What kind of basic recipe can you not cook?

[OnlineMadNess]

Omelettes :( They either burn or they're raw in the middle.

lasagne needs cooking a bit longer and slower than you think. So the pasta has time to cook.

I use the same suace as my spag bol. I cook it veyr long and slow so it is thick and rich and dleicious. Then we use it for spag bol, and then I use the other half for lasagne.

If your sauce is watery, your lasagne will be. If your sauce is too thick and dry, your lasagne will be, so it is about getting the sauces right really.
and i don't use a cheese sauce, I use bechemal, and then put cheese on top

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

6 to 6.5 minutes is far too long for a soft-boiled egg. If the water is boiling when the eggs are added and the eggs were at room temperature (which is what I do), I give it 4 minutes from that point, and I turn the heat down so it's not boiling vigorously. Once the timer goes off I count briskly to 30 and then I take the eggs out and eat immediately. I always put a bit of salt in the water too. For hard-boiled, I add a couple of minutes. I don't like them to be too hard.

My weakness is presentation. What I cook usually tastes OK but I wouldn't get far on Masterchef. I admire people who can decorate cakes beautifully. I'm doing well if I slather some icing on the top and get some sprinkles or a cherry on.

You'd totally think it'd be too long... but it's not! Maybe we use larger eggs?

I couldn't cook rice either until i got a cheapo microwave rice cooker. Perfect every time and much easier than having a pan on the hob. It's 12 mins usually then 5 mins with lid left on to steam. Don't even need to boil any water.

By the way, while lasagne is a good staple meal, I don't consider it an 'easy' or 'simple' recipe, it is complex and a lot of work. At least if you make the sauces yourself it is.

Which is why I always make 2 meals from it.

I struggle to make a roast. Gravy intimidates me.

@steppemum

lasagne needs cooking a bit longer and slower than you think. So the pasta has time to cook.

I use the same suace as my spag bol. I cook it veyr long and slow so it is thick and rich and dleicious. Then we use it for spag bol, and then I use the other half for lasagne.

If your sauce is watery, your lasagne will be. If your sauce is too thick and dry, your lasagne will be, so it is about getting the sauces right really.
and i don't use a cheese sauce, I use bechemal, and then put cheese on top

This is really true. I make my own cheese sauce and last time for some reason made it quite thick, and the lasagne sheets were on the dry stodgy side.

I think of lasagne as an easy meal to cook as you can leave it on its own for a lot of the time! The lasagne I buy says to cook for 20 minutes and that always seems to be just right.

another one for soft boiled eggs. Everything else I cook is amazing

I'm noticing an egg theme here :o

I can cook lovely scrambled eggs but I can't avoid them melding a thin burned layer to the pan. Doesn't matter if I use non stick or stainless steel, with loads of butter, with a little bit of butter, on a lower heat, higher heat. It's impossible. I used to be able to do it when I lived at home. The only difference is my mum has a gas hob. Maybe that's what it is! But I burn them on both electric and induction.

I don't really get the problem with boiled eggs - if they are not soft enough, surely just cook them less?

YY rice cooker is the way to go for rice.

White sauce

@Daftasabroom - I can't do yorkshires and it really annoys me... do you have a recipe/secret trick or tip you would share.
I think I'm a pretty decent cook but yorkshires defeat me every time. Worse still, kids have demanded roast beef a d yorkshires for lunch tomorrow

Lasagne sauce if you take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes the sauce thickens up and it doesn't run everywhere.

My weakness is presentation. What I cook usually tastes OK but I wouldn't get far on Masterchef. I admire people who can decorate cakes beautifully. I'm doing well if I slather some icing on the top and get some sprinkles or a cherry on
I'm the same. I could do all the cooking on GBBO, but I'm very basic when it comes to decorating..

Stick it under the grill OP. I could never get omelette right so now I partly cook on the hob so the underside is cooked and then bung it under the grill to cook the top, perfect every time!

Short pastry. Mine is not crumbly.
I finish omelettes under the grill, I like them puffed up and not runny.

X-post!

This is the best recipe for Yorkshire puddings, easy peasy. Make sure the oil is really hot before you pour in the batter

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/best-yorkshire-puddings/amp

I'm great at omelettes; so I'll give you easy tips.

3 eggs, a decent dash of water, don't use milk, that's for scrambled eggs. Medium heat, pour beaten eggs into pan, give a quick stir but never after the runnyness has gone. As soon as the runnyness has gone fling it under the grill, do not flip. The water in the mixture boils away but makes the eggs fluffy, if you flip you'll flatten it out again.

Glad I’m not the only one @TitInATrance, it was a revelation but I had a feeling everyone was going to say I was barmy 🤣

@MojoJojo71

Stick it under the grill OP. I could never get omelette right so now I partly cook on the hob so the underside is cooked and then bung it under the grill to cook the top, perfect every time!

You beat me to it, lol

Yorkshire pudding. Irritating enough, but when you add in the fact that I can do them to DH's recipe, under his supervision, doing everything exactly as he does and the fuckers still sulk in the bottom of the roasting tin sniggering at me, enough to render me incandescent

A few of the things on here that I can do:
Omelettes and pancakes - have a dedicated non-stick frying pan just for these and a silicon spatula for the omelettes. Don't cook anything else in it and if anyone else uses it for bacon or similar, smack them with it and make them buy you a new one.

Add a few drops of water to pancake batter along with the flour, egg and milk and make it just on the runnier side of where you think the texture should be. When cooking them, give the pan a little shake. If the pancake moves slightly but doesn't make a sound, don't flip it yet. Wait 'til it makes a little quiet rustly, slightly dry sound before flipping it.

For poached eggs it is 100 times easier to do them if the eggs are absolutely fresh - if you have a farmers market, somewhere that sells them at the gate/in the yard or a neighbour with hens that you can get some from they're ideal. The longer an egg is stored for, the thinner and runnier the white becomes. You can't fry a fresh egg properly because the white is too gelatinous, but it's perfect for poaching. Certainly never try it with a box of eggs you've bought and kept for a week or two.

[quote Thebigendsgoneluv]@Daftasabroom - I can't do yorkshires and it really annoys me... do you have a recipe/secret trick or tip you would share.
I think I'm a pretty decent cook but yorkshires defeat me every time. Worse still, kids have demanded roast beef a d yorkshires for lunch tomorrow [/quote]
Aunt Bessies! Or even Tesco value are better than my boot-tough yorkshires.

@sueelleker

My weakness is presentation. What I cook usually tastes OK but I wouldn't get far on Masterchef. I admire people who can decorate cakes beautifully. I'm doing well if I slather some icing on the top and get some sprinkles or a cherry on I'm the same. I could do all the cooking on GBBO, but I'm very basic when it comes to decorating..

The other reason I could never do anything like GBBO or Masterchef is I'm nothing like quick enough. Whenever a recipe says how much preparation time is involved I mentally double it (at least). Takes me quite a while just to get all the ingredients out!

You need cold hands for pastry!

Carbonara always turns into pasta with scrambled eggs for me. Luckily we’ve found a locally made fresh sauce in a local shop so use that instead.