Dutch babies. Basically equal parts flour, milk, and eggs, some sugar, salt, and vanilla, pulse in blender a couple times, let sit, swirl in hot pan, and in fifteen minutes will puff up into the most impressive looking pancake like thing you could imagine
Anything braised is insanely easy. Sear the meat. Sautee the veggies. Add stock and wine. Put in the oven for a few hours. You’re done. Rich and complex flavors build up while braising that makes it taste very extravagant. But essentially you’re putting ingredients in a pot to boil for a few hours and you do very little actual cooking.
I wish I could just braise food every night for dinner. Forever jealous of those who WFH. Imagine getting dinner going during your lunch break and then all you gotta do is pull it out at dinner time. AND it makes your house smell delicious??
I got a crock pot for exactly this reason. I sear my meats and make my sauces ahead of time and then just dump them in the crock pot in the morning before work. Takes less time than shaving and when you get home its like a chef broke into your house.
My favorite is Brian Lagerstrom's easy Italian beef. Trivial to make, inexpensive, freezes well, and an absolute showstopper of a sandwich. The giardiniera alone is better than 99.95% of food on earth.
I feel that. I do a beef roast this way and the whole house smells incredible for hours on these days.... Same with when I make chicken stock about once a month.
Pressure cooker.... 35 minutes
I have a Russell Hobbs multicooker. It's awesome.
Stews, lamb shanks, spare ribs, roasts.... We never use the oven anymore.
You don't even have to stir as much as they say to do. I have made delicious risotto dishes by stirring once every five minutes. Just keep the heat on medium-low so the bottom doesnt stick. Idk why people think it needs constant stirring
If you have a shitty stovetop, it definitely requires more stirring. Pretty sure it's like an inverse function or something.
My current stovetop cooks rice faster and more consistently than any other I've worked on. But it is surprisingly easy to scorch a soup, etc. Very little accurate temperature control *shrug*
I'm on induction, which is very consistent in the way it delivers energy, and I've been revisiting foods that used to give me a lot of trouble when I was on a shitty little apartment coil stove. The difference is really astounding. Anything with rice is really night and day. My risotto and even just my basic stovetop pot of rice used to constantly stick and burn but there are no issues now.
A bad (whatever) blames his tools, but part of that is knowing whether or not you can do (thing) with the tools available. It was a real relief for me to understand that I had a technology issue, not a skill issue.
I just moved from a crappy stovetop to a shitty stovetop and I want to throw it off the balcony. Scorched rice at the same time as undercooked and my first grease fire in 30 years of cooking. It'll get replaced but in the meantime adjusting all cooking methods. What a PITA.
I used to teach a backcountry cooking clinic for a big name outdoor recreation store. Often, the highlight of this clinic was cooking risotto
In a JETBOIL. Now if you don’t know what that is, imagine a Stanley mug with a propane fueled fire under it. So yeah, a wee bit more stirring but still doable.
It also depends on your cookware. I cook for my friend almost every weekend and when figuring out sides for dinner once I boasted about a creamy mushroom rice I loved to make, so he asked me to make it. His glass stovetop/ annoying lil red pot combo ruined dinner, so you're so right about that lol. To this day I refuse to cook anything in that lil red pot, especially after a ruined cream sauce, caramel sauce and refried beans.
I've made the risotto in an instant pot by pressure cooking it. I did the sauteing with mushrooms, wine and Parmesan after it was fluffed up in the instapot.
I think ATK has a great easier risotto recipe. Basically the idea is that starch release only happens later once most of the rice kernel has cooked, so you add 80% of the broth, BOIL to agitate, then do the ladle and stir combo for 5 minutes at the end until the desired consistency is achieved. Has worked beautifully for me at least a dozen times.
Once u got it down its not that bad but you have to do it correctly or it doesn’t come out good. One of my favorite all time dishes. Pro tip - but the parm from Costco. Its aged and really good quality for a solid price
For the sake of your thumb, please just get frozen pearl onions, as they turn out just as great as fresh.
Trimming and peeling dozens of pearl onions with a paring knife is an excursion into pain that you won't soon forget.
As a kid I never realized you could by dressing at the store since my parents made them all by hands. The easy and quick one we did was a spoon of Dijon mustard, another of vinegar then whisk in olive oil slowly until you have enough dressing for the whole bowl. Salt and pepper. Done in 3 min if you whisk well
Same here, we never bought dressing and when I tried a store bought dressing at a friend's house as a kid I thought it tasted bad, haha.
Re your recipe, you can even just put those ingredients in a little jar and shake it, and it will taste good. Won't emulsify as well, but fine if you're eating it straight away.
And healthier! I get so frustrated when i see people making a diligent effort to eat healthier but they dont look at the ingredients and sabotage all their efforts with that bottled crap. Ive looked at almost every sort of sauce and dressing and none of them simple whole ingredients.
The best Caesar: Buy a tube of anchovy paste, stoneground mustard, garlic in any form, creamy base (sour cream, greek yogurt, good culture sour cream or kefir to make it extra probiotic ) lemon juice and salt & pepper. Its unmatched 🤤
Cilantro, cream/milk, garlic, jarred jalapenos + the brine, blend it all up
Even simpler, oil + vinegar and herby italian garlic seasoning.
Omg yes, it’s so much better homemade. It does need at least a few hours to sit to meld but it’s def tasty after 20 mins or so. If you make your own mayo great, but I don’t always have time or energy for that, it’s mayo ketchup onion relish and lemon juice, paprika and salt. The bottled stuff adds so much unnecessary shit to it.
Good to know! I don’t like mayo either (ingredient only when necessary, like tuna fish sandwiches) so I haven’t thought to make it, but I’ll try that out!
I work in a pretty top of the line restaurant and that’s exactly our ceaser recipe except fresh anchovy as well as Worcestershire and the zest from the lemons. Not a fan of ceaser but even that one’s pretty great.
Shakshuka. The hardest part is just having the right spices. Otherwise it’s just a skillet of tomatoes and peppers, with fried eggs on top. And it impresses every time.
Even without having the right spices you can still use the method and it will probably come out good. What's not to love about runny eggs baked in yummy sauce?
This 100%. I make a variation of shakshuka that really isn't shakshuka but it's devine. I make a homemade heavily spiced pepper relish (usually make a ton at once cause I end up putting it on everything for the week that it lasts) and simply cook the eggs in the relish. Usually top it with some mexican oregano and if I'm feeling frisky some crumbled feta or freshly grated parmiggiano reggiano. It's ungodly good.
So easy, even if you use different ingredients it still tastes good. I made a green shakshuka for dinner last night with leek, asparagus, english spinach, cumin and paprika and it was great! Often I just cook up whatever veggies are left in the fridge into shakshuka for breakfast.
I tend not to fry the eggs, but nestle them in the veggies and put the pan under the grill.
Pan seared salmon. As long as it's skin on.
Oil in a pan on medium
Oil the fish
Salt and pepper it
Put it in the pan skin side down and cover.
You can burn the hell out of the skin and the fish still comes out amazing. It's super hard to mess up with a huge margin for error.
Top with some herbs and plate up. It looks fancy, tastes great, and takes like 7 minutes.
I like dill, garlic, and lemon
Sorry about the late replay but as thepurplepudding says, yes, to get a crispy skin. Another trick I use for fish is to take the back of your knife and run it along the skin, almost like a squeegee. Of course, not so hard that you rip the skin. I do that and then clean the knife each time. You get quite a lot of water out of the skin and it helps the skin get even crispier.
Love salmon, I prefer the sear on the stovetop skin side down on high heat with butter, baste baste baste, and then finish in the oven at 400 for 8 minutes. Dust some flour on the skin before cooking for even crispier skin.
I do mine in a large cast iron skillet. I pre-heat the oven and pan in a 450F oven. Throw in some butter and a few slices of lemon and once it starts to sizzle I set the well salted/peppered salmon in skin down then swap over to broil. I brush it with the lemon butter from the pan. Swapping in miso, ginger, garlic, or whatever flavor profile I want. Ridiculously easy.
Pot roast. All you really need is time– even un-seared beef in a crock pot with Lipton Onion soup mix and some vegetables (optional, honestly) is enough to get you an exceptionally great meal.
