# What's the most complicated dish you regularly make? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111 "2018-07-18T00:08:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/41 "2018-07-19T16:01:34Z")
I make a great Chili Cheese Chowder. I don’t have the recipe at hand, but it’s potato soup with chili’s and lots of other veggies. When I make it, I make a double batch. The chopping and pealing takes hours. Another one that isn’t quite as bad would be Mulligatawny soup. I always make a double batch of that too. In fact one of these would be good to do on Sunday… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/42 "2018-07-19T16:08:16Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > The chopping and pealing takes hours. You should probably put the bells away. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/43 "2018-07-19T16:10:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I wish my gf would try this. When I serve dinner, the kitchen is relatively clean. I cook\* mise en place\*, and I clean up constantly while I’m cooking. > > But when my gf cooks, she is a whirlwind of mess in the kitchen. There will be cucumber skin stuck to the wall, tomato paste on the ceiling, dishes, knives, spoons, etc all over. > > After we enjoy dinner, when she cooks it’s my responsibility to clean up. If I cooked it’s her responsibility to . . . relax. Ah. I had an uncle like that. He had the magic kitchen hands. He had loads of cash — was the head of the surgery dept at a major Cleveland hospital — and lived in one of those huge grim Arts-and-Crafts mansions in Shaker Heights. His kitchen was like a witch’s den, spacious and dim, with a butler’s pantry, filled with exotic delicious aromas like garlic, which my mother never used. He was really into the 1960s-70s “gourmet” fad, but also made his own sour dill pickles and lots of ethnic-peasant food. Really good cook, but it was basically his hobby; he never concerned himself with the daily drudgery of producing dinner for his six kids. Years after he died, my cousins told me his evil secret…all the dirty pots and pans were left for my aunt. “What if he, like, only used one pot?” Sad headshakes all around. “Dad never knew from one pot…” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/44 "2018-07-19T16:15:05Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > Gah. I try so hard on here. I even said “eggplant” 🙂 > > “Shed loads” just means a lot. > > Enough to fill a shed, if you will. The reason I asked is because in the US, the term is “shit load.” (I do not know its origin.) And I shit you not! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/45 "2018-07-19T16:19:54Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I understood what you meant. So what’s the Scottish euphemism for eggplant? In cooking, the British term is the same as the French: aubergine. In Italian slang, I don’t know. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/46 "2018-07-19T16:20:58Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The reason I asked is because in the US, the term is “shit load.” (I do not know its origin.) Could have been derived from “shed load,” though. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/47 "2018-07-19T16:33:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In cooking, the British term is the same as the French: aubergine. > > In Italian slang, I don’t know. 😕 Eggplant/aubergine is “melanzana” in Italian. New York Italian Americans use the word as derogatory slang for African Americans. It’s the black skin, I’ll bet. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/48 "2018-07-19T17:11:31Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Eggplant/aubergine is “melanzana” in Italian. > > New York Italian Americans use the word as derogatory slang for African Americans. It’s the black skin, I’ll bet. Hey, I watched _ **The Sopranos** _ too! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/49 "2018-07-19T19:38:21Z")
[Pirozhki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirozhki) is another one that is time consuming. This is a Russian dish which requires making a raised dough and a meat/veg filling, letting the dough rise, then cutting and rolling it out into rectangles, making little stuffed dough packets, letting it rise again, then deep frying. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/50 "2018-07-19T20:46:00Z")
I love [this fake krab quiche](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/71025/crab-quiche/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=search%20results&clickId=cardslot%201) and I always make a double batch. I don’t know that it’s complicated, but there are lots of steps that take time, so it can’t just be thrown together. I’ve also been known to jazz it up with mushrooms or spinach or green peas. I don’t make my own crust, tho. I know how to, I just don’t like to mess with it. Frozen or rolled out crust works just fine. The other takes-a-long-time-to-make is my grandmother’s stuffed cabbage. Again, not difficult, but lots of time-consuming steps, especially if I decide to make potatoes with it. Even longer and more involved is her pierogi recipe - I can’t remember the last time I made it. Maybe after I retire… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/51 "2018-07-19T23:53:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hey, I watched _ **The Sopranos** _ too! 🆒 I didn’t. I just know a lot of Italian Americans in NYC. Some of them are jerks! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/52 "2018-07-20T01:58:43Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > [Pirozhki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirozhki) is another one that is time consuming. This is a Russian dish which requires making a raised dough and a meat/veg filling, letting the dough rise, then cutting and rolling it out into rectangles, making little stuffed dough packets, letting it rise again, then deep frying. They can also be baked. