smitten kitchen

As a southerner, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m scared to death of frying chicken. I’ve eaten too much bad fried chicken over the years– coatings that are utterly bland, or worse, gummy–blech. This seems to be one of those dishes that appears the soul of simplicity, but is not. And I am afraid, very afraid…

Y’know, upon further pondering, I realize ALL frying scares me.

I grew up making tortillas with my grandmother, and even when i follow her recipe today, they come out…odd. I’ve tried a few times, in different temperatures, and i’ve still never gotten them quite right. There’s a family gathering at the end of the summer, and i need to get over my fear and start testing recipes! Help?

Rice, yes! I’m a very capable cook in general, but I cannot master cooking rice for the life of me. Last night I tried to make fried rice that came out gummy and disgusting. It’s especially tragic because I cook primarily East Asian foods, but often I only have terrible rice to put them on. Deb, help!

I’ve gotta go with Hollandaise. I’m terrified of it separating into a mess of coagulated egg and lemon juice. Yeuch.

Canning. I am just not sure that I will ever be able to get beyond the fear that I’ve done something terribly wrong and am going give everyone botulism, or have the jars explode, or some other horrible thing. It just freaks me out. Which is unfortunate, given the number of roma tomatoes that are currently ripening out on my deck.

I think maybe the key to good fried rice is a really hot pan! Though my egg ALWAYS sticks, don’t know what to do about that…also, steaming rice eludes me as well…Burnt, sticky, dry, crunchy, I’ve done them all. My boyfriend now cooks the rice or we make 90 sec microwave rice from trader joes (so good btw). But my real hang up is making a really yummy good loaf of wheat bread (in the bread machine). It always comes out somewhat brick like, much too dense…

I’m afraid to make crepes. All of the equipment, the precise technique, the split-second timing… it all adds up to a scary proposition. I suppose I’m not too afraid to _try_ to make crepes, but I would never serve them to anyone with a French accent.

I am terrified at making bread. I love to eat bread and I adore fresh baked bread, but whenever I attempt to make bread at home it comes out … not like bread. help!

Food fears: pie/tart crust; lamb (except for ground lamb); risotto

I used to have major problems with rice, and then I bought an All-Clad saucepan. I’m guessing you have pretty good cookware, so maybe the problem you have is different. I would look up Cooks Illustrated’s recipe. White rice sounds like something even they don’t need to play with, but I swear their version is better than any other I’ve made.

I’m really bad at cooking meat, especially steaks and chops. They tend to be burned on the outside and raw inside. The problem is that I don’t cook meat often, so I don’t get much practice.

I kinda feel like I’m calling into a radio station…”Hi Deb, long time reader, first time commenter.”

I thought my big fear was croissants - but it turns out that canning is infinitely more terrifying than croissants.

But as someone has already claimed can-o-phobia, I’ll stick with my laminated pastry issues. I’ve made them twice, the first time in a class overseen by fab instructors, so my croissants were good. (It’s a fine day when you get told, “You know, they seem a bit too buttery.”) I endeavored to make them on my own and it was painful. VERY painful - too bready, too this, too that. I know I should get back up on my French horse, but it has just seemed like a pain to do so.

I think i’m afraid of cakes and poaching eggs, the latter making me particularly anxious. I also dislike making breakfast, unless it’s pancakes.

biscuits. No matter what I do they come out flat. like hockey pucks. I can make scones, which are really just fancied biscuits, right? so why not biscuits?

I would have to agree that frying chicken is terrifying to me - I always think I’m going to burn down my apartment building. Also roasting big expensive cuts of meat, like rack of lamb, is scary but perhaps more because I’m worried I’m going to make a $100 worth of meat inedible.

Too many things I’m at least a little afraid of. But you had me at “forgiving the fact that they used the cringe-worthy word ‘veggies’.” I’m really, really tired of “veggies,” “fridge,” “nuke,” and other trendy shortcuts. They’re a pitiful excuse for really nice words. I must admit to occasionally emitting “veggie” but I chalk it up to its omnipresence in my environment and then swear never to use it again. I refuse to even look at any recipe with “easy” or “cheesey” in the title - and I go absolutely ballistic at the conjunction of those two: “Easy, Cheesey …” Ugh!

Well, enough venting. I’m delighted at your open question, and will be comforted, I’m sure, by reading about other folks’ fears. Will be back with my own if I can narrow them down enough to fit in a comment … or two.

Congratulations on the wedding cake - you should be very proud and I know the bride was pleased.

I think canning would have to be the one for me. Ugh. I hate all of the sugar that you have to add to jam to make it (pre-diabetic here….).

I am ashamed to admit that simple chopping scares me. Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I can dice an onion without slicing a finger off, but anything smaller than that renders me all twitchy, and therefore, unsafe. And how do people do that fingertips-curling-under thing? Whatever I’m cutting either gets fingernail imprints stamped into it or goes flying away from me and onto the floor. And I can’t even think of making horizontal cuts, parallel to the board. Eeeeek.

Please don’t judge.

I am surprised by your rice comment, Deb. But then again, I have heard this from many of my friends (who are otherwise great cooks). I guess it helps that I am East Indian– rice is in our blood. Anyway, I’d be happy to help in the rice dept. anytime.
Oh my fear? I think I have to go with the other 2 readers who said ‘canning’. I am not so fearful of high-acid foods, but the low-acid ones do freak me out a bit. It doesn’t help that I am a microbiologist and I have young kids…oh the pressure!

Have you ever used the cake or fresh yeast? My old school supermarket only offers the 2.2 oz cakes of fresh yeast if we want yeast. I want so much to learn bread but sheesh, I can’t find any recipes that talk about the fresh yeast. Do you dump it in with the flour? Do you moosh it up into the water? How much of a 2.2 oz cake would you use for a single loaf recipe?

I can’t make fried chicken, either. It’s just so discouraging and messy and the results are not worth all the clean up.

Speaking of clean up, just how bad IS that floor? A $1 scrubber and a squirt of dish soap wouldn’t make it all better?

Oh one more thing. I have a great recipe for Aromatic rice on my blog. Its from Tom Douglas and I swear it really smells heavenly. Would go great with any asian (not east asian) flavored food.

My true fear (justified by the many screw-ups in trying) is cooking ANYTHING with yeast. I can’t think of a single success- from pizza dough to cinnamon rolls. I always put a ton of effort into it and end up with something that tastes too yeasty to be edible. Maybe I’m buying the wrong stuff or using too much (I am pretty good at following directions, though). Anyway, every time I gather the courage to try again, I end up crying on the finished product.

Wow. That felt good to get out. Thanks for offering yourself as food therapist!

I am hesitent to make lamb even though it is a favorite in our house. I sometimes have meatloafs or roasts that have to go back in the oven for more time so I am scared to make any meat that needs to “rest”.

Anything with yeast. Will it rise? Is it sitting in a warm enough place? But is it too warm? Uuuugggh, all that prolonged worrying gets me every time. Most everything has turned out, but it makes me too anxious to feel ok about yeast.

