What's the one thing you just can't cook/bake...

[JAF]

[QUOTE=PRlady;3768888]You can't grate potatoes in a food processor. I've tried. You end up with mush.

QUOTE]
Agreed, Latkes, I call them potato cakes, I'm not Jewish, taste the best when grated on the knuckle busting hand grater. Don't make potato cakes often - too much hard work.

[taf2002]

Re potato salad - my Canadian MIL made the best I've ever tasted. Mine is pretty good but not as good as hers. I peel the potatoes, cut into cubes & boil until tender. Drain well. Salt & pepper to taste, add chopped celery, diced hardboiled eggs, onions if desired (I can't eat raw onions), mayo or Miracle Whip (I use mayo), & spicy brown mustard for tang. I also add red pimento for color. I don't measure anything - just keep tasting...don't use too much mustard...it should still be a light color & not yellow. My MIL added minced radishes to hers...radishes upset my stomach so I don't add them anymore but it's amazing what they do for flavor.

ETA: my food processor grates carrots & potatoes just fine. I have an old La Machine by Couisinart that my mother bought me in the late 80's. But I can't make latkes...mine fall apart.

[Zemgirl]

ETA: my food processor grates carrots & potatoes just fine. I have an old La Machine by Couisinart that my mother bought me in the late 80's. But I can't make latkes...mine fall apart.

Are you sure you're using enough eggs and flour?

[Spareoom]

I was about to say, I don't think I've ever tasted a latke, not to mention made one, but my food processer is a dream at grating things...potatoes, carrots, onions. I won't eat packaged hash browns anymore because it's so easy to grate my own and they taste SO MUCH BETTER.

[barbk]

My Kitchen Aid food processor grates potatoes, carrots, cabbage, celery root and other hard vegetables into very nice shreds, and the slicing disk does a fine job on carrots and celery. Onions do get mushy from the food processor, but for latkes I don't care about that. Big issue is getting rid of excess moisture, and so the onions leaking out a bunch just makes it easier.

[asdf334]

And candy. Got my candy thermometer -- but no success in finding a conversion chart for what temps I should look for at this altitude.

Maybe this? http://extension.usu.edu/utah/files/...ndy Making.pdf

[Japanfan]

I can make pretty good tuna salad, but some folks might not like it. I always buy the best tuna and drain it really well. The regular stuff is pretty much like cat food. I use boiled eggs, which I grate instead of chopping because that's the way my mother did it. I add some chopped, unpeeled apple (I like the taste and it gives a little color), chopped green olives, and chopped pecans. If I have celery, I'll add that too. I like it a little bit sweet, so I may use Miracle Whip instead of mayo if I have it on hand. I use the dressing sparingly--just enough to hold everything together. Really good!

I'll have to try that.

I make a simple tuna salad with tuna, avocado, green onion and mayo - it's delicious. I was surprised that avocado and tuna are such a good pairing. Avocado is so versatile.

Re potato salad: I use unpeeled potatoes, eggs and green onion, and add a bit of dijon mustard to the mayo I mix in.

Then I add grated raw garlic or roasted garlic and some very sharp crumbled cheddar cheese.

The garlic and cheese make the potato salad 'sing' - all other potato salads I've had are very bland in comparison.

Re potato latkes: I find they use way too much oil and make too much of a mess. I'd rather just make hash browns with thinly sliced/chopped potatoes, it is a lot easier.

I've tried zucchini latkes as well - again, too much oil and too much mess.

[Marge_Simpson]

Rice pudding. Everyone in my family loves rice pudding. With raisins. We would eat it warm, for dessert, and if there were leftovers we'd eat it for breakfast.
My mom had a fabulous recipe that she got from her best friend's mom, who was Irish. My mom put her own spin on it by using arborio rice (my mom was Italian) and it was utterly perfect. Creamy, delicious, perfectly cooked, rice neither too mushy or too hard. With plumped up raisins and cinnamon on top.
I have the recipe, but I just can't get it to turn out properly. It always ends up a mushy mess.

[kwanfan1818]

Does anyone have a recipe for good chicken soup? My inability to make chicken soup is one of many reasons why I worry about having my MOT card taken away.

Many thanks to everyone who has shared recipes and tips. I bought potatoes today, and tomorrow, I plan to shake and roast them.

[nubka]

Does anyone have a recipe for good chicken soup? My inability to make chicken soup is one of many reasons why I worry about having my MOT card taken away.

Many thanks to everyone who has shared recipes and tips. I bought potatoes today, and tomorrow, I plan to shake and roast them.

What is a MOT card?

[Zemgirl]

Re potato latkes: I find they use way too much oil and make too much of a mess. I'd rather just make hash browns with thinly sliced/chopped potatoes, it is a lot easier.

I'll admit I'm kind of at a loss why hash browns would be considered easier/less messy than latkes. Both seem about the same to me when it comes to difficulty and messiness.

How about sweet potato latkes? This is a fairly well-known recipe, and while I haven't tried it myself, it doesn't look difficult.

What is a MOT card?