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/53 "2018-07-20T02:04:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > [Pirozhki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirozhki) is another one that is time consuming. This is a Russian dish which requires making a raised dough and a meat/veg filling, letting the dough rise, then cutting and rolling it out into rectangles, making little stuffed dough packets, letting it rise again, then deep frying. Just pretty much any stuffed dumpling/dough thing is a PITA. The most annoying one I ever made, but truly the most delicious, were tiny Turkish manti, each about an inch by an inch square, stuffed with a spiced lamb filling, and tucked into a little pillow. Now, I don’t make this regularly. In fact, I only made them once. But oh my, how delicious they were. [This is pretty close to the recipe I used](http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2008/02/manti.html). Note that one hundred of these bastards only serves 4-5. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/54 "2018-07-20T05:04:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hey, I watched _ **The Sopranos** _ too! 🆒 The better example of that is from True Romance during Dennis Hopper’s interrogation by Christopher Walken. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/55 "2018-07-20T13:51:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Just pretty much any stuffed dumpling/dough thing is a PITA. The most annoying one I ever made, but truly the most delicious, were tiny Turkish manti, each about an inch by an inch square, stuffed with a spiced lamb filling, and tucked into a little pillow. Now, I don’t make this regularly. In fact, I only made them once. But oh my, how delicious they were. [This is pretty close to the recipe I used](http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2008/02/manti.html). Note that one hundred of these bastards only serves 4-5. Making lumpia used to be a love/hate operation. Nowadays, the wrappers come already separated, so making them is a breeze, but back in the day the damn things were packaged without separation. Since they are paper thin, peeling them apart was something that required extreme patience and care to avoid ripping them to shreds. There were times when I would make 100-150 of the buggers for a large group and it would take me a couple of hours just to peel the wrappers apart. People would say (while stuffing their faces and moaning about how good they were) “Well why don’t you just use egg roll wrappers?”, which would nearly send me into a Sam Kinison rage. IF I WANTED FUCKING EGG ROLLS, I’D MAKE FUCKING EGG ROLLS, YOU MORON! GIVE THOSE BACK! NOW! NOW! AAAAGH! **Terentii** : cooking them is the easy part. It’s the prep that’s the PITA. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/56 "2018-07-20T14:28:53Z")
[http://http://ruthreichl.com/2010/05/coquilles-st-jacques.html/](http://http://ruthreichl.com/2010/05/coquilles-st-jacques.html/) This which is so good, but the man thinks it’s a waste of good scallops. Arrgghhh. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/57 "2018-07-20T19:47:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Just pretty much any stuffed dumpling/dough thing is a PITA. Any of you guys see **Bao** yet? The animated short shown before **The Incredibles 2**? Sometimes a stuffed dumpling is more than just a stuffed dumpling. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/58 "2018-11-22T04:21:17Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > MFor me, either Uova da Raviolo (ravioli made with an egg yolk inside, served runny) or OssoBucco (complicated because I need to hunt down the veal shanks). I got a kitchenaid pasta roller and my first try making Uova da Raviolo. Pretty damn good on the first try if I do say so myself. These didn’t seem overly difficult but then again I am also an accomplished Chinese dumpling maker, which seems to share a skill set. It will take a lot more tries to perfect but that is my current cooking goal. Any tips or tricks you suggest? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/59 "2018-11-22T05:09:08Z")
Hmm, I opened the thread planning to say lemon angle pie, which involves making lemon curd as well as folding said lemon curd into whipped cream, and takes a few hours. But I only do that for Passover. So then I was going to say chicken with ginger and scallion, because there’s a lot of chopping and slicing. But then I saw this: > [@kayaker](#): > > My gf makes oxtail soup that takes several days to complete… I sometimes make oxtail soup. It involves making broth, then laboriously separating the oxtail meat from the bones, then chilling everything overnight and skimming the fat, and then actually making the soup, with a bunch of vegetables and stuff. But it’s delicious, and also beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111/60 "2018-11-22T15:16:57Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > I got a kitchenaid pasta roller and my first try making Uova da Raviolo. Pretty damn good on the first try if I do say so myself. These didn’t seem overly difficult but then again I am also an accomplished Chinese dumpling maker, which seems to share a skill set. It will take a lot more tries to perfect but that is my current cooking goal. > > Any tips or tricks you suggest? Be prepared to waste a few as you get the feel for handling the egg barehanded. My dogs watched me work and helped out by eating a few raw eggs in the process. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-complicated-dish-you-regularly-make/818111.md?page=2)