# What's the hardest dish to cook?



## bundens (Jul 5, 2008)

I was just wondering...what do you guys think is the hardest dish to cook? Meaning, the one that takes the most skill...
I think a lot of people think beef wellington is pretty hard...
and by asking this I'm excluding pastries..because a lot of that takes skill too. ..so what do you guys think?


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Based on a number of backyard barbeques I've attended over the years, I'd say grilled chicken could be a top contender for this prize!

While that is a rather flippant answer, there may be some truth behind it. I'm betting that some of the most difficult dishes to get right are ones where if done right, with few ingredients and simple, basic procedures, they are brilliant. If one little thing goes wrong, they are a disaster.

Omelets, souffles, slow cooked barbecue ribs or brisket, fried rice, potato pancakes, alfredo sauce, grilled steaks, hot and sour soup, cold smoked salmon, bearnaise sauce are all examples of food that requires some skill of various levels to do well, but for the most part are still edible if done less than correctly.

I'll have to think more about serious contenders for this thread.

mjb.


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

Brisket cooked with an all wood fire and NO foiling


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## shel (Dec 20, 2006)

You might be right, at least as far as I'm concerned. Back in 1990-1993 I had a small BBQ business, and even using some qood quality, large smokers with offset fire boxes, smoking an entire brisket without tenting was the most difficult cooking task for me. It wasn't too hard to get right in larger pits, but even with the larger home smokers it was always difficult for me. Took almost a year, and i don't know how many briskets, to get it just right. 

shel


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## georgia pasty (Jun 24, 2008)

a Consommé seems to give some chefs sleepless nights !! Bearnaise is anoth high contender I would say .


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I'd say Beef Wellington would rank pretty high up. That and galantines served chaud-froid.

For Beef Wellington:

1) Make stock (24 hours)
2) Make demiglace 
3) Make puff pastry (about 3-4 hours)
4) Make foie gras pate (24 hours)
5) Make duxelles
6) Sear beef
7) Make sauce
8) Assemble and chuck it in the oven

Of course you can just buy the pastry, pate, demiglace 

Let's see, some more old world dining. Stuffed squab chaudfroid w/ cumberland sauce

1) Make demiglace (optional depending on stuffing)
2) Bone squab
3) Make forcemeat
4) Make veloute from squab bones (yuck)
5) Make chaudfroid from veloute
7) Poach the squab
8) Coat the squab
9) Make wine aspic
10) Glaze the already coated squab
11) Make jam
12) Zest citrus
13) Make cumberland sauce from 11 and 12.

That's a lot of steps!


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

I don't think _cooking_ anything is particular difficult. Not if the prep work has been done right.

With that in mind, turducken has to be one of the more difficult dishes to prepare.

Shel and Mary: Interesting that you both brought that up. Brisket is the one thing I've never had trouble with. And I never tent. In fact, using my offset cooker, I can make perfect brisket every time; whereas ribs sometimes give me trouble.

Go figure!


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## eloki (Apr 3, 2006)

I always have trouble with chicken galantine. Lucky it's a dying dish.


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

I think the trouble with brisket is staying awake to cook it :lol: with my Klose it is easier but it can be hard to hit it just right.


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## bundens (Jul 5, 2008)

ah yes...brisket...and turducken...a bird..within a bird within a bird...
2 hard dishes indeed. My aunt prepares turducken quite frequently but I've never done it. And I've never seen brisket done or done it myself...
and and thank you kuan for the recipes :chef:

and heirloomer I think you're totally right on the money. I think anybody can prepare almost anything but..how well? I think a good example of this a cheap buffet line or one of those odd social gatherings...like a neighborhood or community event one may find themselves at. The one where everybody brings something. You get there and almost everything is bland or hard as a rock...and even the most simple concepts such as a hamburger piss you off...
patooey!


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## scarecrobot (Jun 15, 2007)

What's your trouble with it? I made 5 a few weeks ago. Took me 3 days to make between everything else, but turned out to be well worth the effort.