Just a guess: Member of the Tribe

[kwanfan1818]

"Member of the Tribe" (membership) card. They already confiscated my secret decoder ring.

[PRlady]

"Member of the Tribe" (membership) card. They already confiscated my secret decoder ring.

The sekret is...you need an old-fashioned pressure cooker, like Bubbi had.

Once you have one, and they're not expensive, put:

An Empire chicken after you get the damn pinfeathers off it (this is the ONLY recipe for which I use kosher chicken.)
A medium sized onion, chopped.
Celery salt, regular salt, pepper and thyme to taste.
A half bag of those little baby carrots from any store.
Water JUST to cover...

In the pressure cooker and turn the heat up high. Once it starts steaming and whistling, turn it down to a simmer and cook at least an hour. Make the matzoh balls separately from a mix, another thing not worth doing from scratch, and combine.

My MOT card, which is always in danger of being taken away because of being a left-wing critical Zionist professionally, is redeemed by my chicken soup.

[taf2002]

The sekret is...you need an old-fashioned pressure cooker, like Bubbi had.

Once you have one, and they're not expensive, put:

An Empire chicken after you get the damn pinfeathers off it (this is the ONLY recipe for which I use kosher chicken.)
A medium sized onion, chopped.
Celery salt, regular salt, pepper and thyme to taste.
A half bag of those little baby carrots from any store.
Water JUST to cover...

In the pressure cooker and turn the heat up high. Once it starts steaming and whistling, turn it down to a simmer and cook at least an hour. Make the matzoh balls separately from a mix, another thing not worth doing from scratch, and combine.

My MOT card, which is always in danger of being taken away because of being a left-wing critical Zionist professionally, is redeemed by my chicken soup.

The problem with this recipe is that after it's tender you have to debone the darned thing. My recipe - start with a large can of Swanson Chicken......

[milanessa]

The problem with this recipe is that after it's tender you have to debone the darned thing. My recipe - start with a large can of Swanson Chicken......

I'm all for making cooking easier but to tinned chicken.

[taf2002]

We don't have a tongue-in-cheek emoticon. I don't actually do that. I buy Campbell's Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup.

[milanessa]

We don't have a tongue-in-cheek emoticon. I don't actually do that. I buy Campbell's Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup.

Whew!

[Impromptu]

Does anyone have a recipe for good chicken soup? My inability to make chicken soup is one of many reasons why I worry about having my MOT card taken away.

Many thanks to everyone who has shared recipes and tips. I bought potatoes today, and tomorrow, I plan to shake and roast them.

I don't know if my recipe is very good or not - my mother always cheated and made the broth from Croydon House chicken soup mix. However, they don't make that any longer (not that I've been able to find anywhere). Anyway. My solution for the broth crisis is any time I make a whole chicken, I save all the bones and skin, put them in a crockpot, throw in enough water to come to the top, and cook it all on low heat for 24 hours. Then, strain it all through a mesh strainer, and freeze all that broth in giant yogurt containers. It's good stock-broth for soup and even chili.

Then when you're ready to make chicken soup, use 1-2 of those containers, plus chicken (I usually use the leftovers from a cooked chicken - and that way, you've got another set of bones to use for stock), carrots, white or yellow onion, celery, parsley, and salt/pepper to taste. Heat on the stove... and I agree with PRlady. Use matzah ball mix - it's too much of a pain from scratch and the mix tastes just fine.

I like it better than my mom's soup (and she uses the throw the whole chicken into a pot and let it boil for an hour method - but I really hate fishing the bones out), so it could be something to try. On the other hand, my mom really isn't that much of a cook, so making better soup than my mom's isn't a shining accomplishment either.

[mkats]

I don't know if my recipe is very good or not - my mother always cheated and made the broth from Croydon House chicken soup mix. However, they don't make that any longer (not that I've been able to find anywhere). Anyway. My solution for the broth crisis is any time I make a whole chicken, I save all the bones and skin, put them in a crockpot, throw in enough water to come to the top, and cook it all on low heat for 24 hours. Then, strain it all through a mesh strainer, and freeze all that broth in giant yogurt containers. It's good stock-broth for soup and even chili.

I do this as well - in addition to saving the bones and skin, I'll save vegetable scraps - carrot peelings, onion peels, the tiny, tiny cloves of garlic that I'm too lazy to peel, celery ends, beet peelings (gives your stock a lovely pink color - at least I think it's lovely, Boyfriend thinks it's creepy) and freeze them all in a big ziploc bag. When the bag gets full, I just saute the vegetables in a little vegetable oil, add the chicken bits, and boil it all down for stock. I usually use some of it to make soup on the spot and freeze the rest in an ice cube tray to use for sauces, steaming vegetables, etc.

[Jenny]

Speaking of grandmothers, I've never been able to replicate by dear departed grandmother's porridge. I've tried every kind of oat, messed with the proportions and cooking time, and never even close. I know she put cream of wheat (or maybe semolina?) in along with the oats, but otherwise no clue other than the memory of its lovely, creamy texture. Sigh.