I hear you! Baking is always a challenge for me, but let me cook/serve dinner for 20 and no sweat.

Gravies and cooking are to some like yourself just a natural thing. Baking is a science. You gotta get it right every time and it is determined by things beyond your control (humidity, altitude, the size of the eggs, etc). Measurements need to be exact, unless you're an expert and can go by (I don't know what the experts go by -- I guess just touchin, feelin and scensin). Then you have the quality of pans to deal with; the exactness of your oven temperature, etc. Believe me, it's not you! Find trustworthy recipes and follow then; measure exactly; keep up to date quality products on hand (BP, soda, flour, eggs, etc); make sure your oven is calibrated to temperature and have fun finding T&T baked recipes.
My mom wanted in the worst way to replicate my Scottish grandmother's white fruitcake recipe (which was mostly a handful of this and a pinch of that, etc). I can remember her baking all day and throwing everything out before dad came home from work because she didn't want him to know that she had failed, again, to bake up a batch of his mother's fruitcakes. Finally, she got it right (with the help of some of her friends that helped her convert the recipe to American standards). Baking from scratch is a labor of love and something that is worth pursuing. Hang in there!
Annie'71

I think it is a matter of comfort zoning. I cook every day, so have become very comfortable with cooking. I do not bake terribly often (although I go in fits and starts with bread, sometimes baking my own for long periods and sometimes lazily deciding that I can live with store bought), so it took me much longer to grow comfortable with it. I make candies almost never, and so must follow a recipe scrupulously, which I believe leads to more mishaps because a recipe, no matter how tried and true cannot account for variances in ingredient quality, humidity, room temperature (and hand temperature, come to that), oven or stove quirks, cooking container differences etc.

Cooking of any kind is both an art and a science, and over attention being paid to either aspect to the neglect of the other leads to problems.

Yeah...I can make gravy, sauce, pie crust, biscuits....but unless it contains marshmallows (which really is cheating) I can't make fudge that isn't sugary.
I think it's practise that makes perfect....and after a couple of failures, I leave the fudge to someone else.
Linda C

I'm not sure what I can do that is considered easy and breezy, but I do know what I have a hard time with:

1) Baking bread: no matter what books I buy and info I get I usually end up with a brick. Not always, but mostly. I do have one recipe I use that is pretty much fool-proof...using the bread-maker for mixing the dough and using a day old sponge, and then baking in the oven. That always turns out great so I stick with it for the most part.

2) Fried Chicken: Total failure every time I try. I have done the soak in buttermilk and follow all of the instrutions...but always am disappointed..the breading falls off etc. and nowhere near what I can buy locally without the cost, trouble, effort, grease, etc.

Duane

Also, there are things that our mothers might have inadvertently taught us (I have some things I came to share with my mother) that aren't always passed on in recipes. Those bits of info would be a great thread for somebody to start. For instance, I never add water to pie dough pieces that need to be "healed" or put into place on the pie plate. Just press into place, more water makes it tough. Presoak in hot water raisins, currents, etc.; dry in a towel and toss with flour before adding to your cake mixtures. It will help to keep the fruit from dropping to the bottom of the bread or cake while baking. Just a couple of tips that work for me -- I'm sure others will contradict me-- but there are tips and techniques that aren't necessarily verbalized in a recipe that successful bakers just incorporate into their baking
Annie'71

First and foremost high heat roasting comes to mind. For example, I practically consider all of Ann T's recipes T&T before I even try them unless they call for an oven set above 425! For whatever reason, I just can't get it to work for me.

Sauces and gravies pose no problems for me, I love working with phyllo, I have made beautiful croissants from scratch, and can cook most anything.

My challenges are pie crust, yeast breads, and (perfect) chocolate chip cookies. Not particularly in that order! LOL And I don't photograph my meals as often as I'd like because presentation is difficult for me to get right.

Linda

I'd love to bake for any of you anytime! I really enjoy baking more than cooking. I wonder if that is because I started baking at an early age (about 8 years old)? My DM didn't like baking very much so was happy to step aside, so I just turned into the family baker until the day I moved out on my own.
I never gave cooking any thought, I just did it. To this day my DM still just shakes her head and says something like, "I don't know how she does it, she sure didn't learn it from me." I just laugh.

