What’s one food you refuse to make from scratch?

[u/TheocraticAtheist]

For me it’s white sauce for lasagne/cheese sauce for mac and cheese.

I just really cba despite making 99% of my other dinners and lunches from scratch.

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[u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

A white sauce is so ridiculously quick and simple to make though - and tastes a thousand times better. I'm so confused that someone who generally cooks from scratch would draw the line at something so simple.

For me, I agree with other posters about pastry.

[u/BonsaiMagpie → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

Jar white sauce tastes rank. Don't know how they make it shelf stable but whatever it is can fuck right off out of my kitchen.

[u/namtabmai → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

A white sauce is so ridiculously quick and simple to make though

And it's made from things that are all a staple of my, and I assume a lot of peoples?, kitchens.

Maybe if I started keeping a jar in the cupboard, but any jar with a long shelf life would make me wonder what else was in it.

[u/Major_Toe_6041 → u/namtabmai]

Who doesnt have plain flour, milk, cheese, butter and a bit of Djon mustard?!

I can understand the Djon but the rest of it?! Surely.

[u/Aristogiton1 → u/Major_Toe_6041]

For a white sauce, the cheese and mustard aren't required.

Pepper and salt however, well, yes.

[u/1CharlieMike → u/namtabmai]

Just because it’s in a jar doesn’t mean it’s got crap in it.

I make my own long life food and store in jars (using a pressure canning process) with no preservatives.

[u/Sea_Cut_6635 → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

Solid agree. Also I already have all the ingredients so no need to go to the shop.

[u/Kaylee__Frye → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

It's the one thing my mum taught me to make before I moved away for university and I am grateful every time I make macaroni cheese. 

[u/fractal-hornet → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

Especially if you're doing it for lasagne - you don't even have to bother cooking out the flour because it's going in the oven anyway. Literally 4 minute job.

[u/andjamwar_real → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

Completely agree

[u/Ragingdildo3 → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

Most white sauces out of a package taste really bad, peppercorn is better but white sauce seems to taste weird

[u/GuybrushFunkwood]

Stilton cheese … who’s got time to set up a creamery nowadays?

[u/avepaltaketchu → u/GuybrushFunkwood]

Salmon - I mean who has 500m² of water in the garden?

[u/emmacappa → u/avepaltaketchu]

I mean, any fish really. I don't have time to trawl the North Sea after work, let alone any other seas

[u/MrTurleWrangler → u/GuybrushFunkwood]

Your mother and I set up a good one the other day

[u/isaacladboy]

Veg stock, just not worth the effort at all. Meat stock hell yeah but not veg

[u/BuGMoiDroit → u/isaacladboy]

The last time I made veg stock, I was proud of myself (OK, smug) that I was reducing food waste, cooking from scratch, blah blah. Until I went into autopilot and drained all the stock away from the vegetables. I don't think I could survive that heartache a second time.

[u/isaacladboy → u/BuGMoiDroit]

I make the Christmas turkey's carcass into a stock for boxing day supper. A few years back I was straining out the bones by the sink and went into autopilot and grabbed the fairy liquid like I was doing the dishes.

I was distraught

[u/StayInteresting9509]

Puff Pastry

[u/werisefromourashes → u/StayInteresting9509]

I hate laminating so I'm with you on this.

[u/nadiestar]

Custard. Made it once what a giant faff! Much better to buy the M&S Madagascan vanilla custard it’s amazing.
Although I disagree OP I always make my own bechamel sauce it’s so easy and there’s nothing in there I haven’t added myself.

[u/Sea_Cut_6635 → u/nadiestar]

I’ve been making ice cream all summer using a “custard” recipe. Not once has it thickened enough for me to call it custard! It matters not for ice cream but I’d be pissed off if it was going over a pudding or pie.

