Lessons From the Kitchen

SeekUp

I've started cooking quite a bit over the past couple of years and while I've found that some things come easy to me, there are other things I can never seem to get just right.

I've often had a problem that, when making multiple dishes, my timing is off. One dish will be ready, and the other one still has 20 minutes left to cook; then I have to figure out what can sit for a few extra minutes, and what will be ruined if it does.

Whether it's learning how to read recipes, figuring out what ingredients to substitute, or forgetting to turn off the oven . . . What's the hardest/most difficult thing that you've had to learn in the kitchen? What advice would you offer to others with the same problem?

olaola

I still overcook steaks. No matter HOW I try, just can't do it right at all.

Cooking frys for large amounts of people, that will learn you about timing! You've got about 7 elements on the go, and they all have to be done at the same time. Good practice

bonkey

SeekUp wrote: »

What's the hardest/most difficult thing that you've had to learn in the kitchen?

Sharp knives are safer than blunt ones...but require practice and attention.

denat

I love melt in the mouth pork or lamb chops cooked in a casserole in the oven with onion and carrot.

My very elderly Aunt does this and gets perfect results everytime. The same lady can't do a roast to save her life - it's either undercooked or burned and tough.

BUT, I just can't cook chops in a casserole the way she does. She's explained to me exactly how to do it but it never works out for me - always tougher meat than I want - edible and tasty but not melt in the mouth and tasty which is what I want.

This is one of the many aspects of cooking I haven't mastered but probably the most annoying because, I think, it should be simple.

Minder

SeekUp wrote: »

What's the hardest/most difficult thing that you've had to learn in the kitchen? What advice would you offer to others with the same problem?

Cookbooks are full of recipes that haven't been tried by the writer.

Not everything cooked in a restaurant kitchen can be scaled down to a domestic kitchen.

A set of ingredients and a method are not the sum total of a recipe. The heat of a hob or oven, the type of pot or pan and how well it is seasoned will be a factor in replicating a dish.

There are some aspects of cookery that require a level of skill that takes many years to master - pastry for example.

At the end of the day, you're making something to eat - relax and enjoy it.

Honey-ec

I can't measure pasta by sight - I always end up with waaaaay too much. I've long since resigned myself to the fact that I need to weigh it. It's the only thing my weighing scales ever gets used for.

SeekUp

Halving/scaling down a recipe is sometimes a bit trickier than it seems . . . especially when ingredients such as eggs are involved!

duploelabs

I used to find cooking rice a pain in the arse until I tried the absorbsion method. And cooking steaks wasn''t easy until I tried just leaving them stand for 5-10 mins after searing.