# What Foods Have You Never Been Able To Conquer?



## Addie (May 3, 2016)

For me, it is an Italian dish that an old Italian grandmother who also happened to be my landlord made for me all the time. Sautéed Italian green beans in olive oil. Heaven knows she tried to teach me, but my skull is just too thick.


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## rodentraiser (May 4, 2016)

Pie crust. I buy them ready made now.


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## CrazyCatLady (May 4, 2016)

When I was learning to cook, I was afraid it would be anything edible.

Real German garlic soup! Aaaargh!


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## Jeni78 (May 4, 2016)

I am terrible at sauces and gravies. Any suggestions for videos or books are welcome! 


Eat anything you want, but make it yourself. 

Posting from the app.


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (May 4, 2016)

Honestly, the dishes that I truly can not replicate are dishes that I can't get the right ingredients for.
I want SOOOOO much to be able to make Lau Lau 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCCfxlCRDak
BUT
I can not get fresh Ti Leaves nor Taro Leaves, ARGH!
I'm sure that I could find a way to order these items on line, but...


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## Aunt Bea (May 4, 2016)

The American Goulash recipe my mother made when we were kids and the cherry squares the school lunch ladies made us in elementary school!

The goulash was little more than ground beef, home canned tomatoes and elbow macaroni but it tasted so good when you came in from sledding or shoveling on a cold winter day!

The cherry squares were a sandy crumb base dotted with water packed dark cherries topped with a few more crumbs and baked on giant sheet pans.  The texture was sort of a crumbly version of a Keebler® Sandies® shortbread cookie studded with juicy cherries that bled a little juice into the surrounding cookie base. 

We each have our own "Rosebud"! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF3dOCBVqyU


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## Addie (May 4, 2016)

Aunt Bea said:


> The American Goulash recipe my mother made when we were kids and the cherry squares the school lunch ladies made us in elementary school!
> 
> *The goulash was little more than ground beef, home canned tomatoes and elbow macaroni *but it tasted so good when you came in from sledding or shoveling on a cold winter day!
> 
> ...



I used to make that at least once a week for my kids. I still make it and I put in finely diced onion and a sprinkling of Italian seasoning. Only now I make a smaller amount.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (May 4, 2016)

I thought you were talking about food that you just could not choke down under any circumstances short of starvation. 

I will try just about anything, but I draw the line at reptiles, rodents, and insects.


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## Whiskadoodle (May 4, 2016)

I'm going to try one more time to make baked falafels.  And hope they hold together without crumbling....

Pierogies.  Mine leaked but I only made them once.  Same with raviolis.  Maybe there is a pattern to this.    

My Grandma's "pork dish".  Haven't duplicated it just right.  She used thin sliced pork steaks?, scallops? cutlets? with gravy.   Not pork chops, thinner.   Came out perfectly tender and tasty.  ( I suppose it takes Grandma's hand to do this part. )   The funny thing is she even sent me to the store to buy more one time when she had just started dinner  and more cousins showed up.   The one thing I do remember is it was not expensive.


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## rodentraiser (May 4, 2016)

Sir_Loin_of_Beef said:


> I thought you were talking about food that you just could not choke down under any circumstances short of starvation.
> 
> I will try just about anything, but I draw the line at reptiles, rodents, and insects.



I thought that at first too.

My bugaboos are any green vegetables and besides reptiles, rodents and insects, any food that looks like what it is or is looking at me. Or moves on my plate. Or can star in a horror movie.


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## Katie H (May 4, 2016)

In my nearly 60 years of cooking, I have yet to conquer biscuits.  I bet I have tried every recipe and technique in the universe.  Thank my lucky stars I had willing "testers" who didn't mind eating my failures...as long as there was plenty of real butter and the flops were still warm.


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## bethzaring (May 4, 2016)

Pound cake made with all whole wheat pastry flour.  Once ChefJune told me it couldn't be done and why, I gave up trying.


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## larry_stewart (May 5, 2016)

Vegetarian Hot and Sour soup that tastes exactly like the place I get it from.
Ive been trying for literally decades.  Partially, just by trying to figure it out myself and partially by trying different recipes from books, searching online and here.

When I make it , it tastes like Im trying to make Hot and Sour soup, but its just not the same.

The hard ingredients are easy, I can see the mushrooms ( different varieties), the julienned carrots, bamboo shoots and snow peas, the lilly buds.  All this is obvious.  Its the broth that I just can't get.

At first I thought, maybe they are using a " non-vegetarian ' broth, and just saying its a vegetarian dish because there is no actual meats in it.  But, I've had it in vegan restaurants as well, and some tasted just as good as the regular place I get it from.

