Simple cooking skills you've never mastered...

[Jonny69]

Have to say I'm in the same camp, it never stays in one blob.

Same here. Fresh eggs, vinegar, swirling water, still water, barely simmering water, shallow water, slotted spoon. Stringy egg soup every time

 

[canson1991]

I need some cookary lessons. I always have that problem when making omelettes.

 

[Pestilence]

Same here. Fresh eggs, vinegar, swirling water, still water, barely simmering water, shallow water, slotted spoon. Stringy egg soup every time

Poach pods?

Or is that cheating?

 

[TheDean]

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

very similar to me then. Best tip I can give you - get the freshest eggs you can! A tiny bit of white wine vinegar, and 'swirling' the water also helps quite a bit

Poach pods?

Or is that cheating?

CHEATING!

 

[a1ex2001]

Same here. Fresh eggs, vinegar, swirling water, still water, barely simmering water, shallow water, slotted spoon. Stringy egg soup every time

I find the ke thing that really made a difference to my poached eggs is really really fresh eggs ie farm shop not a super market. They seem to hold together much better no matter which method I try have just about got my perfect method down but I'll admit I often use super market eggs in poach pods as it is quicker an easier if not as nice!

 

[randomshenans]

Macarons. I found my nemesis. The **&^^&s.

I will be getting these right later. I will. You will not win.

 

[POB]

Poach pods?

Or is that cheating?

And not very good, should be called steamed eggs pod.

To get those things to work a little better, after a short time I sank the floating pod to help it along.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Real man do it one handed.

 

[soullessfire]

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

I make a roux with the butter and flour then just pour in a small amount of milk from the fridge and slowly add it a little at a time until it's fairly liquid then just chuck in the rest of the milk. I then heat it up whisking to start then stirring towards the end. If there's any small lumps, I just use a spatula to pass it through a sieve and it's fine. Usually chuck in a bay leaf during the heating part too.

 

[soullessfire]

Real man do it one handed.

Yeah, we know, but what about the eggs!?!

 

[Gilly]

I simply can't get fried eggs right.

When you go into a cafe or butty shop they just crack eggs onto a hot plate and they stay together! When I do it one egg goes flying all over the frying pan

I can poach eggs beautifully first time every time but can't do fried at all.

 

[Psymonkee]

I sort of cheat with fried eggs - crack the egg into a separate small dish first. Done gently it keeps the egg in 1 piece which you can then tip into the pan when you are ready

I am great at making a mess of eggs though usually have 3 eggs scrambled or as an omelette for breakfast and always have to spend time picking shell out of them before I beat them :/

 

[MasterPlan1]

I always screw up rice for some reason, tried loads of different methods, lots of rice varieties, still manage to screw it up.

Rice cooker.

Chopping finely. Luckily, my mum bought me a mandolin, so I don't have to worry any more, although I would love to learn to finely dice. A french friend of mine can cut an entire bag of carrots into .5cm cubes in about 5 minutes, crazy froggy git.

 

[Flibster]

I'm utterly hopeless with pastry, not much better with doing cakes either.

Not that I'm allowed either at the moment.

Other half is great at them though, so I'll stay ignorant.

 

[vicisthebest]

Fishcakes! I just can't make them! They always end up a fishy, potatoey mush.

 

[krooton]

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.

I can't manage either methods

 

[physichull]

Baking bread, either I am impatient or just get it wrong all the time. Going to give it another go tomorrow.

 

[OCdude]

Not really a "skill" as such, but oven temperatures just annoy me! I know that different types of ovens heat and distribute heat differently (fan assisted, gas, electric etc), but it seems no matter WHAT recipe and what oven i'm using (and i've had many different types), I always seem to have to take about 10-30'C off of the temperature they give in the recipe.

Made a basic sponge yesterday and it said 190C, but that caused it to brown way to quick, so i turned it down to about 180C.

I've got a temperature probe, I should probably see if my current oven is accurate at some point.. but yeah.... annoying

 

[Gilly]

Managed two cracking (mind the pun) fried eggs this morning

I limited the amount of oil I put in and it worked like a charm. Clean white whites, just-runny-enough yolk right in the centre of the white. Brilliant

 

[monkeyspank]

Not really a "skill" as such, but oven temperatures just annoy me! I know that different types of ovens heat and distribute heat differently (fan assisted, gas, electric etc), but it seems no matter WHAT recipe and what oven i'm using (and i've had many different types), I always seem to have to take about 10-30'C off of the temperature they give in the recipe.

Made a basic sponge yesterday and it said 190C, but that caused it to brown way to quick, so i turned it down to about 180C.

I've got a temperature probe, I should probably see if my current oven is accurate at some point.. but yeah.... annoying

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