What is the most difficult dish to make in terms of technique?

>>8381594
Souffle is up there. Merengue is also up there. Roux could also be up there.

>>8381601

>roux
>difficult

it's literally flour and oil

>>8381601

>roux could also be up there

HAHAHAHAHA

You what now?

File: 1311704000383.png (159KB, 435x419px) Image search: [Google]

159KB, 435x419px

>>8381601
>Roux

>>8381601
>souffle
I agree
>merengue
Yeah sure i guess
>roux
??? What the fuck?

>>8381618
>>8381621
>>8381623
>>8381625

Just because it's simple ingredient wise doesn't mean it's easy- Often people have issues with how sensitive Roux are. Too much heat, too little heat, too much stirring, too little stiring; one little mistake fucks it

>>8381601
idk about souffle, i made it several times and it worked every time, and im not that great a cook.

i'd say getting a risotto right and beef wellington would be up there

Probably some exotic delicacy with some sort of inane preparation very specific to the dish

>>8381629
What the fuck are you talking about. You can't fuck a roux up unless you just let it set without stirring or use way too high heat.....kys

Eggs Woodhouse

>>8381629
I think you're just being pedantic

>>8381629

>roux
>sensitive

It's fucking flour and butter. Pretty much all you can do to fuck it up is burn it or cook it past the level of doneness you were aiming for. Cerebral Palsey girl couldn't fuck up roux if she tried.

>>8381648

They don't say an omelette is difficult; they say that a simple omelette allows them to gauge someone's skill/experience.

>>8381594
Boiled water.

>>8381594

Stock

Sushi - probably has the most pedantic rules of any group of dishes.
Tons of preparation rules and plating requirements for no reason other than tradition.

French Macarons - Tons of ambiguous hard to define steps: "Soft to hard" peak menagerie folded into the powdered sugar and almond meal until "lava" viscosity. Like sushi, the presentation standards are really high for no reason: exactly equal sized halves, no bumps in the shells, no cracks in the shells, and a well defined foot that doesn't spread vertically, vibrate and even colors.

my captcha was to find sushi pictures, weird.

>>8381639
Kek mah nigga

File: 99-ny-cheesecake.jpg (131KB, 1200x1200px) Image search: [Google]

131KB, 1200x1200px

>>8381594
Cheesecake is always a fussbudget especially if you want to serve it naked without cracks.

>>8381594
for amateurs?
Anything with Chou paste, risotto, hollandaise, bavaroise, soft scrambled eggs, beef wellington, meringue, making sausages, boning any hunk of meat.

>>8381821
Anyone have the webms?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylQrVvdncME

Seems like nobody can do fucking risotto properly anymore

>>8381870
Gordon please go.

>>8381874
there was no reason for a 12 year employee to create bloated fucking garlic rice pudding last week

no fucking excuse

and they all fucking

do it

>>8381846
I wanna spank those cheesecakes

>>8381759
Agreed about the macarons anon. Finicky bastards. Even humidity levels affect them and how well they "feet".

Another dish i find finicky is gnocchi. Its one of those things that i find a recipe is merely a guideline. Cause depending on the moisture of the batch of potatoes used, it requires different amounts of flour to bind them together. Even overkneading affects the texture.

>>8381594
omelet

it isn't complicated, but i can safely guarantee that your technique is flawed.

>>8382032
It's not. Learned from the best
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10etP1p2bU

>>8381594
Julia Childs' original croissant recipe from the 50s. One time. It takes two days, it involves college geometry, topology, chemistry, and physics. It also requires delicate and artful technique. It's why machines were invented.

>>8382442
>it's why machines were invented.
>The industrial revolution occurred due to the need to make French pastries.

>>8381594
A proper french style omelette. Creamy but not undercooked and not completely solid and partially browned like an american one

>>8381846

omfg .. it looks like.. titties.. need to go to Japan..

>>8381594
Isn't classic french food supposed to be the most technically difficult?

>>8381594
The McChicken sandwich from McDonalds, I've tried to recreate it at home a few times, but it's damn near impossible. I don't know how they do it, but the McChicken sandwich is utter perfection. For me, it's the best sandwich.

>>8381759
>>8381969

Macarons are a bitch to make. I have never gotten them correct in the 10+batches ive made.

First they were undercooked, then overcooked. Ive had to lower oven temp and only do i baking sheet instead of doubled up sheets like it was suggested in the recipe.