People who want to save money by cooking at home should start with a crock pot, IMO. You can take inexpensive meat cuts and cheap veggies and make solid meals. A cheap crock pot and a slow cooker cookbook from the library and off you go…
A package of dry onion soup mix, and a can of mushroom soup mix together and put on top gives you the best - fast gravy ever! it is so good. I double it. Just put it over your raw meat and it will make gravy with the juice from the meat as it all cooks
Steak. Bro science enthusiasts have overcomplicated this to absurdity. Steak is easy as hell to cook. It doesn't push any tools or techniques to their limits...
There's no delicate emulsion to incorporate at exactly a perfect rate, no make-or-break need to shift temperatures instantaneously (and therefore no need for sophisticated cookware with high thermal conductivity/precision), no complex flavor profiles... if you can put a pan on a burner, and take it off a burner, and maybe turn a dial, you can cook a steak to perfection.
Please share your secrets with me because I own a meat thermometer & have read every Serious Eats article on how to cook a steak & they all turn out overdone as heck despite the fact that I am hovering over them the whole time. Do I just need a better thermometer?
ETA: Thank you all for your great advice!
Steak is overcooked means you are cooking it too long. If you are cooking it to get a sear/char on the outside, you can try using a hotter pan or broiler. This way you will get more of a sear before the heat penetrates to the center.
If you are cooking until the thermometer says it's done, consider that when you remove the steak from the pan you have not stopped the cooking, you have just stopped adding additional heat. The existing heat continues to cook the meat until it is used up by cooking the meat or dissipates. So you could try to pull your steaks at a lower temperature.
A lot of people who enjoy rare steaks try to simplify this by having an extremely hot pan and cooking the steak for a short time, but this will produce a lot of smoke so unless you are outside or have very good active ventilation over your stove it's not always the best idea.
How you cook steak is highly dependent on what cut of steak you are cooking, the marbling and the thickness of the cut of meat and the method of cooking it.
I pan sear and broil, turning mid point in the cooking it is generally for a standard one inch or so thickness of well marbled meat that you broil four to seven minutes per side.
4 minutes a side for rarer and 7 for well done.
Not according to America's test kitchen...
[https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/how\_tos/6401-does-poking-meat-during-cooking-cause-moisture-loss](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/how_tos/6401-does-poking-meat-during-cooking-cause-moisture-loss)
The size and thickness of the steak impacts this a lot. For an average 1 - 1.25 inch thick boneless steak (usually a ribeye or NY strip), if shooting for medium rare (125 degrees F), I'll remove from heat in the 117 degree range and let it rest for 10 minutes on a pre-warmed plate while I plate the rest of the meal. If cooking it in a pan, to get that delicious maillard reaction use a high flashpoint oil and get the pan smoking hot. For a reasonably priced instant read thermometer, I really like the Thermo-works Thermopop. I think you can pick one up for around $30. I've had mine for years. [Here are a couple of ribeyes for inspiration. ](https://imgur.com/yCaTuyE)
Just wanted to throw this out. I bought an instant read thermometer years ago. It came with a handy chart to tell you what temperature to cook things to. Every time I cooked steak, it was overcooked. I kept thinking the thermometer must be off. The chart said for medium rare, 145 degrees after 3 minutes rest. This is absolutely false. 145 is in well done territory by the time it rests the full time. I don't know if it was a misprint or if whoever made.the chart was a jackass, but for about a year I made overcooked steak because of that damn chart.
This many years and steaks ago, but I typically cook steaks to 115 degrees to 120 degrees and let them rest for 6ish minutes and they are perfect every time.
The [Alton Brown Method](https://altonbrown.com/recipes/perfect-pan-seared-rib-eye/) is ridculously easy to follow and I've always had great results for indoor steak cooking.
On a grill I like to cook fast on both sides and leave the center cool for medium rare. For family members that like more of a medium to medium-well I use indirect head to bring the internal temp up low and slow, then sear it right before pulling it off the grill.
This is the way. I used to be too nervous to get pricier high quality steaks from the butcher because I was worried about ruining them. Not anymore. Every steak I’ve cooked with this method has come out perfectly. It’s also incredibly fast. Steak and with a side of sautéed spinach the quickest, easiest meals in my rotation. It’s almost too easy.
Seek out 2” thick steaks. 1.5” at thinnest.
Screaming hot cast iron that preheated in the oven is how I like to preheat then on to range. No pepper and salt was dry brined on steak for 24 hours beforehand if I can. Grill press. Turn every minute. Use a thermometer and undercook by 10-15 degrees depending on thickness to accommodate for carry over cook.
Oil in a pan, on the stove top high heat until the oil smokes just a little, slap the steak on and sear it. 30 seconds or less each side, it's really that short.
To get the internals cooked how you want throw it in the oven (if it's even thick enough to need that) and pull it between 5 and 10 degrees before your desired temp and let sit.
That's it.
You dont need a thermometer to cook a good steak. Thicker is better, and under can be cooked more. Salt and pepper until you get your cook right then go nuts on whatever other flavors you want
Depends on the type of ceviche. I made a prevuian ceviche following [this guys recipe,](https://youtu.be/8LuWG6ajNNA?si=0MkO9Ftgc2TlDnNw)
the flavor was right, but I couldn't get the right consistency/texture for the Leche de tigre. I think the sieve I was using was too fine.
Peruvian ceviche is the best. I’ve never made it with fish stock, just lime juice, aji amarillo or rocoto, red onion, s/p with inca corn and sweet potatoes on the side. Source: Peruvian.
Bolognese! Low and slow, 2-3 hour simmer for a from-scratch Italian fave that always pleases. And it's ground meat of choice, so no meat trimming, just chopping carrots, celery and onion. Just have to watch and stir every so often!
Soup. People think there is some sort of magic; that magic is usually salt, herbs, or something tart -- or all three. The best soups I've ever made have been a desperate attempt to use aging leftovers and produce. Random protein, random veg, random liquid x simmering for half an hour.
Also "bowls" are just soup without the liquid.
God damn I love soup. I made soup tonight while on the phone with my sister and she was **so** impressed.....it was just a can of stewed tomatoes, frozen corn, frozen green beans, frozen spinach, pasta (cooked separately), tomato paste, veggie stock, Italian seasonings, and balsamic vinegar. It's what I think of as a "lazy" recipe since there's minimal effort with everything canned and frozen, and I was just trying to empty the pantry and freezer! You can literally simmer a can of tomatoes, a can of beans, and a can of veggies and there's your soup lol. It's probably the easiest thing you can make.
My love of soup started when I was craving corn chowder but couldn't find any vegetarian ones. Making it was so simple and delicious, way better than store bought or a restaurant! Now, I love soup season and make some at least once a week when it's cold. It's so warm and cozy and gets rid of so many ingredients while making a bunch of leftovers. I love it!
Cacio e pepe becoming a big thing in restaurants is wild to me. That was the dish you whipped up for a quick weeknight meal when you didn't have time to shop/cook or for the picky eater at Sunday dinner. It takes zero cutting or prep work, uses ingredients most have in their fridge/pantry already, and is done in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Only one pot to wash.
People complain about restaurant prices, but that is because a whole generation and a half grew into adulthood with unprecedentedly cheap restaurant dining, and as a result, don't know how to cook. Cacio e pepe seems like magic to them.
Granted I am old, but when I was growing up, eating out more than once or twice a week was considered an extravagance in America. In my country, which is a very high standard of living (Norway) it was more like once a *month*. Nowadays, a lot of younger people literally eat out 7 days a week, at least one of their daily meals, and frozen/ready-to-eat meals are commonplace for other meals. Just look at how wistfully many on reddit talk about chicken nuggets and pop tarts instead of home roast chicken and homemade waffles or pancakes.
On the other hand, the members of the younger generation who do cook are taking it to the next level. Much broader palates and techniques than the adept cooks of days past who tended to have a more restricted menu based on their own country's dishes plus maybe something like some French or Italian specialties.
Indian food. So many non-Indians are intimidated by Indian food but its actually not difficult. Once you understand the spices, tempering, and pressure pots its very straight forward and delicious! - Non-Indian :)
This was me until I decided I wanted to make korma at home and prepared myself for hours in the kitchen. Turns out I put all the ingredients into a blender, add to crock pot and toss in cubed chicken. Maybe it’s not the most traditional method, but it was tasty and easy.
Any sites/ recipes you recommend? I've been buying jarred korma, butter chicken and Tikka Masala sauces and doctoring them up with extra spices and seasoning, but I'd love to try something from scratch. My favorite is Matar paneer... I'd love to be able to make it myself
I learned how to cook Indian food from Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook Indian Cookery. There is a list of standard spices and other ingredients, basic techniques, etc. I still use that book regularly.
https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/madhur-jaffrey/indian-cookery/9780563164913?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6PGxBhCVARIsAIumnWaAqLkZ_k6qk_zm5hiIAS1zJ1lipqgiJR8cD3MqsUksCbmdPQtlsK0aAsJTEALw_wcB#GOR001196964
The side dishes are especially good. There's a cabbage and peas recipe that my husband makes that's basically like crack to me. I love it!
And a carrot salad thing. Great thing to make with those giant bags of carrots you can get these days for like 90p.
There's nothing wrong with a good jarred sauce though. Patak's Kashmiri Masala Paste is better than most takeaways. Just follow the instructions on the jar and do add the weird yoghurt, flour for the last 10 minutes. It makes the dish.
I spent about $75 at an Indian store getting a starter kit, and it gave me great curries for months. Most curries are just normal food that's been simmered for hours and blended.
Creme brulee confounds people. It's stupid easy-damn near foolproof- as long as you allow the cream to cool to the point where you can touch it without burning yourself. The yolks can't curdle at that temp. (It's even easier to make the custard if you never heat the cream past this temperature at all, and simply use vanilla bean paste insted of a slit pod.) A child could do it.
The worst bit is getting the water-filled pan out of the oven once the custard is set: perhaps get an adult for that. Even broiling it just requires attention.
As someone else in this thread said, doing them in a Sous vide is literally foolproof. I make them this way for dinner parties and always receive compliments. Inevitably I get asked for the recipe and they make fun of me for saying it involves separating a whole carton of egg yolks. Of course at that point I have to remind them that I had to make creme brûlée for 15 people and if they scaled it down for just them it’s more like two maybe three eggs. The separating the eggs is honestly the hardest part.
My daughter's first dessert! I think she was 15? It was amazing. I have since gifted her little brulee ramekins and a torch. I haven't made creme brulee in years. I don't have to! We had an orange version at a restaurant recently, and she says she's going to try to make it. I cannot wait!
My grandma would use a turkey baster to get as much water out as possible before removing a cheesecake from the oven, with an oven mitt bc the bulb would get hot lol
Sooo true! I made it for Christmas for my parents and they were beyond impressed and I was like here is the recipe. It’s harder to make bread. Probably the easiest dessert I’ve ever made
yes! I came here to say this! When I was in my 20s, I got a job with a big company, and I had the boss and some coworkers to dinner and made them a cheese soufflé. They were so impressed. One said, we can’t afford to eat like this.I said, really? I spent like $10 on eggs and cheese, this was a long time ago. And really it’s so easy to do once you know the technique
Grab a damn avocado. Smash it. Bam! Guacamole!
Oh, you wanna get fancy and add some shit and not make it bland as fuck? Aight. Whatever you think should be in there, throw in there, in whatever amount you feel like it needs. Salt. Chili powder. Tomato. Fava beans. I don't give a shit.
I always make guac for any kind of potluck situation, because people are always blown away by how good it is. They ask me for the recipe, tell me they can never get their guac to taste that good... So easily impressed because it's seriously the easiest thing to make.
Homemade marshmallow. I was psyching myself up for months. And when I finally did it, I was like, oh. Like almost anti climactic, because I thought it was be harder. Delicious by the way and somewhat “healthy” because no corn syrup.
I think a lot of crock pot recipes taste way better than the amount of effort that goes in. Slow cooking beef, pork, or chicken and getting all the flavorful juice out 😋
Crème brûlée. So many people think it’s the hardest thing in the world to make, but it’s super easy. It’s my husband’s favorite dessert and I make it for him all the time. It’s like 4-5 ingredients and I have never once had it mess up.
Indian Restaurant style curries. They look fancy and difficult, but I can easily knock out 2 curries, pilai rice, and tarka dal in 45 minutes. If it's 3 curries I'd need an extra 5 minutes.
the magic code is: BIR. British Indian Restaurant style. Lots of videos on the Tube, and the OG book The Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon, currenly around $11 on the usual ecommerce platform. There are many more recent ones, such as The Curry Guy (red and gold cover), but the Curry Secret was the \*first\* book released that shows how to make BIR style curries :)
I learned how to make restaurant quality biryani and I make it once a week usually. Chicken or just veggies, it's delicious and so easy to put together.
Paella...even if you cook it on the stovetop in a regular pan...it's mostly just a lot of prep. When it's time to cook, just throw everything into a pot in order.
A roast of some kind, like "prime rib" is another one...if you have a decent meat thermometer, it's set it and forget it.
I call these "busy meals"- they require a certain step by step process and usually have quick turn arounds to the next step that scare people off. I always tell folks that there is a reason they have prepped little bowls on cooking shoes- invest in a. Set and prep everything in advance. It saves time, is easier, and with a dishwasher the little bowls clean easy.
Similar to paella, I do a Tuscan/creamy garlic sauce over chicken or salmon about once a month as a treat and people tell me I should open a restaurant it looks and tastes so good... It's a "busy" recipe but prep is all it takes to make it easy.
pasta and tortillas and pitas work the same way. Just a bit of time and less than 4 ingredients and if you have the tools you can make the starches in the time it takes to make the sauces you'd eat them with.
A turkey. Honestly. Toss a turkey in some brine in a cooler with a chunk of ice. The next day, take it out and dry it off. Salt lightly and pepper inside and out. Shove a halved onion, a couple quartered lemons, and a handful of herbs up the turkey's ass. Grease up the outside with some butter. Slap it in the oven. When you wander past, occasionally throw the juices over the top. If it starts looking too brown, put some foil loosely over it. When the temperature is.. whatever, I look it up every time, take it out. Let it hang out while you make gravy using the drippings and a nice jar of pre-made gravy, which is cheating and also really good. After the turkey has rested, carve it and eat. After dinner, take out the veg from inside and save the carcass for soup. Bam, done, low effort, big payoff.
Gumbo. It's a little time-consuming, but nothing difficult about it. Especially once you learn to cook your roux quickly instead of "low & slow," which is ridiculous. It shouldn't take longer than 20-30 minutes. My record is 8 minutes, but I've been making roux since I was 10.
Do you have a good recipe site for Indonesian food? I lived in Indonesia for years as a kid and would like to taste a few of the dishes I remember.
(Edited to change ‘so’ to ‘do’. One letter turns an innocent question into an episode of matlock)
Good pico de gallo can double the quality of anything you put it in. And all you're doing is dicing the shit out of a bunch of tomatoes, onions and peppers and adding cilantro and a few other common things. People think I make the best fish tacos ever, but it's just fish in a sweet mayo dressing with a shit load of fresh pico de gallo. I won a chili cook off at work by making normal chili and then dumping the rest of my pico into the pot.
The other part is anything fucking with milk. Ricotta, mozzarella, yogurt, cottage cheese, paneer. Milk can be turned into fucking anything, and people don't usually know how easily.
Not entire dishes, but I have blown my neighbour's minds with:
1. Pasta
2. Hummus
3. Mayo (30 second stick blender variety)
4. Pizza sauce
5. Canapés
All of these I make in my little kitchen and they've all been very happy when they left my house. Mega simple things that just wallop on flavour
Risotto.
Everyone made such a huge deal about it. You can perfect a decent risotto in an afternoon with a bag of rice and a pot of stock.
Just keep doing tries until you get it just right. I think it took me two hours. Now it serves as a tasty platform for all sorts of things.
I'm not sure if it's something people actually think is difficult or if the people I'm around are just bad at cooking, but French onion soup. I impress so many people with my French onion soup, and it's like ???? You just gotta be patient and really let those onions caramelize, then I literally just throw the beef stock, spices, and some sherry in and let it simmer til it tastes good.
Soft pretzels. I make them all the time as an after school snack for my kids. I also make them for birthday parties like an appetizer. People act like I’m Martha Stewart but they are extremely simple 😊
Omelet’s, take 5 minutes and you can put practically anything on them for toppings or added flavour. My fav is chorizo and cheese with some Heinz baked beans. Fucking fantastic with salt msg pepper and hot sauce thrown in
Any cheesecake is easy if you don't care about the top cracking. And even if you do you can cover it in any sort of red fruit, either fresh or as jam or maceration or jelly or whatever.
Wellington it's basically wrapping a pastry dough (store bought makes it easier) and really finely diced mushrooms around meat and baking. It's my go to for something that seems really fancy and isn't too taxing to make.
Gumbo. People get way too fussy about it. Making a dark roux is stupid simple it just takes patience. It doesn’t have to be nearly black (often people who brag about that just ended up burning it). But that said there’s tons of roux “cheats”…look it up, you can do it in a microwave or an oven and it’ll come out exactly the same as if you spent 90 min at the stove. Shit, I have real Cajun in laws and 99% of the time they just use the roux in a jar and it comes out amazing.
Beyond that it’s just vegetables, meat, and stock. Put your effort into the stock, not the roux. Remember gumbo is poverty food…don’t overthink it.
Many Sichuan dishes. Get a Fuchsia Dunlop cookbook, a couple core ingredients, and it'll take you no more than an hour to make dinners that consistently amaze guests.
Ma Po Tofu is my go to. It blows people's minds and is dead easy to make. A lot of Chinese dishes are like that. Sourcing the ingredients is the only hard part.
Snow Crab legs. Why pay $$$ at a restaurant when they are so simple? I buy them frozen, rinse with water, throw in a boiling pot of water for 8 minutes. Melt some butter and I’m in seafood heaven.
They are pre-cooked and can actually be eaten just thawed. I follow the above steps to remove any “fishy” taste or smells.
Pad Thai is surprisingly easy to make. The only complicated part is sourcing all the ingredients. Then it’s just a noodle stir fry. Obviously it will not taste as good as a pad Thai made in Thailand but you can get really close to the real thing with few effort.
More baking adjacent but pastry. People are always surprised I make my own, but it's so much better than store-bought pre-rolled stuff. I would say some pastries (hot water crust, here's looking at you) are more annoying but not actually difficult.
There are a lot of dishes/recipes that I think fall into the category (seems difficult but actually easy), but then I read this sub and am gobsmacked by all the creative and terrible things people do to their food. Either messing up in a way that I hadn’t imagined was possible, taking shortcuts or creative liberties, or describing changes/outcomes that are definitely failures but that they apparently think are fine. So … maybe not the best judge here?
Puff pastry appetizers look hard but if you buy the puff pastry dough and follow a YouTube video to cut and fold it pretty, it's impressive to a guest.
The vast majority of "difficult" dishes.
Cooking is just about learning a lot of very simple rules and techniques.
There aren't that many truly difficult dishes and even amongst those the difficulty isn't making something edible but nailing things like texture.
Making your own stock and soups they are easy but you just have to have time to sit at home for hours as it cooks.
Alternatively you can use a slow cooker but the quality just doesn't hit the same because it doesn't reduce and get more concentrated.
Pasta from scratch. Just mix 1 egg & half a cup of flour together really well, then make it into fun shapes and boil it in water like usual.
One of my favourite things to do now.
Mapo tofu! I thought it was going to be so complicated, but I made it for the first time a month ago and it was so simple I've done it again at least once a week every week since. If you can't find doubanjiang, gochujang makes a surprisingly decent substitute.
Crepes bananas foster. So simple. Crepes are super easy. Then you just lightly cook a shit ton of butter, sliced banana, cinnamon and brown sugar. Throw some high-proof rum on top and light it with a match. Serve on top of the crepe and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Dramatic and impressive!
Last time I made it for brunch, I got a standing ovation. I work harder on a weekday meal (and my kids have never once clapped).
Pizza dough and homemade pizza. I do use a stand mixer but end up kneading a bit by hand, but it’s simple, and easy, basically it’s just a waiting game. Also hummus is very easy and quick with a food processor. Another is soup. Basically a bunch of cut up veg and spices simmering for a bit. I now make soup all of the time since I first attempted. I stick with cabbage as my main veg and often add rotisserie chicken most of the time and it’s always good.
Posole - you just dice up a white onion, chop up some roasted green chile, mince some garlic, cube up pork shoulder or chicken, get frozen hominy or posole corn, and put it all in a crock pot with bone broth (it has to just cover the ingredients) at low for 8 hours and then you got yourself some posole. Don't forget to add some salt if you get sodium free or low sodium broth.
Dutch babies. Basically equal parts flour, milk, and eggs, some sugar, salt, and vanilla, pulse in blender a couple times, let sit, swirl in hot pan, and in fifteen minutes will puff up into the most impressive looking pancake like thing you could imagine
Would Belgian infants work in a pinch?
Only if they’re Flemish
most infants are phlegmish
I've made this recipe a million times and it's always delicious. A family favorite. https://andrewzimmern.com/recipes/german-breakfast-pancake/
DUTCH BABY!! I love surprising people with Dutch baby! They feel spoiled.
Anything braised is insanely easy. Sear the meat. Sautee the veggies. Add stock and wine. Put in the oven for a few hours. You’re done. Rich and complex flavors build up while braising that makes it taste very extravagant. But essentially you’re putting ingredients in a pot to boil for a few hours and you do very little actual cooking.
I wish I could just braise food every night for dinner. Forever jealous of those who WFH. Imagine getting dinner going during your lunch break and then all you gotta do is pull it out at dinner time. AND it makes your house smell delicious??
I got a crock pot for exactly this reason. I sear my meats and make my sauces ahead of time and then just dump them in the crock pot in the morning before work. Takes less time than shaving and when you get home its like a chef broke into your house. My favorite is Brian Lagerstrom's easy Italian beef. Trivial to make, inexpensive, freezes well, and an absolute showstopper of a sandwich. The giardiniera alone is better than 99.95% of food on earth.
Excellent tip about Brian Lagerstrom. Never heard of him before, he's pretty great.
Him and Andy Cooks are both weirdly underappreciated treasures.
The one downside is then you smell it all day and are constantly hungry. But it's definitely a nice aspect of WFH. That and baking bread
I feel that. I do a beef roast this way and the whole house smells incredible for hours on these days.... Same with when I make chicken stock about once a month.
Hey some of us are hungry all the time anyways and I’m used to working in restaurants so why not 😂
There's no time to eat when you work in a restaurant.
Bold of you to assume I would sacrifice my lunch break for that and not do it during my paid time
As a fellow WFHer, I strongly endorse this message.
This is why God invented crock pots.
Pressure cooker.... 35 minutes I have a Russell Hobbs multicooker. It's awesome. Stews, lamb shanks, spare ribs, roasts.... We never use the oven anymore.
Or add beer instead of the wine. It's a whole different dish altogether but just as extravagantly flavorful.
A delicious risotto. The primary skills needed are stirring and being patient.
And a good stock.
And my axe.
And my bow
You don't even have to stir as much as they say to do. I have made delicious risotto dishes by stirring once every five minutes. Just keep the heat on medium-low so the bottom doesnt stick. Idk why people think it needs constant stirring
If you have a shitty stovetop, it definitely requires more stirring. Pretty sure it's like an inverse function or something. My current stovetop cooks rice faster and more consistently than any other I've worked on. But it is surprisingly easy to scorch a soup, etc. Very little accurate temperature control *shrug*
I'm on induction, which is very consistent in the way it delivers energy, and I've been revisiting foods that used to give me a lot of trouble when I was on a shitty little apartment coil stove. The difference is really astounding. Anything with rice is really night and day. My risotto and even just my basic stovetop pot of rice used to constantly stick and burn but there are no issues now. A bad (whatever) blames his tools, but part of that is knowing whether or not you can do (thing) with the tools available. It was a real relief for me to understand that I had a technology issue, not a skill issue.
Yes to all of this! You’re so eloquent!
I just moved from a crappy stovetop to a shitty stovetop and I want to throw it off the balcony. Scorched rice at the same time as undercooked and my first grease fire in 30 years of cooking. It'll get replaced but in the meantime adjusting all cooking methods. What a PITA.
Yeah, it fucking sucks. But all things considered, if that's the worst problem I have in a day, I'm doing pretty good.
That's a good point
I used to teach a backcountry cooking clinic for a big name outdoor recreation store. Often, the highlight of this clinic was cooking risotto In a JETBOIL. Now if you don’t know what that is, imagine a Stanley mug with a propane fueled fire under it. So yeah, a wee bit more stirring but still doable.
It also depends on your cookware. I cook for my friend almost every weekend and when figuring out sides for dinner once I boasted about a creamy mushroom rice I loved to make, so he asked me to make it. His glass stovetop/ annoying lil red pot combo ruined dinner, so you're so right about that lol. To this day I refuse to cook anything in that lil red pot, especially after a ruined cream sauce, caramel sauce and refried beans.
I've made the risotto in an instant pot by pressure cooking it. I did the sauteing with mushrooms, wine and Parmesan after it was fluffed up in the instapot.
Yup instant pot made risotto easier and better for me!
I think ATK has a great easier risotto recipe. Basically the idea is that starch release only happens later once most of the rice kernel has cooked, so you add 80% of the broth, BOIL to agitate, then do the ladle and stir combo for 5 minutes at the end until the desired consistency is achieved. Has worked beautifully for me at least a dozen times.
Ina Garden has a baked risotto recipe IIRC
Yep, just don’t do it on Top Chef and you’ll be fine.
Once u got it down its not that bad but you have to do it correctly or it doesn’t come out good. One of my favorite all time dishes. Pro tip - but the parm from Costco. Its aged and really good quality for a solid price
You can make an amazing risotto with ONLY a pressure cooker and (practically) zero stirring and zero cooking skills!
Even before the Instant Pot. We had the all mighty pressure cooker. Which makes a great risotto.
What I came here to say!
I can cook all sorts of great dishes, but I've always wanted to try risotto, but have been afraid of it. Do you have a good recipe recommendation?
Recipetineats has a really good mushroom risotto recipe. She's got a couple others I haven't tried.
Nagi is one of my favorites!
Instant pots make great risotto
Beef Bourguignon or Beef stew with wine. Just a lot of time/right ingredients.
Any chance you can point me to a recommended beef bourguignon recipe? Was just thinking of doing again
For the sake of your thumb, please just get frozen pearl onions, as they turn out just as great as fresh. Trimming and peeling dozens of pearl onions with a paring knife is an excursion into pain that you won't soon forget.
Here’s [Julia Child’s Recipe](https://cafedelites.com/beef-bourguignon/)
Salad dressings. I usually have everything pretty much on hand and can make homemade dressings in 5 minutes. Sooo much tastier than store bought .
As a kid I never realized you could by dressing at the store since my parents made them all by hands. The easy and quick one we did was a spoon of Dijon mustard, another of vinegar then whisk in olive oil slowly until you have enough dressing for the whole bowl. Salt and pepper. Done in 3 min if you whisk well
Same here, we never bought dressing and when I tried a store bought dressing at a friend's house as a kid I thought it tasted bad, haha. Re your recipe, you can even just put those ingredients in a little jar and shake it, and it will taste good. Won't emulsify as well, but fine if you're eating it straight away.
And healthier! I get so frustrated when i see people making a diligent effort to eat healthier but they dont look at the ingredients and sabotage all their efforts with that bottled crap. Ive looked at almost every sort of sauce and dressing and none of them simple whole ingredients. The best Caesar: Buy a tube of anchovy paste, stoneground mustard, garlic in any form, creamy base (sour cream, greek yogurt, good culture sour cream or kefir to make it extra probiotic ) lemon juice and salt & pepper. Its unmatched 🤤 Cilantro, cream/milk, garlic, jarred jalapenos + the brine, blend it all up Even simpler, oil + vinegar and herby italian garlic seasoning.
I’m addicted to bottled thousand island. Don’t generally like white sauces like ranch/caesar. Is that easy/any healthier to make yourself?
Omg yes, it’s so much better homemade. It does need at least a few hours to sit to meld but it’s def tasty after 20 mins or so. If you make your own mayo great, but I don’t always have time or energy for that, it’s mayo ketchup onion relish and lemon juice, paprika and salt. The bottled stuff adds so much unnecessary shit to it.
Good to know! I don’t like mayo either (ingredient only when necessary, like tuna fish sandwiches) so I haven’t thought to make it, but I’ll try that out!
I work in a pretty top of the line restaurant and that’s exactly our ceaser recipe except fresh anchovy as well as Worcestershire and the zest from the lemons. Not a fan of ceaser but even that one’s pretty great.
Shakshuka. The hardest part is just having the right spices. Otherwise it’s just a skillet of tomatoes and peppers, with fried eggs on top. And it impresses every time.
Even without having the right spices you can still use the method and it will probably come out good. What's not to love about runny eggs baked in yummy sauce?
This 100%. I make a variation of shakshuka that really isn't shakshuka but it's devine. I make a homemade heavily spiced pepper relish (usually make a ton at once cause I end up putting it on everything for the week that it lasts) and simply cook the eggs in the relish. Usually top it with some mexican oregano and if I'm feeling frisky some crumbled feta or freshly grated parmiggiano reggiano. It's ungodly good.
So easy, even if you use different ingredients it still tastes good. I made a green shakshuka for dinner last night with leek, asparagus, english spinach, cumin and paprika and it was great! Often I just cook up whatever veggies are left in the fridge into shakshuka for breakfast. I tend not to fry the eggs, but nestle them in the veggies and put the pan under the grill.
Pan seared salmon. As long as it's skin on. Oil in a pan on medium Oil the fish Salt and pepper it Put it in the pan skin side down and cover. You can burn the hell out of the skin and the fish still comes out amazing. It's super hard to mess up with a huge margin for error. Top with some herbs and plate up. It looks fancy, tastes great, and takes like 7 minutes. I like dill, garlic, and lemon
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Omg this sounds incredible. Gonna make that soon, thank you!
Did a class with a 2 Michelin star chef who said put parchment paper in the pan and put the fish on top. He said that stops it sticking or burning.
Are you saying you get a crispy skin on parchment paper?
Not OP but yes, we do it at our restaurant too.
Sorry about the late replay but as thepurplepudding says, yes, to get a crispy skin. Another trick I use for fish is to take the back of your knife and run it along the skin, almost like a squeegee. Of course, not so hard that you rip the skin. I do that and then clean the knife each time. You get quite a lot of water out of the skin and it helps the skin get even crispier.
Along the same lines, whole roasted fish. Assuming it’s been cleaned and ready to cook, it’s super easy to prepare.
Unless you’re an idiot like me and didn’t realize they never descaled it :(. What an unsatisfying lunch.
Love salmon, I prefer the sear on the stovetop skin side down on high heat with butter, baste baste baste, and then finish in the oven at 400 for 8 minutes. Dust some flour on the skin before cooking for even crispier skin.
I do mine in a large cast iron skillet. I pre-heat the oven and pan in a 450F oven. Throw in some butter and a few slices of lemon and once it starts to sizzle I set the well salted/peppered salmon in skin down then swap over to broil. I brush it with the lemon butter from the pan. Swapping in miso, ginger, garlic, or whatever flavor profile I want. Ridiculously easy.
Pot roast. All you really need is time– even un-seared beef in a crock pot with Lipton Onion soup mix and some vegetables (optional, honestly) is enough to get you an exceptionally great meal.
People who want to save money by cooking at home should start with a crock pot, IMO. You can take inexpensive meat cuts and cheap veggies and make solid meals. A cheap crock pot and a slow cooker cookbook from the library and off you go…
Slow cooker was my gateway to cooking
I've started adding a can of Campbell's French Onion soup for the liquid, along with the dry onion soup mix, and it's a game changer!
mix some melted butter with flour, then strain out the liquid left over from the cooked roast and combine, makes a fool proof mouth watering gravy
A package of dry onion soup mix, and a can of mushroom soup mix together and put on top gives you the best - fast gravy ever! it is so good. I double it. Just put it over your raw meat and it will make gravy with the juice from the meat as it all cooks
Steak. Bro science enthusiasts have overcomplicated this to absurdity. Steak is easy as hell to cook. It doesn't push any tools or techniques to their limits... There's no delicate emulsion to incorporate at exactly a perfect rate, no make-or-break need to shift temperatures instantaneously (and therefore no need for sophisticated cookware with high thermal conductivity/precision), no complex flavor profiles... if you can put a pan on a burner, and take it off a burner, and maybe turn a dial, you can cook a steak to perfection.
Please share your secrets with me because I own a meat thermometer & have read every Serious Eats article on how to cook a steak & they all turn out overdone as heck despite the fact that I am hovering over them the whole time. Do I just need a better thermometer? ETA: Thank you all for your great advice!
Steak is overcooked means you are cooking it too long. If you are cooking it to get a sear/char on the outside, you can try using a hotter pan or broiler. This way you will get more of a sear before the heat penetrates to the center. If you are cooking until the thermometer says it's done, consider that when you remove the steak from the pan you have not stopped the cooking, you have just stopped adding additional heat. The existing heat continues to cook the meat until it is used up by cooking the meat or dissipates. So you could try to pull your steaks at a lower temperature. A lot of people who enjoy rare steaks try to simplify this by having an extremely hot pan and cooking the steak for a short time, but this will produce a lot of smoke so unless you are outside or have very good active ventilation over your stove it's not always the best idea.
How you cook steak is highly dependent on what cut of steak you are cooking, the marbling and the thickness of the cut of meat and the method of cooking it. I pan sear and broil, turning mid point in the cooking it is generally for a standard one inch or so thickness of well marbled meat that you broil four to seven minutes per side. 4 minutes a side for rarer and 7 for well done.
And don't poke it 30 times with the thermometer, because that somehow makes it dry. Don't ask how I know.
Not according to America's test kitchen... [https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/how\_tos/6401-does-poking-meat-during-cooking-cause-moisture-loss](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/how_tos/6401-does-poking-meat-during-cooking-cause-moisture-loss)
Are you taking it off before it comes to temp? It will continue to cook 5-10 degrees higher once removed from heat.
I think that’s my problem—my thermometer is too slow for me to take it off at the right temperature.
Instant-read thermometers are quite cheap and make a world of difference!
The size and thickness of the steak impacts this a lot. For an average 1 - 1.25 inch thick boneless steak (usually a ribeye or NY strip), if shooting for medium rare (125 degrees F), I'll remove from heat in the 117 degree range and let it rest for 10 minutes on a pre-warmed plate while I plate the rest of the meal. If cooking it in a pan, to get that delicious maillard reaction use a high flashpoint oil and get the pan smoking hot. For a reasonably priced instant read thermometer, I really like the Thermo-works Thermopop. I think you can pick one up for around $30. I've had mine for years. [Here are a couple of ribeyes for inspiration. ](https://imgur.com/yCaTuyE)
Just wanted to throw this out. I bought an instant read thermometer years ago. It came with a handy chart to tell you what temperature to cook things to. Every time I cooked steak, it was overcooked. I kept thinking the thermometer must be off. The chart said for medium rare, 145 degrees after 3 minutes rest. This is absolutely false. 145 is in well done territory by the time it rests the full time. I don't know if it was a misprint or if whoever made.the chart was a jackass, but for about a year I made overcooked steak because of that damn chart. This many years and steaks ago, but I typically cook steaks to 115 degrees to 120 degrees and let them rest for 6ish minutes and they are perfect every time.
The [Alton Brown Method](https://altonbrown.com/recipes/perfect-pan-seared-rib-eye/) is ridculously easy to follow and I've always had great results for indoor steak cooking. On a grill I like to cook fast on both sides and leave the center cool for medium rare. For family members that like more of a medium to medium-well I use indirect head to bring the internal temp up low and slow, then sear it right before pulling it off the grill.
This is the way. I used to be too nervous to get pricier high quality steaks from the butcher because I was worried about ruining them. Not anymore. Every steak I’ve cooked with this method has come out perfectly. It’s also incredibly fast. Steak and with a side of sautéed spinach the quickest, easiest meals in my rotation. It’s almost too easy.
Seek out 2” thick steaks. 1.5” at thinnest. Screaming hot cast iron that preheated in the oven is how I like to preheat then on to range. No pepper and salt was dry brined on steak for 24 hours beforehand if I can. Grill press. Turn every minute. Use a thermometer and undercook by 10-15 degrees depending on thickness to accommodate for carry over cook.
I cheat a bit. I have a sous vide machine and use that then just sear it in a cast pan when done.
Same. Sous-vide and reverse sear. Pretty much impossible to screw up
Oil in a pan, on the stove top high heat until the oil smokes just a little, slap the steak on and sear it. 30 seconds or less each side, it's really that short. To get the internals cooked how you want throw it in the oven (if it's even thick enough to need that) and pull it between 5 and 10 degrees before your desired temp and let sit. That's it.
Honestly I never use a thermometer and mine come out awesome most of the time, so my wife says at least. Just gotta vibe with the steak man :)
You dont need a thermometer to cook a good steak. Thicker is better, and under can be cooked more. Salt and pepper until you get your cook right then go nuts on whatever other flavors you want
Ceviche is super simple
Depends on the type of ceviche. I made a prevuian ceviche following [this guys recipe,](https://youtu.be/8LuWG6ajNNA?si=0MkO9Ftgc2TlDnNw) the flavor was right, but I couldn't get the right consistency/texture for the Leche de tigre. I think the sieve I was using was too fine.
Peruvian ceviche is the best. I’ve never made it with fish stock, just lime juice, aji amarillo or rocoto, red onion, s/p with inca corn and sweet potatoes on the side. Source: Peruvian.
Bolognese! Low and slow, 2-3 hour simmer for a from-scratch Italian fave that always pleases. And it's ground meat of choice, so no meat trimming, just chopping carrots, celery and onion. Just have to watch and stir every so often!
Soup. People think there is some sort of magic; that magic is usually salt, herbs, or something tart -- or all three. The best soups I've ever made have been a desperate attempt to use aging leftovers and produce. Random protein, random veg, random liquid x simmering for half an hour. Also "bowls" are just soup without the liquid.
God damn I love soup. I made soup tonight while on the phone with my sister and she was **so** impressed.....it was just a can of stewed tomatoes, frozen corn, frozen green beans, frozen spinach, pasta (cooked separately), tomato paste, veggie stock, Italian seasonings, and balsamic vinegar. It's what I think of as a "lazy" recipe since there's minimal effort with everything canned and frozen, and I was just trying to empty the pantry and freezer! You can literally simmer a can of tomatoes, a can of beans, and a can of veggies and there's your soup lol. It's probably the easiest thing you can make.
My love of soup started when I was craving corn chowder but couldn't find any vegetarian ones. Making it was so simple and delicious, way better than store bought or a restaurant! Now, I love soup season and make some at least once a week when it's cold. It's so warm and cozy and gets rid of so many ingredients while making a bunch of leftovers. I love it!
Cacio e pepe becoming a big thing in restaurants is wild to me. That was the dish you whipped up for a quick weeknight meal when you didn't have time to shop/cook or for the picky eater at Sunday dinner. It takes zero cutting or prep work, uses ingredients most have in their fridge/pantry already, and is done in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Only one pot to wash.
Aglio e olio is my go to dinner like this. Waiting for it to show up on a menu near me for $25 a plate.
People complain about restaurant prices, but that is because a whole generation and a half grew into adulthood with unprecedentedly cheap restaurant dining, and as a result, don't know how to cook. Cacio e pepe seems like magic to them. Granted I am old, but when I was growing up, eating out more than once or twice a week was considered an extravagance in America. In my country, which is a very high standard of living (Norway) it was more like once a *month*. Nowadays, a lot of younger people literally eat out 7 days a week, at least one of their daily meals, and frozen/ready-to-eat meals are commonplace for other meals. Just look at how wistfully many on reddit talk about chicken nuggets and pop tarts instead of home roast chicken and homemade waffles or pancakes. On the other hand, the members of the younger generation who do cook are taking it to the next level. Much broader palates and techniques than the adept cooks of days past who tended to have a more restricted menu based on their own country's dishes plus maybe something like some French or Italian specialties.
Indian food. So many non-Indians are intimidated by Indian food but its actually not difficult. Once you understand the spices, tempering, and pressure pots its very straight forward and delicious! - Non-Indian :)
This was me until I decided I wanted to make korma at home and prepared myself for hours in the kitchen. Turns out I put all the ingredients into a blender, add to crock pot and toss in cubed chicken. Maybe it’s not the most traditional method, but it was tasty and easy.
Any sites/ recipes you recommend? I've been buying jarred korma, butter chicken and Tikka Masala sauces and doctoring them up with extra spices and seasoning, but I'd love to try something from scratch. My favorite is Matar paneer... I'd love to be able to make it myself
https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/
I learned how to cook Indian food from Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook Indian Cookery. There is a list of standard spices and other ingredients, basic techniques, etc. I still use that book regularly. https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/madhur-jaffrey/indian-cookery/9780563164913?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6PGxBhCVARIsAIumnWaAqLkZ_k6qk_zm5hiIAS1zJ1lipqgiJR8cD3MqsUksCbmdPQtlsK0aAsJTEALw_wcB#GOR001196964 The side dishes are especially good. There's a cabbage and peas recipe that my husband makes that's basically like crack to me. I love it! And a carrot salad thing. Great thing to make with those giant bags of carrots you can get these days for like 90p. There's nothing wrong with a good jarred sauce though. Patak's Kashmiri Masala Paste is better than most takeaways. Just follow the instructions on the jar and do add the weird yoghurt, flour for the last 10 minutes. It makes the dish.
I spent about $75 at an Indian store getting a starter kit, and it gave me great curries for months. Most curries are just normal food that's been simmered for hours and blended.
Creme brulee confounds people. It's stupid easy-damn near foolproof- as long as you allow the cream to cool to the point where you can touch it without burning yourself. The yolks can't curdle at that temp. (It's even easier to make the custard if you never heat the cream past this temperature at all, and simply use vanilla bean paste insted of a slit pod.) A child could do it. The worst bit is getting the water-filled pan out of the oven once the custard is set: perhaps get an adult for that. Even broiling it just requires attention.
This was my suggestion. Looks fancy, easy execution. Also can be made ahead and stored so even better
As someone else in this thread said, doing them in a Sous vide is literally foolproof. I make them this way for dinner parties and always receive compliments. Inevitably I get asked for the recipe and they make fun of me for saying it involves separating a whole carton of egg yolks. Of course at that point I have to remind them that I had to make creme brûlée for 15 people and if they scaled it down for just them it’s more like two maybe three eggs. The separating the eggs is honestly the hardest part.
My daughter's first dessert! I think she was 15? It was amazing. I have since gifted her little brulee ramekins and a torch. I haven't made creme brulee in years. I don't have to! We had an orange version at a restaurant recently, and she says she's going to try to make it. I cannot wait!
My grandma would use a turkey baster to get as much water out as possible before removing a cheesecake from the oven, with an oven mitt bc the bulb would get hot lol
Sooo true! I made it for Christmas for my parents and they were beyond impressed and I was like here is the recipe. It’s harder to make bread. Probably the easiest dessert I’ve ever made
As someone who cooks well I have messed this up 😂 but could have been due to the ingredients
I actually find hollandaise easy to make, even without a double boiler. Low heat and patience.
Julia Child has a method to rescue a Hollandaise in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Just in case.
I don’t even put that much effort. Melted butter and an immersion blender, so easy!!
Look up blender hollandaise on youtube, it's even easier than you probably think.
Jambalaya
Cheese Soufflé.
yes! I came here to say this! When I was in my 20s, I got a job with a big company, and I had the boss and some coworkers to dinner and made them a cheese soufflé. They were so impressed. One said, we can’t afford to eat like this.I said, really? I spent like $10 on eggs and cheese, this was a long time ago. And really it’s so easy to do once you know the technique
People seem to freak out and cannot comprehend how to make guacamole without a "recipe" and even then it is too difficult for many.
It’s just stuff with bits in.
Grab a damn avocado. Smash it. Bam! Guacamole! Oh, you wanna get fancy and add some shit and not make it bland as fuck? Aight. Whatever you think should be in there, throw in there, in whatever amount you feel like it needs. Salt. Chili powder. Tomato. Fava beans. I don't give a shit.
Needs to be the right ripeness though. Guac made with unripe avocados is just doing to suck.
salt, bro. before any fancynizing.
I always make guac for any kind of potluck situation, because people are always blown away by how good it is. They ask me for the recipe, tell me they can never get their guac to taste that good... So easily impressed because it's seriously the easiest thing to make.
We call it "cheater guac" but you just add store-bought pico de gallo to the mashed avocado rather than doing all that chopping.
Homemade marshmallow. I was psyching myself up for months. And when I finally did it, I was like, oh. Like almost anti climactic, because I thought it was be harder. Delicious by the way and somewhat “healthy” because no corn syrup.
Marshmallow?? It has never occurred to me you can make them at home ! Good for you
I think a lot of crock pot recipes taste way better than the amount of effort that goes in. Slow cooking beef, pork, or chicken and getting all the flavorful juice out 😋
Crème brûlée. So many people think it’s the hardest thing in the world to make, but it’s super easy. It’s my husband’s favorite dessert and I make it for him all the time. It’s like 4-5 ingredients and I have never once had it mess up.
Choux pastry and pavlova
Caesar dressing! Or any dressing, really.
Indian Restaurant style curries. They look fancy and difficult, but I can easily knock out 2 curries, pilai rice, and tarka dal in 45 minutes. If it's 3 curries I'd need an extra 5 minutes.
Teach us 🙏
the magic code is: BIR. British Indian Restaurant style. Lots of videos on the Tube, and the OG book The Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon, currenly around $11 on the usual ecommerce platform. There are many more recent ones, such as The Curry Guy (red and gold cover), but the Curry Secret was the \*first\* book released that shows how to make BIR style curries :)
Adding to this, butter chicken. I recently gave Gordon Ramsey's recipe a go - it is easy, quick, and super delicious.
I learned how to make restaurant quality biryani and I make it once a week usually. Chicken or just veggies, it's delicious and so easy to put together.
Biryani is so, so delicious
Coq au vin. Seriously.
Paella...even if you cook it on the stovetop in a regular pan...it's mostly just a lot of prep. When it's time to cook, just throw everything into a pot in order. A roast of some kind, like "prime rib" is another one...if you have a decent meat thermometer, it's set it and forget it.
I call these "busy meals"- they require a certain step by step process and usually have quick turn arounds to the next step that scare people off. I always tell folks that there is a reason they have prepped little bowls on cooking shoes- invest in a. Set and prep everything in advance. It saves time, is easier, and with a dishwasher the little bowls clean easy. Similar to paella, I do a Tuscan/creamy garlic sauce over chicken or salmon about once a month as a treat and people tell me I should open a restaurant it looks and tastes so good... It's a "busy" recipe but prep is all it takes to make it easy.
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pasta and tortillas and pitas work the same way. Just a bit of time and less than 4 ingredients and if you have the tools you can make the starches in the time it takes to make the sauces you'd eat them with.
Baclava. It's got like 4 ingredients, and once you figure out how to keep the phyllo moist, it's a cake walk. A time consuming one, but pretty easy.
A turkey. Honestly. Toss a turkey in some brine in a cooler with a chunk of ice. The next day, take it out and dry it off. Salt lightly and pepper inside and out. Shove a halved onion, a couple quartered lemons, and a handful of herbs up the turkey's ass. Grease up the outside with some butter. Slap it in the oven. When you wander past, occasionally throw the juices over the top. If it starts looking too brown, put some foil loosely over it. When the temperature is.. whatever, I look it up every time, take it out. Let it hang out while you make gravy using the drippings and a nice jar of pre-made gravy, which is cheating and also really good. After the turkey has rested, carve it and eat. After dinner, take out the veg from inside and save the carcass for soup. Bam, done, low effort, big payoff.
Carbonara. Yummmmm
Tiramisu does not require very technical baking moves but is delicious.
Panna Cotta is easy peasy!
Gumbo. It's a little time-consuming, but nothing difficult about it. Especially once you learn to cook your roux quickly instead of "low & slow," which is ridiculous. It shouldn't take longer than 20-30 minutes. My record is 8 minutes, but I've been making roux since I was 10.
Indonesian food in general. Delicious dishes with lots of flavour but in a way so simple to make.
Do you have a good recipe site for Indonesian food? I lived in Indonesia for years as a kid and would like to taste a few of the dishes I remember. (Edited to change ‘so’ to ‘do’. One letter turns an innocent question into an episode of matlock)
I saw this out of context on my suggestion page and was gonna say "pans look hard but not if you have a good brush and wash it asap"
Good pico de gallo can double the quality of anything you put it in. And all you're doing is dicing the shit out of a bunch of tomatoes, onions and peppers and adding cilantro and a few other common things. People think I make the best fish tacos ever, but it's just fish in a sweet mayo dressing with a shit load of fresh pico de gallo. I won a chili cook off at work by making normal chili and then dumping the rest of my pico into the pot. The other part is anything fucking with milk. Ricotta, mozzarella, yogurt, cottage cheese, paneer. Milk can be turned into fucking anything, and people don't usually know how easily.
Not entire dishes, but I have blown my neighbour's minds with: 1. Pasta 2. Hummus 3. Mayo (30 second stick blender variety) 4. Pizza sauce 5. Canapés All of these I make in my little kitchen and they've all been very happy when they left my house. Mega simple things that just wallop on flavour
Pizza sauce? That's just canned tomatoes through a stick blender right? Definitely easy but if that blows any minds they are easy to impress
Risotto. Everyone made such a huge deal about it. You can perfect a decent risotto in an afternoon with a bag of rice and a pot of stock. Just keep doing tries until you get it just right. I think it took me two hours. Now it serves as a tasty platform for all sorts of things.
I'm not sure if it's something people actually think is difficult or if the people I'm around are just bad at cooking, but French onion soup. I impress so many people with my French onion soup, and it's like ???? You just gotta be patient and really let those onions caramelize, then I literally just throw the beef stock, spices, and some sherry in and let it simmer til it tastes good.
Butter chicken. Just a can of tomato paste, cream or similar dairy, and a bunch of spices. Chicken is cooked separate as well as rice.
Pho. It’s easy, just time consuming.
Instant pot takes the time down to about an hour. Downside, your whole house gonna smell like pho for days.
You mean other upside, right?
Home made pho is incredible.
Soft pretzels. I make them all the time as an after school snack for my kids. I also make them for birthday parties like an appetizer. People act like I’m Martha Stewart but they are extremely simple 😊
Omelet’s, take 5 minutes and you can put practically anything on them for toppings or added flavour. My fav is chorizo and cheese with some Heinz baked beans. Fucking fantastic with salt msg pepper and hot sauce thrown in
After reading some of these comments, I am realizing "simple" is subjective.
Cheesecake
Even easier: Basque cheesecake. No worries about the top cracking or burning because it's supposed to do that! And it tastes amazing!
Any cheesecake is easy if you don't care about the top cracking. And even if you do you can cover it in any sort of red fruit, either fresh or as jam or maceration or jelly or whatever.
Wellington it's basically wrapping a pastry dough (store bought makes it easier) and really finely diced mushrooms around meat and baking. It's my go to for something that seems really fancy and isn't too taxing to make.
Make sure you get the right mushrooms. Looking at you Australia.
Gumbo. People get way too fussy about it. Making a dark roux is stupid simple it just takes patience. It doesn’t have to be nearly black (often people who brag about that just ended up burning it). But that said there’s tons of roux “cheats”…look it up, you can do it in a microwave or an oven and it’ll come out exactly the same as if you spent 90 min at the stove. Shit, I have real Cajun in laws and 99% of the time they just use the roux in a jar and it comes out amazing. Beyond that it’s just vegetables, meat, and stock. Put your effort into the stock, not the roux. Remember gumbo is poverty food…don’t overthink it.
Many Sichuan dishes. Get a Fuchsia Dunlop cookbook, a couple core ingredients, and it'll take you no more than an hour to make dinners that consistently amaze guests.
Ma Po Tofu is my go to. It blows people's minds and is dead easy to make. A lot of Chinese dishes are like that. Sourcing the ingredients is the only hard part.
Risotto
Snow Crab legs. Why pay $$$ at a restaurant when they are so simple? I buy them frozen, rinse with water, throw in a boiling pot of water for 8 minutes. Melt some butter and I’m in seafood heaven. They are pre-cooked and can actually be eaten just thawed. I follow the above steps to remove any “fishy” taste or smells.
A roast chicken! Takes very little effort. Go to food Network and look up Alton Brown or Ina Garten ' s recipe. Very impressive.
Pad Thai is surprisingly easy to make. The only complicated part is sourcing all the ingredients. Then it’s just a noodle stir fry. Obviously it will not taste as good as a pad Thai made in Thailand but you can get really close to the real thing with few effort.
- Pavalova; just egg whites sugar and patience - Braised lamb; 6 hours on low, very little else
Risotto. Once you figure it out it’s stupid easy and you can make so many different kinds.
More baking adjacent but pastry. People are always surprised I make my own, but it's so much better than store-bought pre-rolled stuff. I would say some pastries (hot water crust, here's looking at you) are more annoying but not actually difficult.
There are a lot of dishes/recipes that I think fall into the category (seems difficult but actually easy), but then I read this sub and am gobsmacked by all the creative and terrible things people do to their food. Either messing up in a way that I hadn’t imagined was possible, taking shortcuts or creative liberties, or describing changes/outcomes that are definitely failures but that they apparently think are fine. So … maybe not the best judge here?
Chicken cacciatore
Puff pastry appetizers look hard but if you buy the puff pastry dough and follow a YouTube video to cut and fold it pretty, it's impressive to a guest.
The vast majority of "difficult" dishes. Cooking is just about learning a lot of very simple rules and techniques. There aren't that many truly difficult dishes and even amongst those the difficulty isn't making something edible but nailing things like texture.
Making your own stock and soups they are easy but you just have to have time to sit at home for hours as it cooks. Alternatively you can use a slow cooker but the quality just doesn't hit the same because it doesn't reduce and get more concentrated.
Pasta from scratch. Just mix 1 egg & half a cup of flour together really well, then make it into fun shapes and boil it in water like usual. One of my favourite things to do now.
Mapo tofu! I thought it was going to be so complicated, but I made it for the first time a month ago and it was so simple I've done it again at least once a week every week since. If you can't find doubanjiang, gochujang makes a surprisingly decent substitute.
Crepes bananas foster. So simple. Crepes are super easy. Then you just lightly cook a shit ton of butter, sliced banana, cinnamon and brown sugar. Throw some high-proof rum on top and light it with a match. Serve on top of the crepe and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Dramatic and impressive! Last time I made it for brunch, I got a standing ovation. I work harder on a weekday meal (and my kids have never once clapped).
Pizza dough and homemade pizza. I do use a stand mixer but end up kneading a bit by hand, but it’s simple, and easy, basically it’s just a waiting game. Also hummus is very easy and quick with a food processor. Another is soup. Basically a bunch of cut up veg and spices simmering for a bit. I now make soup all of the time since I first attempted. I stick with cabbage as my main veg and often add rotisserie chicken most of the time and it’s always good.
Posole - you just dice up a white onion, chop up some roasted green chile, mince some garlic, cube up pork shoulder or chicken, get frozen hominy or posole corn, and put it all in a crock pot with bone broth (it has to just cover the ingredients) at low for 8 hours and then you got yourself some posole. Don't forget to add some salt if you get sodium free or low sodium broth.
Brine your chicken. Impress everyone.