Cooking techniques you have never attempted but would like to try.

Ken Natton

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Yes, I am paraphrasing another thread title. I am going to talk about the episode of Masterchef that I watched this evening, but I didn’t want to make the thread about Masterchef. And actually, what I want to talk about is better reflected by that title.


There were two separate dishes that Masterchef contestants made in that episode that I looked at longingly with a powerful feeling of how much I would love to be able to make them. But it isn’t just a question of finding the recipe for them, there are aspects of the techniques that I am strongly daunted by.


The first was crab cakes. Unfortunately, the lady that made them didn’t make a very good job of them, but she started by making a big bowl of shredded ingredients that looked really interesting in itself. But the point is, it is clearly not something you can put breadcrumbs through with an egg yolk and expect it all to hold together. How exactly you get the mix to be mouldable and then hold together while you cover it in breadcrumbs and fry it, that’s the bit that mystifies me. Her problem was that she undercooked them, and in fairness to her that might have been nothing more than the famous time constraints. But that kind of problem is the kind that I am prepared to make and learn from. If that is all it was, I would believe in the possibility of reaching the promised land of being able to make them well. But at the moment I cannot perceive how I could possibly create something of the right shape and get it to hold together while I covered it in breadcrumbs, ready to fry.


The second dish was venison carpaccio. I can’t tell you how wonderful it looked. Now you might say “but that is raw, what is difficult?’ But that is not entirely true. It is scorched on the outside and has some kind of crust on it as well. And actually, one of the former contestants who was judging the dish gave a big clue to the techniques involved when he mentioned that it is necessary to chill it after cooking to be able to slice it so thin. But it just feels like one of those dishes that the only way you could hope to learn how to do it is to watch someone who is expert at it doing it. Even then, of course, it might be that you would decide the techniques are too difficult to think that you could master them, but I am certain you couldn’t get it from simply reading a recipe.


Anyway, I am interested, anyone else have any dishes or techniques that they would like to try to make but feel a little bit daunted by?
 
You are spoiling 'Masterchef' for me as I am watching it on catch-up! :laugh:

So - you are asking about cooking techniques or recipes we have never tried rather than about ingredients we have never tried? I'll amend thread title to reflect this and differentiate it from the other thread about ingredients. Its an interesting question which I need to ponder...
 
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The dish that used to torment me was meatloaf.
I just kept trying at least once a month. For many years, hubby got meat-fall-apart.
I finally discovered the key. Hands. I was always mixing it with a fork or spoon. When I started using hands, it became a meatloaf. I must have went through 100 or more recipes.

I think crab cakes are the same way.

My advice would be try anyway. Long as it is edible, if need be rename it.
 
Ken - I saw the programme tonight. I didn't understand John Torode saying that the crab cakes were raw in the centre....the crab is already cooked (i.e. to get it to be flaky) - he meant cold!! Yes I have made crab cakes with crumbs and the same experience of them not holding together (not even with egg). I have another recipe that uses mash which works better but maybe not authentically Thai! Maybe if the crumbed crabcakes are chilled sufficiently, but then you have the problem of cooking them through i.e. being hot in the centre....perhaps if they were smaller and flatter it would work.

As for the venison carpaccio...it looked a little on the thick side to me (maybe not frozen enough to slice thinner), i.e. have seen beef carpaccio sliced wafer thin - like parma ham.

To answer the thread topic....have you seen the chinese make noodles by holding a long piece of noodle dough between their hands and, by a process of pulling, turning it into noodles? To my amazement the noodles become increasingly finer! Wouldn't mind learning how to do that. Here is a demo....go to 5.30 into it (until that point it's mostly predictable) - you may want to turn the sound off i.e. very noisy!

 
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That's a good one, creative. I, too, would like to learn to make long noodles. By hand.

Another one is sous vide. I've heard great things about sous vide steaks.

I've never made a good pizza before. I've tried a few times, but it has never come out as good as one from a pizza joint, and really great pizza is everywhere here, so it's not something I'd have to do myself.

I'd like to make my own pickled cukes. I've made pickled beets before, but not cucumbers. And kimchi, that would be fun, but smelly.


