What Foods Have You Never Been Able To Conquer?

[Addie]

For me, it is an Italian dish that an old Italian grandmother who also happened to be my landlord made for me all the time. Sautéed Italian green beans in olive oil. Heaven knows she tried to teach me, but my skull is just too thick.

 

[rodentraiser]

Pie crust. I buy them ready made now.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

When I was learning to cook, I was afraid it would be anything edible.

Real German garlic soup! Aaaargh!

 

[Jeni78]

I am terrible at sauces and gravies. Any suggestions for videos or books are welcome!


Eat anything you want, but make it yourself.

Posting from the app.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Honestly, the dishes that I truly can not replicate are dishes that I can't get the right ingredients for.
I want SOOOOO much to be able to make Lau Lau
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCCfxlCRDak
BUT
I can not get fresh Ti Leaves nor Taro Leaves, ARGH!
I'm sure that I could find a way to order these items on line, but...

 

[Aunt Bea]

The American Goulash recipe my mother made when we were kids and the cherry squares the school lunch ladies made us in elementary school!

The goulash was little more than ground beef, home canned tomatoes and elbow macaroni but it tasted so good when you came in from sledding or shoveling on a cold winter day!

The cherry squares were a sandy crumb base dotted with water packed dark cherries topped with a few more crumbs and baked on giant sheet pans. The texture was sort of a crumbly version of a Keebler® Sandies® shortbread cookie studded with juicy cherries that bled a little juice into the surrounding cookie base.

We each have our own "Rosebud"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF3dOCBVqyU

 

[Addie]

The American Goulash recipe my mother made when we were kids and the cherry squares the school lunch ladies made us in elementary school!

The goulash was little more than ground beef, home canned tomatoes and elbow macaroni but it tasted so good when you came in from sledding or shoveling on a cold winter day!

The cherry squares were a sandy crumb base dotted with water packed dark cherries topped with a few more crumbs and baked on giant sheet pans. The texture was sort of a crumbly version of a Keebler® Sandies® shortbread cookie studded with juicy cherries that bled a little juice into the surrounding cookie base.

We each have our own "Rosebud"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF3dOCBVqyU

I used to make that at least once a week for my kids. I still make it and I put in finely diced onion and a sprinkling of Italian seasoning. Only now I make a smaller amount.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I thought you were talking about food that you just could not choke down under any circumstances short of starvation.

I will try just about anything, but I draw the line at reptiles, rodents, and insects.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

I'm going to try one more time to make baked falafels. And hope they hold together without crumbling....

Pierogies. Mine leaked but I only made them once. Same with raviolis. Maybe there is a pattern to this.

My Grandma's "pork dish". Haven't duplicated it just right. She used thin sliced pork steaks?, scallops? cutlets? with gravy. Not pork chops, thinner. Came out perfectly tender and tasty. ( I suppose it takes Grandma's hand to do this part. ) The funny thing is she even sent me to the store to buy more one time when she had just started dinner and more cousins showed up. The one thing I do remember is it was not expensive.

 

[rodentraiser]

I thought you were talking about food that you just could not choke down under any circumstances short of starvation.

I will try just about anything, but I draw the line at reptiles, rodents, and insects.

I thought that at first too.

My bugaboos are any green vegetables and besides reptiles, rodents and insects, any food that looks like what it is or is looking at me. Or moves on my plate. Or can star in a horror movie.

 

[Katie H]

In my nearly 60 years of cooking, I have yet to conquer biscuits. I bet I have tried every recipe and technique in the universe. Thank my lucky stars I had willing "testers" who didn't mind eating my failures...as long as there was plenty of real butter and the flops were still warm.

 

[bethzaring]

Pound cake made with all whole wheat pastry flour. Once ChefJune told me it couldn't be done and why, I gave up trying.

 

[larry_stewart]

Vegetarian Hot and Sour soup that tastes exactly like the place I get it from.
Ive been trying for literally decades. Partially, just by trying to figure it out myself and partially by trying different recipes from books, searching online and here.

When I make it , it tastes like Im trying to make Hot and Sour soup, but its just not the same.

The hard ingredients are easy, I can see the mushrooms ( different varieties), the julienned carrots, bamboo shoots and snow peas, the lilly buds. All this is obvious. Its the broth that I just can't get.

At first I thought, maybe they are using a " non-vegetarian ' broth, and just saying its a vegetarian dish because there is no actual meats in it. But, I've had it in vegan restaurants as well, and some tasted just as good as the regular place I get it from.

Luckily, the place hasn't gone out of business yet, so I can still get my hands on it. Although, I'd really like to be able to come closer than I already have.

My refrigerator is stocked with just about every Asian sauce, condiment, ingredient that I've collected, over time, trying to make it taste like the restaurants version.

Larry

 

[Addie]

Larry, if you feel that the broth may be the problem, keep in mind that Better Than Bullion also makes one for vegetarians. When I make clam chowder, I use their BTB for clams.

 

[outRIAAge]

(Curry Chicken Noodle Soup from Malay Satay Hut in Redmond, but I've already written about that here.)

The mountain I'm currently trying to climb is pizza dough from home-milled flour. The inspiration came from this recent NY Times review, and I'm struggling. I quickly realized that I can't use set recipes, or even any equipment (until I get it right), because I need to feel the dough forming and adjust hydration to this particular grind of flour. I could get a fine-mesh screen and sift out most of the sharp, bubble-killing bran, but for now I consider that cheating.

Has anyone had success using home-milled flour?

 

[Aunt Bea]

(Curry Chicken Noodle Soup from Malay Satay Hut in Redmond, but I've already written about that here.)

The mountain I'm currently trying to climb is pizza dough from home-milled flour. The inspiration came from this recent NY Times review, and I'm struggling. I quickly realized that I can't use set recipes, or even any equipment (until I get it right), because I need to feel the dough forming and adjust hydration to this particular grind of flour. I could get a fine-mesh screen and sift out most of the sharp, bubble-killing bran, but for now I consider that cheating.

Has anyone had success using home-milled flour?

Two thoughts.

Put your coarse flour into a food processor and whirl it to reduce the size of the bran bits, make a finer flour.

or

Make a poolish or wet dough and put it into the refrigerator for a day so to fully hydrate the bran bits then complete the dough mixture with the last cup or so of flour.

Good luck!

 

[CraigC]

Stir-fry. I don't believe it can be done properly with electric burners or most home gas stoves. They simply can't give the BTUs required. When it cools down (maybe January or February) I'll give it a whirl on the propane burner I use for crawfish boils.

 

[outRIAAge]

Put your coarse flour into a food processor and whirl it to reduce the size of the bran bits, make a finer flour.
or
Make a poolish or wet dough and put it into the refrigerator for a day so to fully hydrate the bran bits then complete the dough mixture with the last cup or so of flour. Good luck!

Those are both excellent ideas: thank you. Your wording took me right back to the 1960s Homepride adverts, where "graded grains make finer flour."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xENRSuIM_y8

 

[GotGarlic]

Stir-fry. I don't believe it can be done properly with electric burners or most home gas stoves. They simply can't give the BTUs required.

Sorry, CraigC, but I think that's just silly. I don't need for my stir fries to taste like they came from a Chinese restaurant to enjoy them. I use authentic Asian ingredients, like these, and get great flavor.

 

[GotGarlic]

Sorry, CraigC, but I think that's just silly. I don't need for my stir fries to taste like they came from a Chinese restaurant to enjoy them. I use authentic Asian ingredients, like these, and get great flavor.

Never mind I thought this was in the "what do I do with leftover rotisserie chicken" thread. If it's that important to you, go for it.