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!

[SallyWD]

Hollandaise sauce! First time I made it, it was amazing! Every time I've tried since it splits and is just a mess. I've resorted to buying it in a jar but it's nowhere near as good.

[Andante57]

SallyWD try Delia’s foolproof hollandaise - I find that works.
Re poached eggs this is what I do and they always work:

Put water in a frying pan (enough to cover eggs) and bring to a gentle boil.
Add a few drops of vinegar.
Set timer or stop watch on phone for 3 1/2 mins.
Drop eggs into water carefully and start timer.
As soon as time is up remove eggs with slotted spoon.

[totallyyesno]

With poached eggs I have found it really helps to break them into a cup first and not directly into the pan, make sure water is on a rolling simmer, not too fast.

[Cavagirl]

Sponge cakes!

I make a good shortcrust pastry, a good meringue but a lovely sponge eludes me. It's "fine" but I never get that lovely moistness that others seem to. I've tried adding milk but no avail. My latest trick is make it a lemon sponge and dowse it in sugary lemon juice while cooling. Bit of a cheat though and I'd love to be able to make a good victoria sponge - any tips?!?

Meringue - good God I've learnt the hard way, so many binned attempts. Two things no bloody recipe explains to you & are key:

1. "add the sugar slowly" means you must add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon while whipping, with short breaks in between each tablespoon and check every so often it's taking the sugar ok without collapsing into a gloomy mess. I did not appreciate when recipes said "add it slowly" exactly how slowly that really meant, and for years ended up with a runny white syrup which - if I was lucky - was vaguely bakeable. The weight of the sugar in big chunks is too heavy for the air bubbles before the sugar dissolves so it collapses it.
   
   
2. You are not really baking a meringue, you are drying it out.
   For this reason a low temperature for a long time is best. I know people who do 50 degrees and leave it baking overnight. I'm usually in a hurry so will use Delia's temp & bake times but yes you don't want it too hot and actually the best meringues I've made were over 4 hours in my oven's slow cooker drawer.
   Also just as important - you must let the oven cool to room temperature before you even think about opening the door, otherwise the thermal shock of the cold air rushing in will cause the meringue to crack.
   
   Hope these help someone. I don't know why recipes don't explain such things more clearly.

[Cavagirl]

*gloopy mess!

[Gorygloria]

@Fanthorpe it's texture - it's either watery or too thick. I've dried both Delia and Mary both of whom I trust implicitly!

[BlusteryShowers]

I consider myself a decent cook but I cannot get fajitas right! I invariably make them too watery and bland. I have no idea how to make them saucy and flavoursome without resorting to a packet mix.

[Fanthorpe]

Gory Did you say you’d tried a hob recipe as well? You can make it like risotto.
Good rice pudding is lovely.

[TheFormerPorpentinaScamander]

@BlusteryShowers

Try this recipe. greatist.com/eat/chicken-fajitas#1

We love them here

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

@Cavagirl

*gloopy mess!

I don't know, @Cavagirl - gloomy mess seemed pretty appropriate to me!!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

@BarrelOfOtters - have you tried the all-in-one method for white sauce?

Put the cold butter, flour and milk into a pan, and heat gently, whisking all the time, until it thickens. I don't even bother measuring the ingredients now - I use a biggish dollop of butter, tip in a couple of tablespoons or so of flour, and slosh in a generous amount of milk - if I want more sauce, I just make the dollops/tips/slosh bigger.

I have never been able to do white sauce properly, with a roux, but this method never fails me.

If the sauce doesn't thicken, I just whisk in a bit more flour.

