Simple cooking skills you've never mastered...

glitch

glitch

glitch

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8 Nov 2005
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Cooking breakfast this morning got me thinking that while I might be a dab hand at a lot of things in the kitchen, there's one skill which I've never seemed to be able to master.

I can bone and fillet a whole chicken, finely dice an onion without thinking about it, French trim a rack of lamb, make pastry from scratch and make a beurre blanc sauce with something approaching consummate ease.

But when it comes to cracking eggs I'm nothing short of useless.

I must have cracked hundreds if not thousands of the bloody things and I've never attained any sort of consistency over the years. More often than not I end up with a tiny bit of shell in with the eggs - how can I be so awful at such a simple job?!

So, what 'simple' skills have you never mastered? And please don't let it be just me who is rubbish with eggs...
 
glitch said:
But when it comes to cracking eggs I'm nothing short of useless.

So, what 'simple' skills have you never mastered? And please don't let it be just me who is rubbish with eggs...
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not to embarrass too much but (well actually it is) my 3 ½ year old daughter can crack an egg perfectly, as demonstrated to me last night when we made pancakes. She has helped in the kitchen and cooked since she was 1 ½ though and got the egg thing completely dialled in about 3 months ago.
 
Confidence to try new things - I must have had 1 terrible meal in the past year (just far too hot) but still second guess myself when trying something for the first time.

I need to learn a lot in the kitchen, just started cooking properly about 18 months ago but am happy overall with my progress.

And I can crack an egg.......... sometimes :)
 
questioning my instinct is a pain. I know something by taste/feel and what I know but under pressure (cooking for a lot of people etc) I seem to question what I'm doing and not just do it. It does my head in.

I'm pretty much a genius other than that though, obviously! :P
 
I can do most things but I can't, simply can't poach eggs in water. Tried every method under the sun but I just can't do it :(

Also, I bake a lot of bread but I've never managed to make an edible naan. Just can't seem to get it right :D
 
Doing a simple and quick béchamel sauce. I really can't be frigged to boil milk, then add it to flour and butter, stirring like a loon.

I usually just make a roux, then gradually add cold milk in, with varied results.

Anyone got a foolproof, but non faffy béchamel sauce recipe they'd like to share (usually done for lasagne, so quite gloopy :))

Many thanks - Quink :)
 
Doing more than one thing at once.

I can cook a decent fillet steak but if I have to do a steak AND whats going to go with it...everything goes wrong :(
 
To poach an egg just boil the water and add bit of salt as well as tiny bit of vinegar. Stir the water well so it swirls in a circle motion medium strong. Crack an egg in and it will stay in the middle and form properly.

Cant remember why vinegar was important but im sure i read it was for some reason.
 
Vampyre said:
I always screw up rice for some reason, tried loads of different methods, lots of rice varieties, still manage to screw it up.
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White rice is easiest. 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water is basic rule of thumb.

1) Soak rice in warm (not boiling water) for 1/2 hour before.
2) Rinse it under cold water until clear.
3) Add rice to 2 cups of boiling water (I add 1/4 tspn cumin, corriander, chilli powder and 1tsp tumeric and a good splash of soy sauce, sometimes a bit of veg or chicken stock in water is nice too)
4) Put lid on and simmer (not boil) for 10-15 minutes. Lid off gives you sticky rice.

That's the only way I can get it to work, tried loads of methods. Oh and try using a bigger pan as it cooks the rice more evenly.

Once cooked I leave it to rest (with lid on) for 5-10 minutes and it just ends up separating nicely.

Brown rice I found I need to add 1/2 cup extra water per 1 cup of rice and basmati about the same as white rice.


Oh, and tried the egg cracking tip this morning, worked a treat!!!
 
Quink said:
Doing a simple and quick béchamel sauce. I really can't be frigged to boil milk, then add it to flour and butter, stirring like a loon.

I usually just make a roux, then gradually add cold milk in, with varied results.

Anyone got a foolproof, but non faffy béchamel sauce recipe they'd like to share (usually done for lasagne, so quite gloopy :))

Many thanks - Quink :)
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i usually add 1tbsp butterm 1 cup milk to 1tbs flour, bring to the boil stirring constantly until it thickens, grate cheese directly into into pan to taste and use immediately (dont let it stand).
 
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