RA.. check this out..http://www.chefscatalog.com/product/20289-finger-guard.aspx there are a lot of version, some plastic, some with spikes etc. But it should clear up the chopping fear :)

I’m scared of cooling fish. Any kind except shellfish (I’m ok with that). I can’t cook fish. I never know when it’s done, it either ends up crispy and burnt or soft and mushy. I try to follow the instructions for time, but it just never turns out right. Lately my husband and I have wanted to start eating fish for their health benefits, but we’ll never be able to do it if we can’t first figure out how to cook it!

I will admit it that I am afraid to deep fry at home. I have a large dutch oven and a fry thermometer, but I just don’t know what to do with the spent oil once I’m done. Do I reuse it? Should I be deep frying that much? I know it doesn’t go down the drain, but since I don’t drink much coffee at home, I don’t have any metal containers to store the spent oil in like my mom did growing up.

What do you do with the used cooking oil from the random time that you deep fry something?

I am afraid of making Spaghetti Carbonara… something about the raw egg and worried that it gets cooked enough to kill bacteria… I’ve eaten this in restaurants and loved it! I am just too frightened to try on my own. :(

Fears: Breads, Lamb

My husband is always requesting lamb but I am too afraid to mess it up after spending so much money on it! And really, anything with yeast, not just breads.

I share the fried-chicken fear, and also have bad luck with braising. But Jeffrey Steingarten saved me with his rice method: Boil roughly 1 part rice to 3 parts water (there should be lots of water) until the rice is still quite firm and undercooked at the center but no longer very crunchy. 4 minutes? Stir frequently at the beginning so the rice doesn’t stick. Dump the rice in a strainer to drain, put the rice back in the pan, and cook on very low heat, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Using good-quality basmati rice makes it especially hard to screw this up.

sauces. all kinds. ok…maybe not all kinds. like, hollandaise doesn’t freak me out, but a simple white sauce? yes.

oh, and making my own chicken stock. sounds interesting, but also like a big pain in the you know what. convince me i’m wrong!

Yeast bread, hence my fear of any bread beyond banana or beer. :wink:

Canning. It seems like a science project begging to go wrong.

Pancakes. The amount of oil is the issue for me. I’ve gone with too little and scraped them off the pan, and I’ve gone with too much and been accused of making funnel cakes. But I can do french toast like a champ. Go figure.

Any kind of egg cookery beyond scrambled. I only like scrambled eggs and quiche or omelets, so I’ve had no motivation.

I am fine with roasting, but I’m not the one to cook the steaks. I’ll wreck them.

Good question about the fear factor.

oh, and to the RA afraid of chopping: get a sharp knife, a mandoline, and one of those kitchenaid or pampered chef chopper things https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=240&catId=4&parentCatId=4&outletSubCat=&viewAllOutlet=

and you should be good to go. not that you’ll necessarily be fast, but at least a little more efficient. i’ve got another 10 years of chopping before i ever get fast.

hi deb - love your blog but haven’t commented very often before (my bad). the RICE question - rice is the edible holy grail of my south asian family. my mom has great stories about running downstairs as a newly-wed to their apartment building’s garbage to throw away unsuccessful batches of rice before my dad got home. he’s a fanatic about good basmati rice as am I - having learned from my mother’s (and my own) mistakes. there are a few tricks that make it easier. as a fellow brooklynite, i’d be happy to demonstrate sometime!

I’m going to go with making a good loaf of whole wheat bread as well, and one that doesn’t involve a bread maker - I’m determined to do it on my own! Specifically, I want a loaf of bread that I can make sandwiches with. I’ve got no problem creating a serviceable loaf of whole wheat bread, but I can never get it to rise enough during that second rise to peak over the edge of the loaf pan, so I end up with too-small-for-sandwich sized bread. HELP!

I’m afraid of several things - canning, rice and frying - which were all mentioned by other posters. I also have no idea how to take skin off of fish without losing half of the filet.

I echo the fears of biscuit-making, as well as canning. The first time I made biscuits they turned out perfectly, and I had convinced myself that I was a biscuit-making prodigy. Since then - nothing. They always come out flat and heavy. I think I’m so worried about overworking the dough that I don’t work it enough, but whatever the reason, I need some biscuit intervention!

And as Heidi said, the prospect of botulism has made me wary of canning, but I am determined to check this off my cooking “to do” list in the near future.

Yeasty breads! My pizza dough never seems to rise and I’ve tried all the tricks. What gives? Becuase of my flat pizza crusts, I never really venture ito other yeasty breads. But I have occassionally (twice?) made kipful that uses the yeast in cake form. It was disasterous, but not because of the yeast.

Anything with instructions like this: “Cut out and reserve wings and backbone from chicken.” I’m sorry, but this is when I call my butcher and start reading the instructions to him, and ask when I can pick up the appropriately chopped-up chicken.

Canning, while intriguing, also carries with it complexity and the added risk of death, so that’s under the Justifiable Fear list. Also anything that requires straining through a “fine sieve,” but that’s more a supply issue — I do not possess one.

Most baking. I’m not a baker. I had a theory that one is either a good cook or a good baker, but then your site came along and it turns out I just suck at baking.

Hi, my name is Marguerite, and I am terrified of frying, be it deep or shallow….
Can you help? Actually, what terrifies me isn’t only the process, but the sheer amount of fat that I am absorbing - although on the other hand, I have absolutely no problem making a cake that uses a pound of butter!

I would love to be able to bake good yeast breads–bread, rolls, pizza crust, etc. However, I am paralyzed by fear. I have tried a few times and failed miserably.

I’m a little freaked out by making gnocchi, since the one time I tried making them, they were gummy to the point of being inedible. I’m pretty sure that now that I’ve read about making gnocchi about a billion times, I know all the tricks to make them turn out perfectly. Still, that one experience is holding me back.
I’m also kind of scared of canning, since, again, the one time I tried it, it didn’t work out so well. My friends who ate their jam right away were totally fine, but the one I kept in the back of my pantry looked a little funky after a week or so…

After the past couple of years there’s not a lot I fear, but there are things I think may be harder and/or not worth the effort, such as croissants, phyllo or making your own cheese or yogurt.

Then again, I used to think pie crust wasn’t worth the effort.

POLENTA! How to make it the right consistency? How to get out the lumps (I know, stir stir stir). How to get the timing right so that when the polenta is just the right consistency all the other foods are magically ready even though I haven’t had time to tend to them because I’ve been too busy stirring this damn polenta, which then congeals as soon as I take my eyes away from it to plate the rest of the meal???

You’ve done it. In fact, the whole entire food blogger world has done it. I’m terrified of attempting to bake bread. And yet it’s supposed to be simple and delicious! Hmph. No knead or not… I’m still wary. It doesn’t help that I’m not one much for baking.