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## rpmcmurphy (Jan 8, 2008)

Yep. can vouch for that.....only, I'll add that Bearnaise and hollandaise sauces pretty much stink and are inedible to "me" if done less than correctly.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

LOL! There ya go!  Three days.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

_*Barbequed Brisket*_, cooked over an all wood fire, is kind of the holy grail of barbecue. If it was easy, a lot more people would do it well. However, once you've done it successfully a few times, it comes down to choosing good meat to begin with, proper trimming (1/4" isn't all that easy until you learn how), fire management (which has a LOT to do with the pit), good meat and injecting, cooking to the right internal, and properly resting.

A lot of "all wood fire" is the pit. If you're trying to run an all wood fire in too small a pit, you're hosing yourself. Even if you keep even temps, one slightly funky piece of wood will wreck you. IMO, Barbecued Brisket cooks better at a higher temperature than pork. I usually cook at around 275 -- which is not an easy temp to hold in smaller pits. Much over 250 and a runaway fire is a real possibility.

That said, you can make brisket every bit as good in a small pit -- you just have to use a mostly charcoal fire. A little bit of hardwood chunk in the charcoal at the right time in the right way will put every bit as much smoke into the beef as an all wood fire in a big pit. I think the prep and management techniques aren't all that difficult as long as they're suited to the pit. Charcoal baskets are an enormous help in smaller offsets. The biggest obstacle to managing the fire in a small pit are novice pitmasters. They insist on doing it the most difficult, most wasteful, least reliable ways as though there were some virtue to them. One constant, they always have reasons.

_*Barbequed" Chicken*_, whether grilled or actually barbecued is mostly a matter of simple techniques. Admittedly it takes a rather large bag of tricks to cover all the various styles, but when it gets down to it the techniques are more numerous than difficult. One of the few constants is brining. Brine your chicken, dag-nab it! Interesting note: Chicken is generally best grilled over a low fire, and smoked over a hot one. Go figure.

Intewestingwy, wabbit can be cooked outdoors in many of the same dewicious ways. Or even fwied or a fwicasee if you have a pwopane burner. Heheheheheh.

_*Beef Wellington*_ (Wehwington?) is a lot of prep; nothing really difficult about it. Unfortunately, a fillet of beef does not benefit from being cooked _en croute_. No way. No how. Admittedly some are better than others, but bottom line: Not so much difficult as impossible. The Duke of Wellington, at least the one who defeated Napoleon, did not eat it. That's a canard.

Speaking of canards, I used to make a PITA called *Stuffed Duck Charles Vaucher*, cribbed from Pellaprat's cookbook. Sort of a turducken on steroids with PMS, but lacking the sense of humor -- possessing instead a stick up the vent.

"Imagine if you will," removing the bones and the meat from a duck -- except the drumsticks, and wings -- without breaking the skin; make a rather complicated farce with the meat, some pork, truffles, olives and the rest of the usual over-priced French suspects; stuff, sew, and reshape; a fussy braise; chill and coat with aspic; blah blah blah. You get the picture.

The first time I did it was to challenge myself, and the second time to pefect it. Then I started bragging about it. Mistake number one. Then I put it on my catering menu, and kept it there when I moved down South. Mistakes number two and three. Then I served it at my self-catered wedding reception which included a number of clients as guests. Mistake number four. This was on the way to being my "signature" dish when I quit catering. In fact, the thought of getting one more request for "four of those duck things you do" was a big part of the reason I quit catering. Now that I think about it, I have no desire to make it again. None. _D'rien_. Don't even think about it. I can't hear you.

_*Chicken Marengo*_ is otherwise pretty straightforward. but for the mushrooms. It's not the fluting that bothers me, it's the peeling. Something about peeling a mushroom just chaps my @ss. DW's worth it. The only other people on the planet I'd do it for are my kids.

BDL


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## suzanne (May 26, 2001)

Roast chicken with moist breast meat and crisp skin.

An egg cooked in the shell to exactly the right doneness.

Complicated recipes are nothing but a lot of little recipes strung together -- nothing really to be afraid of, if you understand the steps and their science. And they offer so many chances to cover up mistakes.

It's the "simple" ones that have the least wiggle room. And that makes them harder to get right.


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## bluedogz (Oct 11, 2006)

Any dish made over a holiday with someone trying to "help" who isn't willing to take orders.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Not difficult, just usually done with bad chicken, bad technique and bad results. 