My only advice to someone who says they can't cook or they can't bake, is to just do it, again and again. Practice really does make you better and believe me, I've had my failures. Of course, those failures are always the fault of the recipe! LOL

Nancy

I can't do a gravy to save my life, but I don't ever remember NOT knowing how to make a white sauce. Mom taught me that when I was little - no measurements but by "feel."

I can do yeast breads well. However, I've tried several times using my KA and can't get it right. In the bread machine, it's perfect - every time.

Biscuits are a snap. Chocolate cookies, however, are a huge, flat problem. The taste is great, but I can't seem to get the texture correct.

Hunks of meet also are problematic. I realize it's silly, but I am absolutely terrified (paranoid?) of undercooked pork/poultry. As a result, I have a tendancy not to trust the thermometer and end up overcooking whatever I'm making. Ugh.

Mandie

I can cater a sweet table for an event of 200 without batting an eyelash but ask me to cook dinner for 20 and I can do it but I sweat it big time.

I guess my problem is timing and getting everything to come out hot at the same time.

Baking is a science, I love science. I love baking.

Still struggling with the simple scrabbled eggs, but like Nancy said, I've kept at it and they are getting better.

Never met a pie or cake that I couldn't make with the exception of the pie crust, and that battle has been won too.

I think some of us need to get together and collaborate on a meal for 200 and sell tickets...
Seems soem can do the meal, others the desserts....we could run Chez CF...or something like that all make ourselves happy and perhaps earn a buck or 2.
Waddya think?
Linda c

Chase simply wants some advice on baking.
What I think is that there needs to be a breatherize test on any future posts.
I'm outta here.

!

My mother, a great cook and baker, couldn't make fudge to save her life. My Aunt Ruth made great fudge, but everything else...well, let's just say that Aunt Ruth was always asked to bring her fudge and a plate of cream cheese stuffed celery.

My big challenge is meat. I do well with poultry, but I don't care much for red meat. No one ever asks me to be in charge of a roast beef or to tend steaks on the grill.

Linda, but could we all agree on what to serve...LOL

Annie1971...don't quite get your post. Chase has been around here longer than most, I'm sure she's not offened if we get a little off topic, and I know she'd sit and have a drink with any of us at any time!

Nancy

Annie71,,,I hope you are kidding....sometimes it's hard to tell...

I'm okay with gravy, sauces, and biscuits but pie crusts--not so much. The most success I had with pie crusts was using Nancy's recipe.

LindaC, Wouldn't that be fun but I don't know about 200. I struggle with the 45 guests on Christmas Eve. At some of our past CF get togethers, we put together the menus based on members best dishes. Boy did we eat well!

Annie1971, What's up?

loves2cook4six, It's a timing thing with me too!

I just made scones this morning and I have no problem with yeast breads, biscuits, pie crust. I just made fried chicken for elery on Friday and he said it was better than his Mom's, but he loves me so he could be biased. The high heat roasting thing worked fine for me for chicken and I've made gravy since I was a teenager.

However, I can't get biscotti right, the breading usually falls off my pan fried fish and do NOT give me a sheet of phyllo...

Annie

But we could Charge!!!
I could do salad, Ann could do meat loves2cook4six could do the baking, lpink the veggie sides...
We could get rich!!!
Seriously, I wonder what a meal for say 50 cooked and served by this forum of great cooks would bring...per plate?
Linda C

Chocolate is my challenge. I can't seem to get a hang of it. I make so-so chocolate but never great! Al

Linda, check out the link below. I'm on their mailing list, if I remember correctly (and sometimes I don't) it seems like a dinner was about 200.00, depending on the location. I think it would be fun to experience one.

Sorry Chase...I know this is way OT, I'll shut up now.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Outstanding in the field

Since we know that Sharon does lovely dinner parties for a bunch...I don't think she would consider this off topic.
I volunteer to make the pie crust...she can make the gravy!

I can't fry and I can't bake cakes. I totally, epically failed at latkes on Thursday night to the point where I bought frozen hash brown patties to my dad's house tonight for 20. Grin. DH fries well but didn't want to pre-cook, then shlep cold latkes 37 miles up the road and then fight for oven space. He does them fresh or he doesn't do them at all, and my dad's wife doesn't want folks in her kitchen (I respect that). One year we brought creme brulee, that was a hit and much less stressful!

