The Most Difficult Thing You Can Make

[adrober]

Hello eGulleters,

I am working on a book and I'm doing a chapter about challenging yourself in the kitchen. The original plan was to make croissants from scratch but the amount of time required for proofing, etc, is too much since my friend who's helping is only here for a day. What's a recipe that can be done in a day that's really really challenging and, oh yeah, vegetarian. (My friend don't eat meat.) Anything you can offer will be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Adam

[CookinBenny]

Vegtable terrine?

[sheetz]

How about deboning a whole chicken?

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/page44.html

DOH! forgot about thte vegetarian requirement!

Some dim sum items can be tricky and be made to conform to the vegetarian requirement. I've always found taro puffs (woo gok) to be quite challenging; here's a recipe for a dessert version:

http://www.globalchefs.com/recipe/dessert/web/des015woow.htm

Edited August 19, 2006 by sheetz (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

First thought is puff pastry from scratch. A large batch.

Peking duck would be another idea.

Edited to say: Oops. Missed the vegetarian part. My bad.

Edited August 19, 2006 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[jayt90]

Divinity Fudge is a tough one, but won't take a whole day, just an hour or two.

My Mom could make it, but it was very tricky. I never tried.

[melkor]

I don't think chicken or duck count as vegetarian. Difficult, vegetarian, and can be done in a day? Hand-pulled noodles is all that comes to mind. Puff pastry is more time consuming than difficult, and the same goes for phyllo dough - both require a cool place to work and a lot of free time.

[Holly Moore]

Perfect scrambled eggs.

[JAZ]

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Notre Dame de Paris gingerbread sculpture? Or one of these?

Seriously, I think it depends on what you mean by "difficult" -- a couple of pounds of vegetables cut into perfect brunoise would be difficult in one sense, perfect french fries are difficult in an entirely different sense.

[highchef]

I second the vegetable terrine. I would also suggest minestrone soup...with a homemade vegetable base. Make a butter/basil pesto for the garnish. It's quite wonderful when the pesto is chilled and just melts down into the soup. It's a lot of prep, but if you have your mise en place....

If the cookbook is not entirely veggie based, and you want a time/labor enpensive dish to try, I'd reccommend "tripes 'les halles'" from Tony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook, It's a 3 day deal and the recipe ends with "Now bask in the moral certainty that you are the the baddest-ass king hell, fearless fucking gourmet in your area! In fact, send me a photo (c/0 the publisher) of yourself, holding up this completed recipe, with some friends in the background (and I want to see ears in thers!) and I'll send you a personal letter of commendation and devotion."

I've been waiting for this challange to come up here......

It's definately up to greater cooks than I, but I wait.

Patty

[Gifted Gourmet]

Once upon a time when I was younger and full of energy and culinary ambition, I made a croquembouche for a family member's birthday party. Very time consuming and labor intensive .. looked like some of these .. but it really did taste great!

Homemade strudel takes a long time but only if you decide to pull the phyllo by hand ...

[snowangel]

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Notre Dame de Paris gingerbread sculpture? Or one of these?

Seriously, I think it depends on what you mean by "difficult" -- a couple of pounds of vegetables cut into perfect brunoise would be difficult in one sense, perfect french fries are difficult in an entirely different sense.

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I have to agree with Janet here. I can make pie crust in my sleep. I have a friend, who although I would consider a very good cook, cannot roll out a crust to save her life. I can smoke meat with the best of them (on primitive equipment), but am flummoxed by rice noodles and pizza crus. I can turn a carrot (tourne?) with the best of them, but don't ask me to ice a cake.

I can bone several pieces of poultry to make a turducken, but don't even ask me to attempt what Janet linked to.

[johnsmith45678]

The Most Difficult Thing You Can Make? And vegatarian? Hmm...how about...

Something that is actually tasty, satisfying, and filling!

(I kid! I kid! I think )

[christine007]

By far I have to say, Julia Child's creation of Geatau (spelling) of crepes, which is a wonder creation of crepes, layered with a cream/swiss cheese sauce, crepes, and matchstick pieces of broccoli, carrots and mushrooms, all layered in a butter dish and baked until the egg, cream and cheese mixture has set, and the vegetables are done.

lovely, wonderful dish, but it takes the better part of a day to make, starting with the frying of the crepes, the chopping of the veggies, and the construction of the sauce.

it's in her book, from Julia's kitchen, part two. what a wonderful dish. We've only ventured to make it twice.

My second contribution would be a vegetable pizza, great at this time of year as all the summer produce comes into season this time of year.

I was raised by a vegetarian mom, so this comes easy to me.

Last year for thanksgiving, our main was a tart made of squash, onion, and blue cheese.

[tejon]

I'll second the Gateau recipe by Julia Child. Takes a good amount of time, between making all the crepes, the fillings, and the sauce to pour over, and quite challenging. Delicious, too. I made the version from the old Mastering the Art of French Cooking earlier this week, and it came out really well after a good amount of work.

[annachan]

I would normally suggest some sort of bread, like Cheese Rolls from the Cheeseboard Collective Cookbook. However, it doesn't sound like you got the time.

For sweets, maybe a perfect batch of toffee, try out some usual flavors to use in truffles, or just making sugar decorations.

For a vegetarian dish, maybe try making imitation meat by using gluten.

[chef koo]

the typical tough thing amongst alot of cooks would be the souffle. can be done in a day and to the laymen is terrifying

[chow guy]

Souffles both savory and sweet get my vote too. I found them daunting and Everest like, for years.

[Jason Perlow]

Timpano. From "Big Night". I guess that COULD be made vegetarian.

Edited August 20, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[rich]

The perfect individual Beef Wellington with the tenderloin medium rare for one and medium for another, etc, with the duxelle and pate moist and crust deep brown and crisp. It's labor intensive, but one of the world's great dishes when prepared properly (and one of the worst when not).

Hint: prepare the sauce ahead and place in on the plate, not the pastry.

Edited August 20, 2006 by rich (log)

[adrober]

Thanks everyone! This has given me lots of ideas. I'll make sure to thank you all individually in the book to express my gratitude

Thanks again.

[coquus]

Homemade strudel takes a long time but only if you decide to pull the phyllo by hand ...

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5

This is definately easier than lots of things. I have made strudel for 125 people in 2 hours before, not including baking time, in an unfamiliar (soup) kitchen before with no help.

I would say the perfect dark brown roux is a pretty high benchmark. I also have some personal favorites but I wouldn't talk about them on the internet.

[Mikeb19]

The first thing that comes to mind is pastries. Handmade chocolates can be pretty difficult even for some experienced cooks. Millefeuille - pastry cream, ganache, pâte à fruit, etc..., layered between pieces of caramelized puff pastry.

Honestly though, once you reach a certain level of understanding of the basics of cooking, nothing is hard. Just takes time.