PS How to keep us coming back? How about gorgeous photos like the first, which snagged my attention and kept it for a good 15 minutes of drooling? Hmm…

LOBSTER! I live in freaking NEW ENGLAND and practically everyone I know has a big ol’ lobster pot and makes the frequent trek back from the shore with fixin’s for a lobster bake. But, but, but… *they’re still alive* In order to eat them, they need to be dead. That, friends, is my real fear! Apparently all you have to do is boil the big ol’ pot of water and drop the suckers in there… but, but, but… *they’re still alive* SOME people (heathens!) take a big sharp knife and split them (WHILE ALIVE) head to tail for stuffing, then throw them on the grill. I. just. can’t. do. it.

http://roundoaktablev2.blogspot.com/

Rice? Seriously? No one Asian has suggested this yet? A fuzzy logic rice cooker will solve that problem in a jiffy.

To Scott: I too once feared the crepe, but got inspired one morning and made… an enormous mess! I had followed the eronious directions to not stir out the lumps. “They’ll work themselves out” I read, but it was all lies. I now use the very simple Joy of Cooking recipe and my well seasoned Le Crueset 7″ (or so) cast iron skillet which has nicely slopping sides. I whisk the batter until all the lumps are gone and do not bother “resting” it as some recipes call for. I replace 1/4 C. white flour with whole wheat (you would never know) and use a pastry brush to lightly coat the pan with oil once the pan is fairly hot. I scoop about a 1/4 C. of the fairly runny batter into the middle of the pan and swirl it around until it evenly coats the surface. The first one sometimes sticks a little, but this method seems pretty foolproof. The trick seems to be in not using too much oil because that causes the batter to slide and skid around in the pan. Good luck! Now can someone please give me some advice on making pita bread?? I’ve tried and tried and always end up with chewy, dense discs of dough. Ugh

Oh shux…i think if i buy one more kitchen appliance I will have to move out of my house for lack of space in my pad…

Hi Deb.
Finally delurking today…
Anyway my big cooking fear is potato gnocchi. they come out like little lead balls and the taste is indescribably disgusting. It’s been years since my last attempt.

love your blog!

I’m afraid of making marshmallows. I just feel like it would be messy and get all over the place and I’d probably end up burning myself. On the other hand… homemade marshmallows look so tasty!

Meringue. The kind you put on top of Lemon Meringue Pie. I have read what seems like every possible contribution on the subject, but mine almost always weeps at a least little no matter what I do. It isn’t fear so much as inability to master it.

I also cannot make rice to save my life. And I echo all of the fears of yeast breads. I tried to make brioche last weekend in hopes of making Dorie Greenspan’s Pecan Sticky Buns and, yeah, not so much. All I did was waste a lot of expensive butter.

Risotto. No one I know eats it, let alone makes it. Even if I finally got the courage up to try and make it out of a cookbook, how would I know if it turned out right? I’ve only ever tried it ONCE at a restaurant and it tasted very earthy then, not particularly appealing. Everything about risotto that I’ve read or seen on TV suggests that it’s really wonderful, but I don’t know where to start.

Oh, it’s the yeast…..might as well throw my money away as to try to make anything with yeast.

Boiled rice, yes. I make very decent fried rice, but plain boiled white rice… Either burns or isn’t cooked through.
Also, anything baked with yeast. Cinnamon rolls, oh, I love them, but can never get them right…

I share the canning fear of many. I’d love a good tutorial on that, what with high tomato season approaching and then apple butter coming up in a couple of months… *sigh* Oh and the crepe suggestion would be interesting, too!

I actually licked my lips at your salad photos. And I don’t even like watermelon (I know, I know, it’s a texture thing).

I’m very anti-bread. I’m less afraid of the steps and more annoyed by the mess it makes. I’m also scared to fry things as splattering oil hurts like hell and I’m a big baby.

Very intrigued by all of the watermelon and feta salads. It looks lovely! I need to taste this combo because the thought of it is a little odd and I keep remember that Top Chef episode where Sam made some sort of watermelon salad and the judges crucified the poor guy.

Y’know, while I have a *healthy* fear of canning, I’m not really scared of much…..

Except serving my boyfriend meat. You see, he’s on immunosuppressants, and cooks better than I do. So I worry about undercooking meat and killing him, or overcooking meat and him disliking it. And I can never find the freaking thermometer, or I don’t have one where I’m cooking at the time….. So there are some dishes I know how not to screw up, but other than that, I often stick to tofu as a main protein.

Pastry dough. I tried to make my best friend lemon tarts for her birthday, and while the filling turned out tart and yummy, the pastry dough just wouldn’t…comply. I ended up in my kitchen in tears when I should have been getting ready to go out dancing.

I’m extremely frustrated by making pan sauces from the drippings after cooking meat. It’s difficult for me to differentiate the fat which should be skimmed off from the liquid/flavor which should be preserved. My pan sauces always end up super greasy. I’ve tried those plasic jugs which separate the fat; they are nonsensical to me.
Regarding your fear of rice: I cook basmati rice (1 cup of rinsed rice, 2.25ish cups of water, a sprinkle of kosher salt and a drizzle of olive oil) in a white corningware round dish with the glass lid. Put all ingredients in microwave x 12 minutes. It always ends up perfectly cooked. It might be the only thing I use my microwave for!

I haven’t made an apple pie in years. I went through a phase where I spent several months trying to make and apple that wasn’t watery. I tried different recipes, apples, flour, cornstarch, nothing worked. Other people make apple pies that aren’t runny, why can’t I? It got to the point where I’m afraid to try it again. :(

Mine’s more of an overall fear - I’m afraid to tweak baking recipes in case they fail horribly and I’ll have to throw them out. Cooking, eh, you can taste as you go. If baking goes wrong though, you’re screwed.

Brains. It’s probably the only thing I *haven’t* cooked yet, and I have no itch to try it. I can’t even stand seeing it at the market — it makes me want to throw up.

Yeast. Totally unoriginal *points to 3029283 people ahead of her who said the same thing*…but it’s true. I want to do it! I love to bake! But I’m scared of bread. It was my summer project to figure it out, but I’m kind of paralyzed. Help, Deb!

As for the biscuit-fearers–I feared biscuits, too, until Food & Wine’s awesome Grace Parisi tackled them in my favorite monthly column, her “From the Test Kitchen” feature. Check out the recipe here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/buttery-buttermilk-biscuits-november-2007

They truly never fail, and her note at the end that they can be frozen is dead on! They’re a little less light when you freeze them, but still flaky and delicious and awesome. I actually just made them last night, and they’re fantastic. Love Grace, love this recipe.

But yeast breads? YIKES!

I agree with everyone! ha! I guess I am afraid to cook lots of things! :-) Top of my list are souffles, egg drop soup, risotto, and….swiss meringue buttercream! But after seeing the pretty posts about the wedding cake, maybe I will try out your recipie!!