[Nicklebox]

My brother in law gave me some tips for perfect rice when we stayed with them about 20 years ago basically lots of water start from cold and rinse well with boiling water at the end. I have been doing this ever since and always have good results. After Christmas this year the family all came over to us for a meal and i cooked rice, he asked me how i cooked it as it came out well and when i told him it was his tips that i followed he was dumbfounded lol. My sister in law makes perfect Victoria sponges and when i asked her what her method was she said she does everything really quickly with the hand mixer even adding in the flour I spend ages and carefully fold in flour slowly there's no justice

[dotdashdashdash]

Flap jacks. I am a good cook, a good baker. I can make almost everything everyone has mentioned on this thread without a recipe. But I cannot make flapjacks. You could build a house with mine!

[Quarantimespringclean]

I also recently discovered the Paul Hollywood scone recipe With strong bread flour. It’s amazing - most of the time. But even using that recipe I still get the occasional batch that doesn’t rise.

Most of the time I’m a good cook. It’s one of my few talents and I,love to cook for friends. . Most of the things cropping up on here I can ace. I make great Yorkshires, pancakes, béarnaise, risotto, poached eggs, lasagne, paella, curry, various breads etc.

My two repeated failures are 1) biryanis - an Indian friend has tried to teach me and they taste OK because she’s coached me on the right spice mixes and the best basmati but the rice is always claggy, not light and fluffy. And 2) Mayonnaise. I would love to be able to whip up a delicious unctuous aioli but it’s always thin and runny.

I’m also not good at cake decorating. Anything more complex than a lemon drizzle is beyond me. I watch the beautiful things they make on Bake Off and am awe struck.

[OhTheRoses]

Chicken Lokshen. My mother says it's because I don't buy kosher chicken.

[dotdashdashdash]

OhTheRoses kosher (or proper halal) chicken does taste better! She may have a point .

[OhTheRoses]

They are a bit scarce in Surrey . Could buy Halal. I remember my dad bringing a kosher boiling fowl back from London and it was a thrill to see the egg with a shell and five or six more down to the teeniest yolk and they all went in. Just imagine. Going back to the mid 60s though.

[HuckfromScandal]

Tip for scones, warm the milk in the micro for 30 seconds first. My scones don’t like the milk too cold. And handle it as little as possible

[Bakedtreat]

Yorkshires - always hit and miss.

[ReviewingTheSituation]

Toad in the hole.

I make the BEST Yorkshire puds, but TITH just doesn't happen for me.

I've tried countless recipes, the fat is always hot, I've used every pan/dish I own. But it never works. I've given up.

[Chewbecca]

best scone recipe
After gently mixing all the ingredients together, handle it very little, pat it gently and quickly into a round and cut, then refold.

fave yorkie recipe this is an eggy one. No need to rest the batter.

fab toad in hole recipe really easy.

I also have foolproof dauphinoise (Prue Leith, simmer the potatoes in milk/cream/creme fraiche before baking) and Victoria sponge (Jane Asher, same quantity of sugar, butter, flour as the eggs weigh, use a kitchen aid to get lots of air in) recipes that are not linkable to.

Perfect roast pots need King Edward pots. Par boiled and roasted in olive oil for simple, clean tasting roasties.

I’d love to teach home cooking basics!

[andannabegins]

@Atalune

Gravy. It’s always a bit lack lustre and I never make enough!

An authentic curry- but this is lack of knowledge and practise rather than actually being bad at it.

If you want a curry like you get from takeaways (as apprise to authentic Indian food) check out ALs kitchen on your tube. I have made so many and they are genuinely better or at least as good as a takeaway

[andannabegins]

@Leflic honestly Al's kitchen is the one for you too. Make the base gravy and then that is used as something to add into the spices etc to make the best curries ever. I have made so many now. I will never order curry in again

[Yesterdayforgotten]

Bloody meringues. I can bake pretty much every thing else under the sun so well!

[ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN]

Lasagne

Just never comes out right, too much sauce to little sauce, pasta sheets hard or too soft, sauce powdery

It’s one of ds favourite meals luckily friends will often cook it if we going round for dinner as he has told them how great theirs is and how rubbish mine is

Not great at gravy

Rubbish at all cakes