Is there a simple food you always mess up?

[Anonymous]

LOL totally chicken breasts for me.

I'm a fairly good cook and can do all kinds of complicated dishes but I can NOT get a plain chicken breast right. I always cook it too long and it's tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

for hardboiled eggs put the eggs in cold water with an inch of water over the eggs and bring to a boil. remove from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes in the pot. For soft boiled you do the same but they are ready after a minute or two. America's Test Kitchen recipe.

Never knew this - I always boil mine for 10 min.

I have tried to make gravy - cannot do it. Can anyone help?

[Anonymous]

Brown rice - it's either crunch or looks like oatmeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I have tried to make gravy - cannot do it. Can anyone help?

Here's a tip that helped me with gravy: instead of trying to whisk in the flour into the hot drippings, resulting in lumps, mix the flour (and any other herbs and spices you want to use) with cold water in a smallish tupperware, filling it no more than halfway. Hold the lid on tight and shake the shit out of it. It'll beat out all the lumps, and then you can pour the smooth liquid into the drippings and whisk much more gently. Putting dry flour into hot liquid always makes lumps.

[Anonymous]

Pancakes. DH has to make them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have tried to make gravy - cannot do it. Can anyone help?

what goes wrong? the best tip I ever learned actually came from a cajun cookbook, talking about roux generally (not for gravy). You have to watch the color of the roux very carefully. it stays light brown for a while (and your gravy would taste floury if you added in juice/stock at this point) but then turns dark very quickly and can burn in about 2 minutes or less. you basically want the roux to get very dark brown - then it's cooked, and if you add your juices then you're golden. you may burn it once, but after seeing the color shift happen you'll always know when to act. also be careful to constantly stir when it's changing color or you will burn flecks.

[Anonymous]

We can make great tasting brownies. But what's the secret to making them look bake sale worthy?

[Anonymous]

I stink at meatballs. They always stick to the pan, they come out weirdly shaped instead of round, and the texture is just not right. Both my mom & MIL make great meatball but I can't. And it's not for lack of trying!

Any tips?

[Anonymous]

Chicken breasts can be unforgiving. Chicken thighs, on the other hand, are much more forgiving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brown rice - it's either crunch or looks like oatmeal.

I tend to burn brown rice cause it takes so long and I forget it's on the stove until I smell it burning.

If it comes out crunchy, you need to use more water. I tend to add 3-4 cups of water per cup of rice. It takes at least an hour but comes out soft and creamy.

[Anonymous]

white rice
what's even sadder, is that I am Indian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stink at meatballs. They always stick to the pan, they come out weirdly shaped instead of round, and the texture is just not right. Both my mom & MIL make great meatball but I can't. And it's not for lack of trying!

Any tips?

Are you baking them or frying them? If baking, put down a piece of parchment paper. If frying, make sure your pan is hot enough and you have enough oil. For shape, use a mini ice cream scoop (I use this for meatballs, cookies, etc) and then roll lightly in your hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:white rice
what's even sadder, is that I am Indian

This is why we Asian mamas get rice cookers--even for Basmati rice.

[Anonymous]

i discovered the key to not-dry chicken breasts!!! it's by pan frying to brown, then finishing it in the oven to 165 degrees. the problem is, it's annoying to have to use both the stove and the oven. but it always results in juicier breasts.

i bake a lot from scratch and do pretty well but for some reason, i always mess up brownies. so i tend to stick to the boxed mixes for those.

[Anonymous]

Here is your chicken solution...been doing it for years, it works.

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2007/05/how-to-make-juicy-grilled-chicken.html