Where Am I Going Wrong With Cooking?

ChocClare

Maybe his mum always smothered everything in gravy when he was a kid, LOL!!
Joking apart, I know that it is possible to have things "cooked" perfectly, and still taste completely disparate and dry - I get this every time I go to my lovely friend's house - I love her to bits but she can ruin a packet sauce...

I think it may be a question of confidence - if you are a novice, you may well follow instructions to the letter whereas a more experienced cook wouldn't. To give you an example, I bought a bottle of pasta bake sauce the other week because it was on bogof - not something I usually buy but I thought it would do if the kids were starving and needed to cook themselves something simple. I made it up according to instructions and could see immediately that it would be dry pasta with coloured coating if I made it as suggested. So I sprinkled some flour over the top, added half a pint of milk and some cheese, brought it up to the boil so the sauce thickened and then grated twice the amount of cheese over the top before I baked it. OBVIOUSLY not at all money saving in the end, but do you see what I mean? If I had made it according to the instructions, it would have been horrible.

Could you post a recipe you've tried (or a couple) and perhaps some of us oldies could give you some pointers as to why it might turn out dry and what to do if it does? Failing that, buy a few oxo cubes and make a pint of gravy with every meal - and if he still doesn't like it you can always tip it over his head!! :rotfl:

Fallenangel152

ChocClare wrote: »

Maybe his mum always smothered everything in gravy when he was a kid, LOL!!

Don't joke about it! Me and my fianc!e are poles apart - she can't stand gravy on food, and i can't get enough! My mum's always put loads of gravy on everything!

To the OP: Best to check you've adjusted the times if you're using a fan assisted oven.

Peartree

What is the food like when it is his/her turn to cook? It could just be a matter of preference!

Pitlanepiglet

For a fan oven I was always told you should drop 10 degrees on the temperature and reduce by 10 minutes for each hour of cooking time.

As said, do you think things are dry? Try the temp/cooking times and if he's just being difficult tell him to lump it!

dutchy

FairyElephant wrote: »

(wine is good, or beer/cider depending on the dish!:beer: )

- I can't get the hang of this quote thing! Alternatively, just add wine, beer or cider to the cook, and you'll find the dish becomes instantly easier and tastier!!

Dutchy xx

Ianna

Hey dutchy

BB code is weird took me ages to get it. Your quote hasn't worked cos you haven't finished it with [/quote]

So to quote you'd write:

(quote)MSE forever!![/quote]

Changing the curly brackets to square ones. Or if you're really struggling with it just put quotes in italics everyone will get it

10past6

WoW more replies than I’d anticipated :A OK, here’s where were at, we’ve always lived on processed food, over 30 years, it’s only the last couple of months I’ve started home cooking, to me, the food does seem somewhat dry, but I put it down to experimenting.

No offence, but fan assisted oven means nothing to me, I don’t have a manual as it was an ex display model from Comet.

Someone asked for a couple of examples, OK, I made a cheese and onion pie, you could stand a fork in it :rotfl: another example, sweet & sour, not sure where the sauce went, but it certainly wasn’t in the pan :rotfl: it was far to thick, one final one, I used to make chili con carne and use Uncle bens sauce, but to save money decided to substitute Uncle bens for baked beans, chili beans, chopped tomatoes, but errrrrrr, something just didn’t taste right about it

Mr. is not over critical, I prefer him to tell me if it’s not right, it’s the only way I can improve.

I do appreciate everyone’s time in assisting me and hope the above makes sense to someone.

2cats1kid

OK then, as several people have said, for a fan oven you need to reduce the temperature and/or cooking time over what is quoted in most recipes.

You also shouldn't really expect your sauces to taste exactly like jar ones. Jar ones have tons of salt and sugar and stuff to make them tasty. For a chilli I'd brown off the meat and sweat off an onion, then add a drained can of kidney beans and a can of chopped toms. I'd then put in chilli powder to taste (we like it quite punchy, but you may like it a bit cooler), salt and pepper, a dash of garlic, and a little cumin to give it dryness (that's flavour dryness, not lack of wetness LOL). I might add a bit of tomato paste too, if it looks a bit anaemic. Leave it to simmer on a low heat for quite a while to let the flavours blend. Chilli is one of those things that is better second time around. I really like chilli with a can of ratatouille instead of the chopped toms, but DD isn't so keen, so I just do that occasionally.

And for the too thick sweet and sour, I'd just have topped it up with some more water or pineapple juice (if I had some in).

moanymoany

Try cooking on the hob for a while. That way it is very easy to regulate the amount of sauce. You could make mince and serve it with mashed potatoes and veg. Spaghetti or pasta with bolognese sauce, chilli and rice. These can all be made with the same mince recipe which makes it easy. With chilli, use value red beans, they are only about 15p a tin.

I know there is a book in our library that does a range of simple recipes for beginners. It gives complete instructions and pictures. Have a look.

If your oven makes a 'whirring' noise when you put it on you have a fan oven.

Gigervamp

10past6 wrote: »

No offence, but fan assisted oven means nothing to me, I don’t have a manual as it was an ex display model from Comet.

It probably is fan assisted if it's an electric oven. You'll be able to hear the fan when you open the oven door, sounds like a hairdryer!