Thread: Mental block in the kitchen

Kswck wrote:
> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
> times you've tried it or been instructed to?


Doubling or halving the recipe in my head. It's easy. I'm good at
math, and even if I weren't, it doesn't take much math to do that. But
as I go down the list of ingredients adding them to the bowl, I end up
doubling twice or forgetting to double at all. I do that even if I have
the cookbook open. It's safer for me to write down the amounts of the
ingredients I intend to use on a slip of paper, then close the cookbook,
but do I do it that way ...


--Lia

On Oct 19, 6:38 pm, Julia Altshuler <jaltshu...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> Doubling or halving the recipe in my head. It's easy. I'm good at
> math, and even if I weren't, it doesn't take much math to do that. But
> as I go down the list of ingredients adding them to the bowl, I end up
> doubling twice or forgetting to double at all.

Heck, just write the halved or doubled amounts right on the page. My
fave recipes are so marked up, I've had to retype and tape them into
the book.

Make a decent soft boiled egg.

Two and half minutes seems to be too short, three minutes too long.
There HAS to be some trick or magic I don't know.

[email protected] wrote:
> Make a decent soft boiled egg.
>
> Two and half minutes seems to be too short, three minutes too long.
> There HAS to be some trick or magic I don't know.


Depends on the stove My mother's stove, I swear one burner boils water
when it's only set on Warm. The other burners I have to practically beg to
bring anything to a boil. Soft boiled eggs are a challenge on this thing!

Jill

"Kswck" <[email protected]> > What one thing can you not do correctly in
the kitchen-despite how many
> times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
> Mine is trussing a chicken-can't do it. Yeah, I know, it's easy. I get it
> wrong every time. Falls apart on the rotisseree.
Making pan-fried potatoes from leftover mashed potatoes. I've tried many
times using different methods and failed. Luckily my husband is a champ at
doing it.

My mother's Waterloo was rice. No matter she did she couldn't produce
decent steamed rice. She usually resorted to Minute Rice... bleh.

Chris

On Oct 19, 6:32�pm, "Kswck" <ks...@optonline.net> wrote:
> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
> times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
> Mine is trussing a chicken-can't do it. Yeah, I know, it's easy. I get it
> wrong every time. Falls apart on the rotisseree.

Sounds like you're using thin string and it's burning through, use
some real butcher's twine. After trussing rub the twine with some oil
(I like to use butter) and I bet your burned twine problem will be
solved. You also may not be balancing the birds on the spit... and as
they cook they typically change balance so you'll have to readjust...
rotisserie is not something one can walk away from... in fact it's
extremely dangerous to do so, you can easly burn your house down, real
easy. I would never own one of those indoor rotisseries.

In article <48fbb5a5$0$4872$[email protected]>,
"Kswck" <[email protected]> wrote:

> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
> times you've tried it or been instructed to?

For me, flipping an egg over easy if there's more than one egg in the
skillet. Or cracking four eggs for frying without breaking one yolk. I
can crack eggs all day without breaking a yolk if it's not important.

leo

In article <48fbb5a5$0$4872$[email protected]>,
"Kswck" <[email protected]> wrote:

> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
> times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
> Mine is trussing a chicken-can't do it. Yeah, I know, it's easy. I get it
> wrong every time. Falls apart on the rotisseree.

Cooking brown rice to the right point of doneness. Boiled, steamed or
pilaff style- It's never quite right. I can cook long grain polished
rice like a Louisiana native and I make great risotto using Italian
rice. Lack of practice is part of the problem, but I don't have much
luck following the package directions.

D.M.

Leonard Blaisdell <[email protected]> wrote:

> In article <48fbb5a5$0$4872$[email protected]>,
> "Kswck" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
>> times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
> For me, flipping an egg over easy if there's more than one egg in the
> skillet. Or cracking four eggs for frying without breaking one yolk. I
> can crack eggs all day without breaking a yolk if it's not important.

Cut the whites between the eggs with the spatula, fold in the loose
corners, and flip them separately.