Luckily, the place hasn't gone out of business yet, so I can still get my hands on it.  Although, I'd really like to be able to come closer than I already have.

My refrigerator is stocked with just about every Asian sauce, condiment, ingredient that I've collected, over time, trying to make it taste like the restaurants version.

Larry


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## Addie (May 5, 2016)

Larry, if you feel that the broth may be the problem, keep in mind that Better Than Bullion also makes one for vegetarians. When I make clam chowder, I use their BTB for clams.


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## outRIAAge (Jul 19, 2016)

(Curry Chicken Noodle Soup from Malay Satay Hut in Redmond, but I've already written about that here.)

The mountain I'm currently trying to climb is pizza dough from home-milled flour. The inspiration came from this recent NY Times review, and I'm struggling. I quickly realized that I can't use set recipes, or even any equipment (until I get it right), because I need to feel the dough forming and adjust hydration to this particular grind of flour. I could get a fine-mesh screen and sift out most of the sharp, bubble-killing bran, but for now I consider that cheating.

Has anyone had success using home-milled flour?


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## Aunt Bea (Jul 20, 2016)

outRIAAge said:


> (Curry Chicken Noodle Soup from Malay Satay Hut in Redmond, but I've already written about that here.)
> 
> The mountain I'm currently trying to climb is pizza dough from home-milled flour. The inspiration came from this recent NY Times review, and I'm struggling. I quickly realized that I can't use set recipes, or even any equipment (until I get it right), because I need to feel the dough forming and adjust hydration to this particular grind of flour. I could get a fine-mesh screen and sift out most of the sharp, bubble-killing bran, but for now I consider that cheating.
> 
> Has anyone had success using home-milled flour?



Two thoughts.

Put your coarse flour into a food processor and whirl it to reduce the size of the bran bits, make a finer flour.

or 

Make a poolish or wet dough and put it into the refrigerator for a day so to fully hydrate the bran bits then complete the dough mixture with the last cup or so of flour.

Good luck!


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## CraigC (Jul 20, 2016)

Stir-fry. I don't believe it can be done properly with electric burners or most home gas stoves. They simply can't give the BTUs required. When it cools down (maybe January or February) I'll give it a whirl on the propane burner I use for crawfish boils.


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## outRIAAge (Jul 20, 2016)

Aunt Bea said:


> Put your coarse flour into a food processor and whirl it to reduce the size of the bran bits, make a finer flour.
> or
> Make a poolish or wet dough and put it into the refrigerator for a day so to fully hydrate the bran bits then complete the dough mixture with the last cup or so of flour. Good luck!



Those are both excellent ideas: thank you. Your wording took me right back to the 1960s Homepride adverts, where "graded grains make finer flour."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xENRSuIM_y8


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## GotGarlic (Jul 20, 2016)

CraigC said:


> Stir-fry. I don't believe it can be done properly with electric burners or most home gas stoves. They simply can't give the BTUs required.



Sorry, CraigC, but I think that's just silly. I don't need for my stir fries to taste like they came from a Chinese restaurant to enjoy them. I use authentic Asian ingredients, like these, and get great flavor.


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## GotGarlic (Jul 20, 2016)

GotGarlic said:


> Sorry, CraigC, but I think that's just silly. I don't need for my stir fries to taste like they came from a Chinese restaurant to enjoy them. I use authentic Asian ingredients, like these, and get great flavor.



Never mind  I thought this was in the "what do I do with leftover rotisserie chicken" thread. If it's that important to you, go for it.


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## CraigC (Jul 20, 2016)

GG, that is why I am not satisfied with my stir-fry because I am comparing it to Chinese in house/take out. Don't get me wrong, I do like the food, I just think it lacks that certain texture you get with the high heat fires.


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## outRIAAge (Jul 20, 2016)

CraigC said:


> Stir-fry. I don't believe it can be done properly with electric burners or most home gas stoves. They simply can't give the BTUs required. When it cools down (maybe January or February) I'll give it a whirl on the propane burner I use for crawfish boils.



You are correct, sir. I banged my head against the problem for years before discovering that the missing "ingredient" is wok hei, or "wok-breath." The perfect example is a good, smoky chow fun, which is impossible to get at normal temperatures.

I've never managed to duplicate it, so I make do by faking with liquid smoke (ehh...), but by all means give it a whirl on your propane burner. Andy Ricker (of Pok Pok fame) attaches a hair-dryer to a cheap ceramic Thai barbeque to great effect, as seen below, but make sure there's nothing flammable in the area:


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## GotGarlic (Jul 20, 2016)

I have read that wok cooking was invented because centuries ago, the Chinese were running out of forest wood for cooking, due to the burgeoning population. So I have always wondered what kind of fuel Chinese peasants would have had to provide extremely high heat for cooking. I don't believe that Chinese restaurants in the U.S. are representative of authentic Chinese cooking in villages. So not being able to duplicate wok hei does not bother me 

If it bothers you, though, check this out: The Food Lab: For the Best Stir-Fry, Fire Up the Grill | Serious Eats


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## GotGarlic (Jul 20, 2016)

Where I live, we don't have really good Chinese food. I've had good Chinese in Chinatown in San Francisco and I'm satisfied that my food compares.


