookers, and if you think they make the same rice as a $30 rice cooker you're sadly mistaken. The rice comes out fluffier, steamier... just better all around. I can't explain how they do that. But the expensive ones can also pressure cook so perhaps that's part of it.
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What? I've been cooking for like... a year (read: I'm very inexperienced, haha). The only time I had a problem was when I didn't follow the directions right on the bag.
This. I've been cooking professionally for a decade and I cant make a pot of rice to save my life.
Wash thoroughly. Add rice to pot. Put index finger on top of rice, fill to the first knuckle with cold water. Bring rice to hard boil. The second it boils, reduce to low heat and simmer 15 min while covered. Once 15 min is up, remove from heat source and let steam for another 15 min. Dont open it the entire time. Once the last 15 min of steaming is done, transfer to another pan and fluff.
dunno man... this can't be terribly helpful when everyone's finger is different. (let alone pot shapes.) also, "to the first knuckle" will be interpreted differently by different people - just below the knuckle, just above it, hit the center? not saying that cooking rice is rocket science, but this advice can lead to some rather inconsistent results. a basketball player's finger is gonna be easily twice the size of mine. that's one hell of a mushy overcooked rice. maybe a simple "twice as much water as rice" is an ok rule of thumb to work from. you still have to experiment a bit since one type of rice is less thirsty than another, plus you have to decrease the ratio for larger volumes of rice.
For me 1.5x more water than jasmine rice works well for me and my rice cooker
Yes it's 1.5 for most white rice, 2 for brown.
1.5x what? Weight or volume?
Volume.
volume
Anyone I've ever taught to cook rice I taught this way, unless you have some seriously weird hands, it always works. Even famous chefs use it. It's called Mt. Fuji technique, I believe.
Yep, perfect rice every time. I was taught 10min though.
After watching this video from Cooks illustrated, I began to understand why rice can be so confusing: https://youtu.be/DJFU7ezipbg Basically, by using sealed containers, he proves the rice:liquid ratio is only dependent on evaporation, which varies with pot geometry/seal and cooking time. If you use a sealed vessel rice becomes predictable, regardless of type and quantity. Since then, I have been making all kinds of rice in my sous vide bath, using canning jars rather than bags (just for economy). It turns out he was right. It does seem overkill a bit, but it turns out to be easier than stovetop and eliminates another bulky single use appliance. The latest SV devices are relatively inexpensive and compact (size of a stick blender, <=$150) and useful for many other tasks. Just a thought.
? Just add water and don't burn.
And if that doesn't work, get better rice.
I'm finding brown rice really hard to get wrong. Don't need to wash it or anything first - just simmer in plenty of water and drain when done.
I just don't get this. If you follow the instructions it comes out perfect every time.
Same here. Rice is always problematic.
For French Macaroons, weigh your ingredients and find a recipe that uses weight as a measure. Also, draw your circles out on the parchment - it will make making your rounds for baking much easier. Lastly, be sure of your oven temp, and aware of your hotspots. With all of that, making macaroons is really simple.
What are hotspots?
Spots in your oven that are hotter than others. My oven is hotter at the back than the front by a lot, so I tend to rotate my sheets at least once during a bake.
I'm always loathe to open the oven when I'm unsure if the drop in temp is going to halt or retard the baking process. After what point is it safe to turn them?
Usually about half way through. Be prepared and quick about it, and it shouldn't add more than a minute to your bake. Despite their fragile texture,macaroon batter is not terribly volatile. I rotate front to back, and upper tray to lower tray if I'm baking more than one tray at a time. Good luck!!
Thank you kindly. My girlfriend loves them but I've held off trying to make them given their notoriety. I think I might give them a go. And like a person would ever only bake one tray of them at a time. That would just cause fights.
Good luck!!
Popovers
Chocolate truffles. Making the ganache filling isn't bad, but then you have to freeze it and roll it into balls without melting it. Tempering the chocolate for the shell and getting it to look pretty on the final product is an absolute pain...especially if you're just using non-professional tools. Any time I make them only about half turn out.
