The one dish...

[jglass]

You have trouble with?

For me it is home made biscuits. My Mom made great ones but she use lard and I will not. I can make other bread fine but biscuits give me grief lol. I think it is because I lack patience.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

I can identify with your biscuit issues, janie. There are so many delicate intricasies that make biscuits perfect. And these subtle issues are easy to flub-up. I screw'em up frequently! Though, when a bisuit is indeed perfect- golly-moses... there's nuthin' better! I like'm angel-light, flaky and full of buttery goodness. Sometimes they just melt in your mouth!

[chubbyalaskagriz]

In restaurant kitchens, I was always the worst at trimming large cuts of meat. And pulling pin-bones out of countless fillets of salmon. I knew how to do it- but I didn't have the patience to stand there and actually do the delicate knife-work for hours. I can crack a ga-zillion eggs for omlets for Sunday brunch... I'm happy to peel 250 lbs. of potatoes... or decorate a 4-tier wedding cake... or peel 'n de-vein shrimp 'til the cows come home. But give me a case of beef tenderloins and tell me to trim the fat-cap and silver-skin and cut them into a couple hundred filet mignons and I get as antsy and wracked as a one-armed paper-hanger!

[The Ironic Chef]

Chinese Boneless Crispy Chicken Breast with vegetables.

Around here it's a standard item on any Chinese menu. The chicken is a breast cutlet and there is a crispy crust on the exterior. I have tried to make this so many times in the past 30 years. I have tried so many different types of tempuras like they use for sweet and sour pork and chicken. I have tried rice flour, I have tried egg whites and corn starch, I have tried different dredges, I have tried different coating combinations. The perfection of this dish eludes me. The closest I have come is with the egg whites and corn starch. Most Chinese restaurants get these chicken fillets frozen and just deep fry them.
I have searched countless hours for the recipe, lol. It's like a secret guarded ancient Chinese recipe.

[jglass]

I can identify with your biscuit issues, janie. There are so many delicate intricasies that make biscuits perfect. And these subtle issues are easy to flub-up. I screw'em up frequently! Though, when a bisuit is indeed perfect- golly-moses... there's nuthin' better! I like'm angel-light, flaky and full of buttery goodness. Sometimes they just melt in your mouth!

I was watching diners, drive in and dives last night and he was at a place really close to here in a little town called Olive Hill. It is about 15 miles away from here. A diner/truck stop. The woman who was doing the cooking was making biscuits and man oh man was she using the lard! The biscuits looked wonderfully thick and fluffy lol. When she made the breakfast gravy she started with tons of lard melted in a skillet that she added flour to and then browned. Then she added the milk and her sausage last. I always saw my Mom and her Mom make gravy by frying up either bacon or sausage then take out the meat and add flour to the grease left in the pan. Brown that up and then add milk. I bet that woman at the truck stop buys lard by the 50 pound buckets. I make gravy with turkey sausage and then add a little canola oil to finish it out.

[jglass]

Chinese Boneless Crispy Chicken Breast with vegetables.

Around here it's a standard item on any Chinese menu. The chicken is a breast cutlet and there is a crispy crust on the exterior. I have tried to make this so many times in the past 30 years. I have tried so many different types of tempuras like they use for sweet and sour pork and chicken. I have tried rice flour, I have tried egg whites and corn starch, I have tried different dredges, I have tried different coating combinations. The perfection of this dish eludes me. The closest I have come is with the egg whites and corn starch. Most Chinese restaurants get these chicken fillets frozen and just deep fry them.
I have searched countless hours for the recipe, lol. It's like a secret guarded ancient Chinese recipe.

I don't think I have ever seen that one around here at the chinese restaurants but I always get the buffet. It may be on their menu.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

IC I can relate to your frustration re: getting that chicken fried just right! Frying at home is a big old pain-in-the-neck! I guess there is no way to have that deep vat of hot grease with the heat just so at home. I have tried all the stuff you have and ice cold freezing water in my batter & all to no avail. At home you can not control the heat well enough, as you add cold food to the container you are frying in the heat fluxuates too much and unless you are willing to fry 1 piece at a time I just do not think we can get the same results. I have never had a Fry Daddy and often wondered if I got one of those if it would make a difference. But I just never have broke down and bought one. When I fry it seems to be OK just out of the grease but if you let it sit for even just a little longer to finish up the rest of what you're frying it gets soggy and the crust is not near as crispy. Oh well that's what the restaurants have to offer and that we can not get it exactly like that at home.

[The Ironic Chef]

Cathy, when I do Americas Test Kitchen 's version of fried chicken, where you add a bit of buttermilk and baking powder to the dredging material, and after frying it, placing it on a wire mesh rack placed on a baking sheet, place it in the oven at 200*, it does keep the chicken crispy.
The Chinese boneless chicken is actually served in a container over steaming hot vegetables and sauce and lidded. To stay crispy in that container with the steam says so much about the batter used.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

There is alot of work to keeping it crispy But lidded and with a sauce to boot, well all I can say is WOW!

[cookingwithliz]

Lard in itself is not all bad. It is lower in saturated fat the butter. True lard is not easy to find. Most of the lard we have has been hydrogenated. Hydrogenation is the source for trans fats. Crisco claims they have a new no trans fat formula??
On a different note...My grandmother had a recipe for the best biscuits ever, they were made with mayonnaise. Has anyone seen a recipe with mayo used in biscuits? I have lost her recipe.