Are you kidding? Stick with those frittatas! I've used the Better Homes and Garden recipe, varying the ingredients, and it's never failed me. And when you're taking a break from practicing frittatas, please tell me how to make a decent pavlova--fluffy, white, mallowy, and yum. =( Meringues I've got, even tough ones like macarons. My pavlovas are always browned, flat, crunchy all the way through, stuck to the parchment--some sort of disaster like that. That mallowy middle eludes me!

My name is Julie, and I can't make a decent pan of brownies. I've tried many different recipes and used the best ingredients, but still can't manage to make brownies that taste as good as Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, an admittedly unambitious standard. My cakes are decent, my cookies are good, my brownies are a joke.

Pies. I'm petrified of making crust.

And I always manage to screw things up while frosting layered cakes.

Pies also, or basically anything involving making my own pastry. It's too fussy and delicate and never, NEVER comes out right. I hate it.

apple pie, although I submit that there is nothing easy about it!

Egad, I can make duck a l'orange for 12, but can I fry an egg, over easy - no sireee. I often inexplicably screw up the coffeemaker, too. Thankfully, the hubster makes breakfast.

Whenever I make a stromboli, I never have the patience to let it rise enough so the cheese always burst out while it's baking. Also, when I make things like turnovers, I can't get the filling to stay in or make a good seal. I made some yeasted blueberry turnovers this weekend that almost gave me a breakdown!

Anything with eggplant. I give up.

The secret to eggplants is to salt and drain them first. Otherwise they stay full of bitter juice. Lay out slices of eggplant in a single layer, salt them heavily and let them sit and drain for an hour or so. Then rinse and pat dry. You can use a colander for draining purposes, but I find it easiest to put the slices on a cutting board and then boost up one side of the board (with whatever's around and a few inches high) so that the board is at an angle and drains the bitter juice into the sink.

baba ghannouj. can't. do. it.

For brownies, an easy solution is to try a cocoa powder based recipe. Hershey's Best Brownies is a good starter version, and has worked well with every dutched and plain cocoa powder I've tried, including some very high fat ones. Melted chocolate brownies are a good deal trickier, so they're easy to screw up. As you gain confidence with the Hershey's recipe, you can start melting an ounce or so of semi-sweet chocolate with the butter. That makes it easier to keep the chocolate at a low enough temperature that it behaves in the batter. You can work your way up to quite high chocolate content, or add all sorts of extras... just first make sure the plain version works.

My failing is white sauces. I can make a good dark roux and the brown sauce that's based on it. I can make egg based sauces. I can make all manner of other sauces. But a plain bechamel that is *tasty* eludes me.

OneWallKitchen, isn't a Pavlova just a really big meringue? I never realized until college that most meringues were crunchy, my mom always made it piped around a Hershey's kiss and baked to a crispy-chewy delight. bake for 20-25 minutes in a 300 degree Fareignheight (I know that spelling is wrong, but I don't remember what it's supposed to be) oven.

You could always try the "forgotten" type, too.

I can't make a victoria sponge to save my life, though. I can't figure out where I'm going wrong.

Pancakes. I end up crying every time.

Salad dressing and a good stir fry.... No idea.

I just can't make bread. Any kinds. I am terrified now of any recipe that contains yeast. It's like it dies when in my hands. The last time I tried a loaf of bread, we decided it was better as a doorstopper. Someday ... ::sigh::

ladyfingers. they look so simple...but alas..they always fall flat and look more like sticky crackers.

@ Tiamat, I think part of the trouble is I've never actually eaten a "real" pavlova, but all my Aussie friends assure me that, like a meringue, they have a crispy outer crust, but are soft and mallowy like a marshmallow in the middle. Supposedly, the vinegar you add is supposed to keep it mallowy.

@ Julie--what's your idea of a perfect brownie? For me, it's halfway between fudgy/gooey and cakey/light. For that, my favorite">http://www.recipezaar.com/303143">favorite recipe has been from Cook's Illustrated (one that came out last year or the year before). The unsweetened chocolate makes for a deeper chocolate flavor.

@ sara jane--instead of trying to flip an egg over easy, once the bottom is cooked, pour a couple tablespoons of water into the frying pan with the egg and slap a cover on it for a few minutes without peeking; the steam will cook the top of the egg.

pesto. every time I make it, I end up overworking it and lose the basil flavor...it just ends up metallic tasting.

