2 Great cooking Questions

[Young_1]

About me

Firstly id like to introduce myself as a 15 year old student from london who has been intrested in food sicne i was knee high since my dad is a chef. I now taken have taken food studies as a gcse. When i have finished my gcse's i then hope to enroll at one of the most renouned colleges for food in England (Westminster College) I aim to successfully aquire a degree and then start my self at the bottom of the catering industry and work to the top and hopefully end with my own mitchalin star resturant in central london or spain.

1. I found that their are many recipes with different spirits in and i was wondering what people thorght the best/most usual.

2. I also have recently made Souffles and was told after preparing they are one of a chefs nitemares and a very hard dish to perfect so i was wondering what do you think is the hardest dish.

What is the most usful liquir to have in a kitchen?

What is the hardest dish to prepare?

[Free Rider]

Hardest dish for me is mayonnaise. I just keep breaking it. oh well

[Greg]

Souffle's can be easy. Find a good recipe, pay attention to technique and know your oven. As to what I find the most difficult, it'd be anything emulsified by hand. Due to some bone scarring, my arm doesn't have quite the range of movement it's supposed to, so whisking for extended periods of time wears me out.

Most useful liquor? Brandy or bourbon. There are a multitude of applications for both in both savory and sweet foods.

[chrose]

Originally Posted by Young_1

About me


What is the most usful liquir to have in a kitchen?

What is the hardest dish to prepare?

As far as liquour goes, it's like a vegetable or a spice. Which is best or most useful? They all have their uses and what's good for one, may not be the best for another. There are too many variables such as quality level, cost issues, etc. to really put out a blanket answer. I liked Gregs answer, though I might have said wine, red or white for the same reasons. I think the more useful answer would be to make sure whatever you use that it is of good quality.

Do you mean hardest in terms of technique used or knowledge needed to understand how to prepare it? After awhile no dish is "hard to prepare" at least not in the way I am reading the question. (I could just be getting bogged down with semantics. That's what happens when there are multitudes of people with different opinions regarding the issue and you're trying to make a succint answer) Anyway, in my opinion, with experience and knowledge the question then becomes "which is the most difficult to prepare in terms of time, and extensiveness of the steps involved".
To answer it my way I would have to say offhand Sauce Espagnole (done "properly") or classic Salmon Couilbiac. Both have many different steps in terms of preparation that all take a long time to do.

[even stephen]

I'd have to say port for the first question. Just a personal favorite.
As for the second question, Making and perfecting recipes for a
souffle is the easy part. When making different flavored souffles you
have to change the amount of eggwhites sometimes. For example
with a chocolate souffle, your base is going to be heavier. You will
need more eggwhite. But bar none, the hardest thing about souffles
is service. Getting the waiters to pre order and pick up at the right
time. Its not whether your souffle will fall or take to long to cook, its
the service end. Anything that takes up to 18 or 20 minutes from start
to finish can be a little bit of a texas two step. Nothing worse than a
waiter or service person walking up and saying "Hey where are my souffles".
Or "Oh, I think I forgot to order them". Everything can work perfectly though.
I Incorporate the mandatory table visit by the floor manager with a polite
inquiry as to whether the guest has ordered one of our wonderful souffles.
If something falls through the cracks, it means the manager has not fulfilled
his responsibilities that evening. We do dual flavored souffles at the
moment and they are a pretty big hit. Two small souffles. Two flavored
creme anglaise. Nothing says more about your level of service than something
like a souffle or perhaps a whole fish. We prepare whole roasted fish every
evening, present cooked and whole, then returned to the kitchen, filet it, lightly season it, put the two side back together skin side out. A light warm
citrus pan sauce with evoo and myer lemon juice, finger potatoes, and grape
tomatoes. Believe it or not, in this particular diningroom, where we do no more than 80 people per evening, we sell 12 or 13 whole fish and sometimes 20 or 30 souffles. Good luck and don't limit yourself to preferring 1 or 2 liquores, liquors, or wines. They all have something to offer. I would offer
one suggestion. Finish things with fine fortified wines, liqoures, and liquors. You seem to loose so much of the delicate flavor they offer when they are boiled away.
IMOHO

[Young_1]

Thank you i will try some of these

[Jayme]

Most used alcohol- I would say wine/sherry- used in so many sauces, added to saute's, etc.. I made chocolate souffles recently that came out wonderfully. I have found that by following a recipe, pretty much any dish is workable......

[CapeCodder]

Dry vermouth is my standby.

Making a perfect poached egg without a container contraption but free form in pan is my most difficult task. Yes, I use vinegar in the water. lol

[mredikop]

1) Port of Red/White Wine

2) Beef Wellington - I never get it exactly right.

[Suzanne]

1) depends on what you're cooking, but in general, dry white wine

2) souffles are easy; roast chicken is hard -- getting the skin crisp and the dark meat done but still having the breast moist. But since it's one of my favorite foods, I sure love trying.

[siduri]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

Hardest dish for me is mayonnaise. I just keep breaking it. oh well

hey, i just break the mayonnaise jar

[Grumio]

"Dying is easy; comedy is hard."

I think that "hard" is time & temperature. If you over-cooked that _______ , you're ___ed. Everything else is just work.