Once-is-Enough Kitchen Feats

[Wholemeal Crank]

Since I am no longer allergic to chocolate, I have no more need to make my fondant and dip carob candies from scratch. I just go to See's. Or Recchiuti's.

[Peter the eater]

I just stemmed and pitted 5lbs of very ripe sweet cherries with a pair of 4-year-olds. I won't do that again, at least not indoors.

[Icanmakeit]

I make my own potstickers - all homemade ingredients from a recipe given to me by the owner of my favorite Chinese place the day before she retired. (I had spent years begging her for the recipe and she finally caved.

The first time I made them I thought I would be a true purist and make my own wrappers.

Easy enough with a recipe that pretty much consists of flour, water and salt.

Never again.

Roll, roll, roll those small disks of dough - about 200 of them. Hours later and they haven't have been filled or fried/steamed yet. And they stuck together a lot.

The worst part? They didn't taste any different from the frozen ones I get at the Asian market.

I do make my own lasagne, Thanksgiving from scratch, and a few times Menudo. I have gotten 'trapped' by the attack of the tomatoes a few times, green and red.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Icanmakeit (log)

[BarbaraY]

When I was young I was fascinated by "gourmet cuisine". I decided to make a recipe for Gigot en Crout that I had found in a cookbook.

It was boned leg of lamb filled with forcemeat, partly cooked, and finished in a crust.

It was good but not worth the effort in my opinion. Never again and that was more than 45 yeqrs ago.

[haresfur]

I just stemmed and pitted 5lbs of very ripe sweet cherries with a pair of 4-year-olds. I won't do that again, at least not indoors.

Well, next year they will be 5!

I was just thinking I'd never again make pizza from scratch in a poorly equipped church kitchen with a bunch of teenagers, but yours is worse.

[Snadra]

I just stemmed and pitted 5lbs of very ripe sweet cherries with a pair of 4-year-olds. I won't do that again, at least not indoors.

Actually, you've just solved a life-long mystery for me. Now I FINALLY know why most of our preparation for preserving was done outside when we were kids. I always thought it had something to do with the heat, but you post made me remember my brother and I nearly covered with cherry guts from head to toe after a visit to the pick-your-own place...well, there was more 5kg to pit, even after we'd taken out a pickers' payment.

[Peter the eater]

I just stemmed and pitted 5lbs of very ripe sweet cherries with a pair of 4-year-olds. I won't do that again, at least not indoors.

Actually, you've just solved a life-long mystery for me. Now I FINALLY know why most of our preparation for preserving was done outside when we were kids. I always thought it had something to do with the heat, but you post made me remember my brother and I nearly covered with cherry guts from head to toe after a visit to the pick-your-own place...well, there was more 5kg to pit, even after we'd taken out a pickers' payment.

Once-inside-is-enough Kitchen Feats would be a good topic title. Cherry pits and juicy fragment were all over the kitchen, and my kids were feasting like a pair of preschool vampires.

[Snadra]

Once-inside-is-enough Kitchen Feats would be a good topic title. Cherry pits and juicy fragment were all over the kitchen, and my kids were feasting like a pair of preschool vampires.

"feasting like a pair of preschool vampires"... you've just painted a marvelous picture in my mind. Cherries do inspire a particular kind of gluttony, don't they?

[BeeZee]

When I was a kid and getting interested in cooking, my parents let me make baked alaska for them and another couple they had over for dinner. My first foray into something that seemed "exotic"...obviously not terribly complicated, but I remember being pretty proud of the result. For a kid, the concept of putting something with ice cream into the oven is pretty dramatic.

[Peter the eater]

I recently carved the words "GO NETHERLANDS" from a single unbroken carrot. I hope never to do that again.

The carrot was to appear yesterday on national television for CBC's "Soccer Day in Canada" but we got bumped! Sadly, I didn't think to take a photo.

[Anna N]

So today I am making a lobster salad that calls for the lobster legs and shells to be finely chopped using a large knife and poached in olive oil to make the dressing. As I wash lobster guts off every surface in my kitchen and then will need to shower to get the guts off my person, I give you a promise that once is enough. It has since occurred to me that this could have been accomplished painlessly if done in the food processor.

[Kerry Beal]

So today I am making a lobster salad that calls for the lobster legs and shells to be finely chopped using a large knife and poached in olive oil to make the dressing. As I wash lobster guts off every surface in my kitchen and then will need to shower to get the guts off my person, I give you a promise that once is enough. It has since occurred to me that this could have been accomplished painlessly if done in the food processor.

Or in your thermomix! You could poach them in there too.

[Peter the eater]

So today I am making a lobster salad that calls for the lobster legs and shells to be finely chopped using a large knife and poached in olive oil to make the dressing. As I wash lobster guts off every surface in my kitchen and then will need to shower to get the guts off my person, I give you a promise that once is enough. It has since occurred to me that this could have been accomplished painlessly if done in the food processor.

Or in your thermomix! You could poach them in there too.

