Ken Natton
Veteran
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?
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?