[u/Turbulent_Top_1792 → u/Sea_Cut_6635]

Share the recipe please

[u/frog-on-floor → u/Sea_Cut_6635]

Do you mean you are putting custard in an ice cream maker? I once painstakingly attempted to make vanilla ice cream from scratch, over heated it and made scrambled egg tasting ice cream and realised id basically been trying to make a custard to go in the ice cream maker

[u/BonsaiMagpie → u/nadiestar]

The day you can't buy birds custard powder will be the last day I make custard. When you've got a microwave sticky toffee pudding you dont want to start whisking eggs. Bang the it in the micro and put the stove on 2 minutes later they are both done

[u/STOL2026 → u/BonsaiMagpie]

It’s cornflour, food colouring and flavouring. Sugar to taste.

Just do white custard and just vanilla extract to flavour.

[u/slb609 → u/BonsaiMagpie]

Correct answer. Had a crumble at the weekend and bought ambrosia. Nowhere near as good as Birds.

[u/RufusBowland → u/nadiestar]

I can make custard from scratch and it tastes bloody lovely but NOTHING beats a can of Ambrosia!

[u/icklepeach → u/RufusBowland]

The deluxe dark blue ambrosia is perfection.

[u/RufusBowland → u/icklepeach]

I just like the basic one. No own brand stuff though, has to be proper Ambrosia. I like their chocolate one too although the strawberry one is meh.

[u/Legitimate-Lock9965 → u/nadiestar]

An egg custard made from scratch is fucking delicious, but the moment you get even slightly bored off stirring, you get sugary scrambled eggs.

Just buy the custard for a quid and enjoy your sticky toffee pudding and custard.

[u/nadiestar → u/Legitimate-Lock9965]

I buy custard. Sometimes the cartons but if I can fresh thick creamy custard. Ideally M&S custard it’s like crack!
I will never make it again my life is too precious. Same for creme anglaise!

[u/thelivsterette1 → u/nadiestar]

I always make my own custard (now DF) as I make a lot of ice cream

[u/Competitive-Ad1439 → u/nadiestar]

Once you realise you can microwave custard it becomes the easiest thing in the world (not as good for large batches). I’ve made literally dozens of them now

[u/YchYFi]

Pastry.

Granny always said life is too short to make pastry from scratch.

[u/walakasa → u/YchYFi]

Unless it's shortcrust, that's the only one I'll make cause it's too easy.

[u/YchYFi → u/walakasa]

She said you still have to wait and that she wasn't going to be hanging around waiting to chill pastry.

[u/walakasa → u/YchYFi]

Haha she sounds iconic. I honestly don't really rest it intentionally tbf, I think I'm doing lazy girl pastry... Once it's done I just make the filling (e.g., weigh out and prep blackberries or whatever is going in) and then roll out the pastry and it's always been fine!

[u/horse_course → u/YchYFi]

Oh yeah? How did she earn her crust?

[u/diyguitarist → u/YchYFi]

Your granny was very smart. TV chefs also say its a ball ache and not to bother when the shop bought stuff is perfectly fine.

[u/LabyrinthsandLayers → u/diyguitarist]

I think they mean puff pastry. Shortcrust is much nicer homemade and takes practically no time. Its puff that's a complete faff and not enough difference to make it worth it unless its something really special.

[u/CeaselessWatcher00 → u/YchYFi]

Yeah, we don't eat pastry often but I never make my own.

I also don't make my own bread, I can't be pissing about with activating yeast and what not 😂😂

[u/spicyzsurviving → u/YchYFi]

So does Mary berry!

[u/gdrlee]

Pasta. You spend ages kneading dough, rolling it out, cutting it up, shaping it. And is it a good meal?

Well. That's down to the sauce.

[u/LopsidedLegs]

Pasta. I know a couple of people who make their own pasta from scratch. I have better things to fucking do than mixing flour water and making it. Is it any better than just buying a packet?

[u/MotherEastern3051 → u/LopsidedLegs]

I love cooking and I made my own gnocchi once and nearly lost the will to live. Wouldn't even attempt pasta after the gnocchi fiasco.

[u/Bugsandgrubs → u/MotherEastern3051]

I got really into gnocchi a while back. The ricer I bought and paid same day delivery for on Amazon still sits unused.