I enjoy working with phylo too, if I have the time. Thanks to Teresa and my DH I'm comfortable around yeast breads.

Annie1971, I think Chase said what this thread is about, didja miss it (I do that!) - What is it you find easy that others find challenging and vice versa?

Annie1971, Chill out. If you go back and read Sharon's post you will see that she wasn't really asking for advice on baking, although I'm sure she would appreciate any that was offered. Sharon asks "What is it you find easy that others find challenging and vice versa?" Seems to me the purpose of her thread was to get something interesting going that we could all participate in. Hopefully without anyone getting nasty.

Ann

I've known Sharon for a long time and if she needed advice (baking or otherwise) she'd come right out and ask for it. Just as most of us would.

I think she was just looking to start an active thread, as we all have challenges in the kitchen. And personally, I like the idea!

Linda

I have a hard time making pickles, and I've bought several books to help me. I also have a Japanese pickle press, but I've never made pickles that I liked as much as those I buy. Eventually I will get around to trying your dill pickle recipe, but I'm not there yet.

I have also had trouble trying to make my own sourdough starter. I'm okay if I get a starter from someone else, but I can't seem to get one started on my own. It's something to aspire to, after all, along with the pickles.

Lars

There are two that standout in my mind as my kitchen "epic failures" (and when did that become the hot phrase? My kids have been using that expression a LOT for the last couple of months!) are the aforementioned Chocolate Chip Cookies and scalloped potatoes. Someone started a thread on scalloped potatoes a couple of weeks ago and why did they turn into all lumps and liquid instead of a "sauce" and it was a post I could have written. Anyway, on the rare occassion I make scalloped potatoes they now come out of one of those red boxes. Chocolate chip cookies come from the bakery.

And Duane, I totally agree on Fried Chicken. Though I can make it, we have a mom & pop take out place that deals with the fat, grease, smell and mess and I would rather buy it there then make it myself!

Fun thread everyone! Thanks for starting it Sharon, it is always fun to think about how we could all have a great time sharing kitchen space!

Alexa

I love to bake don't really have a problem there. Wayne loves to cook so he does most of it. I'm his helper for the most part. He cooks fancier then I. Butttt, if someone has a chocolate nut fudge recipe that is fool proof please post it! Mine just doesn't set up right. I try and try- no luck.
Look's like Annie1971 is at it again. NancyLouise

Good topic. And I'd definitely pay to have a dinner catered by the members of this forum!

I can't can. I want to, had our own lovely CFer Janet give me an in-kitchen demo after blueberry picking, and even bought the blue ball book, but something is just stopping me. Some kind of mental block I guess.

My pie crust rocks though! And after taking a sauce class at the CIA (birthday gift from DH), I'm confident in many, many sauces.

AM

Good Morning everyone, are we all bright and chipper today?

Annie, sorry if my post was confusing. I really wasn't looking for any baking advice but I appreciate any that was offered.

The others are right I was just curious about what they find challenging that others seem to have no issues with as well as the opposite, what can you cook half asleep that others find a challenge.

Linda, that would be a serious blast. We could all do a specialty dish , bet we could put together one hell of a meal! You're right, you get the pies!

The other thing I have no issues with is appetizers. I love putting together an appetizers only menu but don't expect any dessert! Even if it isn't baking, I draw complete blanks on desserts.

I can bake fabulous tasting stuff and cook most things that are pretty darn tasty, but making and icing a layer that doesn't look like Charlie Brown made it is beyond me. Thus, I usually make sheet cakes instead or use a Maryanne pan. And presentation...I can make a table look gorgeous, but cannot arrange food to look pretty at all.

Speaking of appetizers, so NOT my thing. Everything else but that. I can manage a crudite plate or Ann's tuna paté along with a dinner party but hot appetizers have me in a dither unless that's all I'm doing. They seem so fiddly...

I love to bake. I don't grill or deep fry. Gravy and I are good pals.

Same here Chase! No yeast bread, biscuits, scones or pie crust here. although, it has been awhile since my last attempt at pie crust, time to try again. I'm bad at decorating cakes too. I've got gravy (including cream sauce), fried chicken and rice down. Great topic!

I cannot fry chicken on the bone, quit trying years ago.