-sw

Kswck <[email protected]> wrote:

> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
> times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
> Mine is trussing a chicken-can't do it. Yeah, I know, it's easy. I get it
> wrong every time. Falls apart on the rotisseree.

Make deep-fried crab rangoon wontons (or most any filling) without
the filling exploding before the wonton gets crispy.

I've done it a few times, but never consistently. Yes, I've tried
freezing them.

Oh, and checking to make sure there's toilet paper in reach before
sitting down on the commode. (OK, that's not the kitchen, but it's
food-related).

-sw

In article <[email protected]>,
Julia Altshuler <[email protected]> wrote:

> Kswck wrote:
> > What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
> > times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
>
> Doubling or halving the recipe in my head. It's easy. I'm good at
> math, and even if I weren't, it doesn't take much math to do that. But
> as I go down the list of ingredients adding them to the bowl, I end up
> doubling twice or forgetting to double at all. I do that even if I have
> the cookbook open. It's safer for me to write down the amounts of the
> ingredients I intend to use on a slip of paper, then close the cookbook,
> but do I do it that way ...
>
>
> --Lia

I use post-it notes (the skinny tabs) to write down the halved or
doubled measurements and follow the recipe from there.

My block is making pie crust by hand. I can do a fine one in the food
processor, but not manually.

Cindy

--
C.J. Fuller

Delete the obvious to email me

On Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:32:37 -0400, "Kswck" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
>times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
>Mine is trussing a chicken-can't do it. Yeah, I know, it's easy. I get it
>wrong every time. Falls apart on the rotisseree.

You're over cooking the chicken if it falls apart on you. Trust me on
this one. There's no reason to truss a chicken for the rotisserie.
Just bend back the wings so they're in a glamour pose.

For me, it's doing that butcher's loop de loop thingy with the little
twisty knot on top. It's like putting a girdle on a flabby (or
stuffed) roast. It looks so easy when demonstrated, but I just can't
get the hang of it.

I also can't do the fancy pie crust (or empanada) edging that looks
like a twisted ribbon.... no matter how many times someone shows me
how.


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that
interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

On Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:35:03 -0500, "Chris Marksberry"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>My mother's Waterloo was rice. No matter she did she couldn't produce
>decent steamed rice. She usually resorted to Minute Rice... bleh.

Converted rice is best for those people. I like converted rice and
prefer it for making things like jambalaya where my regular rice just
ends up all mushy and weird. If I made it more often, maybe I'd be
able to use regular rice, but I don't make it enough.


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that
interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

In article <[email protected]>,
sf <sf@g_mail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:35:03 -0500, "Chris Marksberry"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >My mother's Waterloo was rice. No matter she did she couldn't produce
> >decent steamed rice. She usually resorted to Minute Rice... bleh.
>
> Converted rice is best for those people. I like converted rice and
> prefer it for making things like jambalaya where my regular rice just
> ends up all mushy and weird. If I made it more often, maybe I'd be
> able to use regular rice, but I don't make it enough.

I can't get the hang of steamed rice either, but pressure cooking it
makes it perfect every time.

I won't resort to instant rice!
--
Peace! Om

"He who has the gold makes the rules"
--Om

"He who has the guns can get the gold."
-- Steve Rothstein

"Sheldon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:9b48d[email protected]..
On Oct 19, 6:32?pm, "Kswck" <ks...@optonline.net> wrote:
> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
> times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>
> Mine is trussing a chicken-can't do it. Yeah, I know, it's easy. I get it
> wrong every time. Falls apart on the rotisseree.

Sounds like you're using thin string and it's burning through, use
some real butcher's twine. After trussing rub the twine with some oil
(I like to use butter) and I bet your burned twine problem will be
solved. You also may not be balancing the birds on the spit... and as
they cook they typically change balance so you'll have to readjust...
rotisserie is not something one can walk away from... in fact it's
extremely dangerous to do so, you can easly burn your house down, real
easy. I would never own one of those indoor rotisseries.