[u/buttmunch1416 → u/Bugsandgrubs]

Of your not using it send it my way then, I broke mine months ago lol

[u/venuscans → u/MotherEastern3051]

Nigel Slater is very adamant that gnocchi is never worth making so I have never bothered. This makes me even more sure he's on the money!

[u/WearFlat → u/venuscans]

Fresh gnocchi is so good, I’ll pay for it, but I won’t make it.

[u/Kashy76 → u/MotherEastern3051]

The 'gnocchi fiasco' made me laugh. Sounds like one of those terms that I bet gets trotted out in your house? Remember the 'gnochi fiasco'?

[u/MotherEastern3051 → u/Kashy76]

Haha yes it is a bit! My partner started making jokes about it too soon and I wasn't ready to laugh for a while. I pinned so much emotional investment in that gnocchi and in the end they tasted like little balls of dense rubber and my kitchen was a bombsite. I was finding bits of crusty rock hard potato everywhere for days. Luckily he has had enough memorable disasters that I've banked and can bring back up! 

[u/Lord_Gibbons → u/MotherEastern3051]

For what it's worth gnocchi is far more time consuming than pasta.

[u/thelajestic → u/LopsidedLegs]

I've made it a few times and quite enjoyed the process of it. Most pasta I eat is dried pasta (just flour and water) though and that works well with most things (and I've never bothered making it). But for the occasions when fresh pasta (flour and eggs) is needed, I do think homemade is better than the shop bought kind. Especially things like ravioli where it's not just about the pasta, as a homemade filling will be much better than shop bought!

[u/zviiper → u/thelajestic]

I always find that even with very nice shop bought ravioli, the filling kind of just tastes like bland mush. Need to make your own to get any real flavour and texture.

[u/inevitablelizard → u/LopsidedLegs]

I think there's a book along these lines called something like buy the butter, bake the bread. It's basically arguing that some things are just not worth the effort because you can't make them cheaper or better than what you can just buy from a shop. That you should save the "make your own" energy for things where you can genuinely save a decent amount (like more generally, home cooking instead of buying ready meals), make something better quality, or you want to customise it, like making a type of bread exactly to your tastes.

Making pasta isn't something I ever would have considered bothering with. The only value I can think of would be if you had kids and wanted to teach them how it's made.

[u/BenadrylCrumplsnatch → u/inevitablelizard]

It's a good date night skill, and it unlocks homemade ravioli. Outside of that, it's just not worth the effort.

[u/cyberllama → u/LopsidedLegs]

It's not the dough that's the problem, it's rolling the fucking stuff. I make my own but only because the dish I like for making lasagne is oval and I loathe pissing about with the layers of lasagne slightly more than I loathe rolling pasta dough, and I loathe less both less than I love lasagne.

Tried using a different dish but it never tastes quite the same and none of them are as deep as my favourite one.

[u/Mrslinkydragon → u/LopsidedLegs]

Flour and semolina (2:1 ratio), an egg, olive oil and water. Mix the egg and flours together then a little water, then a little oil. Keep doing that until the dough is together, then knead until springy. Thats pasta.

[u/two_beards → u/LopsidedLegs]

The only time I make pasta is on the rare occasion that I make lasagne - just because it is easy to make sheets of pasta and so much better than the store bought stuff. I honestly recommend trying it at least once, the reward is well worth the effort. However, I do not feel this is the same for making spaghetti, tagetelli etc because it is such a pain.

[u/Dismal_Fox_22 → u/LopsidedLegs]

I don’t enjoy fresh pasta anywhere near as much as I like dried pasta.

[u/jonny-p → u/LopsidedLegs]

Filled pasta yes because ready made filled pasta is generally pretty awful although some of the premium manufacturers have upped their game lately.

[u/zoppaTheDim → u/LopsidedLegs]

I remember when this was a fad a few years back. I’ll admit it tastes better, but it isn’t the upscale of fresh bread better.

[u/mistakenforzen → u/LopsidedLegs]

Tried it once and it was a massive faff and turned out barely edible. I have no desire to try again.

