Simple cooking skills you've never mastered...
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Apparently my other half hasn't mastered the pestle & mortar.
<carnage>
Cost me £25 that did.
rofl, harsh!
Oh and thanks for reminding me, I need to get a spoon for my salt pig
Soldato
Apparently my other half hasn't mastered the pestle & mortar.
:eek::eek::eek:
Cost me £25 that did
Was she using the pestle as a hammer?
TAKE THAT, SALT!
So, it turns out that either the butter they sell at ASDA is made in a metal factory or the wrapper it comes in has metal in it.
Either way, it makes a great noise and an almighty blue flash when microwaved... I guess I'll be having margarine on this sandwich then... Oops!
Either way, it makes a great noise and an almighty blue flash when microwaved... I guess I'll be having margarine on this sandwich then... Oops!
Soldato
portion control, bake bread and make pastry
portion control because iim a closet fatty!
Pastry always ends up falling apart or like rock.
Bread, ive tried so so many times, always ends up heavy and stodgy, crust is uber thick and just inedible!
portion control because iim a closet fatty!
Pastry always ends up falling apart or like rock.
Bread, ive tried so so many times, always ends up heavy and stodgy, crust is uber thick and just inedible!
I realise this is from a long time ago, but I just saw it. You can obviously use as much water as you want, but using a very small amount doesn't adversely affect the cooking or presentation of the egg, but does stop the egg from being able to spread upwards (if it's not very fresh or poor quality).
Although saying that, maybe it's more like 2" of water.
Cakes.
My fairy cakes / victoria sponges always come out too hard
Rubbish! Doesn't matter which recipe I use.
BB x
My fairy cakes / victoria sponges always come out too hard
Rubbish! Doesn't matter which recipe I use.
BB x
Soldato
My bread hardly rises. The recipe always say double in size but it only rises about 10%.
Man of Honour
Baking. I just don't have the accuracy or patience.
Cooking I tend to do by instinct rather than follow recipes!
Chopping veg quickly and neatly - just can't do.
Cooking I tend to do by instinct rather than follow recipes!
Chopping veg quickly and neatly - just can't do.
Soldato
The thing with baking is it's more like chemistry to the alchemy of general cooking. You've got to be quite precise or things won't rise/set but it's not at all difficult. Even breadmaking by hand, which is time consuming at first, but if you get a feel for it it'll only take about 15mins actual effort.
Cakes & biscuits are easy though. As long as you have a set of scales and a food processor I can give you an idiot-proof recipe for an excellent chocolate cake.
Cakes & biscuits are easy though. As long as you have a set of scales and a food processor I can give you an idiot-proof recipe for an excellent chocolate cake.
Haha. I 'learned' this by watching Yan Can Cook when I should probably have been at school and then it's just practice. Cucumbers are quite good to practice on as they're easy to cut and long to give you a good run at it. Slice it in half lengthways so there a flat side to stabalise it while you work on not cutting your fingers off! Practice the technique slowly and build speed as you get more confident. Also, a sharp knife is your friend and much safer.Freefaller said:
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Soldato
My knife skills are admittedly lacking... but I think baking can be quite hard to get the cake to rise and look good. Not hard to make a good tasting cake, but it is hard to make a well presented cake.
kd
kd
Soldato
risotto, im just rubbish at it, spend ages adding and stirring, leave lots of time to complete it, and rice as hard as gun pellets!
Soldato
The key to good sliging is to move the knife forwards/backwards in a clean stroke and not just chop downwards. When I cut onions I stroke the knife back & down using the front half of the blade which gives a straighter, cleaner cut and makes sure you don't cut through the heel.
Sounds like a combination of over-working the mixture and baking the cakes for a little too long.My fairy cakes / victoria sponges always come out too hard
Rubbish! Doesn't matter which recipe I use.
Are all your ingredients at room temperature? Do you cream the butter and sugar by hand? Do you sieve the flour before folding in to the mixture?
You're either using the wrong type of rice, your rice is stale or you are working at too high a temperature.
A medium heat and 500ml of stock ought to perfectly cook 150g of rice in twenty/twenty-five minutes.
Man of Honour
Yeah I'm just not a precise cook, I cook by instinct, taste. As such, measuring items just takes too much time!
That's why I seldom do baking, I'm sure if I gave it a go I'd be ok at it, but it's just not my "thing".I can make simple things like cookies etc... but they're naughty so tend not to
The frustrating thing is, I know the techniques for chopping, I just can't do it quickly!
Not that bothered as it's not really important but I am jealous of those that can do it quickly and neatly! It would save time! I can however, crack an egg with 1 hand! lol!
Soldato
Yeah I'm just not a precise cook, I cook by instinct, taste. As such, measuring items just takes too much time!
I can make simple things like cookies etc... but they're naughty so tend not to
The frustrating thing is, I know the techniques for chopping, I just can't do it quickly!
My mum says she's jealous of my knife skills, which I think is one of the most cool things to hear from my mum. She's a great cook though. My starter in to cooking.
My girlfriend is better at cakes than me, I think mine are good (I would) but hers are special. Mainly as she's very accurate with everything and not windmill in like me ha
Knife skills are a great thing to learn. I have a book just about knife skills, and it really helped. People are in awe of my knife skills. They aren't wonderful, just better than the average. I cut quick, and I cut clean. I also really enjoy prep work, weirdly.
I'm not very good at bread. It just comes out too cake like each time I've tried it and it rarely rises as much as I think it should do in the proofing stage. I think it's a lack of kneading, but unfortunately I'm not able to knead that much. Rubbish arthritic wrists!
I'm not very good at bread. It just comes out too cake like each time I've tried it and it rarely rises as much as I think it should do in the proofing stage. I think it's a lack of kneading, but unfortunately I'm not able to knead that much. Rubbish arthritic wrists!
Soldato
I don't think my knife skills are great at all, I suppose better than your average bear.
I would love to be able to be a whizz at sugar work. Not that I've really put much time in to it, but something I'd love to be able to just instinctively know.
Timing for me is a bitch. I find myself running about like a swine if I'm doing something with loads of bits, like last Christmas dinner. It all coming together at the end it felt like I was in a professional kitchen!
I would love to be able to be a whizz at sugar work. Not that I've really put much time in to it, but something I'd love to be able to just instinctively know.
Timing for me is a bitch. I find myself running about like a swine if I'm doing something with loads of bits, like last Christmas dinner. It all coming together at the end it felt like I was in a professional kitchen!