I need help. Now i can get the macarons perfectly cooked but they come out hollow. I dont know what to do. It seems everytime i fix one problem another one pops up.

>>8382970
How long did you spend thinking up this post?

Cereal is pretty difficult. I used to believe I knew how to make a good bowl of cereal; only took 45 minutes. That is, until I went to a French cooking school and told me everything I did was wrong. Apparently for a good bowl of cereal it takes a minimum of 3 hours of prep, an an additional 5 to finish. By that time it's already dinner so I tried calling bullshit. I guess you're supposed to start making it the night before so when you wake up in the morning it's ready for you.

File: 1481598032843.jpg (24KB, 500x145px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 500x145px

Grilled cheese

>>8381632
risottos just take a fucking long time to do right

i agree with beef wellington

>>8381594

risotto

>>8381632
did you just list the kitchen nightmare menu?
Are you drinking the Ramsay koolaid?

>>8383161

What's so hard about risotto? It's just constant stirring and ladling in stock for 20 minutes, then finishing it with a sauce and cheese.

>>8381759
tfw i love macarons but i can't cook for shit

is investing time into learning to make them rigt worth it? or will i fail miserably?

>>8382951
Classic French food died with the Ancien Regime

>>8383476

btw anyone have a good starting guide to macarons?

>>8383444
You have to know when the rice stops absorbing the stock. Since you didn't mention that very important detail, i'm going to guess your risotto sucks.

>>8382951
Haute cuisine yes, but not traditional countryside cuisine.

>>8383444
>It's just constant stirring and ladling in stock for 20 minutes,
Yes.
>then finishing it with a sauce
No, you're a monster and a very bad person. Your risotto sucks.
> and cheese.
Yes.

>>8383476
It's not too hard making good tasting macarons. It's near impossible having them with the "perfect" look.

>>8383666
The "sauce" is the starch released and cooked during the constant stirring for 20 minutes.

>>8381594
Sushi
You have to train 15 years to make it right

>>8383680
>raw fish
>hard to cook
Your weeb fascination blinds you from reality.

File: 1481351270191.jpg (31KB, 349x642px) Image search: [Google]

31KB, 349x642px

>>8382970
Truth

>>8383476
Ask yourself is do you want to spend the money and time to learn to make macarons.

If your oven sucks, don't bother, your oven needs to have a very even and accurate temperature throughout. Only have half of mine come out properly because my crap oven doesn't maintain the target temp well and has hot/cold spots.

Hardware you're going to need includes: fine mesh sieve, silicone baking mat, and piping tip.

Your first batch will be an utter failure. After 4 attempts you'll get a feel for it. After 16 or so attempts about half of your shells will come out, not great, but acceptable.

If your serious about learning try and find a class, they'll have everything you need.
Know that you'll have to adjust the recipe at home to your oven and the humidity that day.

>>8382970
Masterful post.

>>8383503

Or it's absolutely fucking common sense and I dont feel like writing 2 god damn pages telling you how simple it is.

>>8383444
i allways prepped it in background while I did my other prep and found it unbelievably easy and when I finished it for an entree side it always came out great. Never soupy and always creamy but still individual bite to the grains. Some places I worked as a dishwasher before I cooked would use actual dairy cream because they didn't know how to make a proper risotto apparently. Creaminess comes from the starches not by addition of dairy.

>>8383666

>No, you're a monster and a very bad person. Your risotto sucks.

I would argue you dont know how to make a god damn risotto to save your life if you've never seen it finished with a sofritto sauce and mascarpone.

Head out of ass faggot.

>>8383476
They're not hard to get tasting nice, since it's essentially a shitload of sugar and almond. If you really love them I'd say it's worth learning how to make for yourself, because you can just make small ones and not give a shit about them looking perfect.

>>8382983
>>8383476
>>8383495
>>8383733


Its like what anon said. If your oven is crap with loads of hotspots, forget about it. Cause macarons are pretty much meringues with almond meal, the amount of sugar in it makes it easy to turn brown. The margin of error is pretty low.

Problem is most home ovens are shitty and widely vary in terms of temperature in comparison to commercial ovens. So you kind of have to treat recipes as a guideline, and experiment with what heat works best for you. Its almost always better to go lower and slower than the recipes.

Pierre Hermes recipes are a good starting point. Or Joy of Baking. Even though the idea of having to make italian meringues can be pretty intimidating for a beginner, it actually makes your macaron batches less temperamental and increases success rates. Compensating for humidity changes is pretty easy once youve done it a bunch of times. Its mostly changing the amount of folding, and letting the shells dry longer/shorter before baking.