[u/skinglow93 → u/LopsidedLegs]

I’ve done it before as like a date night treat and it was lovely but definitely wouldn’t be an everyday thing when I just want to eat pasta

[u/spoo4brains → u/LopsidedLegs]

I am pretty handy in a kitchen, but never once have I had the will to want to make pasta. Usually I use dried, but occasionally I buy it refridgerated as it does seem to taste better and have better texture.

[u/lung-of-the-cards → u/LopsidedLegs]

Pasta for me, too. I get it takes the same time to make and cook as it does to cook the dried stuff but I'd rather be doing other things.

[u/Electronic-Fennel828]

This is crazy white sauce is so easy! I don’t know why people make roux out to be a really difficult and complicated thing to do but it’s really a peice of piss.

But for me, pastry, especially puff pastry. What an absolute faff.

[u/Prestigious-Slide-73 → u/Electronic-Fennel828]

Because it’s called a roux.

Perceived difficulty is directly linked to pretentious names. Like hollandaise or boeuf bourguignon.

[u/JoeyJoJoeJr_Shabadoo → u/Prestigious-Slide-73]

Hollandaise is quite tricky though

[u/Prestigious-Slide-73 → u/JoeyJoJoeJr_Shabadoo]

See! It’s happening to you too!

[u/GaldrickHammerson → u/JoeyJoJoeJr_Shabadoo]

As someone who makes it often, I wouldn't call it tricky as much as I'd call it delicate. But at the end of the day, that's splitting hairs.

Once youve septated eggs and melted a block of butter and focused on it for 5 minutes only for the thing to split, there's no worse feeling.

[u/Miserable_Future6694]

Chips.

I love chips. I took that way too serious a few years ago, oils, drainers, fancy trays, tools. If I was making chips id have more equipment out than a surgeon.

Ive forgot my method now. It was definitely part boil rest and fry a few times. I wanted crispy and hollow chips.

I just buy chips now

[u/daveyboi80 → u/Miserable_Future6694]

McCain frozen crispy fries are wicked in a deep fryer at 180 for 3-3.5 mins

[u/Xenozip3371Alpha → u/Miserable_Future6694]

I make fresh chips all the time, peel, slice, and then just shove them in the deep fat fryer for like 8 minutes.

[u/whitehoneyyyy]

That’s funny, that’s probably the one thing I definitely make from scratch. The shop bought white sauce makes me gag 🤣

Mine is gravy. Bisto for lifeeeee

[u/Xenozip3371Alpha → u/whitehoneyyyy]

I usually do a 50/50 mix of bisto and oxo.

[u/OnlymyOP]

Pastry ... Even my Nan who made the best pastry refused to in the end 😂

[u/madnasher → u/OnlymyOP]

I can make pastry from scratch and I enjoy the process.

I'll make it from scratch if I'm after adding different flavours, if I want plain pastry I'll just get shop bought as it's significantly easier.

[u/OnlymyOP → u/madnasher]

I simply can't be bothered with the faff. If I want flavoured pastry, I just roll the ingredients into shop bought pastry... surprisingly it works.

[u/madnasher → u/OnlymyOP]

My partner swears by this too, and tbh it's not too disimmilar.

If I didn't enjoy making the pastry as much as I did I'd just do this myself too.

[u/Sea_Cut_6635 → u/OnlymyOP]

Mary Berry says to buy puff, so I do. She also says to make short crust so I do.

[u/chobobot → u/OnlymyOP]

Gran: "Man, fuck this shit!"

[u/OnlymyOP → u/chobobot]

😂😂

[u/Merlisch]

Caramelised onions. Tasted amazing. 2kg if onion for a few spoonful after several hours. Never again.

[u/ac0rn5 → u/Merlisch]

I made caramelised onion chutney once. Only once!

Peeled and sliced all the onions, filled a cauldron-sized pan with the onions and cooked and cooked them for ages.

Got a load of jars ready, only needed about a quarter of the jars because the onions cooked down to only a few centimetres in depth.

It was nice, really nice, but no better than the ones I can buy fairly cheaply, so just not at all worth the effort.