The rotisserie is actually pretty good. It is never left unattended and
there is a fire extinguisher within 10 feeet of it.

As for the bird, i'll try that.

"sf" <sf@g_mail.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> On Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:32:37 -0400, "Kswck" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
>>times you've tried it or been instructed to?
>>
>>Mine is trussing a chicken-can't do it. Yeah, I know, it's easy. I get it
>>wrong every time. Falls apart on the rotisseree.
>
> You're over cooking the chicken if it falls apart on you. Trust me on
> this one. There's no reason to truss a chicken for the rotisserie.
> Just bend back the wings so they're in a glamour pose.
>
> For me, it's doing that butcher's loop de loop thingy with the little
> twisty knot on top. It's like putting a girdle on a flabby (or
> stuffed) roast. It looks so easy when demonstrated, but I just can't
> get the hang of it.
>
> I also can't do the fancy pie crust (or empanada) edging that looks
> like a twisted ribbon.... no matter how many times someone shows me
> how.
>
>
> --
> I never worry about diets. The only carrots that
> interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.
>
> Mae West

It's not that I'm overcooking the bird, rather that the trussing falls apart
while cooking it-no matter how I do it.

Kswck said...

>> What one thing can you not do correctly in the kitchen-despite how many
>> times you've tried it or been instructed to?


That's easy!

Focaccia!!!

3 times tried. Baked into brick. Gave up.

I've had delicious focaccia (tomato and rosemary mostly) dining out.

Andy

On Oct 20, 3:34 am, Omelet <ompome...@gmail.com> wrote:
> In article <cv0of41l4rkcqof2s1rdqcaldiharao...@4ax.com>,
>
> sf <sf@g_mail.com> wrote:
> > On Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:35:03 -0500, "Chris Marksberry"
> > <rmarksbe...@comcast.NoSpam.net> wrote:
>
> > >My mother's Waterloo was rice. No matter she did she couldn't produce
> > >decent steamed rice. She usually resorted to Minute Rice... bleh.
>
> > Converted rice is best for those people. I like converted rice and
> > prefer it for making things like jambalaya where my regular rice just
> > ends up all mushy and weird. If I made it more often, maybe I'd be
> > able to use regular rice, but I don't make it enough.
>
> I can't get the hang of steamed rice either, but pressure cooking it
> makes it perfect every time.
>
> I won't resort to instant rice!
> --
> Peace! Om
>
> "He who has the gold makes the rules"
> --Om
>
> "He who has the guns can get the gold."
> -- Steve Rothstein

I never had a problem with rice, but since I got an electric rice
steamer, I never even think about it.

Next to the crock pot, my favorite appliance. Use it almost every
day.

b

In article
<[email protected]>,
bulka <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Oct 20, 3:34 am, Omelet <ompome...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > In article <cv0of41l4rkcqof2s1rdqcaldiharao...@4ax.com>,
> >
> > sf <sf@g_mail.com> wrote:
> > > On Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:35:03 -0500, "Chris Marksberry"
> > > <rmarksbe...@comcast.NoSpam.net> wrote:
> >
> > > >My mother's Waterloo was rice. No matter she did she couldn't produce
> > > >decent steamed rice. She usually resorted to Minute Rice... bleh.
> >
> > > Converted rice is best for those people. I like converted rice and
> > > prefer it for making things like jambalaya where my regular rice just
> > > ends up all mushy and weird. If I made it more often, maybe I'd be
> > > able to use regular rice, but I don't make it enough.
> >
> > I can't get the hang of steamed rice either, but pressure cooking it
> > makes it perfect every time.
> >
> > I won't resort to instant rice!
>
> I never had a problem with rice, but since I got an electric rice
> steamer, I never even think about it.
>
> Next to the crock pot, my favorite appliance. Use it almost every
> day.
>
> b

I don't have space for another gadget, but thanks. <g>
--
Peace! Om

"He who has the gold makes the rules"
--Om

"He who has the guns can get the gold."
-- Steve Rothstein