I make old fashioned cream pies that my family loves all of the parts to, but when I put the parts together I have a mess every time. Either the meringue weeps underneath or the crust gets soggy or both.

I don't come to the forums often anymore, but, this one caught my eye. I enjoyed reading all the posts, but, wouldn't you know, just my luck to pick one where Annie1971 reared her ugly head again! She started some stuff in a Thanksgiving post! What is her problem & why is she so negative about everything when everyone else is having a good time? She needs to go back to her playpen!!!

Joydee, bless you for speaking your mind.

I'm with sheshe bop== I can make a wicked tasting icing- frosting but getting it on a layer cake so it looks presentable? No way it's gonna happen . And grilling anything without it being raw or burnt crispy-- forget it.
And I always over cook pasta== how's that for a gal who's been cooking for 60 yrs? And bacon? , never get it nicely crisp-- it goes from limp to black with me standing right there !!

GARLIC BREAD!!!! I thinki maybe 4 times in my life it has come out perfectly. Every other time I've made it, no matter what method, frozen, fresh, etc it is either limp because I pull it too soon or burnt to a charred mess. I TRY (really, I do) to remember it, but if I leave it for that extra minute or two to get that nice golden brown, I am doomes to forget it (even with a TIMER set!).

Sigh.......

Alexa

Craftyrn, I used to have that same problem with bacon. Then one time, I watched my step mother making hers, which was always just right, crispy but neither blackened nor so dried out it crumbles in your mouth.

She cooked it on a much lower heat than I had ever done, and turned the pieces every so often, even rotating them from the sides of the pan to the center as she did so.

Apparently, the trick is to keep the fat in the pan from being so hot that it burns off, leaving the bacon without it's protection from the direct heat of the pan. Essentially, you're cooking it slowly enough so that you render the fat without burning it off and the bacon ends up being sort of "deep fried" in it's own fat.

If you like bacon with lots of lean meat in it, as I do pawing through the packages, shamelessly, picking up window slats and peering in like a maniac for the package that has the most meat, it might be a good idea to save a bit of the rendered fat from each time you cook it so that you have a dab to add to the pan to get the new batch going.

I'm one of those that's gravy challenged. I also can not make decent frostings or glazes for cookies, cakes, etc.

For gravy, it always comes out with clumps or tastes like a flour paste or has no taste at all. This happens even if I make a rue first. I can never get the amount right either. There's always way too much or way to little. So I cheat and buy gravy and add to it.

For frostings and glazes, they always come out way too sugary sweet. They are also always too thick to spread or too thin to hold. Again, I either make way too much or way too little. Whenever a glaze is to be drizzled, I shudder. My drizzler doesn't work! I'm a bad drizzler! It looks like someone dropped a spoonful of glaze on the poor cookie.

Booberry, I posted on my blog a pictorial on making gravy.

Ann

Ann, thanks so much! I just bookmarked your blog.

You are welcome Becky. Don't give up. Remember practice makes perfect.

Ann

I cant' fry a decent egg to save my life...unless it's the broken yolk and fried hard for a sandwich. Forget overeasy. I leave that to the couple of diners I go to for breakfast. I'll admit I use a egg poacher thing to poached eggs too. I've tried the water bath thing without much success. Scrambled is not a challenge...LOL!

David

I can ice cakes, bake (and I don't think it is that much more exacting than other cooking) and cook most things. I can even make a presentable decorated cake though I still struggle with making roses. I dread any recipe that involves caramelizing a syrup. It goes so quickly from looking not caramel at all to burnt. I almost always end up burning it the first time and having to start over. And I still struggle with rolling a good looking pie crust. I know that practice makes perfect there, but pie crust has so much fat that I don't feel our diets can afford much practice.

I'm surprised that Mandie said she can make white sauce easily but can't make a gravy. To me, the technique is pretty much the same. For gravy, it starts with the steps of deglazing the roasting pan. Then I transfer the liquid from the roasting pan to a measuring cups (preferably one of the fat separator ones). Skim off enough fat for the gravy. I usually use a couple of tablespoons per a cup of liquid that I'll be adding to the gravy.

From here on it is the same technique as a white sauce except with a different fat and liquid. Put the fat and about an equal volume of flour into a sauce pan. Stir over heat to make a roux. Add the liquid slowly while stirring.

I can't flip a pancake or omelette in a pan. Dh can.