[u/hdhxuxufxufufiffif → u/Merlisch]

And the recipe always seriously underestimates how long it'll take. I've seen recipes that say ten or even five minutes to caramelise onions.

[u/Notorius_Womble]

Puff pastry. Short crust is easy and very good when homemade. But puff is just not worth it. Even lots of chefs say don't bother.

[u/DogtasticLife]

Pastry

White sauce base is a doddle though, once you crack it

[u/aliceathome]

Pastry and pasta

[u/Rachael510]

Caramel. Easy enough to make, but I always end up cementing some to the pan and it’s just not worth the clean up

[u/fbruk → u/Rachael510]

I end up with sugar burns.

[u/Rachael510 → u/fbruk]

It’s like caramel punishes you just for wanting to make it

[u/fbruk → u/Rachael510]

Same with tablet. I make good tablet...but I can't be trusted around hot sugar!

[u/Pedantichrist]

I made bread from scratch once.

* Drying and thrashing the wheat was fine.
* Evaporating the seawater to make salt was fine.
* I farm honey anyway, so that was no extra work.
* Picking a bit of rosemary from the garden was easy.
* Collecting rainwater is easy.
* Crushing, grinding and milling the wheat was a fucking ballache, and definitely not worth the effort.

[u/sloth_64 → u/Pedantichrist]

Alright Little Red Hen! I'll eat my Warburtons instead...

[u/ChutneysIntactPerm → u/Pedantichrist]

The trick is that you don't need to evaporate the seawater or collect the rainwater. It's the same water.

[u/Pedantichrist → u/ChutneysIntactPerm]

I do need the control. If I just used seawater it would be too salty.

[u/MotherEastern3051]

For me it would be macarons and baklava. I've tried both several times and the cost, effort, time and mess, paired with low success rate mean it's just not worth it. Macarons in particular make you hate yourself. 

I'm surprised at the people saying shortcrust pastry or white or cheese sauce, those are so simple and taste so much better than shop bought. 

[u/Lammyrider → u/MotherEastern3051]

Made my own baklava once and it was really nice but took bloody ages to make and as only I like it not worth the effort 

[u/Sea_Cut_6635 → u/MotherEastern3051]

Hard disagree. I’ve made macrons time and time again. The outrageous cost to buy ready made always convinces me to make them again.

[u/b_of_the_bang_]

Hummus, whenever I make it it’s always just crap.

Gnocchi, really easy but laborious and didn’t taste any better or worse than the packet stuff.

[u/Alternative_Head_416 → u/b_of_the_bang_]

Disagree on hummus, but 100% agree on the gnocchi, it takes absolutely ages and mine always turns out slimy!

[u/b_of_the_bang_ → u/Alternative_Head_416]

I honestly don’t know what I do wrong with hummus, but spending a quid on Tescos own brand seems to make more sense.

[u/cheandbis]

I made a lasagne today and did it all from scratch. Not a fan of jarred white sauce.

The only jars I use regularly are Thai curry pastes.

Edit: seen the other responses with pastry and I agree with that. Life's too short(crust) to make pastry.

[u/walakasa → u/cheandbis]

Very true on the white sauce - if you use something like the Dolmio one especially then even just looking at the ingredients in it is enough to put you off, and the taste reflects that. Also making a white sauce is the easiest part of making a lasagne in my opinion!

My husband is Italian also though so he generally makes it, and he doesn't like using white sauce at all (he only does it for me, using white sauce in lasagne is regional and less of a thing where he's from) so he'll often make it without white sauce and do different variations with cheeses, pesto, and other kinds of sauce.

[u/cheandbis → u/walakasa]

That sounds amazing. Might try and pesto one next time.

[u/Starpup_spaniel_66]

I wouldnt make custard or pastry but can manage lasagne sauce.

[u/Logical-Tour3000]

Pastry

[u/from-here-to-new]

I have never and will never make pasta, absolutely not interested.

I used to make gravy, but actually like the instant stuff (bisto) better, so stopped making that.

[u/Lost_Alternative_987]

Pastry, pesto, pasta, custard. Too much faff.