It is a miracle, isn't it? Hard eggs I can do. Coddled eggs I can do. In the middle it's still a little hit and miss, even after all these years. So many variables -- different sizes, different breeds, different freshness levels -- how can you hit it right consistently? 

This is why I responded to you. This is so true and so well put. Brava! Brava bravissima! 

Quality ingredients, clean technique, no shortcuts, pay attention, touch it, taste it, don't rush it.

BDL


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

A chocolate souffle for a 5 course demo.


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## dillbert (Jul 2, 2008)

...cooking an egg in the shell exactly right......

this task is extremely easy and consistent - with a "but"

you must control four things:
temperature of the egg in storage.
amount of water used to boil the egg2.
burner setting
the time immersed.

water boils at a relatively constant temperature (varies by altitude and barometric pressure....)
heat transfer from "boiling water" to egg "at temperature X" is a "constant"
when you put the egg in boiling water, it "chills" the pot
to control the "rebound" time to boiling you must control the amount of water and the burner setting i.e. the amount of heat being put into the 'system'
after that, it's child's play to experiment with the time to get "the exact egg"

oh, did I mention I'm really quite fond of soft boiled eggs?

I use the same pot, two cups of water, gas set to medium high hash mark, eggs on bottom shelf of fridge, water to the boil, in with the egg, 4 minutes 20 seconds out comes the egg to the egg cup at room temp.

the "but" problem is: quantity of eggs to be cooked affects 
size of pot
amount of water
cooking time (rebound varies)

the good news is: it is all empirical - just measure, keep records
perfectoeggoes!
no rocket science involved.


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

For some people, it's perfectly light matzo balls. 

Suzanne, you're right on the money about the eggs and the perfect roast chicken. I also agree about being able to cook chicken on a grill. Ironically, that's the only think my non-cook husband does _perfectly_.

I'd also say cooking today's ultra-lean pork chops perfectly, without them being tough and dry, is difficult.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Souffle potatoes is quite difficult as well. Takes a lot of feel. First you gotta get the setting right on the slicer by slicing a few and then fry testing them. Only when you've gotten the correct thickness then you start frying them in small batches. Frying them takes a certain amount of guesswork. You put them in the oil at 300F, constantly agitate the pan, then when it's "time" you turn up the heat to 375F and hope they souffle. It's like half guesswork all the time, and maybe half of your potatoes even ever souffle.

All this assuming some other person doesn't change the dial on the slicer while you're doing it.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

It's OCD, but not hard. I'm posting a "perfect roast chicken" recipe.

BDL


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## iconoclast (Aug 8, 2007)

i dont think there is one dish in particular that is extremely difficult... however i do think the hardest thing to do is to replicate a dish exactly the same way 1000's of times... if you cook a meal that one may feel is elaborate, complex or complicated and the person eating it enjoys it... then congratulations, but if you cannot replicate the meal the next time around then whats the point???


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Same situation as lean poultry - brining is your friend, overcooking is your enemy. Bone-in chops are a bit more forgiving than boneless.

mjb.


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## youngbuck (Oct 23, 2007)

The hardest dishes for me to prepare are the one's that have to be done on the fly after either yourself or a co-worker has messed up and then you have no dishwasher, so you have to wash your stuff first and your missing a key ingredient so you have to improvise. I find it exciting but frustrating at the same time. Any one else with me on that? Or even better when Im making my dad dinner at his house and he doesn't have any equipment, ingredients or counter space and then he comes in and asks me if I know what im doing. RRRRRRRRRR


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## iconoclast (Aug 8, 2007)

lol, i love that (sarcasm) when youre at a friends place and they do not have any tools and equipment or ingredients... then you look like the *** bc you have to improvise... i usually just keep my knives and tools in the trunk you never know when theres going to be an impromptu jam session.


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## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Just speaking for myself, the hardest dishes are the ones I really love. The more I like a product, the greater my romantic expectations of the final outcome will be. Squab, for example, is my favorite meat. And it also happens to be merciless in its cooking. For me is has to be perfectly medium rare. Due to its small size and leanness (and heats inability to "stop on a dime") I often take it a shade too far. If it wasn't a product I didn't adore so much it wouldn't bother me, but something like squab which I have to special order at some expense, is truly grating. 

