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Food Skills I Need to Learn or Practice
We made beef rice bowl tonight, and it was fantastic. We now have recipes for guydon and oyakodon which we are happy with, which leads me into thinking about personal cooking goals
- Frying. Deep frying, stir frying, shallow frying. If it involves oil, I need to learn or practice. Stir frying, we're getting a handle on, but I still think I need to be watched over and told what to do. I don't think I cook hot enough, or else I end up braising by adding too much liquid. Deep frying - well, we got out gas in November, and Chesh has done the bulk of the deep frying. I tend to hang around and watch, and he does a great job, but I want to play too! Shallow frying... well, I get worried about using more than a tablespoon of oil in a frypan. But now I have bought a non-stick frypan! I want to do schnitzels, katsudon, kievs, and a brilliant tempura. If any one knows Mr Samurai's secret sauce is, let me know!!! I miss going there. How dare they only be open on weekdays! How rude!! :-)
- Pancakes, crepes, pikelets, flatbreads. Pancakes, I am learning with my trusty pancake pan. Part of the thing is getting used to how the pan works, and the batters, and the heat distribution. When I was younger, we made them in the electric frypan and they were perfect every time. Every electric frypan I've had as an adult has had uneven heating, and this is a sh*t when it comes to pikelets and pancakes. My grand dad used to do pancakes on the BBQ at family events (there was about 30/40 people by the time you included him, nanna, five children and their partners,and 2 - 3 children per child, plus partners...) with lemon and sugar. And they were great. I was probably about 6. I remember, a few years back, going to Moore River with a Venturers group, and they made up pancakes at night while we were all drunk and then we forgot to cook them, and the next morning one of the guys was cooking them with the sort of intensity that only comes with a bad hangover and no pain killers in the tent, and they were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy and cake like on the inside. I have never ever ever found any one do that ever again.
- Pastry. Making it. Eating it. Cooking it. I find that when cooking pastry, there's uncooked spots on the bottom. This annoys me no end, although other people seem to think this is normal. But I also want to practice pastry enough that I can do it with my eyes closed and make shortcrust pastry at a moment's notice rather than go down and buy the damned stuff. I will never, ever, bother to make puff pastry. I wanna make a pie!
- Confectionary. Sugar. Caramel. Toffee. I tried to make toffee once in the microwave when I was much younger (like 14 or 16 or so) and it melted the microwave plastic. There you go. End of story, never even tried since. Read about it alot though. :-)
I am so tired. I might try bed and come back if I still can't sleep. :-(
- Croquembroche. Sorry about the spelling. But anyway, need I say more? Do I need a reason to want to make profiteroles filled with custard and cream and stuck together with toffee??
- Cake decorating - I'm working on this one. I want to make exciting cakes. Actually, I wouldn't mind eating exciting cakes right now either. This pregnancy has done things to my sweet tooth. Like, given me one.
I will probably update this post as I think of more stuff that I want to do. This will be fun, then I can tick each one off as I learn to do it! Yay!
- Frying. Deep frying, stir frying, shallow frying. If it involves oil, I need to learn or practice. Stir frying, we're getting a handle on, but I still think I need to be watched over and told what to do. I don't think I cook hot enough, or else I end up braising by adding too much liquid. Deep frying - well, we got out gas in November, and Chesh has done the bulk of the deep frying. I tend to hang around and watch, and he does a great job, but I want to play too! Shallow frying... well, I get worried about using more than a tablespoon of oil in a frypan. But now I have bought a non-stick frypan! I want to do schnitzels, katsudon, kievs, and a brilliant tempura. If any one knows Mr Samurai's secret sauce is, let me know!!! I miss going there. How dare they only be open on weekdays! How rude!! :-)
- Pancakes, crepes, pikelets, flatbreads. Pancakes, I am learning with my trusty pancake pan. Part of the thing is getting used to how the pan works, and the batters, and the heat distribution. When I was younger, we made them in the electric frypan and they were perfect every time. Every electric frypan I've had as an adult has had uneven heating, and this is a sh*t when it comes to pikelets and pancakes. My grand dad used to do pancakes on the BBQ at family events (there was about 30/40 people by the time you included him, nanna, five children and their partners,and 2 - 3 children per child, plus partners...) with lemon and sugar. And they were great. I was probably about 6. I remember, a few years back, going to Moore River with a Venturers group, and they made up pancakes at night while we were all drunk and then we forgot to cook them, and the next morning one of the guys was cooking them with the sort of intensity that only comes with a bad hangover and no pain killers in the tent, and they were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy and cake like on the inside. I have never ever ever found any one do that ever again.
- Pastry. Making it. Eating it. Cooking it. I find that when cooking pastry, there's uncooked spots on the bottom. This annoys me no end, although other people seem to think this is normal. But I also want to practice pastry enough that I can do it with my eyes closed and make shortcrust pastry at a moment's notice rather than go down and buy the damned stuff. I will never, ever, bother to make puff pastry. I wanna make a pie!
- Confectionary. Sugar. Caramel. Toffee. I tried to make toffee once in the microwave when I was much younger (like 14 or 16 or so) and it melted the microwave plastic. There you go. End of story, never even tried since. Read about it alot though. :-)
I am so tired. I might try bed and come back if I still can't sleep. :-(
- Croquembroche. Sorry about the spelling. But anyway, need I say more? Do I need a reason to want to make profiteroles filled with custard and cream and stuck together with toffee??
- Cake decorating - I'm working on this one. I want to make exciting cakes. Actually, I wouldn't mind eating exciting cakes right now either. This pregnancy has done things to my sweet tooth. Like, given me one.
I will probably update this post as I think of more stuff that I want to do. This will be fun, then I can tick each one off as I learn to do it! Yay!