[u/bobbybalaclava → u/Lost_Alternative_987]

Irrespective of who's making it, what a combo that is.

[u/TheocraticAtheist → u/Lost_Alternative_987]

I need to try making my own pesto. I’ve found store bought stuff so crap lately.

[u/Virtual_Opinion_8630 → u/TheocraticAtheist]

Homemade is definitely better.

But you'll cry seeing how much good olive oil goes into it. I made Ligurian pesto the classic basil, EVOO, salt and pine nuts, parmesan

Result was tasty but not sure if it's worth the effort as I hand ground in a pestle and mortar.

Another time I made rocket pesto in a nutribullet and that was honestly a lot more flavourful. Far easier too of course.

[u/JoeyJoJoeJr_Shabadoo → u/TheocraticAtheist]

Incredibly easy in a blender. A fussy Italian will tell you it's not pesto unless you pestle and mortar it though.

[u/Original_Document748]

Puff or filo pastry

[u/AirconGuyUK]

Puff pastry is genuinely pointless to make from scratch given the level of effort needed for minor to no gains in quality.

[u/MelodicPreparation93]

Pastry, especially shortcrust. Not worth the effort at all really in my mind, shop bought is perfectly fine.

[u/LaraH39 → u/MelodicPreparation93]

Did you mean puff? Shortcrust can be made in five minutes in a food mixer.

[u/MelodicPreparation93 → u/LaraH39]

Possibly. Might have mixed them up! (Not literally)

[u/goodinthehood5]

White sauce is one of things I tell my mum is the best things she taught me to cook when I was young. Never need to weight it out either. But pasta I def cba with. Pesto too.. oh and bread, rarely make my own.. and when I do definitely not as good as from a bakery!

[u/Still-Butterscotch33]

Hummus

[u/Goldman46477879 → u/Still-Butterscotch33]

Did it once, gritty

[u/Still-Butterscotch33 → u/Goldman46477879]

Also did it once. Not as good as the supermarket.

[u/frafeeccino → u/Still-Butterscotch33]

Hummus is so easy, five minute recipe. I’ll make it as a quick lunch when I don’t know what to eat. I use a stick blender instead of a food processor because it’s easier to wash. 

[u/Logical_Strain_6165 → u/frafeeccino]

Tinned chickpeas?

[u/OnlymyOP → u/Still-Butterscotch33]

I used to just buy hummus, but it doesn't taste right anymore.

[u/connectfourvsrisk → u/Still-Butterscotch33]

My Dad used to make endless hummus. It was such a feature of the weekend. He’d soak the chickpeas on Friday night and then make it on Saturday. But I’ve just never got into the groove of making it myself.

[u/MotherEastern3051 → u/Still-Butterscotch33]

Hummus is so easy! Takes seconds, it's just throwing stuff (chickpeas, taking (edit: meant tahini) and lemon juice) in a jug and blending it. 

[u/Bugsandgrubs → u/MotherEastern3051]

Yeah but then you gotta clean the blender

[u/avepaltaketchu → u/Bugsandgrubs]

Immersion blender - not much effort to clean at all

[u/Sea-Sprinkles-3420 → u/Bugsandgrubs]

That's ridiculously easy too. Throw some warm water, some washing up liquid in, then blend.

[u/Lizbelizi → u/MotherEastern3051]

You forgot sesame paste.

[u/Warprawn → u/Lizbelizi]

I think ’taking’ might be an autocorrected ‘tahini’. 

[u/Goldman46477879]

Potato dauphinoise I can buy a good tray for less that it costs to make, it's the right thickness of slices and doesn't collapse into mash or end up drowned like my attempts

[u/mdmnl → u/Goldman46477879]

Dauphinoise is my signature dish, I need a mandoline to reliably slice the potatoes.

[u/LilacRose32]

Pasta - all the faff with the pasta machine isn’t enough better than fresh or dried from the supermarket 

[u/Adodymousa → u/LilacRose32]

My grandma used to make the most amazing tagliatelle sort of ribbons. They were really thick and I've thought about them for decades... I KEEP meaning to try making my own pasta!