>>8383849
>Pierre Herme
King of the Sugar Monkeys

>>8383761
>finishing risotto with a sauce

Dropped quicker than you can blink your eye, idiot. Are you 'murrican southern white trash or what?

File: deluxe.webm (3MB, 666x374px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 666x374px

It even has glass-blowing involved.

>>8384118

>italian risotto
>somehow get the south from it

You're reaching now buddy. Better stop while you're ahead.

literally nothing in cooking is difficult

>>8384132
I was interested up until they broke out the fucking vapor blowing nonsense.

Why ruin perfectly good food by turning it into a chemistry experiment?

>>8382048
shit man, my omelettes are just egg pancakes, feels pleb

To do perfectly, and for inexperienced cooks, french omlettes are up there. Its simple yea, but it requires some thought and timings, rather than mindlessly stirring or following a recipe.
Too long? Drys out
Dont let eggs rest? Messes with texture.
Don't account for freshness? Will cook at a speed you dont expect.
Flip too early? Will tear snd not look correct.

My trick is a splash of water in the mix, and a bit of butter in the eggs(4), as well as the pan.
Ive also found ceramic is ideal for french omlettes, although cast iron is more traditional, and using teflon coated pans js a beginner mistake
It may not be the most difficult for the experienced, but it seperates the recipe followers, from the cooks.
Will post guide for perfect french omlette (albeit, not traditional) if interested

Again, im speaking on the fact that there so many small mistakes to be made, rather than a few catastrophic simple mistakes. Not saying its inedible if incorrectly done, rather, its just not truly a french omlette

>>8385249
post pls

>>8381594
For me, it's the McChicken...

>>8385325

Tske out 4 eggs, allow to rest at room temperature for atkeast 10 minutes (assuming were refrigerated)
Crack into bowl
Add splash of water, and pepper
Mix together until well combined
Add about 1-2 teaspoons of butter into mix, spread throughout
Put medium to large pan, ideally ceramic, iver medium heat
Let hear for about 30 seconds, during which melt an adequate amount of butter in pan until liquid and coating pan
Add in eggs, making sure edges dont stick to side while setting up.
After edges of begun to set (15-30 seconds max if pan was hot enough) begine to wirl eggs in a figure 8 , alternating the direction, making sure to disrupt the center setting up for as long as possible
Once bottom is solid, drain excess liquid under omlette on upside side from where youll start fold, allowing it to cook more. Some remaining is fine
Begin fold, this just takes practice.
Do last fold as you are plating, and allow it to sit for about a minute to finish internal cooking. Cover with hot pan but do not let pan touch omlette itself at this point

Top with desired toppings
Cheese should be added before covering, and many cheese wont melt fast enough for this, so things such as herbs and veggies are.preferable

>>8383165
no, i just found risotto pretty difficult to make, i always fuck up either texture doneness orflavor, it's worth noting that i don't really have a recipe i just make different kinds usually, the only one i can make consistently right is a mushroom risotto i do from scratch

>>8385347
>Begin fold, this just takes practice.
more detail required
I can't imagine someone learning how to "knock" the pan properly to flip the omelette without written detail or a visual guide

>>8382451
you joke but this isn't far from the truth.

At least the beginnings of industrial food.

>>8385369
I was assuming theyd do it with a spatula, which is fine

>>8385369
man I'm a trained chef and I don't think a visual guide or fine written detail is adequate to describe the 'knock' required to move an omelette.
Naturally, each pan is different, and requires a different movement of the hand, depending on weight and size.
Each omelette is different, as not all eggs are created equal, not all knobs of butter are the same size and not all ingredients are the same density. No omelette can reliably put the exact same properties in the pan, unless you are doing something absurd like weighing every ingredient to the gram.
Not all heats are the same. No flame is identical to the next. Temperature and pressure mean that micro-changes occur in the flame, so that the end result of heat on the pan changes over expectations.

This means that it comes down to the cook, to manage tiny changes in expected or assumed behaviors of ingredients. A good cook knows the ratios and ingredients and process for an omelette, even a great omelette. A great cook will adjust process and action in regards to small changes in ratios and ingredients to ensure that the product is the best possible.

Due to so many stupid posts on this board probably fried eggs and grilled cheese are the hardest things to make

>>8384310
then go eat a fucking burger you flyover pleb