Wow, this question really got people going! For people with bread issues, I just figured out last week you need it HOT and moist to rise a good bread. I put it on the deck (it gets up to 101 out there!) covered with a damp towel. Also, keep it in the fridge over night for the second rising- lots of time, even with a slow rise, makes a nice loaf of bread. Oh, and add as little flour as possible- just enough to be able to scoop it out of the bowl in a cohesive mass. Before you bake it, let the oven preheat at least a half hour or so- you want a good, hot, oven to get that initial “lift” for your bread.

As for canning…I found out last week that exploding jars aren’t all that bad. You just keep it all in the water bath, and rinse off the other jars really well when you’re done.

My fear would be deep frying. Splattering oil, buying a gallon of oil just to cook one meal, the smell permeating every textile in the house…yeah, deep frying.

I’m not sure I would say that I am afraid of it, but I can’t seem to get brownies down. It amazes me that something so easily made from a box can be so out of my reach when trying to make them from scratch. Even my old stand-byrecipe resources have failed me. Every browine I make comes out tasting too much like sugar and not enough like chocolate. I fear I will never succeed.

I would really love to be able to cook fish (in the oven, not on the grill) but I am always afraid that it won’t be done….

I would also like to know some good bread recipes that don’t involve a bread machine and are relatively quick…

FISH! It’s always over or underdone. And I’m terrified of getting sick (or making someone else sick).

I have two fears. The first is pizza. I know you’ve covered it to death, but I’m still afraid to try (again) because all of my attempts turn out really…bready. If I wanted bready pizza, I’d stick sauce on a slice of french and call it a day. My second fear is making anything in a pressure cooker. I bought one, thinking I couldn’t possible live without being able to make beans in 15 minutes, but I’m afraid to use it. To many stories of explosions.

Thank you for offering cooking therapy. I feel better already. Maybe I’ll make pizza this weekend. Or not.

Long time reader, first time poster…. love the blog, Deb! LOBSTER is my biggest fear. The thought of killing them…. eeek!

I have only 2 fears in the kitchen… frying chicken and making hollandaise. i never get the chicken cooked all the way through for some reason, and my attempts at hollandaise have all turned out to be the tastiest scrambled eggs I’ve ever had.

The watermelon salad looks great. I too make a savory watermelon salad. It has watermelon, red onions, avocados, serrano chiles and shrimp and I toss it all with a really easy lime vinaigrette. Most peoples’ reaction when they hear about it is a big “eeeeeewwwwwwwww!”, but it’s teh awesome when it’s as hot and muggy as it’s been here lately.

I love feta, that looks so good. I love your recipes. I found your web site through the Pioneer Woman site. My cooking fear is about meat. Things like chicken, beef and pork. I’m afraid I won’t cook it properly and we’ll all get sick. Maybe because I’m not a big fan of meat, but my husband loves it.

Meat. Without a doubt. Steaks and chops frighten me.

Pie crust.
And once I’ve mastered pie crust, I want to use it to make a chicken pot pie. I have tried both several times and they are always terrible.

My bugaboo used to be biscuits, but then I found a wonderful recipe in Cooks Illustrated several years ago and it works like a charm every time! It’s a little messy, but the method they use is fool proof (your biscuits will not be hockey pucks!). For those w/biscuit phobia, go to the following link, where the author has posted the recipe:

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2004/06/impulsive_late_.html

I still have a fear of tarts/pastry dough and grilling fish. Actually, I tend to have overall grill issues and am terrified to ‘ruin’ expensive slabs of meat.

Lots of cooking things make me a little anxious (bread! meringue! anything involving a candy thermometer!), but the ones that I actually avoid because I am so intimidated:

- poaching eggs (and I LOVE poached eggs! I just can never prevent them from turning into a hugegantic stringy mess of threads); and
- boning/skinning/otherwise prepping fish (this “pull out the small bones with pliers” business always leaves me with a mushy impossible mess and I feel horrible guilt at wasting beautiful seafood).

Weird…I’m not really afraid of anything, that I can think of off the top of my head. Pies used to scare me–that’s been conquered. For some reason I’ve never had issues with rice–just dump it all together, throw a lid on it, and leave it alone. Comes out fluffy each time. Best thing ever for those who are rice-phobic though?–a rice cooker (I’ve come to appreciate it’s virtues living with an Asian significant other).

Actually, custard-based ice creams scare me. I’ve made one attempt with our shiny new ice cream maker, and it came out horrid (the custard was…not quite curdled, but definitely not smooth). I’ll have to face that one and tackle it again, and soon. :) And helpful hints?

Oh, it cracks me up that MN had the same fear! We must have posted at the same time!

Wow I can’t believe more people haven’t wrote about it… well except for Kiki and Jenn right above me but I’m terrified of making any sort of fish. My mom is allergic to all fish (both shell fish and… umm… not shelled fish [I'm not sure if there's even another term for that]) so that fact that I didn’t grow up eating fish which only makes the situation worse. I don’t even know what fish dishes there are out there and if you need to take out bones or lop their heads off or what it should look like when it’s done or what.

Haha, wow, I love reading through these responses! Most of mine are minor fears that I’m sure I’d be able to get over if I just went in the kitchen and tried. But my big ones are:

- Sauces. Any time I’ve tried to make a roux-based sauce, I’ve failed miserably. Some recipes I’ve seen say to use equal parts flour and butter by weight, others say by volume - 2 very different things! And then is the liquid supposed to be hot or cold? How much do you add at a time? Even if you can make a fancy sauce, what do you serve it with besides a big hunk-o’-meat (for those who are not eating so many big hunks-o’-meat these days)?

- Duck. I love duck SO MUCH and I order it out whenever I can, but I’ve never tried to make it myself. My dad told me a horror story about when he tried to roast a duck and some of the fat dripped out of the pan and started a fire in the oven, and now I’m terrified that the same thing will happen to me.

Help me Dr. Deb, you’re my only hope! ;)

I can roast the turkey but man, do I stink at making gravy! And I’ve got many wedding cakes to my credit too!

I have to admit, I’m a little confused by the “I can’t cook rice!” comments - we just stick ours in the rice cooker and it comes out fine every time. Granted, I have no idea what you do with rice without a rice cooker, so maybe you just need to buy the appliance? Also, the best rice for fried rice is day-old cooked rice. I know it sounds funky but trust me, it tastes so much better. Also, always cook over high heat, and use butter instead of oil - it’ll keep those eggs from sticking, although on that note, don’t be afraid of the crusty gummy stuff at the bottom! It’s the best part!

As far as my food fears … I’m pretty much afraid to try anything with ingredients that I can’t pronounce and/or don’t recognise. I know it sounds silly, but I just can’t bring myself to try something totally, totally new. I’m also vaguely afraid of cooking anything that comes out of the ocean, but not so afraid that I won’t try it. Mostly it’s just that I don’t eat seafood very often so I’m not really comfortable with it yet.

I’m going to have to mirror what a lot of people already said and agree that my two biggest fears are baking bread and frying anything. I LOVE both but am deathly afraid to try to do either from scratch.