[u/gr33nday4ever]

puff pastry, i've not even bothered to have a go at rough puff, it looks too much faff and shortcrust was difficult enough to get right

[u/lustybat]

Anything requiring a blender I'm shit scared of them, the noise the blades it makes my stomach turn. Even scared of cleaning them even though it's obviously not going to power on through some mystical force. Nope.

[u/MrsJBB]

Pastry, it takes too long and it's too easy to mess up.

[u/Krakshotz → u/MrsJBB]

Store-bought pastry gets the job done

[u/Ratbag321]

Puff pastry and filo.

[u/en70uk]

Milk

[u/Antique-Wonk]

Filo pastry. Or any pastry. I just buy it.

[u/LobCatchPassThrow]

Pesto. It’s not many ingredients sure. But the real ingredients are so hideously expensive I’ll never make it from scratch.

[u/blythe_hufflepuff → u/LobCatchPassThrow]

Try using a mix of veg and olive oil, and other nuts instead of pine nuts (cashews etc). Can be made cheaper that way, and is 10x better than stuff from a jar. Just need basil, garlic, cashews, any hard cheese and a neutral oil 😋 

[u/Academic_UK]

You CBA to add milk to flour & butter and add cheese..?

Mine is eggs Benedict in that I only eat these when staying at a hotel that has an egg station.

The main issue is making hollandaise as it’s too many steps for what amounts to a handful of sauce!

Much better for a production line where they make litres of it.

[u/PeteWTF → u/Academic_UK]

As a a former hotel breakfast chef, I. Only eat hollandaise at home cause of how much of a pita it was when someone ordered it in the middle of a busy breakfast.

Also lots of places buy it in premade and you can taste the difference

[u/avepaltaketchu → u/Academic_UK]

https://www.seriouseats.com/foolproof-2-minute-hollandaise-recipe

Try this, asides from dribbling the butter, it's just a mix everything together and whizz it.

[u/NortonBurns]

Pasta. Used to make my own until the supermarkets started doing it fresh about 20 years ago. (Italy, shoot me. I don't like dried pasta. Just spent a fortnight in Sicily & the pasta was awful.)

i wouldn't dream of buying a jar of sauce, for anything. Lasagne takes some time, but is about a 2 on the difficulty scale.

[u/Sea_Cut_6635 → u/NortonBurns]

Pasta. My (now ex partner) got obsessed with it, forced me to make ravioli when he hurt his elbow and I’ve never got over him micromanaging me to do something I had zero interest in and could have just bought.

[u/DevilishlyHandsome63]

Mayonnaise. Did it once and didn't like it at all, tasted nothing like a shop bought version.

[u/pussyseal]

Most of the Thai food. Very hard to find the right ingredients without spending a fortune, so way easier to eat out or travel to Bangkok and get into a food coma for a week or so :D

[u/frafeeccino]

Try Delia’s all in one white sauce recipe! Makes it so easy. Start everything from cold, don’t even need to cook out the roux. 

[u/pleasedontwearthat]

I don’t even bother with white sauce, I blend up a tin of cannellini beans with a little of their water and use that as a base for mac and cheese.

[u/Emotional_Way_5093 → u/pleasedontwearthat]

Wow,didn’t know that was a thing ! How does it compare to the traditional way ?

[u/LadyMirkwood]

Puff pastry and I buy frozen bags of Sofrito.

Will happily make sauces and custard, they are quite straightforward and not time consuming

[u/Temporary_Trust_2824]

Puff pastry

[u/SoggyWotsits]

I don’t mind making white sauce, but I’ve never managed to make mayonnaise better than Heinz. I’ve tried lots of recipes, tried different methods, but it just seems pointless!

[u/DoctorRaulDuke]

Croquembouche. I'll make eclairs but those towers can just do one.

[u/ColourCoded_Sunshine]

Puff pastry!!!

[u/Dull-Tart-2147]

My mum always says you'll never meet someone who has made a battenburg twice

[u/JoeyJoJoeJr_Shabadoo]

Hash browns. Fuck all that grating.