--Al


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## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Just speaking for myself, the hardest dishes are the ones I really love. The more I like a product, the greater my romantic expectations of the final outcome will be. Squab, for example, is my favorite meat. And it also happens to be merciless in its cooking. For me is has to be perfectly medium rare. Due to its small size and leanness (and heats inability to "stop on a dime") I often take it a shade too far. If it wasn't a product I didn't adore so much it wouldn't bother me, but something like squab which I have to special order at some expense, is truly grating. 

--Al


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## psycho chef (Feb 1, 2007)

I must chime in on the egg talk to try and spread the perfectly cooked egg love...Put the cold eggs in cold water with a little salt and put uncovered on a high flame. As soon as this comes to a rolling boil (you must be watching) turn it off, take it to a safe place, and cover it. In 6 minutes you will have cooked whites and a warm runny center, in 8 minutes you will have what I call a "French" hard boiled egg. In 10 minutes you should have what most Americans consider a perfectly cooked boiled egg. This, assuming you immediately drain and shock them after the said times. Of course there will be variables. The most important is the size of the egg of course, but also, don't put too much water either. 

If there's one thing I can cook perfectly, it's an egg. 

Now peeling them is another story....


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## ghettoracingkid (Feb 19, 2007)

My 2 freinds have literally nothing. I have to lug everythng I need over there for what ever Im making. Im not going to carry my whole kitchen to theirs and there have bee an few times where I forgot something and needed to improvise. Needless to say. My knifes are usually in the car with me when I go over there.


I think the hardest dish is one that impresses me with what I made. (im never happy with what I did becuase I know it could be better, the wife hates that quality about me)


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## bundens (Jul 5, 2008)

so right about the kitchen, the tools and knives one must work with at others houses. My grandma's kitchen is big...but her stove is touchy...well only 2 burners work and the one is on high even if you put it on warm. One oven is busted ..luckily her bottom oven still works...she has no cutting board..no electric mixer (matter of fact that is one tool i never work with)...but she has alright knives and utensils around. Always a good pot or pan.

the house i live at now is a mess and cluttered..no room to open the fridge let alone cook things. the stove and oven work great but there is no dishwasher and the knives in there seem to be from sometime in the 70's. Not many good pots or pans..oh and once again no electric mixer or food processor or anything.
I'm so used to doing things by hand I don't know what it's going to be like when i have my own kitchen. Least I have my knives...

The one thing I am scared of in the kitchen...that I just don't do..is pork
any pork product...(aside from bacon, sausage or maybe a hot dog)
I eat it an all..i just don't cook it...
the other thing that I don't do ever is BBQ. I know how to do basic things like hot dogs, hamburgers, skewers, shrimp, chicken..
but anything other than that..i just never even try
i admit i should get over both fears but...
i guess it's all what i eat and what i don't..maybe i need to get a job at a rib joint or something.


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## jnclayton (Jun 8, 2011)

In Culinary School, one of my Chef's once asked this very question. While Emulsions can be tricky ( Holandaise, Bernaise), once you learn the technique, they are simple. Beef wellington while it has its challenges, can be made with proper instruction by most people. The most complex dish I could think of mashed potatos. So many interpretations on a simple dish that trully has a rather pland a tough star. However, when treated correctly, there is nothing better. The starch aspect of a well composed dish with the protien as the star soon becomes overshadowed by the starchy/buttery/creamy goodness that is mashed potatos!


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

I don''t think it's one particular one . I believe it is the ability to be consistant. That your Hollandaise is same all the time. that your mashed are same all the time.that your goulash the same all the time. This to me is difficult because of food factors and availability, because many people in kitchen help prep.things. I think this is also the key to a good place. The ability good or bad to be consistant, everyday, 365 days a year. So that when the customer who loved your Hollandaise comes back in 6 weeks and orders same dish that he had before, it is the same. All places should strive for this goal.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

chefedb said:


> I don''t think it's one particular one . I believe it is the ability to be consistant. That your Hollandaise is same all the time. that your mashed are same all the time.that your goulash the same all the time. This to me is difficult because of food factors and availability, because many people in kitchen help prep.things. I think this is also the key to a good place. The ability good or bad to be consistant, everyday, 365 days a year. So that when the customer who loved your Hollandaise comes back in 6 weeks and orders same dish that he had before, it is the same. All places should strive for this goal.


