Simple cooking skills you've never mastered...
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Caporegime
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I'm also in the cracking / poaching eggs camp, but I'd also add pan fried chips to the list of relatively simple things I've not yet mastered. They're always soggy or undercooked.
Parboil them.
Get a food processor/hand blender with chopping attachment. You can roughly chop the onions, then bung them in and blitz until the desired amount of choppedness arrives (anything from a large chunky dice to a smooth paste).
I use something similar to this (can't remember the brand). My chopper attachment does about 500g of onions per go, so much quicker than I can chop a kilo of them
Soldato
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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
Simple and fool proof way of making a lovely smooth white sauce...
Bung your flour in the pan, add a small amount of milk, mix in with the flour until it makes a nice smooth paste. make sure not too add much milk at a time, just keep ading a tiny bit until all the flour is in a nice paste.
Then you can add the rest of the milk and it'll all go together nicely with no lumps. Put it over a medium heat.
Then simply add the butter and keep stirring, the butter will gradually melt into the sauce and as it does so the sauce will thicken.
Once you've got the way of mixing the flolur into a paste with a small amount of milk, it really is fool proof and makes a beautifully smooth sauce every time!
Okay so I went out and bought one, set my main oven (fan assisted) to 180C and waited..... it got to 140C!?
Now I know that when you're using a fan assisted oven you don't have to set the temperature as high as a conventional oven, but surely if I set the oven to 180C, it should reach 180C?!
Caporegime
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Top shelf?
Soldato
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PErfect boiled eggs, with the white set and the yolk runny. I always get them with either a set yolk or runny white 
And I've only ever tried poaching eggs twice and both times were a total disaster.
1 cup of rice for 2 people, basmati is best, you can wash it if you want but I rarely bother
Smallish pan 2/3 full of water, bring to the boil & add a bit of salt
Tip rice into pan, give it a very brief stir and reduce the heat to around 1/2. What you want to achieve is a steady rolling boil without the pan frothing up & boiling over, so the first few time you do it stay with the pan and adjust the heat until you've found the right setting for your hob.
DO NOT STIR YOUR RICE! Ifyou do it'll knock starch off the grains and you'll end up with mushy rice pudding. The rolling motion of the water should 'stir' the ricefro you & stop it boiling.
It'll take about 6-8mins, test by tasting some and if it's still crunchy give it a few more minutes.
Drain in a sieve and if you need to keep it for a few mins put it back in the empty pan with the lid on. It'll keep warm and when you're ready to serve it'll still be nice & fluffy.
Once you know the right temp for your hob this process will be all of; boil water, chuck in rice, stir once, walk away.
Measurements as per Delia. I just melt the butter into the flour over a low heat, cook the roux out a bit and then add the milk gradually at first to stir all the lumps out. If it's a bit lumpy I'll stir with a whisk for a bit but then just a gentle continuous stir until it's thickened up. Add grated cheese and get your lasagne on!
For a good omlette you need a small (8-9in) non-stick pan. I melt the butter in the pan, tip it into the beaten eggs and then tip the eggs straightinto the pan. Count to 10 then begin drawing the setting egg towards the centre of the pan, tiping it gently to allow the uncooked egg to get into the holes.
And I've only ever tried poaching eggs twice and both times were a total disaster.
Forget all that 1 cup rice to 2 water stuff, you need more water, an even heat and to leave it alone.
1 cup of rice for 2 people, basmati is best, you can wash it if you want but I rarely bother
Smallish pan 2/3 full of water, bring to the boil & add a bit of salt
Tip rice into pan, give it a very brief stir and reduce the heat to around 1/2. What you want to achieve is a steady rolling boil without the pan frothing up & boiling over, so the first few time you do it stay with the pan and adjust the heat until you've found the right setting for your hob.
DO NOT STIR YOUR RICE! Ifyou do it'll knock starch off the grains and you'll end up with mushy rice pudding. The rolling motion of the water should 'stir' the ricefro you & stop it boiling.
It'll take about 6-8mins, test by tasting some and if it's still crunchy give it a few more minutes.
Drain in a sieve and if you need to keep it for a few mins put it back in the empty pan with the lid on. It'll keep warm and when you're ready to serve it'll still be nice & fluffy.
Once you know the right temp for your hob this process will be all of; boil water, chuck in rice, stir once, walk away.
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
Measurements as per Delia. I just melt the butter into the flour over a low heat, cook the roux out a bit and then add the milk gradually at first to stir all the lumps out. If it's a bit lumpy I'll stir with a whisk for a bit but then just a gentle continuous stir until it's thickened up. Add grated cheese and get your lasagne on!
For a good omlette you need a small (8-9in) non-stick pan. I melt the butter in the pan, tip it into the beaten eggs and then tip the eggs straightinto the pan. Count to 10 then begin drawing the setting egg towards the centre of the pan, tiping it gently to allow the uncooked egg to get into the holes.
Soldato
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- England
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.
A good base of oil in a medium hot pan then turn down the heat. The egg should form quite quickly and then a gentle heat with a few splashes of oil for the top.
Soldato
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Im in the fried egg camp too. Its not something ive done very often to be honest so i will consult the advice in here and give it a go.
I find i can cook most anything for myself quite happily but it all goes pear-shaped when you have to cook for multiple people with a couple of side dishes, all timing goes out the window!
I find i can cook most anything for myself quite happily but it all goes pear-shaped when you have to cook for multiple people with a couple of side dishes, all timing goes out the window!
Same here. Fresh eggs, vinegar, swirling water, still water, barely simmering water, shallow water, slotted spoon. Stringy egg soup every time
It's simples. Honestly.
Put about 20-25mm of water in a pan, stick in a good amount of vinegar (3-4 good shakes), put some salt and pepper in. Wait for it to boil, remove from heat, do NOT bother swirling the water, crack egg into water from as low as possible, DON'T TOUCH IT, put back on heat, put on lid. Wait for a short amount of time, take off heat, take off lid, look at egg, DON'T TOUCH IT, once you think it's done, slide a slotted spatula underneath it and flop it onto some buttered toast.
As for OP, well, i'm crap at slicing bread, and not tearing up soft bread when spreading butter on it.
for poached eggs you need really fresh eggs, at room temp, if im ever doing poached eggs i buy them from the local shop the day i need them, get the water and vinegar upto a rolling boil and get a good swirl on and make sure you use the biggest pan (or deepest) you have, i used to have so many problems with these its stupid.
my annoying thing is i always seem to mess up the first pancake of a batch, everyone after that is fine but the first one it either sticks or i mess up flipping it.
my annoying thing is i always seem to mess up the first pancake of a batch, everyone after that is fine but the first one it either sticks or i mess up flipping it.
:/
20-25mm of water?
My poached eggs always come out perfect, I put a lot more water than that in!
PErfect boiled eggs, with the white set and the yolk runny. I always get them with either a set yolk or runny white
Perfect boiled eggs:
1. Put eggs into cold water in pan on hob and turn the hob on.
2. When water starts to boil, turn hob off and put the lid on the pan.
3. After four minutes plunge eggs into ice water so they stop cooking and can be handled if you want to peel them.
Edit: I think it was Simon Hopkinson I learned this from.
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the best way to crack an egg without breaking the yolk and not getting any shell in is hold the egg int he middle with your thumb and index finger and your middle finger resting on the pointy part of the egg, hit it on a flat surface like the kitchen top, dont use anything sharp and dont use the corner, hit it hard and lift the egg in the hand you are holding it in moving your thumb and index finger opwards the shell will split in half and leave a perfect egg every time