I also have to agree with the above commenter who mentioned pan sauces where you are instructed to skim off the fat. I have no clue how to do such a thing, so I usually just skip it.

I can fry chicken (although its a big fat mess and I wouldn’t reccommend it). I have canned many a christmas present. Baking bread is not a problem. You want dinner rolls? loaf bread? braided challah? I’m your girl. However, I have MAJOR MAJOR baguette phobia. The thought leaves me shaking in my boots. I have a great recipe but it is 2 pages long. whats up with that? I even bought a baguette pan and something called vital wheat gluten a few years ago and I can’t even look at them. I’m sure the gluten is expired by now.

I’m afraid to cook a whole chicken. Probably a turkey too. There are so many more complicated things I can do, but I have just never tried a whole chicken. Part of me thinks there wont’ be much meat on it or that I won’t utilize all the meat that IS on it. I think I generally stay away from meats with the bone in.

I would love to do beer-can chicken on the grill but won’t attempt hat until I bake a chicken. As for the turkey, I don’t have a roasting pan so I wont’ attempt that for a while. I’ve helped my mom with turkeys a fair amount though so a turkey is less daunting than a chicken. Odd, I know.

I’m afraid of cooking rice, too. Sad.

Fear? What is fear? Just get in there and do it. You’ll be surprised, and learn something, no matter what. I used to see a chef on TV talk about boning a chicken (sorry, can’t remember who it was), who said just buy some chickens on sale and practice until you get it. What have you lost? A $3 chicken? You can still make chicken salad. My very first meal, ever, at barely 20 years old, was fried chicken. It was wonderful. We had to pour the mashed potatoes over the gravy, but I learned something. The first meat my kids ever admitted to liking was lamb. It’s easy. Bread is fun, even if it doesn’t come out perfect, and what is it, a few cents worth of flour and stuff? In most cases, just throw caution to the wind. However, with canning, if you don’t know how, be very, very careful. After 40 years of cooking, the only fear left is that of coming up to dinner time with nothing to put on the table.

Love, love, love your blog but first time poster. LOBSTER!! I can’t believe there are others “like me” with the irrational fear of cooking lobster. I look at beautiful lobsters at the fish market and always turn away because I am afraid I will ruin a beautiful, not to mention expensive crustacean!

Soft shelled crabs! Never had one, never seen on in person, have no idea what is edible and what is not.

Help???

Wow. The New York Times had a similar piece in their paper, but worded it by asking what, when it turns up in a recipe, will you refuse to cook? It got a lot of food blogs all up in arms, because many people said things like “whisking egg whites”. And here it tuns up again! I can’t understand how one can be scared of making chicken stock, eating raw eggs (carbonara), chopping, and cooking a steak. What is considered “cooking” if basic things like this are feared?

To add, I will say that making croissants scares me.

share the canning fear; also fresh pasta (no pasta maker); cutting up raw chicken (hence my devotion to my butcher).

I been hearing a lot about the horrors of buttercream frosting and it has me terrified! It just looks so gross before it starts to come together - I’m sure I’d suffer some sort of baking meltdown while preparing it!

I’m also afraid to prepare dishes with really expensive ingrients - I fear I’d screw something up and waste time and money. I leave the fancy stuff up to the restaurants!

Oh and I stink at rice too - I wonder why that is?

I’m surprised how many people share the same fears. Here are a few that are a bit different: gravy, mashed potatoes without lumps, fish, steak. I usually make my mashed potatoes like smashed potatoes — intentionally rustic, so I don’t feel like they have to be lump-free. Steaks, I make my husband cook so if they’re over or underdone, it’s not on me! :)

Meghan, I’m in your shoes with the too-flat whole wheat loaf. A friend of mine from church who bakes and sells bread offered to help me. I need to take her up on that.

FISH!

I’m afraid it won’t be done or that it will be over done.

Souffles … they’re so delicate.

http://www.mylittlecosmos.com

Oh a bunch of stuff-but I’m pretty new to cooking in general. Pastry dough is a pretty big fear though, fish. I took a food science and human nutrition class in college and it’s made me forever paranoid about undercooked foods which sucks because I love steak that’s medium and my bf likes it medium rare but I can’t bring myself to do this at home for fear of food poisoning. *sigh* Cognitively, I know it’ll be fine but I really do blame that class.

I have a problem with properly creating Chinese sauces for stir-fried stuff - you know: black bean sauce, spicy garlic sauce (esp. with eggplant, which I passionately love to eat and desperately wish to cook), mushu, etc. I can stir-fry just fine, but I can’t figure out the spice combinations, liquids (is it rice wine or broth or both?), or thickening ratio to make the tasty stuff I order from Chinese delivery places.

Biscuits, pound cake, and cheesecake. Mine always turn out horrible, without fail.

Re: Jenna’s comment (92) - I think the way that Deb worded the question here is very different from that NYTimes article. The article asked what people refuse to do; here, she’s just asking what people are scared to do. I see a kitchen fear as something you want to get over, but maybe you need a little hand-holding, whereas an outright refusal means you’re not even willing to try.

Pie crusts, meringues, mayonnaise, and fish. Me, afraid of fish? Oddly enough, sushi/raw fish is no problem for me, but cooking fish? It terrifies me. The other three are all things I have tried, but they have gone horribly wrong.

pizza … If I buy dough already made, it ends up being too soggy … maybe I load too many toppings? I haven’t tried making my own dough, but I just want to make a homemade pizza that doesn’t fall apart in the middle because there’s too much water from the tomatoes or too much sauce … and I don’t even LIKE sauce!

ugh!

Please don’t be afraid of going back to simple salads! While your wedding cakes and homemade cheese and other culinary athletics are entertaining to read about, I most enjoy the stuff that’s down to earth enough that I could actually make it.

As for my fears: Any large meat. Turkey, roasts, hams, whatever. The thermometers do not work, I don’t care what people say, and I have no idea how to find that magic moment when it is not raw and not cooked to death. Also, cakes. Same as the meat, always overcooked or undercooked. Never just right. How does anyone know the right moment to take it out of the oven? How???

Frying and broiling (getting better about that, though I did melt the underside of our stove knobs), yeast and gelatin (hate that stupid gelatin. It never, ever works for me), rolling out dough, and over easy eggs.

I am terrified of trying to make my mother’s cheesecake recipe. It’s the most amazing, cheesecake ever- New York style, but not as dense. It’s fluffy and light and tastes better than your fondest dream of cheesecake ever could. My stepmother tried to make it for me last Thanksgiving since I’m 500 miles from home, and even though she followed Mom’s recipe it didn’t taste, you know… right.
This cheesecake is sacred to me.

I’ve conquered many of my kitchen fears - meat (other than ground), fish/seafood, cheesecake, flambe, and most recently egg-based custards (key lime ice cream, mmm). I’m a little afraid of canning due to potential danger if done incorrectly, and I’m hesitant to grill large hunks of meat or fish b/c our grill gets really hot with natural charcoal, but I’m going to have to side with the yeast- and pie crust-fearing crowd for the big fears. I’ve attempted yeast-based rolls and pizza dough with disastrous results, and my one try at pie crust was just awful (Oh, Alton, why did you forsake me?). I’ve been given some good crust recipes by a trusted friend, though, so I hope to at least get that under my belt before long.

Anything with yeast strikes fear in my heart. I can bake quick breads, muffins, scones, fancy soda bread, even beer bread, but I’m scared to death of yeast. I’m hoping to change all that this summer. . . sooner or later.

I’m okay with pork in the slow cooker or dutch oven, but lean cuts of pork that go in the pan or cook in the oven freak me out (Not to mention the fact that I watched an episode of House where a girl had parasites in her brain). Also, italian icings where you pour a hot stream of sugar water into eggs. I am the master at curdling eggs.

I desperately want to learn how to properly prepare and consume an artichoke. I always have a good tussle in my brain whenever they appear on a menu–do I order those little leafs of heaven at the expense of good manners? A tutorial on these would be a dream. I want to make them in my kitchen and eat them in cloth-napkin situations. Help!

Tofu. I love it in restaurants, prepared any which way, but can’t seem to make it edible at home. It almost always ends up tasting vaguely of Play-Doh, or worse. Would love any ideas you have.

I love your site, but the way. Found your pizza-making entry bookmarked on Ezra Klein’s blog, and have been reading back entries for a few weeks. Congrats on the cake- it must be something of a relief to have to get audience participation for a change! :p

Take care.

This is so fun!

I am terrified of my pressure cooker. As the granddaughter of a woman who is fiercely proud to be descended from “pioneer stock,” I was forced to learn to can, can, can all the garden bounty she and my parents produced. So, I got it in my head that a heavy duty pressure cooker (http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamerican921pressurecanner.htm) would be the next logical step so I could move on from all those acidic fruits and vegetables. But, I’ve used it exactly twice. And had to take a shower when I was done because I was such a sweaty mess from imagining the thing blowing my nice house to smithereens.

Meat! Good meat is so expensive, and I don’t know what I’m doing (grill pan? broil? I just don’t know) and am terrified to ruin it.

Dear Doctor Deb,
It’s me Desperate Duchess here. I was going to ask about Brioche, how to make it, where it originates, why no one in Southern Oregon seems capable of making it? Then I read the other 106 comments and realized that I also have fears and no knowledge of canning, frying, bread making, yeast, Hollandaise, pastry crusts and stocks not to mention large pieces of meat.

I am going to be sitting here (in the corner rocking back and forth) ordering takeout and waiting to learn.
Thanks,
Desperate Duchess

This reminds me of a Nigella Lawson salad I make a lot - watermelon, feta, and olive salad. Kitchen fears: pie crust! I have tried a few times using all sorts of little tricks and tips and it’s just not my thing I guess. People laugh at me b/c I brew my own beer but I can’t mix a drink to save my life. It’s amazing just how bad I can make a 2 or 3 ingredient drink taste. Like award winningly bad! That’s something, right?

I know I’m not alone, but I’m afraid of soufflés. I live at high altitude and every souffle I make ends up looking like a rock. A pretty rock, but a rock none the less.

I love the summer salads! Bring ‘em on!

My biggest cooking fears:
-Whole chickens/turkeys (my aunt’s bird came out not done after several hours on Thanksgiving years ago so I’ve never tried)
-Most candy (so hot and sticky)

Eggs Benedict; I used to be able to make this but getting all the bits together, the eggs just so, the sauce smooth and the bacon crispy but not burnt; it just doesn’t happen.

So it’s not really one thing I’m afraid of cooking, it’s actually an appliance…my food processor. I’m terrified if pulverizing anything into mush/paste/liquidy goo. I might be a little finger heavy on the button.

I’ve had issues with rice, too, which is embarrassing, I hope you explore some rice techniques. I’m comfortable with pie, canning, yeast, crepes.
But, I’m terrified of laminated doughs, such as croissants or puff pastry - would love to see you tackle that.
Also I have never used my pressure cooker that was a wedding present 20 years ago and is still in my house even though the husband is long gone. I would like to overcome that fear.
I’m also afraid of deep frying. I’d like to see you do doughnuts or beignets.

Phyllo dough…never used it, watched people use it on TV - just never tried it myself. I have a box in my freezer for almost a year - I should probably chuck it as it’s probably not good to eat anymore!

To all of you that are completely afraid of cooking rice: try making black rice. To me it is seemingly both the easiest cooking rice (does not get sticky) and the tastiest! I know it might sound scary (BLACK?) but in fact its an heirloom rice that was at one time served only to Chinese Emperors. Its got a pretty deep-purple-ish tint to it and a nutty flavor and is higher in protein than other rices. It can make a blah dish look much more interesting…

I too would love to learn how to properly poach eggs, make an amazing hollandaise sauce, and delicious crepes!! :)

I am not necessarily “afraid” to cook anything, but I can not for the life of me get the texture of a Cinnabon cinnamon roll in home made.

You should see my picture. It would speak volumes about how many times I have tried.

Anything that involved whipping egg whites to any sort of peaks used to terrify me, but the flourless chocolate cake and flourless chocolate cookies have eased that terror a little.

Now? The bogeyman of my culinary dreams is yeast. I love fresh bread, pizza doughs, and the like, but the thought of making anything yeast leavened leaves me petrified.

ohh, also a pesto!

I am so afraid of making lamb. It’s so oily! I always wait to get it in a restaurant, and I can’t figure out how they can make it so, well, not oily. I guess the same could go for duck.

I’m afraid of frosted layer cakes, but not fazed by pies at all.
I’m afraid of trying my bread maker again (last time the bread tasted like pickles - I think the whole wheat flour was off but I still avoid the bread maker).
I’m afraid of using a mandoline.

To Rabbit, who is afraid of tofu:

Try making Deborah Madison’s Pan-Glazed Tofu with Thai Red Curry Sauce, over at http://wednesdaychef.typepad.com/the_wednesday_chef/2007/02/post.html — so good! The trick to sauteing tofu is to leave it for at least 7 minutes on one side before you dislodge and flip it (in my cast-iron pan on medium-high heat it usually takes at least 10 minutes). The second side will cook faster. The outside should be golden brown.
Also, my mom, an experienced tofu cook, says to always use extra firm tofu and press it before sauteing (weight it down with a plate and some books on top to press out some of the water).

Brioche! Thank goodness I’m not the only one…

I would have to say that I would be most afraid of cooking innards: brains, glands, organs and the like. But I would have to add that anything still alive freaks me out. I wish it didn’t because I eat meat, but feel it somewhat hypocritical that I can’t do the job from beginning to end.

I have cooked live lobsters before and that was pretty scary for me, but I got through it. I would be terrified of preparing live soft-shell crabs, for example. (did you reach French Laundry @ Home’s entry on this?)

Good question…It was fun to read all the comments before my post.

I don’t think I could cook a crab or a lobster…I’m terrified that they would somehow escape their deathly binds and claw me to pieces….so I always buy pre-cooked lobster and crab…but just once I would love to have a crab-lobster-fest and impress my friends without my “issues” getting in the way!

I’m with you on the rice. Add homemade salad dressings to the phobia list. I always delegate those to my bf.

Allison, I’m with you in preferring the raw route for fish. If it’s good quality I don’t even mess around with cooking it even though I can do it just fine (growing up in Alaska you learn these things). Copper River salmon was available recently and I asked if it was ok for sushi. He did this loud “well, Whole Foods has this fish here that is officially for sushi and the rest is not.” Then he leaned over, pointed at another worker, and whispered “but he and I were just in the back eating a bunch of it raw.” So sushi it was after my husband wrestled off the skin. I’m convinced skinning fish is a skill you can only master if your last name is something like Morimoto or Michiba.

I can honestly say that I’m not afraid to cook anything. I am slightly intimidated by some things–like croissants, whole fish, cheese–but that’s mostly because I haven’t yet tried them. I can think back to things I used to be intimidated by–pie crust, jam, whole chickens–and it’s almost silly how easy and unintimidating those things are now. Sure, they might not turn out perfect the first time, but it’s usually still edible.

I think the only cooking-related thing that truly strikes fear into my heart is situational, such as high-pressure situations where it *has* to turn out right because there’s no back-up plan. If I’m cooking for myself and I screw it up royally, I can always order Chinese, but if I’m cooking a feast for 20 and I screw it up, man, that would be embarrassing. The thing that truly freaks me out is, coincidentally, wedding cake. I would love love LOVE to make a wedding cake for a dear friend or my sister, but I just know I would be a basket case of nerves. I loved watching you tackle that job, though, and it turned out so great. So, you’re my superhero.

oh! for the canning-fearful, i just checked out a book from the library called Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda Amendt. She’s a decorated fair-winner and her book is really helpful. Plus, doesn’t an apricot-blackberry jam just sound so so good?

I share the rice (*especially* brown rice) fear.

I can’t believe no-one has said this one yet - homemade PUFF PASTRY. I am too scared to try. I love to can, not afraid of yeast breads, can make a mean pie crust etc, but the thought of tackling this one gives me the heebies! Oh, and foolproof non-hockey puck biscuits. That has eluded me… often they come out tasty but just flat, not tall and flakily delicious. And duck.

making gravy is a big one. cooking steaks to rare, but not raw.

Hey Dr. Deb. First time commenter… long time reader. I’ve learned a lot from your blog and often cook things that I’ve seen here. I’d be happy to share my rice secrets if you’re interested.
As for what I’m scared of: Pancakes. Why do they always burn or not cook at all? Isn’t there a happy medium… like perfect? I’m also really scared of canning things. How do you know if you did it right? Good luck with all of these ideas. It looks like you’ll be cooking like mad.

cake. always dry…always. i have recently discovered that it may (partially) be the arid climate i live in.

also, not so much a food fear, but a gadget fear. i am terrified of mandolines. i was chatting with my mom while she was cooking once…using a mandoline…and she sliced a nice strip of her thumb off. like an inch. gross. she was really calm and washed her hand and bandaged it while i sat there in wide-eyed wonder.

First, I must admit how much I adore this blog. Look forward to checking it and seeing a new picture, recipe or entry of some sort….okay. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of cooking large pieces of meat (ie: steak, whole chicken, whole turkey, whole fish–you get the idea), I’m just not very good at it. And if it has to go on the grill…whoa, what’s a whole other story. I have a charcoal grill that I’ve been forcing myself to use more often–and I even bought an instant thermometer. Practice makes perfect, I guess. As for rice..my father is middle eastern–we ate A LOT of rice growing up. Basmati, par boiled (think al dente), drained (not rinsed), melted butter/oil in bottom of hot pot, rice returned to pot, paper towel placed on top to make a tight seal, covered and cooked on med/med low heat for 30 min. YUM! Haven’t mastered the crunchy bottom yet–it’s the best part!

If you want PERFECT rice every time, invest $10 and a small amount of shelf space for a Microwave Rice Cooker. I bought 3 through Amazon last year for my kids and myself. Brown rice takes a bit extra water and time, but you get perfect, non-clumped rice everytime! Of course, you do need a microwave oven as the gadget is plastic and can’t go on the stove top.

I have gravy nightmares! Really. I dont have a problem with the milky gravy. It is those beautiful brown gravy made with the drippings from your holiday hams & turkeys. It always comes out clumpy & it never tastes quite right. Frankly I am ashamed to put it on the table with the rest of my holiday meal. I am ashamed of my gravy, there, I said it!

I fear making cakes, pies and breads. It’s almost as painful as going to the dentist.

Question re: the salad - is dressing meant to be mixed in or dolloped on top? (The recipe says mix; the picture doesn’t look mixed)

My mom is always reminiscing about my great grandmother’s coconut cream pie and saying how she was never able to recreate it. I’d love to make one that stood up to her test but I’m too afraid it won’t turn out

I won’t be answering the right question here, but let me just say that you definitely should grind your own wheat! I have a flour mill and it’s my second-favorite kitchen appliance right behind my KitchenAid stand mixer. The fluffy flour that comes out of it puts all store-bought varieties to shame, and the bread it makes is to die for!

Gnocchi. I attempted to make sweet potato gnocchi a couple of months ago and it was the most elaborate failure ever to take place in my kitchen. Never again says I.
Arika

Rice may be one thing I don’t usually have a problem with. It used to come out all gummy, but then I tried what my bf’s mom does, and put a little bit of oil (usually olive or canola, depending on the style of rice) and/or butter in the pan first, heat that up, and then mix in the rice. Cook that for a minute or two, stirring a couple times, before adding in the water or stock. I make this rice pilaf all the time.

As for risotto, I’ve only made one, based on a Wolfgang Puck recipe (found here) and it came out so good my friend begged me for the recipe.

Oh, I too have trouble with yeast breads, and I would so love to bake fresh rolls to make sandwiches with. I also have trouble with chicken pot pie (should be easy right?).

Glad to see that I am not the only one with a fear of frying chicken… but even worse (better?) I cannot GRILL chicken with bones in it! Boneless anything I am good with but leave the bone in and it will be inedible… For the love of God we steam lobsters for 50 people once a year and I can whip out Thanksgiving without breaking a sweat but chicken with bones is my downfall… Oh AND melting chocolate in the microwave… My God but I think I need a therapist…

And flambeing (did I spell that right?). I LOVE bananas foster, but I’m scared to death of the whole flaming up thing.

I really want to learn to make a glorious beautiful omelet. (I don’t eat yokes, long story-my grandma fed me rotten eggs when I was 10-scarred for life.) But my family loves them and I want to be amazing one morning and surprise them with a glorious omelet!

