What simple cooking item evades you?

Buddingblonde

Oh all my soups are crap! Dont know what I do wrong but I never make a soup that I am happy with apart from chicken and spicy rice and bacon and lentil - but I dont eat meat!!! I make these for OH and he says that they are lovely.

Rikki

heavenleigh wrote: »

Evening all,
Having a discusion on another thread i discovered even though i can cook a multitude of things with a wide variety of ingredients, i can follow a recipe to a 'T' and also make my own gorgeous concoctions.
I can NOT however make 'propper' chips or boil a runny egg to perfection!
Come on own up you whizzes in the kitchen must have something that turns out wrong every time :rotfl:
If not just make it up to make me feel better

LEIGH XX

boil a runny egg to perfection!

Egg-Perfect - Click Here






From Lakeland works for me every time.

purpleivy

I got better at shortbread when I found I was supposed to use a low oven for an hour.

I can't do yorkshires.

juliettet

angeltreats wrote: »

Sorry to revive this old thread but I'm frustrated! I bake all our cakes and biscuits from scratch, I make pies (and my pastry is awesome if I do say so myself), there are no lumps in my white sauce and my scones rise to great heights and my toad in the hole is crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside and so on. I'm a good cook.

So why on earth can't I make shortbread? :mad: I keep reading about how easy it is, but I think this is lies because I've never ever been able to get it right. I've tried recipes with semolina, rice flour, etc, cooked it for different times at different temperatures and it just never ever goes right. Usually it spreads far too much which might be because I work the dough too much but if I don't it just crumbles and falls apart!

Ah well, at least this thread has made me feel slightly better.

This is me! except I have wasted good butter many times as it comes out greasy. Every Christmas i try again, as to buy shortbread hurts my pride. Also all my Scottish friends can rustle up a pot of lentil soup with just onions, carrots, lentils and a leek. Mine is horrible.

moggylover

wendywitch wrote: »

There's probably lots of things if I think about it but top of the list is roast potatoes. I've tried every way possible and can't get crispy outsides!!

You do have to be a bit fussy about the type of potatoes I find, some of them really will not crisp up at all! Maris Piper and Kind Eds are the best for roasts. Par-boil, drain, shake hard in the pan so outside goes a bit fluffy and HOT fat/oil in a HOT oven (Gas 6-7). Seldom have trouble unless I use the wrong spuds.

My pastry is dreadful:o Actually, not quite so bad nowadays - I am improving and it is perfectly good for the bottom of a quiche or things like that, not so great on top - but certainly used to be like concrete:o.

Not very good at soups either:o

My way of doing rice is to put required amount in pan and cover with water to a little above the rice, bring to the boil, stir around once or twice whilst boiling quite hard, then turn off. Leave for 15 mins (approx) without opening, by which time the water should be all gone. Pop into a strainer, pour over a kettle of boiling water and hey presto: done!

Never have mastered Basmati rice though: almost always goes wrong:o

jbreckmckye

There's probably lots of things if I think about it but top of the list is roast potatoes. I've tried every way possible and can't get crispy outsides!!

Need to give the potatoes a strong shake once parboiled and get the fat as hot as you dare, almost to smoking point.

I cannot boil rice for love nor money!!! Once I think it came out perfect following the Jamie Oliver book but since then nothing works - we end up with just one big lump lol. I would love light and fluffy rice to serve with our dinner!

I have resorted to boil in the bag rice!!

Microwave it instead. One part rice to two (volume wise) water.

Another one for yorkshires here, i don't even try anymore, Aunt Bessies all the way.
Oh the shame.

Get that fat HOT! Use lard or goose fat in both cases if possible. Beef dripping from last week's roast is good, too.

Poaching eggs: whisk the water up to create a vortex, add a dash of white vinegar, then introduce the egg. Fresh eggs hold a stronger 'albumen' and won't collapse into a homogenous mess.

Custard just takes practice. I just hope you're keen with having vanilla flavoured scrambled eggs for the first two weeks you try!

Lumpy sauces? Just strain the damn things.

I can't make decent gravy though. I always end up undercooking the flour, and the result is an odd tasting gravy. I suppose I just need to be less timid with it.

sandy71

aless02 wrote: »

I was just about to post this...rice defeats me every time, even though I can quite easly makes dishes & baked goods 1000x more complex!!

Not sure if this is cheating is os but I was rubbish at rice so I bought a rice cooker and it's great. Comes out perfect everytime:D

I'm another one that can't do boiled eggs and my flapjack is rubbish. I really want to make good flapjack.

CCP

angeltreats - thank you very much for reviving this thread - I've never seen it before and it has made me feel better!

I have always had problems making bread by hand - I just end up with a wheat-based brick. Getting a breadmaker has solved that problem, I'm pleased to say.

The only thing I can now think of that eludes me is breaking eggs. No matter what I do, I always end up with broken yolks and shell everywhere - I just can't seem to break the shell neatly. I'll crack it one of these days! (Dreadful pun fully intended, I'm afraid!)

Reverbe

Re the egg boiler guides. I am not quite sure what exactly those categories mean. I know I like some runny to dip in and some medium hard at the bottom. My dad always used to do them perfectly but even having copied him in the past, cant get them ok. I think maybe its cos we have electric hobs and not gas??? or does that sound silly?

zippychick

For the perfect soft boiled egg i put the egg in cold water and bring it to the boil. Then turn the heat off and leave the pot on the heat, as long as the toast takes - so put the toast down when you see a good boil and turn heat off. SOldiers to dip with every time.:D

So far Ive not been successful at making gravy. I tried the other day with stuff left in the slow cooker from bacon ribs - but it was rotten and too runny. But then again, idont know if bacon is a good taste for gravy - too salty? Well, it failed anyway and has several times previously! Arg! One of these days. I don't buy many big joints for practising on you see.

I tried onion gravy but put too much wholegrain mustard in and ruined it:rotfl: