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What are you blessed with?


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Eggs

any way you name it

I make eggs that make people weep! soft melting fluffy unctious it has it all! this is particularly amazing as I do not eat eggs.

strangely similar is rice, again not my fav always works great!

I used to be a cookie genius but i seem to have lost that...

Life! what's life!? Just natures way of keeping meat fresh - Dr. who

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i was blessed with abilities for sauces - one day i will take a course in sauces - i usually wing it with success.

i am very good at coming up with "mcguyver" dinners that taste great.

lastly, large groups: dinner for 40 or 50 people is my specialty. :smile: i work well under pressure.

this is so embarrassing BUT i cannot make toast to save my life. i dont own a toaster (japanese kitchens just dont have the space!) but it doesnt matter if i am standing right there doing the eggs, i ALWAYS forget the bread. i have convinced myself that black toast is good for you :raz:

"Thy food shall be thy medicine" -Hippocrates

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eggs: poached, deviled, mayonaisse-d, custardized and bruleed, anglaised and frozen, whatever. we get each other.

bacon likes me too.

my curse is dough. yeast scares the crap out of me. it's all alive...i feel it disapproves.

from overheard in new york:

Kid #1: Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!

Kid #2: "Bam" doesn't blow up, "bam" makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can't defeat that!

--6 Train

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Is custard hard to make? I make a mean custard, and the fact that I've made it from scratch is usually enought to impress... since those guys at Jell-o do it so gooood. LOL. But yeah, banana cream pie with hommade custard seems to be my calling.

Chicken... any manner. If you want it juicy, I'm your girl.

I can hard boil an egg like nobody's business. No green rings. I sneer at your green rings and crumbly yolks. :hmmm:

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I've been blessed with the ability to make great soups.....English, Chinese, Vietnamese - if it simmers, I can do it!

I'm a canning clean freak because there's no sorry large enough to cover the, "Oops! I gave you botulism" regrets.

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Well: Anything baked: yeast breads, cakes, pies with butter crust, cookies, muffins, scones. Candy. Filet mignon with mustard cream sauce (so easy and so deliciously perfect, I always am surprised). Garlic shrimp pizza. Seafood pasta. I get asked to bring my potato salad to events so often that I actually resent it. :hmmm: Hollandaise sauce.

Badly: Roasts. I finally figured out grilling and broiling (via a little thermometer with a sharp point), but don't do roasts well to this day. My baked potatoes are only occasionally great, usually just ok. I know where that "fine line between raw and mushy" is for veg, I just often cross it. Getting everything ready at once for company eludes me; I ALWAYS underestimate the time/work things will take. But people just talk and laugh and I'm so glad they're there! :biggrin:

Would like to learn: Thai food. I love this cuisine so much and would like to learn to make some of the dishes at home. :wub:

Edited by Peachpie9 (log)
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:biggrin: Desserts: especially cheesecakes and I make a really good tiramisu, if I don't say so myself. The problem (?) is that, with just my DH and myself, we don't usually eat desserts, so I only make them for a crowd.

:angry: I cannot roll out dough to save my life. I don't know what the problem is, but I don't make pies very often and NEVER make cookies which have to be rolled out to an even thickness and cut. The thing is, my mother was able to do this easily and made dozens of Christmas cookies which were perfectly rolled out and cut and then we decorated them. And, ahem, I am a much better cook, overall, than she ever was.

:blink: Also, I can't make dumplings, either, except for matzo balls and I'm not Jewish. What's up with that?

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Blessed:

Roasts, particularly red meat. I make a mean roast beef or leg of lamb. A very serviceable brined turkey as well.

Pasta and sauces. My puttanesca always gets requests for seconds. Always the first meal I'll cook for a hot date. :wub:

Soups.

Ground meat concoctions. I have an award winning chili recipe, make a pretty good picadillo and have great success with making far more moussaka than is ever needed for any gathering. :biggrin:

Anything to do with mixing cocktails or infusing vodka.

Cursed:

Most baking is not my thing. Anything that involved kneading or rolling is out of my league. Simple stuff like muffins and loaf-like things like banana bread I'm OK for. Quiches and pies I confess I use the pre-made crusts for. :blush:

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

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A light hand...my chiffon cakes rise about 2 inches higher than those of other people using my recipe.