Although I always strive for quality I never strive for consistency of taste. I think that's the one luxury that sets us home cooks apart from restaurant chefs. When I return to a restaurant for a dish that I have ordered and liked before you darn betcha I expect it to be the same. But at home I'm always trying to make it better, more interesting, and taking chances with ingredients. Something as simple as adding a different brand of tomato paste can really change a dish and we have that wiggle room at home.

In greece the toughest dish to prepare is considered to be moussaka. I don't think it's particularly difficulty, it just has loads of steps but if you know what you're doing it goes by pretty smoothly, even if it takes a long time.

I agree with Suzanne that it's the simplest things that are the most difficult to do well. I have often heard that chefs judge other chefs by how well they make these 3 things:

- cook an egg

- make a soup

- roast a chicken

Easy enough to do, but difficult to do well.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

A test I always give prospective new hire cooks .. Make me a French omellete, and Dice an onion. and Name the 5 Mother sauces. If they can't do these things. Sorry no job.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

consomme and souffle


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

a true paella...ingredients need to be added at such perfect times ....love the challenge though and the patience it takes!..and of course the rewards that come with being so good and patient

joey


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

durangojo said:


> a true paella...ingredients need to be added at such perfect times ....love the challenge though and the patience it takes!..and of course the rewards that come with being so good and patient
> 
> joey


I just ruined my paella last night. Tasted great but accidentally burned the bottom of it. So sad.


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## benway (May 24, 2009)

Fun thread.

The hardest kind of cooking IMO is cooking while everyone is watching you--cooking tableside. And the worst tableside preparation I've EVER experienced BY FAR was "caneton a la rouennaise" or "pressed duck." Here is a brief description:

A duck is roasted such that the breast meat will be rare. The bird is carved tableside and the legs/thighs sent back into the kitchen to be grilled for the next course. The duck liver and heart are chopped and flambeed tableside with brandy. Demi, port, butter, and lemon juice are whisked in. The duck carcass is then pressed with the medieval torture device pictured here:



Yes that thing is so shiny because we're still tableside. The blood is collected out of that little spout and used to thicken the heart/liver sauce described above. This isn't easy as the sauce temperature is pretty touchy. Too hot and the sauce blood coagulates and there really is no do over, not hot enough and the sauce tastes as gross as it sounds.

What really makes this dish extremely tough is that you need a carcass with blood in it. For us this meant wringing the neck of live ducks. While this was on our menu all I could think about was wringing the neck of whatever cheese-eating-surrender-monkey invented this.


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## benway (May 24, 2009)

chefedb said:


> A test I always give prospective new hire cooks .. Make me a French *omellete*, and Dice an onion. and Name the 5 Mother sauces. If they can't do these things. Sorry no job.


I can't think of a single better pass/fail benchmark for a cook than "make me an omelette."


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## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

I will kiss anyone who can present a perfect chocolate moelleux at the table!


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## benway (May 24, 2009)

ChrisBelgium said:


> I will kiss anyone who can present a perfect chocolate moelleux at the table!


These are fool proof to cook sous vide. Although cooking cake in a vacuum bag isn't a technique in everybody's tool box I suppose.


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## brownedoff (Apr 4, 2011)

Based on the most frequent problem I've had in restaurants, pan-frying fish correctly seems to be the most difficult thing to do consistently well. Lost count of the number of times I've ended up with overcooked even in very good places.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

[quote name="chefedb" url="/forum/thread/46308/what-s-the-hardest-dish-to-cook/30#post_353235"]
I don''t think it's one particular one . I believe it is the ability to be consistant.
[/quote]

That's exactly what people expect from McDonalds, Dennys and such. No matter where they go, a Big Mac is a Big Mac. The dark side of consistency.

mjb.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Good comment teamfat.  I concur.  Although,  when I last went to Asia (many moons ago), the burgers were smaller her than in Oz.  The KFC was actually bigger.  Weird, that.  All looked and tasted the same basically.