I do, however, make an excellent frittata. :)

Birdie, do you measure ingredients for the bread by volume or by weight? I used to do it by volume and my bread was about as good as a brick. Then I bought a scale and suddenly everything worked perfectly.

I am with the pie crust people. I always make excuses for why I can't do it. I love baking, but not pies.

I love the brownie recipe that comes on the ghirardelli sweet ground chocolate and cocoa container, but I like them rich and gooey.

Regarding pancakes: use a medium or even medium-low heat. The first few pancakes will usually take much longer than the second set because it takes what seems like *forever* for the pan to heat up properly.

Wait until the surface has *several* bubbles on the surface that have popped. Then and only then, use the spatula/pancake flipper to lift up a corner and check for a light to golden brown color on the underside. Then you can flip them over. The second side takes less time. (I'd say about 4 minutes on the first side when you put down the raw batter, then only 1-2 minutes once you've flipped.)

If the pancakes are burning - the heat is too high. If the batter is running all over the place - you're flipping them too soon. If you're having trouble getting a spatula underneath to flip them - the batter is also still too raw and undercooked.

The bubble method is closest thing I've found to a perfect sign that they are ready to flip. (Hope this is helpful.)

I can't make soup (besides stock) from scratch. I tried to make curried butternut squash soup and it turned out horrible. I make hot and sour soup quite frequently, but i still rely on my recipe to give me the correct amounts. If i don't, it just ends up tasting weird.

rice. it's always bad. :(

I cannot poach an egg. Even more disheartening, I can make a perfect hollandaise, but I cannot poach the damn egg to go with it.

Thanks, miss jolly. I just did that the other night, and it was terribly salty. And I served it to guests, too.

someone mentioned stir fry- definitely agree :)

Cornbread. Plain old, not-sweet, un-fancy, no frills southern style cornbread. I cannot get it right. And as a southerner, this brings shame to my family..........

I've been struggling with making a tofu eggless salad that's as good as the one at the Whole Foods deli. Theirs is so yummy, but so expensive for what it is. Every time I've tried it at home, all I taste is the bland flavorless flavor of the tofu. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've tried more than a few recipes.

RedMolly- ladyfingers are not easy. Back when I was in a baking and pastry program in culinary school, I got straight As on everything. Except for ladyfingers. I always messed those up for my practical exams. It's so easy to deflate the egg whites while folding the rest of the batter in. The recipe we were required to use didn't have anything to stabilize the whipped egg whites except a bit of sugar.

Plain bread that involves rising. At this point, I've basically resigned myself to a life of baking banana/pumpkin/zucchini bread and buying sandwich bread in the store.

i cant poach an egg properly either! it drives me nuts. no matter how much i use a ladle or bowl to "keep it together" in the beginning, i end up losing most of the egg by the end and usually just fry one/make a soft boiled egg instead out of pure frustration.

RoseCampion, I would bet you that what you're missing is either mustard or curry powder, or both.

This is sad, but my downfall is scrambled eggs. I'm going to give the 'slow scramble" method another try and see if I can break the curse.

i can make a pie crust that will make you cry for joy, but any cake i even attempt just turns into a big pile of nasty. it's so sad.

any kind of rice. it's pathetic. plain ole' white rice, mexican rice, rice pilaf...never good. even in cooking school i was the one with the ruined rice.

The key to a perfect poached egg is to get the water boiling on med-high heat, when it reaches a boil and 1 TSP or so of regular vinegar .... you dont taste it at all what so ever... but it keeps the egg in perfect form. Then softly pour in your egg and cook for 2 min or so.

It seems like vinegar is the secret to everything! I also had difficulties with pie crust, and this summer I had a TERRIBLE craving for a real blueberry pie, unadulterated by other berries, but could not find one anywhere. I ended up trying my hand at crust again. I remembered that a contestant at the National Pie Contest on Food Network said that her fool-proof secret to flaky crust was vinegar. I added a tablespoon to a standard crust recipe and presto! delicious blueberry pie with a flaky butter crust. I immediately went to Costco and bought two giant jugs of the stuff...

I can't make hummus or baba ganooj no matter how many times I try. It never tastes good. Also, I suck at quiche.

