What is The Most Difficult Food You Had Prepare Or Make??

[Icanburnwater]

Hi all,

What was the hardest or most difficult food you had to make or prepare and how long did it take??

[Ma Facon]

I did a pig roast one time and had to catch and kill the pig, Then scald, Butcher etc... Have you ever had to catch a chicken that had to be prepared ?

[chrose]

I was going to say that this was a very subjective question, but Ma Facon had a good answer as far as difficulty. Going back however to the subjective part would be my answer. I worked for one of the most tempermental, difficult, exactin and demanding SOB's ever to work a kitchen. He loved Risotto ala Milanese with Grilled Tiger Shrimp and tested me one day by having me make him lunch. That was the single most difficult meal I ever made.
His reaction "ehh... not bad"! That for him was the equivalent of 5 stars, oh I was a happy (though I didn't show it, I just thanked him) camper!
I was offered a weekend tryout at Patrick O'Connell's "Inn at Little Washington"
I turned it down, but I imagine that woul have been excruciating!

[deltadoc]

Originally Posted by Ma Facon

Have you ever had to catch a chicken that had to be prepared ?

Actually, when I was growing up in Davenport, we lived next to the only farm left within the city limits. We were helping catch a chicken. They used a U-shaped double pointed wire loop to nail the chicken's neck to an old tree stump. Then the hatchet came down. I was totally unprepared for what happened next. The chicken's body took off running without it's head! It was spouting a 6 foot stream of blood out the neck opening, and ran all over the place for quite a while as I recall. The head sat there on the stump staring at me, trying to squawk, but only the beak was moving. They warned me not to put my finger near the mouth cause it would try to bite me.

When the body finally stopped running, we put it into a tub with boiling water. I don't remember how long the chicken body had to sit in the boiling water, but afterwards, you got to help yank out all the feathers. I remember the smell was totally revolting. You even had to try to pull out the pinfeathers as well as the big feathers.

Then it got butchered up, and within an hour, we were eating it.

Kind of a sobering experience which, when I contemplate it, or how cows and other animals are butchered in such numbers today, I almost think I should become a vegetarian.

But then, I look at my incisor teeth, and console myself that I am a carnivore through no fault of my own.

Still though.....

doc

[phatch]

In my teens, I did it with a turkey. Put a knife at throat and went UP into the brain. Quick death and the muscles don't contract down on the feathers. It was fairly easy to pluck. Strangest thing to me was how the body felt warmer the more feathers we plucked. Just showed the insulation of the feathers.

Phil

[Ma Facon]

I can tell you that when you go through the entire process of kill to consume your appreciation of life is hightened. Your understanding of a prayer before a meal is defined. You will be humbled.

[Mezzaluna]

My story doesn't involve taking a life , just really poor equipment, poor conditions and no help. I was 19 years old and had only cooked at home.

I made a Passover seder for 48 by myself in the kitchenette of the faculty lounge in a classroom building at my university. The oven was just big enough for the first of the two 20-pound birds, so the second was cooked across the street in a dorm kitchenette. I made the schmaltz for the stuffing, then stuffed the birds; made chicken soup from scratch with matzo balls; mashed potatoes with pan gravy, green bean amandine- and all the seder food including hard-boiled eggs and charoset.

I had one serrated steak knife, a paring knife and a small cutting board, a can opener and a soup ladle. The pots I borrowed from my dorm.

That was a long day. I had shopped for all the food the day before. I walked out and let someone else clean up. That was my first really big meal. The next fall I made a spaghetti dinner for 88 but that time I had help!

[Icanburnwater]

We live on a small farm and we raise beef cows and sheep. People dont understand that they have become numb to where there meat comes from and when they just pop into the store and pick up groceries for this weeks meals all they see is a package of meat not the whole process that was done to get it there.. If those same people had to butcher thier own meat there would be more eating soy products..

[Ma Facon]

Originally Posted by Icanburnwater

We live on a small farm and we raise beef cows and sheep. People dont understand that they have become numb to where there meat comes from and when they just pop into the store and pick up groceries for this weeks meals all they see is a package of meat not the whole process that was done to get it there.. If those same people had to butcher thier own meat there would be more eating soy products..

I agree

[chrose]

Originally Posted by Ma Facon

I agree

I would have to agree as well. I have never actually killed a mammal for eating purposes (or any other reason for that matter) I have eaten freshly killed rabbit that I was playing with just a short time earlier. It really does show food and survival in a different light. The Indians had the right idea in thanking the animal for it's food , warmth, etc.

[shahar]

Eggyolk raviolies. Now that's a $#!^ to make. First half of them break while you make em. While sitting in the fridge another half crack. In the water another half blows up. We had to make a minimum of six per every order of two.
And they had to be made daily. Multiply that by twenty five orders a night!

[foodnfoto]

The hardest thing I ever had to make was Lemon Meringue pie when it was about 95 degrees outside, 98 in the studio, 90% humidity and a sputtering air conditioner dripping water onto the counter beside me.
Then we had to have the perfect slice to go on the cover of a package.
All the meringues wept and slid around-no matter how we made them-boiled sugar, cornstarch added, straight meringue etc.
When we finally got a slice and a shot that looked great (after making and cutting about 27 pies), the client asked us to make the slice 1/4" higher and 1/8" longer.
Thank God for Phototshop!
The kitchen Gods were definately messing with us for their entertainment that day.

[MarkV]

Hollandaise.

My first batch was about 50 gallons and scared me half to death . I had my head hovering over the top of the kettle for so long that the chef told me if I didn't get away from the kettle he was going to throw me in. As it turned out eight hours later and the soup being strained through double stacked china caps lined with cheese cloth all my fears and anxieties were totaly unwarrented! I think if made right it is one of my favorite soups today!

Another adventure I had that was nobody's fault but my own was to have to make 225 portions of "Mocha Dacquoise Cake from scratch for a New Years Bash ! Hard lessons were learned about menu writing and basic production feasibility .....lol

quote: Statistics on sanity say that one out of four of us is suffering from some kind of mental illness ...so think of three of your friends ..if they are all ok then it must be "You"...lol

[Dorothy81]

I have a recipe called Ambassador (kind of cake). It is not really difficult, but I have a problem with it - it looks good in 50% of preparations And I have no idea why.

It is very good cake and I make it quite often and I don't give up - I will find my mistake