The hardest thing I can imagine cooking is the ravioli filled with other ingredients and an egg yolk which must still be oozy and runny, like a soft poached egg, once the pasta is cooked.  A pretty amazing feat.  I don't know the title of the dish or the details of "how to".  This amazed me to see it.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Thats right, you know what you are getting before you eat it .  Where some restaurants you don't. They can't use the excuse its the Chefs night off .and if  is his night off give everyone a discount .                      I'm kidding of course, but I stick with Consistancy is a must in any undertaking.


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## jetblack (Feb 6, 2013)

Really, brisket??? I think it is baked alaska, ice cream in the oven! But even more difficult would be fugu. Beings you have to be a certified fugu chef to prepare it, it would be quit difficult. Prepared wrong... YOU DIE!


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

jetblack said:


> I think it is baked alaska, ice cream in the oven!


Not very hard once you understand that egg white acts as a thermal insulant. Just make sure ALL the ice cream is covered with meringue (no small holes in the meringue) and you can safely bake it without it melting on you. It's also one of my favorite desserts of all time. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif

But fugu? Yeah I wouldn't even try that.


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## chicagoterry (Apr 3, 2012)

Yeah--baked Alaska is not that difficult. We made it in Jr. High home ec. class back in the 70s as a cool and tasty lesson in the principle of the insulating function of the egg whites.


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## laurenlulu (Sep 9, 2012)

For me the hardest dish to tell by feel alone how done it is, is beef filet. It is so tender and squishy, I can't tell if I'm cooking it to rare or medium and have to use a thermometer. It's my nemesis.


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## chefchadnyc (Jan 20, 2013)

Lauren - use a cake tester...or even a paper clip.

Stick it in the meat, pull it out, put it on your lip.  If it's warm, it's medium.  If it's cold, it's rare.  If it's hot, you're screwed.

Also good when you cook fish.  It will slide through with no resistance when it is just cooked through.  If it catches, it's still not cooked.

...We should start a thread - tricks from 4-star dining to no star diners.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

I just realized this the other day in a Facebook discussion.  You want pancakes?  No sweat, I'll whip some up.  You want biscuits?  No problem, grab the ingredients and go.  Pie crust?  Wait, I have to check the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

I've made a lot of pie crusts over the years.  There is just some sort of mental block I have that after decades of making crusts I have to rely on *that* particular recipe.  There are NOT that many ingredients.  It is NOT complicated.  WHY do I need to look at the recipe each and every time?

mjb.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

I think my definition of hard at this point is defined as time consuming. Turning vegetable for a specific dish, wrapping bundles of Haricot vert or formred carrots with leek in a bow.  Any intricate extensive hand labor. Other then that none are really hard.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Here's one.  Pommes Souffles.  You're good if you get 75%,


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## laurenlulu (Sep 9, 2012)

Chad! That's brilliant!


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Pop into freezer instead of fridge for a while  it works better then into hot oil serve right away


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

ED BUCHANAN said:


> Pop into freezer instead of fridge for a while it works better then into hot oil serve right away


Single oil bath or multiple oil baths at different temps?


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

French Fries said:


> Single oil bath or multiple oil baths at different temps?


Yes, tell us Ed.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

I put in hot oil drain semi freeze a while then refry.  I cut thin.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

ED BUCHANAN said:


> I put in hot oil drain semi freeze a while then refry. I cut thin.


Same temp both times? I really ought to try those out. The instructions I have recommend two baths at two different temps, first 300F then 350F. Thickness is 3mm.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Can you put a whole bunch down for the first blanch Ed?


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Make sre when you second fry that they are ice cold


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

chefchadnyc said:


> Lauren - use a cake tester...or even a paper clip.
> 
> Stick it in the meat, pull it out, put it on your lip. If it's warm, it's medium. If it's cold, it's rare. If it's hot, you're screwed.
> 
> ...


That's right after my own heart. Much better than a thermometer - You'd think that before the invention of the instant read thermometer, nobody could cook anything right! and YES, please start this thread.


