Proud kitchen moments, anyone? .

[Bijou]

I'm such a good cook...sometimes, that is.
Today I made a shredded cabbage, miniature carrot and sliced and browned kielbasa sausage soup with caramelized onion and garlic.  I used a boxed low sodium chicken stock (the kind you can keep on the shelf until you open it).  When I tasted the completed soup I exclaimed, "Gee, I'm a good cook!"  My husband laughed.  I don't blame him, because although I used to be a very good cook I just hate cooking anymore for lack of energy so I just throw things together and mostly they are just passable. 

[yokozbornak]

I recently made a pan of baklava.  It tasted great, and I was so proud of myself.  I am a decent cook, but I a not much of a baker/dessert maker.

[MamaMootz]

I made my very first loaf of artisan bread and it came out exactly like the picture in the book, and tasted FANTASTIC. The loaf was gone the same night I made it!

[Lynnv]

I have (after years and years of failure) learned to make a decent pie crust.  Yay. 
And a decent pizza crust.  Double yay.

I am a decent cook, but not good with baked goods.  So any success leads me to doing the happy dance.

[Outdoor Girl]

My Mom passed away 9 years ago in September.  She made fantastic pastry.  I'd watched her make it and I had her recipe but I've never been able to make it work.  This year, I managed to make it where it works really well for pie crust - easy to roll out, doesn't split when I try to put it in the plate.

It still isn't working 100% for our mincemeat rolls - they split when we bake them - but it is a vast improvement from every other time I've made it.  I've had to modify her technique to make it work but I'm getting there!

(I have the complete opposite problem of most people making pastry.  Rather than being too tough, it is too tender.  Tastes great and melts in your mouth but it falls apart.  And is a bugger to roll and get in the pie plate.  At least I can do that part, now!)

[doodlemor]

That sounds so yummy Bijou, please share the recipe.

Lately I've learned how to deal with ganache and cakes.  Not that big of a deal, but the stuff is so-ooooo good. 

Lately the favorite birthday cake for several in my family is a vanilla sponge cake baked in 3 layers, with milk chocolate filling and dark chocolate ganache poured over the top. 

[selkiewoman]

My first pumpkin cake roll.  And I find, to my surprise, I make spectacular ghee.

[mmswm]

My cheesecakes.  They've been compared favorably, and preferred to Cheesecake Factory, though my favorite complement was something else.  A good friend of mine has a mother that's a phenomenal cook.  She's particularly well known for her pumpkin cheesecake.  One day I brought my own pumpkin cheesecake to share with this friend and several others.  My friend begrudgingly admitted that mine was better than mom's. Win!

[Octavia]

Tamales! I made everything, including the masa dough, from scratch. So delicious!

[GratefulMaria]

Those all sound so good!

I made pizza while DS1 and DS2 (and his girlfriend) were here for winter break.  I used canned sauce (organic, so not too ashamed) but made the dough from scratch and hand grated the mozzarella.  Everyone was very pleased. 

Wouldn't an eHell potluck be phenomenal?

[QueenofAllThings]

My proudest was some 7 or 8 years ago. On reflection, I think I was temporarily insane.

We hosted Christmas, and I made Beef Wellington.  For 35 people. Along with the starter, all the sides, and the desserts. And it was spectacular!

[BabylonSister]

The very first time I made croissants, bread and puff pastry.  There is a magical chemistry* factor about all these and I was so proud with myself that they turned out as expected.  I really love baking — too bad I live alone at the moment and I watch my weight so it all just piles up in my freezer and gets eaten very slowly.





*Yes, I realize that's an oxymoron.

[Thipu1]

We've had very few but they were memorable. 

When we were newly-married, we hosted a Chinese New Year feast for 12.  Everything except the dumpling skins and the 1000 year eggs were made from scratch in our own little kitchen.  It was very gratifying when guests asked us who are caterers were.

Another one was the time we tried Mario Batali's recipe for gnocchi.  Neither of us had any experience making pasta but our attempt was almost as good as Mario's own and way better than gnocchi we'd eaten in any other restaurant. 

[wonderfullyanonymous]

I was going to make some chicken helper chicken fried rice. The recipe called for the chicken to be cooked in oil, but I always add a tad bit of peanut butter when I am using vegie oil just for a little more taste.

This night, I used way too much peanut butter, and it was more saucy than oily. I scratched the chicken fried rice, because that would have never worked. I taste the melted peanut butter and start adding things to it. I put a little more oil and peanut butter in the pan, then added a bit of sugar, taste, salt, taste. I'm staring at my spices and brain is saying add garlic powder. I hemmed and hawed, and put in a bit of garlic, taste, and finally settled on a dash of onion powder. The sauce tasted incredible!

I added the chicken and that pretty much just simmered until dinner, and I served it with Angel Hair pasta.

DF, who does not like chicken, had two big helping of it, and told me it was the best chicken dish he had ever eaten.

[asb8]

My proudest moment was when I hosted Thanksgiving for my family this year. I'd never done it before and everything came out perfect!  Even the turkey, which was brined and roasted per Alton Brown's instructions.  My mother could not believe I'd roasted a turkey in 2.5 hours!