Finding shortcuts...especially when I was catering, I would find easier ways to make lots of servings. A bonus result of being lazy.

Planning menus...my favorite part of cooking, I just seem to find combinations of foods that go well together. Not easy when you have a picky family.

Pretty food...not with squeeze bottles, piling things high or arrangements of multiple components, just juxtaposition of complimentary shapes, colors, tastes. And neatness counts.

Ruth Dondanville aka "ruthcooks"

“Are you making a statement, or are you making dinner?” Mario Batali

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:angry: I cannot roll out dough to save my life.  I don't know what the problem is, but I don't make pies very often and NEVER make cookies which have to be rolled out to an even thickness and cut.  The thing is, my mother was able to do this easily and made dozens of Christmas cookies which were perfectly rolled out and cut and then we decorated them.  And, ahem, I am a much better cook, overall, than she ever was.

Here's a hot tip for you, Rosebud. Go down to Home Depot, or whichever other buildings supplies outlet is convenient for you. Tell the helpful dude in the orange apron that you're looking for square dowel. He'll take you to a rack where they have pieces of wood in various lengths. It'll be square in cross-section, and they'll have it in a variety of sizes. Get yourself two lengths each of, say, the 1/8", 1/4", and 3/8" dowel.

Set them on your work surface. Put your rolling pin across them. Move them apart until they are almost at the opposing ends of your rolling pin. Dust flour between the wooden rods, and plop your dough in there. Roll. Your rolling pin will ride on its wooden guides, and your dough will be perfectly even. Every time.

Okay, it's cheating, but so is using a mandoline instead of knife skills. Who cares?

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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Cream puffs (or anything to do with pate choux, like deep frying it and dusting with powdered sugar). I love cream puffs, and my mother and grandmother always told me how HARD they are, so when I got my first cookbook and they had a recipe for them in there, I knew I had to try it.

They turned out perfect. Absolutely perfect. They looked like they were from a bakery. And they have every time since. In fact, I finally attempted the cream puff ring in that cookbook - it's a free form ring of blobs of pate choux, filled with pastry cream, topped with chocolate, and the center filled with fresh strawberries. I took it to a pot luck. It lasted about 5 minutes.

I can also grill like nobody's business. My beloved spouse somehow manages to make hamburgers fall apart and his steaks are always gray and chewy, while mine have lovely sear marks and are nicely medium rare.

However, that same spouse can make pie crusts, and I can't. So when pie is called for, he makes the crust and I do the filling, and it all works out fine.

Marcia.

Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted...he lived happily ever after. -- Willy Wonka

eGullet foodblog

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I am blessed with the knowledge that I am dangerous in the kitchen. I love food, but all thumbs when it comes to cooking it.

My husband is the cook in our family. My kitchen responsibilites are limited to loading and unloading the dishwasher and cleaning.

:smile:

Erica

Edited by EricaL (log)
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Rice, both simple boiled (Well how I do it it is as much steamed really) and more complex things - I usually manage to cook pilafs, paellas etc ok, measuring the liquid by eye.

Although I did manage to burn a load to the bottom of the pan when I moved into my new house - got to be wary of the big gas ring!

I love animals.

They are delicious.

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I am able to make fairly edible stuff out of just what's in the house. I buy things I like and figure out what to do with them as fancy strikes. And I am fortunate enough to have forgiving friends and family who will eat what I set before them as long as they don't have to cook for themselves.

On the other hand, I cannot follow directions. I have hundreds of cookbooks, probably thousands of recipes in clippings and databases. And I just can't bring myself to follow any of them word for word, step by step.

My motto: Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

Probably comes from being a Myers-Briggs INTP...

Edited by chile_peppa (log)
"It is a fact that he once made a tray of spanakopita using Pam rather than melted butter. Still, though, at least he tries." -- David Sedaris
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1st time lucky: almost every single new recipe I've tried I have succeeded at. Sometimes spectacularly so.

2nd times...not so much; sometimes to the point of disaster, but not often, thank heaven.

The obvious solution is - don't cook the same thing twice!

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