Finally, I've never made bread by hand before. A good, crusty Italian type bread. My bread machine isn't very good at that type.

And I'd also like to make pretzels and bagels from scratch.
 
Pretty much everything Heston Blumenthal does. I've mastered sous vide, and I've almost cracked triple cooked chips but that's about it.

Deep frying is not something I do often, but I would love to get the hang of a good batter, especially tempura. Every time I try it goes horribly wrong - falls off, sticks to the pan etc.
 
Ken - I saw the programme tonight. I didn't understand John Torode saying that the crab cakes were raw in the centre....the crab is already cooked (i.e. to get it to be flaky) - he meant cold!! Yes I have made crab cakes with crumbs and the same experience of them not holding together (not even with egg). I have another recipe that uses mash which works better but maybe not authentically Thai! Maybe if the crumbed crabcakes are chilled sufficiently, but then you have the problem of cooking them through i.e. being hot in the centre....perhaps if they were smaller and flatter it would work.

As for the venison carpaccio...it looked a little on the thick side to me (maybe not frozen enough to slice thinner), i.e. have seen beef carpaccio sliced wafer thin - like parma ham.

To answer the thread topic....have you seen the chinese make noodles by holding a long piece of noodle dough between their hands and, by a process of pulling, turning it into noodles? To my amazement the noodles become increasingly finer! Wouldn't mind learning how to do that. Here is a demo....go to 5.30 into it (until that point it's mostly predictable) - you may want to turn the sound off i.e. very noisy!

I dreamed I was making those last night! I've watched it being done on TV so many times ....
 
Not difficult so much as laborious/time consuming....you may lose the will to live!
Do you think it is laborious? I'm not sure...it is in some ways easier than rubbing fat into flour for shortcrust. Time-consuming, yes - but a lot of the time it is resting in the fridge so it doesn't involve you in any work. The actual time spent 'hand-on' making it is a matter of minutes really (I think).
 
Do you think it is laborious? I'm not sure...it is in some ways easier than rubbing fat into flour for shortcrust. Time-consuming, yes - but a lot of the time it is resting in the fridge so it doesn't involve you in any work. The actual time spent 'hand-on' making it is a matter of minutes really (I think).
Well laborious means considerable time and effort. I suppose the time factor makes it feel like a lot of effort...but I am having a difficult day so maybe not judging it too well.
 
Well laborious means considerable time and effort. I suppose the time factor makes it feel like a lot of effort...but I am having a difficult day so maybe not judging it too well.
Sorry! Hope things get better for you. Its a while since I made any. I will have a go in the next few days and time myself!
 
I’m not sure if I can’t quite explain this point, but the kind of thing mentioned here is not what tempts me. Even that lady who made the venison carpaccio did a main course of grouse that, to general agreement of all judges, was the best dish of the whole day. And for sure, if I had been fortunate enough to get to sample it, I’m sure I would have loved it. But it doesn’t tempt me as something I would want to try to cook. I don’t know if anyone will remember here, but there was a short spin-off series from Professional Masterchef of Michelle Roux Junior making various classic French dishes of great technical difficulty, and of course, watching Michelle Roux Junior doing them was like listening to a Mozart symphony or reading a Jane Austen novel – everything exquisitely judged and just exactly as it should be. Again, I’m sure I would have loved to eat any one of them, but I never felt the slightest temptation to try to make them. I might as well have tried to compose a symphony or to write a novel.

But those crab cakes and that venison carpaccio seem like they ought to be possible – it feels like there is just some trick I need to learn and I’d be able to do them. It feels tantalising like it is just out-of-reach…
 
But those crab cakes and that venison carpaccio seem like they ought to be possible – it feels like there is just some trick I need to learn and I’d be able to do them. It feels tantalising like it is just out-of-reach…

I haven't seen this episode yet as I am recording them to catch-up later - but I will likely see it tonight and watch with great interest! I've made crab cakes lots of times in the past - Thai style and not Thai style and using fresh crab and tinned crab (on separate occasions). I can't recall having any problem - you are making me want to make them again! I don't think i have any crab cakes recipes on the forum - though I have a recipe for crab roulade, I think. I'll have a look.
 
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