Could you do it outside? I usually gut fish in the yard then hose off the picnic table.

[Anna N]

. . .

Could you do it outside? I usually gut fish in the yard then hose off the picnic table.

Peter, my useable back yard is even smaller than my kitchen! But thanks for the suggestion. In the end it wasn't worth it anyway - no one really liked the resulting dressing not even me.

[della206]

I decided to make cute little tea sandwiches with cookie cutters for a going-away party. First of all, I failed to consider that you need to work really fast or the bread dries out. Then I had a bunch of leftover bread pieces. I think I made bread pudding or used it for french toast for myself. Still. The same happens with melon balling. You have mutilated melons left that you eat by yourself.

Now I have friend who always wants me to make toad-in-the-hole. I did the first step,which is make yorkshire pudding. I was hoping that might be enough to please him. He likes British cuisine. He likes anything in pie crust. What is this deal with making pie out of everything?

Edited September 8, 2010 by della206 (log)

[della206]

Yeah, that steamed pudding business was daunting for me at fist, too. (The culprit was that same friend who like British cuisine.)But now I'm used to it and see it as a way of using up stuff like bread crumbs and fruitcake leftovers. When you think about it, it's really just a fruitcake that's steamed instead of baked. I got a good recipe from an Australian site called Food Down Under. I also realized that I'd been steaming my chocolate bread pudding without realizing it, but it wasn't as intimidating because they didn't use terms like "pudding basin" and you didn't have to run all over town finding suet.

[IndyRob]

Making English Muffins from scratch. In my head it still doesn't seem like a big deal, but after the only time I ever tried, it just seemed totally not worth it. Perhaps a little like a Parisian trying to make their own baguettes.

[mkayahara]

Making English Muffins from scratch. In my head it still doesn't seem like a big deal, but after the only time I ever tried, it just seemed totally not worth it. Perhaps a little like a Parisian trying to make their own baguettes.

You must have access to substantially better store-bought English muffins than I do! I didn't think it was that much trouble, and thought the quality of homemade was much better.

[IndyRob]

You must have access to substantially better store-bought English muffins than I do! I didn't think it was that much trouble, and thought the quality of homemade was much better.

There's an English Muffin Topic here, but I've found that I like Thomas' and some agree. I wish they had a fresher feel when bought (most of their competitors are found in the refrigerated sections whereas Thomas' are found in the bread aisle), but after toasting they're still quite good (and require an amazingly small amount of butter).

[pastameshugana]

I 2nd (or 3rd) the tortellini from scratch. My wife helped me make enough for three families (including kids), stuffed with some sort of fancy chicken filling I made earlier in the day. We made them in the colors of the Italian flag. Very tasty, but took all day.

Also - chinese dumplings with wrappers made from scratch - why did I even bother?

[andiesenji]

You must have access to substantially better store-bought English muffins than I do! I didn't think it was that much trouble, and thought the quality of homemade was much better.

There's an English Muffin Topic here, but I've found that I like Thomas' and some agree. I wish they had a fresher feel when bought (most of their competitors are found in the refrigerated sections whereas Thomas' are found in the bread aisle), but after toasting they're still quite good (and require an amazingly small amount of butter).

I've been making muffins (English, but when I grew up they were just "muffins") and crumpets on a griddle for as long as I can remember. It's not all that difficult and I don't think it is time consuming but that's just me.

Recently I purchased some English Muffin Mix

from The Prepared Pantry and it produced an excellent result, which really surprised me.

I've never been a big fan of mixes but I have to say that everything I have tried from TPP has been very good to excellent and I have truly become a fan.

My first order came about because someone sent me a gift certificate and since then I have sent a couple of gift certificates. It is not easy to get to that page so here is the link Prep.Pantry gift certs in case anyone is interested.

[ambra]

For me, it was eggs benedict. Alone with no help. Got to toast the muffin, poach the egg, fry the ham, all while making hollandaise sauce. It was a killer for me. I'm just not that good of a cook.

It was delicious though.....

[della206]

Just making Hollandaise is enough for me. Come to think of it, that's something I've only done once, and am not in a hurry to do again.

[ChickenStu]

You can make it in a blender or a food processor...

Yolks and some hot water, stream in melted butter, doesnt have to be clarified, adjust thickness with warm water, season...done.....

[Snadra]

Just making Hollandaise is enough for me. Come to think of it, that's something I've only done once, and am not in a hurry to do again.

I think it's one of those things that you need a bit of practice with to feel confident about. I make mayonnaise reasonably often, and tend to think of hollandaise as a minor extension of that. But I'm too lazy to deal with melted butter, so I use the cold butter method.

Mmmm asparagus hollandaise.... I'm so glad we're going into spring and asparagus will be abundant again soon.

ETA: I will never again attempt to make and freeze an abundant amount filled pasta only to watch every.single.ravioli crack and break open. Unless someone can tell me where I went wrong?

Edited September 11, 2010 by Snadra (log)