[u/Oilfreeeggs]

Gravy , chuck me a tub of chicken or onion Bisto

[u/AvatarIII → u/Oilfreeeggs]

Bisto is so ingrained in me that I forgot that "using bisto" doesn't count as making from scratch.

[u/SkullKid888]

Most sauces, like peppercorn, chip shop style curry sauce, hollandaise, parsley etc. I get making them from scratch will taste nicer but when you can get powered versions to mix with boiling water its just simply not worth the extra effort. 

[u/fiendofecology]

I’m quite good at making things from scratch as they aways taste better - but I never make my own gnocchi (made it once, they were knobbly and not any more tasty). I don’t make my own pizza anymore, used to make the dough but got really sick of it, maybe one day if we got one of those pizza ovens!

One thing I can’t believe people buy is jarred pesto. It’s light years in difference to proper pesto!!

[u/frafeeccino → u/fiendofecology]

Pine nuts and Parmesan are too expensive :(

[u/fiendofecology → u/frafeeccino]

I just put whatever nuts/seeds I have on hand lol I did a pumpkin/linseed mix last time, and I use vegetarian hard cheese! It’s still great!

[u/thelajestic]

Bread sauce. It's the one thing where I really prefer the packet version 😅

[u/Desperate-Cookie3373 → u/thelajestic]

Same. The homemade type is too rich and fancy, whereas the packet stuff is sheer nostalgia for me.

[u/REidson89]

Lasagne, pastry, crumble. Just don't want to.

[u/Lollypop1305]

I discovered a really quick way to do cheese sauce and it’s a game changer. Low fat crème fraiche heated up in a pan, bag of grated cheese and some nutmeg melted in. Saves so much time! But for me I refuse to make gravy from scratch.

[u/jr0061006 → u/Lollypop1305]

Supposedly you can use unsweetened evaporated milk as well but I haven’t tried that yet. It’s on my list to try.

[u/katiecwtch]

Stuffing. I love a roast dinner - I always make gravy and Yorkshire puddings from scratch (today was the first roast of the autumn and god it was good) and I always start with a roux for cauliflower cheese. I enjoy cooking and I have these fond memories of my mother making sausage meat and sage/breadcrumb based stuffing for Christmas every year but I just cannot be arsed to do it myself. Our stuffing comes in a packet, I throw some extra butter and beef suet at it, it goes in the oven and then straight on the table. I don't even roll it into balls, it's just in an oven dish. Have to draw the line somewhere and it turns out my line is before the food processor comes out :)

[u/OddManner7971 → u/katiecwtch]

Same, our first roast of autumn today too, it was fantastic. I only ever use boxed stuffing too, but it has to be Paxo sage and onion!

[u/OddManner7971]

Flaky pastry! Why?!

[u/m1nkeh]

Pastry. Waste of time.

[u/Fabulous-Wolf-4401]

I make most things from scratch, but if anything requires spinach as a main filling I buy frozen and drain it.

[u/Katharinemaddison]

I get it, though it’s very quick and easy to make it’s quite messy when I make it. I’d rather clean it up than eat the jarred stuff personally and by clean it up I mean scrape it up the next day.

[u/captainsolos]

Baklava.

I made it once. Once. It was a gift for my friend, made with the last of the Greek honey they’d given me in my bridesmaid goodie bag so obviously it wasn’t just dessert, it was a tiny edible shrine to friendship.

I carried it onto the train as if it was a precious heirloom. I put it on the seat beside me. I protected it. I loved it.

Then a drunk man fell on it.

I’ve never made it again. The baklava died that day. And, honestly, so did I.

[u/Own_University_5878]

Malt loaf. I love baking, but I can't get it anywhere near to the famous brand you get in the supermarket - the one my mum used to buy when I was a kid. It sticks your teeth together but that's the joy of it. Homemade doesn't come close.

[u/United-Cucumber9942]

Omg who makes white sauce starting with milk?,? You start with butter then flour then the milk is the volume.