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What simple cooking item evades you?

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Comments

  • cupid_s
    cupid_s Posts: 2,008 Forumite
    My homemade yorkshires are so much nicer than frozen - I think they're horrible! I use sunflower oil with mine, and it never seems to matter how hot it is when I add the batter they always rise lovely. I might try lard, see if there's any difference. Maybe they'll be even better.

    I can't make bread though. Well flatbread I can but actual proper stuff never works.

    DH can cook absolutely anything perfectly, except sauces. Any sauce goes wrong and his gravy is always lumpy.

    I'm also not good at cooking steak the right amount. It always ends up raw or medium. Luckily OH is very good at cooking steak so between us we cope.

    There are a lot of things I've never tried to make though. I reckon I'd be rubbish at omelettes. But luckily I hate them so don't need to worry.
  • Mrs_A_4
    Mrs_A_4 Posts: 184 Forumite
    Poached eggs.
    Seriously. I tried again on Sunday and ended up with a pan full of egg foam. God knows how. I actually had to chuck it out and do fried, despite being pretty crap at them too!
  • looby-loo_2
    looby-loo_2 Posts: 1,566 Forumite
    I'm over 50 and I've never made chips and nor has my mum. My dad didn't like the smell in the house so we just never had them. First time I had chips was when I went to uni. I've just never tried making them and I honestly wouldn't know where to begin!
    Doing voluntary work overseas for as long as it takes .......
    My DD might make the odd post for me
  • moanymoany
    moanymoany Posts: 2,877 Forumite
    newlywed wrote: »
    Yeah I have tried, flour cornflour, add it slowly, bung it in and stir it - think I got it right once... then never again :rolleyes:

    What do you do if it's all LUMPY though?? :rotfl:


    Lumpy sauces - never!!! I have one of those hand help blenders, using that makes any thickened sauce silky smooth. If I make cheese sauce for eggs florentine or lasagne and I have to leave it and it gets cold and lumpy, this method really does the biz.
  • dm1465
    dm1465 Posts: 129 Forumite
    Yorkshire Puddings - Aunt Bessie has to help me out I'm afraid. Steak is ok if it needs to be well done, anything else and there's no chance. Used to be rubbish at pastry, my Nan who was a baker always said I had heavy hands, over the years my pastry has improved with practice although I make sure I never handle it too much on account of my hands being too heavy???!!
    Friday April 9th 2010 the day I become Mrs Jones!

    Weight loss campaign! 26th November - 10st 8lb:eek: Need to lose a stone!
    1st December - 10st 4lb
  • newlywed
    newlywed Posts: 8,255 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I found a tip on here from taplady who said for yorkies that never fail, add in your eggs and milk but then add in an extra egg white or two.

    Plus you have to make sure the fat is hot before you add the mix to it.

    Never had a problem since using the extra egg white ;)
    working on clearing the clutterDo I want the stuff or the space?
  • for pastry i think its also got alot to do with the temperature of your hands.(cooler the better)thats what my nan allways said, thats why i now do mine in my kenwood(instead of ready rolled out of packet)its alot better now
    Lead us not into temptation...

    just tell us where it is and we'll find it....
  • I've never had a sauce or gravy go lumpy on me but that's because I don't do what most recipes tell me to. I never add the flour to the liquid as I find that this causes lumps. What I do is take the flour and add a tiny bit of water to it and then mix it. I add a bit more water to it, only a tablespoon at a time until I get something that looks like milk. THEN I add the stock / hot milk to it. Because you're then just adding one liquid to another, NO LUMPS! :D

    Then you just cook it as normal. If you find the sauce is still a bit runny. Mix some cornflour in water so that you have a milky liquid again and thicken it that way. If you add just cornflour to the sauce, you'll get lumps again.
  • Archer21
    Archer21 Posts: 16 Forumite
    For anyone who has trouble poaching eggs, have a look at this article, clingfilm method is easily the best method I have found.

    http://www.b3ta.com/features/howtopoachanegg/

    I can get them pretty decent almost every time!!!
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