I can never seem to get my "man tou" (Chinese steamed buns) to rise as much as my mom's does. =(

Risotto. I want that Martha Stewart recipe I saw one time where she started it on the stove and finished it in the oven. I can't find it anywhere. And I was going to say poached eggs, but now I've got the vinegar solution to try!

Sourdough bread...it has a mind of its own.

Soup! It always ends up tasting watery.

Joan: Actually thats right. I do the salt thing, draindraindrain, then rinse, dry and roast the slices. The key for me is to make thin slices. You dont have to use too much salt, and the extra water evaporates in the oven. Loooove it that way. Maybe try it sometime w/o experimenting on your guests and you'll figure it out!

Melissa: I make a tasty hummus and I shall tell you how. Roast a TON of garlic (like seriously a whole head). Then add to food processor: rinsed chick peas (I use a large can), ~3-4 Tbs Tahini, fresh juice of 1-2 lemons (I like 2), the roasted garlic (yes all of it), and gooood olive oil. Whizz. Add a little water if its thick, then add salt to taste. Yum. Baba ghanouj is made the same way but use eggplant instead of chick peas!

<3

my babaganouj recipe goes kinda like this: prick a bunch of holes in a big eggplant and roast in 400 degree oven until soft and deflated. Scoop everything out and puree in a food processor. Add in a small clove of garlic (or to taste, but since its raw, a little goes a long way), some lemon juice, a little salt, and a small splash of VINEGAR. I know it may be blasphemy, but NO tahini (just don't like the way it tastes. i've found that my favorite hummuses and babaganoujes have had very little/minimal tahini flavor). If you want to make it creamy (and you do) try adding a bit of sour cream, or better yet, labneh (middle eastern thick yogurt). Delicious!

The thing i can't seem to make right is dumplings. Specifically, Czech bread dumplings that i grew up with (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jeremytaylor/czfood/L14.jpg). Its basically a bread dough that is formed into loaves and then boiled until done, and then "sliced" with thread immediately. They're pretty much crucial to Czech cooking, because they are excellent at sopping up all that good sauce. The few times i've tried, they've either completely disintegrated into the boiling water when i put them in, or were so leaden that they were inedible. :(

I LOVE bread dumplings. Just had to say that. :-) I've never attempted them though. We grew up eating them with meat sauce.

PIZZA

I have made more messes that I can count. And I can cook pretty much anything else!

MH330 maybe Ill ty it that way! Im always up for different (and possibly better!) ways to do things! Def easier that slicing/salting/draining/rinsing/roasting. I will admit I REALLY love the roasted eggplant flavor though!

Bread, especially sourdough.

Pie dough is easy if you follow a recipe from one of those big, green, cloth-covered, All-American cookbooks from the fifties. I use all butter (no Crisco or anything). Just barely stir it together, don't mess with it too much. If there are little butter lumps it turns out fine.

When I make Hummus I also add a little yogurt for creaminess and some Paprika for spice. Yumm!

I cannot bake a decent freakin sugar cookie to save my life. I can make insane curries and terribly complicated candies, but a nice, soft, flavorful sugar cookie to this day eludes me.

L1bby - check out this recipe from the Gourmet cookbook. Despite being a California girl, I've been told by several Southerners I've made it for that this is the real deal. And it's easy as heck to make, too.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SKILLET-CORN-BREAD-102239

The trick to pie crust is definitely not messing with it too much, but if you want the good stuff, you're going to have to use lard. You'll get creamy and delicious every time!

mh330 --

I am with you -- I just can't make Czech bread dumplings. Fortunately, at home in Canada, there are some really good ones you can buy frozen at delis (some Czech grandma supplementing her income).

I've tried the proper Czech flour, I've tried the "correct" baking powders, fresh yeast, I've tried calling my dad's 70ish girlfriend, and have her talk me through the process. It's no good. My dumplings turn out tough and dry.

(and I can make anything else -- 6 layer buttercream tortes, bread, piecrust, pulled strudel -- you name it!).

My mother's dumplings were dreadful -- leaden -- so she couldn't teach me, and I have had to try to pick it up on my own. Either you have to make them with a really experienced cook several times to remember the feel of a good dumpling dough at the various points in the process, or you have to stumble your way through it, finding it out for yourself, one dreadful dumpling at a time.

*sigh*

Every time I'm whipping egg yolks into something hot (even after I've tempered them - or so I thought) they always turn into scrambled eggs. Not what I was going for at all...