Oh, to be commenter 153… I just made a watermelon and pasta dish with greek cheese. it was delicious.

Fish.
Yeast breads.
Grilling.

Already been mentioned, but artichokes. I don’t know why it is so hard and I don’t want to waste $3 on each failure. But I LOVE them.

Two fears: The first is caramel. I tried once and was never again able to separate that spoon from the pot. I can’t sacrifice more utensils so I’m scared to try again. The second is quiche. It just never comes out right for some reason - and I can make a good pie crust.

My biggest fear is not so much rice as rice pudding. I made it once and it turned out awful! I’m too afraid to attempt it again.

As a side note, I’ve been afraid of yeast breads until now. I have about a half hour left on my first ever loaf of bread (from your September ‘06 post Deb!). I hope it turns out well so I don’t have another rice pudding trauma!

For the guy that doesn’t have coffee cans for oil, use a juice carton! Take a funnel and pour it in when the oil is cool.

As for lobsters, they go to sleep in a big bucket of iced water after a few minutes. =)

And am I afraid to cook anything? Not as far as I know. I do mess up rice every now and then and I know it’s because I put in too much water (rarely do I do this).

I’ve been cooking long enough to have worked through most of my fears and conquered those things that I was afraid of. Most of my problems, I found, came from not trusting and giving myself up completely to the instructions, prepping, and giving undivided attention when I was preparing a recipe. Once I finally did those things, the recipes worked out perfectly almost always.

Also..my expectations weren’t always met. Take, for instance, biscuits. I have finally owned to the fact that I just don’t like the way a baking powder biscuit tastes. I like dinner rolls. I like yeast breads. Those canned biscuits are really yeast based breads, and that texture is what I wanted. You don’t get the same texture or flavor from baking powder. So..I quit that quest

I do fear canning. It’s not the process so much as it is the potential for botulisim if a seal breaks. So..I just let it alone. I hate a hot kitchen in the summertime anyway, so wouldn’t do it even if I weren’t scared of the outcome. I don’t have room to store all that stuff anyway. The irony? I love that other people to do it and giving some to me, and I trust the product completely. Huh?

I guess I still dread rolling pie dough. It’s only the rolling I hate to do. Why can’t they make a pie crust press..you know? They have tortilla presses, pannini presses, Kummkake presses. waffle irons are big and they press too, so why not a pie crust press? Tell me that, would ya?

Sorry for the rambling and ranting..~gracious, that felt good. Whew!

The thing I was most afraid to BAKE, until a few months ago when I actually did it, was homemade streudel. I was terrified.

And I’m not afraid to cook pan sauces and reductions, but I don’t like doing it so I avoid it.

I was just telling some friends this past weekend how I’ve never made crepes because I’m so intimidated by them. I’m on the east coast of the US, and there aren’t crepe stands over here like I’ve seen in Seattle and heard about in CA, so I almost never get to eat them. The place we were eating brunch had crepes with strawberries and creme freche and I was overjoyed by the chance to have them.

These friends know I’m a huge foodie and love to cook and bake, so they kind of laughed at my reluctance to try to make them. I’m determined to give crepes a try soon, but I do worry that they won’t turn out well. Do I need to get a specific crepe pan? I feel like I need to do a lot of research before I make this attempt.

Decorative things are my nemesis. As is — cake or cupcake decorating. The cake and frosting doesn’t trouble me, but making them look presentable, or even cute? Can’t. Do. It.

And while I’m at it — the fluted type edges on a pie crust — can’t handle those either.

Its the decorative touches that get me.

I’ve read through the comments and I can’t think of anything that I’m afraid to make. I’ve tackled cakes, tarts, caramel, pasta, stocks, roasts and a plethora of other things but nothing has raised fear in me. It’s the adventure that makes me tackle recipes I just found or strange requests from people. My boyfriend proudly tells his friends and family, “She can make anything- just ask her and she’ll figure it out.”

Hi Deb!

One of my all time favorite meals is a quality bowl of chicken or shrimp pad thai with extra egg. If I could eat it every day and NOT end up 500 lbs, I most absolutely would. But, here’s me without a wok and a deep fear of failing my favorite meal. I’d love a good fail proof-ish recipe.

I’m afraid of making numerous things but the two main ones are Bread and Frosting…yes, frosting. I’ve never managed to make frosting without it seperating. Ohhhhh…whatever am I doing wrong? I can never figure it out so frosting remains my fear. And bread.

There really is not much that I am not willing to try and make. Now-a-days it is just a matter of having time to do stuff.

I haven’t read all the comments but I’d like to add some of the things I have found with regard to cooking rice. First, I do not use a rice cooker - only because my Mom always cooked rice in any old pot and I just continued that… ANYWAY, what I have found is that the source of the rice makes a HUGE difference. I am originally from Canada (and never had much trouble with rice there) but I’ve been in the United States for about 6 years now and any time I have tried a rice from the US it has been awful no matter what I do. I pretty much always use Basmati rice but now I make double sure it’s from India. You don’t want to know about the horrendous mess of mush that resulted when I got some (US grown because it was all I could find) basmati while we were in southeast Texas visiting the in-laws - YUCK. The same goes for short grain rices used for risotto, find one from Italy.

As for what I’m afraid to cook… hmm I honestly can’t think of much. I’m the sort that will try anything once… There are things I generally don’t cook because I did not succeed previously but I did give it a go :)

What am I afraid of cooking? Um….anything that isn’t from a box that says “Just add water and stir!” And I hate that because I want to eat organic, I want to eat clean, I don’t want to eat corn syrup and trans-fat all the dang time. But I just cannot cook.

In fact, over the past two weeks, I have attempted to make no less than 4 from-scratch meals. And I have also thrown out no less than 4 nasty-ick meals over the past two weeks. And it makes me so sad. Why am I so bad at this!? It’s not even hard things — it’s easy things, easy things that a 12 year old could manage. I follow the recipes exactly and I just…end up…with gross every single time. Ugh.

I did however manage to make some half-decent oatmeal apple wholewheat muffins. They baked a little too long but still, way better than my other attempts lately. And I learned that I really dig chopping up things. Now if only I could translate my chopping up skills into eating up skills, things would be all good on this western front.

I guess I don’t need a lesson on how to not cook terrible food. I just need a hug and an edible meal. :)

Pie crusts, divinity candy & souffles.

To those who have fried chicken issues - find a good fried chicken joint. I live in the New Orleans area, so you’d think deep south, deep frying, no problem. My mother & I gave up frying chicken years ago thanks to Popeye’s. It tastes good, and someone else gets to deal with the mess.

just the thought of working with phyllo dough terrifies me…so it has to be spinach pie that i just cant bring myself to make…and im greek…go figure!

I have several fears: strangely enough, making broth. It must be chopping vegetables; baking a genoise sponge cake, meringues, baking with yeast, and, ratatouille- oh and pastry. I always bake with somewhat of a trepidation.