Do you have a recipe you just can’t make?

[gramercie]

My dad made the best French toast. He just had some sort of gift for it.

I know how to make it, but it’s just not the same!

Chocolate ganache.
The first time I made it, it was heavenly. Every time since it has split and/or tasted bitter and awful.

With chocolate ganache you need to warm the milk. You should still be able to stick your finger in it, not too hot. Remove from the heat then chuck in your chocolate. It looks like it is going wrong but keep mixing it and it suddenly turned all smooth and silky.
If you Google Mary Berry's chocolate log, the ganache to that is amazing. Make it every year

Rice pudding. Tried different recipes, all awful. No idea where I'm going wrong.

In what way Gory, taste, texture, what?

SorryFanthorp, should then be mix into a soft dough with a spoon, then use hands to lump together. Put dough on floured surface to cut or shape. It's very sticky- that's probably why I shape into one rectangle and cut up afterwards.

I'm a reasonable cook and baker but I cannot cook rice properly. I've tried every method under the sun but have now resigned myself to microwave pouches

Toad In the hole, soggy in the middle overcooked on outside

Thank you Mmmmm

KateF use a rice cooker, all my Asian friends think it’s hilarious that we use a pan with water in.

Roast potatoes
Yorkshire puddings
Real gravy
Fried eggs
Anything in the slow cooker

I’d like to think I’m a pretty good cook but those are my nemeses

@Mmmmdanone

Scones: 50g Butter (unsalted)- I use salted and leave out the pinch!

200g Self-raising white flour

1 tbsp White caster sugar

1 pinch salt

125ml Milk

Rub butter and flour together to resemble breadcrumbs. Add sugar and salt. Make well and pour in milk. Cut or shape (recipe says just bake In a square and cut after but whatever you want). Brush with milk.
Bake at 200 (fan assisted) or 220 for 15 mins.
I've always had good scones with this recipe. Make double though as they are delicious!

Thank you! I will try and report back.

I’m another one who can’t get Yorkshire pudding or toad in the hole right - and I do get the fat screaming hot before I put the batter in. I’ve tried adding more egg to the batter too, and that didn’t help either.

Failsafe roasties:

Parboil potatoes. You want them so that you can almost but not quite get a fork through them.

10 minutes before they are ready, put a large baking tray with a layer of veg oil in the oven to heat up.

Drain the potatoes really thoroughly and return to the saucepan - add a spoonful of plain flour then put the lid on and give them a really good shake about to rough them up.

Carefully tip the potatoes into the hot fat - be careful not to splash yourself.

I normally roast mine for 30-40 minutes, turning halfway through, but it's personal preference as to how well done you like them. When they are ready, lift them out onto a layer of kitchen roll to drain and season well with S&P.

SDTG - do you let the batter stand before you put it into the fat? Mine used to do this and I found that the trick was to let the batter stand on the side, under a tea towel, for about 30 minutes.

I think I have let it stand, in the past, but maybe not long enough - I’ll have to give it another go - thanks @Tappering!

I think the problem with yorkies is that we expect them to be like Aunt Bessie's. They aren't quite.

My recipe:

Two heaped tbs flour - really heaped
Tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
Pinch salt
Glug of milk so the batter's neither thick nor thin
2 tbs sparkling water

I use a tray with four big shallow wells not little ones - beef dripping - smoking. Take the meat and roasties out first. So once the yorkies are in there is no messing until everything else is on the table.

Scones! There was a thread on here a while back full of tips which I've yet to try even though I bought in proper butter especially. They're edible they just don't rise very well

For those with similar difficulty:

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3906170-Are-some-people-genetically-unable-to-bake-scones-Its-the-only-answer

Poached eggs - I've tried ALL the tricks can't make em to save my life!

In terms of reproducing others signature dishes - my mums Scotch broth - again, follow EVERYTHING she says it still doesn't taste QUITE the same I'm honestly beginning to believe I need her pot to cook it in - which she won't part with even as a loan

My best friend makes fabulous spaghetti aglio e olio which again I've never been able to make quite as well

Yorkshire’s and pancakes are both about getting the fat smoking (literally) hot before you pour in the mixture I'd agree with that I used to struggle with Yorkies until I learned this.

Mashed potato ok no offence meant but how on EARTH can you get mash wrong?!

Rice I struggle with, sometimes ok sometimes either sloppy or dry

I tend to be a good cook and baker, but I suck at presentation yea same here, I can't do buttercream anything and I'm no good at delicate fancy stuff. I can do basic writing and rosettes.

When I read ‘soft in the middle’ my brain filled in ‘when the rest of my life is so hard’ ah a fellow 80's music fan great

My tip for roasties is parboil and rough em up & salt before roasting. At one point I had a metal colander which was PERFECT for roughing them up and I've sadly been unable to replace.

Victoria sponge cakes. My mum used to make them so each cake was about 3cm thick. Same recipe, mine come out half to 2/3 that. I suspect her tins (vertical sides) also had something to do with it. Or the oven. Or the old Kenwood. I have no idea.

Yet she couldn't make fruitcakes. They inevitably went down in the middle if they were semi-rich ones, and I can't remember what she did to rich ones (fruit to bottom, probably) as I've been making all the family Christmas cakes since before I was a teenager and I'm now rather north of 50...

On Yorkies, the family recipe is 4oz plain flour, make a well, add 2 eggs, salt and half a pint of liquid (half milk, half water) and beat until well-mixed and lump free, then let rest. Tin in oven with a good amount of lard or dripping at the start of the process and if using a traditional Yorkshire pudding tin (rectangular - where you cut it into 6 after cooking) then you put on the hob - on full! - while you add the batter and wear an apron... Bung into oven as fast as you can, as hot as you can (top shelf) for 20-25 mins.
My Yorkshire-born nana couldn't make them rise, ever. The rest of us are from Derbyshire and we never let her forget it. She always ate them first with gravy before the rest of the meal.

Roast beef.

I can’t get it to a good texture. Always tough and chewy.

With good roast beef you’re at the mercy of so many factors. The cut and quality of beef is crucial. Room temp when you put it in the oven. You must follow the timing for the weight to the minute and you must rest it.

Soggy cauliflower cheese , don't over cook the cauliflower, then put on a tray in the oven to part roast it, better flavour and dries it out.

So no icky watery mess.

WitchesGlove what sort of joint do you buy? If it's what the supermarkets call roasting joints you probably need to braise it. I promise you a double rib from Waitrose will be perfect or a joint of top sirloin but they will cost more than £50. Worth every penny though.

@moonbells i weigh 4 eggs, then the same of sugar, marg and flour. 1tsp of baking powder, 2tbs milk and 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence.

If you wand a bigger sponge add an extra egg to the scales and add the same of sugar/marg/flour

160 fan for 22-25 mins.

Scones as well. It seems that to not have flat things, the mixture would only make about 4 decent scones. And yet each recipe seems to suggest it should make 8.

OTOH, I think a chocolate fondant is no big deal - always work.

Scones and white sauce. My scones would be great if they were rock cakes.

White sauce, burnt, or lumpy, or both.

Poached eggs, french toast - all perfect.

Thanks @Bargainhuntbore ! Will try that out... Might have to halve quantities though - that looks big! (have 7" tins)