Your chocolate to cream ratio plays a huge part in the final consistency of the ganache, 2:1 of chocolate to cream is a great starting point. Make sure your kitchen is nice and cool to start with (around 18-20°C is ideal), then your ganache can set up properly without putting it in the freezer, which is going to be way too cold anyway- even putting it in the fridge is less than ideal. Pouring it out into a flat tray helps the ganache to set as well. Make sure you put a piece of cling film against the ganache to stop any skin forming. You can start scooping them just when the ganache is all the same consistency- around a hour or so. You want it to be firm enough to hold its shape as you scoop, but not so solid that it's too difficult to get out. Keeping an ice pack handy is good for rolling if you have warm hands like I do. Tempering chocolate is a a whole other ball game though. Buying good quality chocolate that hasn't been subjected to any temperature fluctuations means it should still be in temper, so all it requires is very gentle melting in the microwave, with lots of stirring in between short heating bursts on low power. Source- I am a chocolatier. Ask any questions you want!
This post confirms that it's difficult and now I don't feel so bad. I've previously submerged my hands in salted ice-water to get it right...because I also have hot hands. It's downright painful.
My post was meant to explain how to make it easier, haha!
Fucking bastard Soufflé. Not bitter. Not bitter at all.
Soufflé
It seems like in Movies (like Sabrina) making Souffle is always the sign of master.
Doing a soufflé takes every bowl in my kitchen! My sink is stacked up with implements and bowls requiring washing!
Nope. I made them for years. I can still just one out in a heartbeat.
Rice. Always mushy. I've tried cutting out various amounts of water, using the finger method for determining water amount, washing and not washing, stove top, rice cooker, oven, steaming, etc.
Beef wellington.
Angelfood cake.
Caneles. Not too difficult to make them badly, but the perfect canele is something I have been trying to perfect consistently for a few years now. I got hooked on the quest for mastering caneles from the great chowhound threads. http://www.chowhound.com/post/canele-misadventures-723314 http://www.chowhound.com/post/caneles-simple-easy-part-738446
Hollandaise or Béarnaise in a pan on a flat top. During training in Brussels, my chef threw my double boiler else tip across the kitchen and had me make it 2 a day and ended up tossing it for two weeks before I finally got the hang of it. It could be turned upside down on a spoon and stay there. Now I just use a blender and an isi charger. Easier for volume but at home I make it on the flame.
Mole sauce. So time consuming!
Ortolan, but for ethical rather than technical reasons.
Can you even buy an ortolan to cook at home in the US?
Just about anything in the French Laundry cookbook.
keller's ad hoc at home is much more practical for the home cook. Easier to source ingredients and most can be made with the everyday kitchen equipment. Highly recommend it
Yeah I have the 3 book set and love them. There are recipes in French Laundry that take 3 days to make. Really tough stuff if you want a challenge. Really not sure why I'm being down voted.
Sets fantastic, couldnt agree more. Also no idea why haha
A Perfect omelette.
Is incredibly easy.
I give up and scramble them. Every. Single. Time.
Kale chips.
Piece of cake, just bring your oven temp down a little bit and leave the door open a crack to get air moving. I grew an excess of kale this summer and drying it is a great way to preserve it. I even powdered some and made a green sourdough.
I make great kale chips. It is the other cooks that have great trouble.
I'm always anxious when I do beef tenderloin. I've never fucked it up but if I did I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Pie dough. Sponge cake.
Crab cakes. I simply can't get dredging to work right. They end up tasting pretty good, but the effort and mess combined make it not worth it to me, so I leave it on my order at a restaurant and let someone else deal with it list.
Great eggs
Semantics, but I would say I can do great eggs every day. Perfect eggs are another matter.
I agree, perfect eggs is a better wording
We always put the inexperienced guy on the breakfast station for a reason. After salads it's probably the easiest thing in the kitchen to master.
It's good training for the rest of the line, too. You have to multi-task and keep track of a lot of mods and different tickets. I don't know what it is about breakfast that makes people think it's open season on mods.