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## JoAnn L. (Sep 11, 2016)

Addie said:


> I used to make that at least once a week for my kids. I still make it and I put in finely diced onion and a sprinkling of Italian seasoning. Only now I make a smaller amount.



My mothers goulash was like yours only she would add diced celery too.


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## CakePoet (Sep 11, 2016)

I cant  clean, gut and filet a fish, I faint.  I can take out  guts from birds, larger animals but not  fish.  I just the sound that makes me pale white and then I hit the floor.  So far I haven't stabbed any thing but floor, fish and chairs.  So I have given up and buy fish, all ready filet.  I can how ever watch some one else do it and I just cringe.


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## dragnlaw (Sep 11, 2016)

Browned Butter...   would you believe!! 

No matter how I stood over it and watch it like a hawk...  I gave up for months 

then I gave it one more try as I wanted to be able to say I made everything from scratch with my last batch of Squash 'n Ricotta Ravioli.

this time I used a very small frying pan and... 

*BAZINGA!!*


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## CraigC (Sep 12, 2016)

CakePoet said:


> I cant  clean, gut and filet a fish, I faint.  I can take out  guts from birds, larger animals but not  fish.  I just the sound that makes me pale white and then I hit the floor.  So far I haven't stabbed any thing but floor, fish and chairs.  So I have given up and buy fish, all ready filet.  I can how ever watch some one else do it and I just cringe.



Very, very sharp knives! I have been filleting fish since I was 8. With the exception of flat fish, the procedure is the same, follow the bones! I'm usually dealing with fish we have shot ourselves, so it is really fresh. If buying fish, it has to be the whole fish, unless I really trust the person that did the filleting, like a dive buddy. BTW, I don't faint, lol.


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## CakePoet (Sep 12, 2016)

I have very very sharp knifes, I have one of the best  Swedish made filet knifes, it a dream to work with.  But I just faint, hit the floor hard and  well so far the knife has penetrated everything but me and  I have given up.

I do trust my fishmonger, he is so good and helpful, he knows what I need.


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## Mad Cook (Sep 13, 2016)

Pastry. 

My mother used to say that you need cold hands and a warm heart to make good pastry but I had warm hands and a cold heart. (Which is probably true)

Thank goodness for Messrs Jusroll and their many varieties of ready-rolled pastry.


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## Addie (Sep 13, 2016)

Mad Cook said:


> Pastry.
> 
> My mother used to say that you need cold hands and a warm heart to make good pastry but I had warm hands and a cold heart. (Which is probably true)
> 
> Thank goodness for Messrs Jusroll and their many varieties of ready-rolled pastry.



You are not alone. On this side of the pond we have Pillsbury pie crust. It is a great time saver but I find it is flavorless. The list of ingredients says there is salt in it, but I think someone just waved the salt wand across the big vat and that was it. I prefer to make my own with butter and Crisco. Sometimes I will add a small dose of the herb of the filling. Cinnamon, lemon juice, etc. Depends on what kind of pie I am making.

For Phyllo dough, we also can purchase that, frozen. Two small sheets to a box. Or you can purchase the little tart holders. A squirt of fruit filling, a dollop of whipped cream and you are good to go.


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## expatgirl (Sep 13, 2016)

gravy for me.......that's why an immersible blender is godsend and banishes those flour `'embolisms`' forever!  `no one has to know of one's imperfections at Thanksgiving!!!  ````````````````


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## CakePoet (Sep 13, 2016)

expatgirl said:


> gravy for me.......that's why an immersible blender is godsend and banishes those flour `'embolisms`' forever!  `no one has to know of one's imperfections at Thanksgiving!!!  ````````````````




I was told by a fine restaurant chef to use a strainer to get those  embolisms out and that is what I do.


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## expatgirl (Sep 13, 2016)

CakePoet said:


> I was told by a fine restaurant chef to use a strainer to get those  embolisms out and that is what I do.


Than i'd have no gravy!  `you'll have to send me your recipe, Cake`poet.....`i'm hopeless at it........


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## GotGarlic (Sep 13, 2016)

expatgirl said:


> Than i'd have no gravy!  `you'll have to send me your recipe, Cake`poet.....`i'm hopeless at it........



You just need a strong arm and a good whisk


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