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## lilnana (Sep 8, 2013)

uhm pasta salad


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## emeraldmercy (Jan 6, 2015)

I made some beef wellington for the first time a week ago. I looked at several recipes to find what kind of techniques and prep it would require. I ended up creating a portabella and button mushroom duxxel with prosciutto wrapping around the beef tenderloin. The mushrooms were dried and minced well, the prosciutto was wrapped tightly around the duxxel and seared beef tenderloin. The searing was done quick on high heat and then touched up with mustard. 

I cheated with the pastry, since I used boxed puff pastry. Touched up with egg yolk and decorated with my french knife. Touched up with some course sea salt, and baked at 450 f till golden brown. Only thing I regret was not drying the mushrooms into a near powder. That would have helped in preventing some of the beef tenderloin's moisture from getting into the bottom of the puff pastry. 

Luckily, only one of the two beef wellington leaked moisture into the puff pastry. The other was nearly perfect, besides it was a hint cooked more than rare. Served my family for the holidays. I believe we served 14 total that night. We finished every piece, and it was regarded as everyone's best meal or close second. Took a lovely 7 hours to make the beef wellington and side dishes. 

It tempts me to try fish n bread soup, a recipe I have heard can take much prep, and skill. I read a bit about the recipe at a library in one of the cooking reference books. It uses a saffron sauce to combine with a fish stock reduction. Other than that, I just remember it being the most difficult dish within the reference book. 

Hope someone brings an interesting recipe for me to try out. For now, I am experimenting with some Italian-Japanese dishes, and am close to finalize a pasta, with seared and marinaded teriyaki Roma tomatoes and caramelized onions. I am trying to figure out a sauce to hold it together, but it almost works without one. I mean, a culinary instructor rather loved it without any sauce, but I feel it needs the after taste and texture of a light sauce. So far a sesame Alfredo kind of works, but it isn't what I am looking for.

Good luck to all of you. Hope you find a really intriguing recipe.


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2015)

I've experience western and Asian cooking

Born in South East Asia, taking French cooking...

I can say...

Western

Bread. A simple Baguette is hard to master and yet to get the right size and taste

Fermentation, Shaping, Kneading, scoring, resting. 

Need tons of practice and hard to get a success one. But i believe experience and right recipe can get it right

and you might be suprise, asian dont like hard bread like typical country bread, ciabatta, sour bread etc.

They prefer bread which is like bread loaf soft or brioche, and all famous bread shop sell like hot cake is tyipica soft roll kinda base

Asian...

Something stir fried. you might think? Are you sure?

I have eatern few Chinese restaurant in Europe, they doesnt even taste nice...

They lack of something call "wok aroma" (direct translate from Cantonese) 镬气

The taste is crucial for stir fry noodles, fried rice and etc.

Hard part is stir fried at extreme heat and without getting the food burn

Another thing.

Dim sum, it is work of art and speed, getting right recipe for the skin layer is hard.

not only recipe is hard, wrapping skill for the siew mai and etc is freaking hard

French

Its hard when you want to get perfect shapes and size

using right ingredient to get the colour, taste and texture....

So far, hardest thing i ever think of french cuisine is French Pastry.... getting right temperature, (Pastry Cream 65C or egg white/yolk curdle)

Right folding methods, and etc....

Croissant, this is insanely hard for country like us, we need 16C air con room or else sure split and fail

And with multicultural here, i can perceive is hard....

where i dont have much experience at it...

Tweaking Indian spice and incorporate nicely into a recipe

Curry here have many kind... A fish curry and mutton curry use different curry powder.

Fish curry need sourness and mutton curry need real spiciness.

I've been to Indian morning market, only chilli they have> 12 kinds of chilli ,all taste different, come in different colour ....

You have heard about Garam Masala, You simply mix spices and you can call it garam masala.. cause it is not fix. When you see recipe in youtube stating garam masala, make sure u ask the chef what kind of spice inside the garam masala


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## allanmcpherson (Apr 5, 2007)

Speaking of dim sum, that is one dish I have never cracked
. Those steamed turnip / Daikon cakes. I adore the texture but have never nailed it myself. Maybe 2015....


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

What a great thread! I'm glad this popped back up. But the answer must be pasta salad... i can't remember the last time I had a good one!


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