What simple cooking item evades you?

mrs_metal

I can never remember how long to boil an egg! I have to ring my Mum to ask every time (I don't have them that often).

Can't do pastry, couldn't do yorkshires until I tried a Mary Berry recipe and mixed it up using my Baumix blender (my latest and favorite gadget) Can't cook fish either but that's mainly because I hate the taste of fish so don't know how it should look or taste.

I can cook a lot of other stuff very well (or so Mr Metal says) so I tend to concentrate on what I can do well

Squiggly_Diddly

I''m so glad I'm not the only one who can't do roast potatoes!!! that had some ex-workmates in fits of laughter :-( And I have tried & done exactly what I am supposed to ... but they just never work. Tesco's finest roasties in goose fat are lovely though.... :-)
Also can't do pastry. But love to bake....

odds-n-sods

#29 - If everything else on his plate was fine, why beat yourself up over the egg? You did well cooking everything else so if 1 thing doesn't turn out, so what?? he still got fed, didn't he??

borderlakland

odds-n-sods wrote: »

I can't make large portions of rice... I was trying ot impress OH's college friends once and made paella. I knew I shouldn't have.. the rice was rock-hard; I had to microwave it in the end. Other than that (as a former chef) I can cook pretty much anything.

(edit - spelling mistakes!)

for years i could never cook rice prop until i borrowed a microwave rice steamer thingy (large bowl with smaller bowl with small holes in it and a lid) now its perfect every time could do with a bigger one as got 4 kids 3 of them have adult appitites when its rice or pasta and two adults.

toad in the hole
in our house we call it toad in the hole when it rises ok if it goes flat and soggy then its frog in a bog(they still eat it):rotfl:

Gingham_Ribbon

Deep fried tofu. At the take away, they make it really flavoursome with a crispy coating and the inside melts in your mouth. Mine comes out too firm and completely tasteless.

Crispy seaweed. I don't know how to make it crispy. I have managed it a couple of times but usually it just comes out greasy and limp.

Dolly_Mixture

I am not very good at cooking eggs as I do not like them so I did not really bother to learn. Cakes - I am not sure if it is my fan oven or me but so many times cakes brown and rise beautifully only to collapse and be soggy in the middle when I take them out. I have taken to cooking at a much lower temperature than the receipe suggests and for longer as well but I still have problems. Fairy cakes, brownies and pies are all fine though, it's just cakes i have a problem with!

HariboJunkie

Biscuits.:o

Every recipe I has ever tried produces greasy paper thin teeth breakers.:rolleyes:

I blame my oven.

JillD_2

I am not an amazing cook but ost things are edible (well to me anyway maybe not to OH or kids who are harshest critics any where ...)

But I cannot do poached eggs. I adore them, am too scared to do them in a pan of water with veinger etc etc I iknow it will go wrong and I will get cross. IO got given an egg poacing pan for a wedding present and still can't do them. You are supposed to fill the pan with boiling water and set this metal thing over it that has 4 plastic inserts into which you crack the eggs, the hot water heats the plastic inserts and the egg poaches. Theoretically.

In reality I left them in the poacher for 45 minutes before they were 3/4 cooked, the top was runny, so I decided to whack them under the grill only to find the plastic inserts melted :eek:

Never tried that again :rotfl:

ellie2912

auntynet wrote: »

..... I JUST CAN'T COOK STEAK .... unless its done very slowly in the oven like a casserole and then it melts in the mouth.

can i join your club. cant cook steak for the life of me.never get it rght yet,
....one day maybe:rolleyes:

Softstuff

My one disaster has been honey macadamia baked cheesecake. I make a perfectly good cheesecake normally, but for a special lunch decided I'd try this new recipe. By lunch it was still runny.... I left it in the warm oven and we took ice cream to the family lunch. By the time I got in, it was cooked. It was also the most sickly revolting version of cheesecake I ever sampled. Never again.

I tend to have problems if I ever follow a recipe to the letter. Providing I don't weigh things out, go by feel and do what I think will work it works out :rotfl: