Going full retard - the most complicated food you've made

[JoeD]

holy heck Rob, I’m doing that. awesome.

[Henry_Kiichli]

@r klose

I love to make cassoulets, gumbo, paella, chili, any and every type of smoked product, pates, bacon, bacon jam…The most complicated dish I’ve ever made, though, would have to be my take on schweinebauch. Here it is:

Stuffed Bacon
5 day process
I cure the pork belly for 4 days, then rinse it and cut a cavity in it. I then stuff the bacon with a sausage I make out of smoked rib and duck meat (that I smoked the day before) as well as some homemade carnitas. I then put this in the smoker for 3.5-4 hours using hickory. After smoking, I let it rest overnight and then slice and pan fry.

Wow.

[Henry_Kiichli]

@Jay Miller

@JYoung

Of course, nothing beats the Cthurken: Turducken? No, Thanks. I'll Have the Cthurkey. - Neatorama

Can’t believe I never saw this before. Thank you!

For your nightmares

[Jorge_Henriquez]

Cassoulet and Dominican sancocho.

2 days for the former, 12 hours for the latter.

[MattBerto]

I don’t find cassoulet to be all that complicated. It’s a LONG process, for sure, with a bunch of chopping and a lot of steps, but at the end of the day it’s basically a braised bean dish, and pretty tough to screw up badly.

Off the top of my head mine was probably a homemade seafood ravioli, which included:
Pasta dough
Lobster/shrimp filling mixture
Sauce made from homemade seafood stock, created from the same lobster/shrimp shells

And no, pasta dough’s not tough at all, but doing it correclty and then filling all those damn ravioli and successfully cooking them such that they don’t fall apart is a bit of a trick.

I once tried a demi-glace reduced from a brown sauce but I’m not sure I can claim success on the end product.

[ToddFrench]

Hollandaise. Never again. Made it perfectly the first time, for Jen’s mothers day breakfast one year, but she kept sleeping and sleeping and eventually it was ruined. I had to scramble (no pun intended) to make another, and it looked like crap (tasted fine) so I swore never again to make it.

[Henry_Kiichli]

Halb halb klösse

Basically potato dumplings with half cooked and half raw potato.

f*cking disaster.

Why why why?

A potato is a god given perfect food. why mess with it?

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

@r klose

Stuffed Bacon
5 day process
I cure the pork belly for 4 days, then rinse it and cut a cavity in it. I then stuff the bacon with a sausage I make out of smoked rib and duck meat (that I smoked the day before) as well as some homemade carnitas. I then put this in the smoker for 3.5-4 hours using hickory. After smoking, I let it rest overnight and then slice and pan fry.

I have to try this. Looks fantastic. However, having been raised in a strictly kosher home, I’ll have to work on my technique. You wouldn’t happen to have videoed the process.

[CFu]

@Henry Kiichli

@Jay Miller

@JYoung

Of course, nothing beats the Cthurken: Turducken? No, Thanks. I'll Have the Cthurkey. - Neatorama

Can’t believe I never saw this before. Thank you!

For your nightmares

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthurkey R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”
“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthurkey waits dreaming.”

[r_klose]

@J a y H a c k

@r klose

Stuffed Bacon
5 day process
I cure the pork belly for 4 days, then rinse it and cut a cavity in it. I then stuff the bacon with a sausage I make out of smoked rib and duck meat (that I smoked the day before) as well as some homemade carnitas. I then put this in the smoker for 3.5-4 hours using hickory. After smoking, I let it rest overnight and then slice and pan fry.

I have to try this. Looks fantastic. However, having been raised in a strictly kosher home, I’ll have to work on my technique. You wouldn’t happen to have videoed the process.

Hey Jay,
Sorry no video. I may do it again with more pics at different stages. Just not sure when I’ll be making it again.

Tomorrow I’ll be smoking a brisket and making pizzas for Super Bowl. I’ll take pics and post them.

[Merrill_Lindquist]

@Henry Kiichli

@Jay Miller

@JYoung

Of course, nothing beats the Cthurken: Turducken? No, Thanks. I'll Have the Cthurkey. - Neatorama

Can’t believe I never saw this before. Thank you!

For your nightmares

That is revolting.

[Matt_Allen]

It is not particularly difficult, but making Lasagna Bolognese from scratch is a tremendous amount of work. Long cooked sauce, fresh pasta, bechamel, assembly, baking.

[Milton_Hudson]

Three items jump to mind:
Deboned cornish game hens stuffed with a spinach cream stuffing wrapped in bacon. Delish but my skills at that time were pretty basic.
Puff Pastry from scratch. Way too much trouble at the time as i just didn’t have the counter space or any type of mechanical help.
Julia Child duck pate. basically you take the skin off the duck leaving it whole. Then all the meat off the duck and make a pate of it then stuff back into the skin for cooking and presentation. Delicious but very labor intensive. This is one I would do again as my knife skills are far better now.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

@r klose

Hey Jay,
Sorry no video. I may do it again with more pics at different stages. Just not sure when I’ll be making it again.

Tomorrow I’ll be smoking a brisket and making pizzas for Super Bowl. I’ll take pics and post them.

I found this video. Looks about right as a base fr the process.

Sausage-Stuffed Pork Belly

[brianmcbrearty]

@Todd F r e n c h

Hollandaise. Never again. Made it perfectly the first time, for Jen’s mothers day breakfast one year, but she kept sleeping and sleeping and eventually it was ruined. I had to scramble (no pun intended) to make another, and it looked like crap (tasted fine) so I swore never again to make it.

Can’t let this stand.
Dude. Put down Mastering the Art of French Cooking and pick up your immersion blender.

Quick Immersion Blender Hollandaise Recipe

[leslie_mead]

Or try this. Foolproof. https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/perfect-hollandaise

[M_McCombs]

Whoever came up with pork stuffed pork is my new hero.
Why can’t that person run for president?

[Brian_Tuite]

@Todd F r e n c h

Hollandaise. Never again. Made it perfectly the first time, for Jen’s mothers day breakfast one year, but she kept sleeping and sleeping and eventually it was ruined. I had to scramble (no pun intended) to make another, and it looked like crap (tasted fine) so I swore never again to make it.

The key to not f*cking up Hollandaise is to make it in a blender. That way you make it on-demand and you will never cook the yolks and it does not separate.

[Brian_Tuite]

@brianmcbrearty

Can’t let this stand.
Dude. Put down Mastering the Art of French Cooking and pick up your immersion blender.
Quick Immersion Blender Hollandaise Recipe

Only 1 egg yolk? That’s odd.

[brianmcbrearty]

@Brian Tuite

@brianmcbrearty

Can’t let this stand.
Dude. Put down Mastering the Art of French Cooking and pick up your immersion blender.
Quick Immersion Blender Hollandaise Recipe

Only 1 egg yolk? That’s odd.

That is.
I haven’t tried this one specifically… was just looking to show the method.
But the method produces a very sturdy emulsion. I wouldn’t be surprised if one yolk to a stick of butter is plenty for me. I’ll see if I can find an excuse to make it this evening and report back.