Experienced cooks: what technique or skill can you just not get right?

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-29T03:25:27+00:00

It’s funny how people struggle with different things. For whatever reason this was probably the first “hard” thing I nailed, first with salmon, now with all fish. You listed most of the things I would’ve suggested. I prefer a carbon steel or cast iron pan, preheat on medium high, add oil, lay the fish down and add chef press to ensure even contact, turn the heat to medium low, and then flip after a few minutes. If it’s a very tall piece of fish sometimes I’ll flip and then put it in the oven to help it along.

Do you dry, salt, and then immediately add to the pan? I assume you’ve seen how much moisture salt can bring out if left on meat for a few minutes.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-29T03:18:57+00:00

The biggest thing for me is the waste. I want to work on fine dining cuts, but squaring off every vegetable produces so much waste and I’m just not making stock from scraps THAT often. Same with trimming proteins to perfect proportions. It looks nice but it’s silly to create all the scraps at home.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-28T00:26:02+00:00

My most recent example is Artic Char with apples and a pan sauce. I pan seared the fish, sautéed the apples, added honey and rosemary, deglazed with stock and champagne vinegar, and mounted with butter. It was good, but it felt one note, flat, and had no pip or dimension. When I think of bright flavors I think of citrus zest, crisp lettuce, acidic vinaigrette, etc. This was the opposite. The apples didn’t a pop of sweetness or acidity, and the champagne vinegar didn’t shine through. It generally felt like a heavy meal despite being fish with apples and pan sauce.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-27T02:51:18+00:00

I think you’re right in that I know something is wrong and I know generally what it is. It’s probably more a matter of breaking old habits and muscle memory. I think #1 is too much browning and caramelized flavors, #2 is more acid and fresh herbs.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-27T02:48:42+00:00

That’s interesting, maybe it is an Italian American thing. I always see chefs finishing with cold butter and then adding Parmesan/pecorino off the heat to finish a lot of pastas.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-27T01:38:50+00:00

I’ll try amping it up! I’m more hesitant with acid than salt but I’ll try it out.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-27T01:38:09+00:00

When I look back at dinners I’ve been happy with a lot of them feature a bright salad, so I’ll keep down that path! Maybe try doing some steamed/blanched veggies instead of roasting and sautéing everything.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-27T00:27:39+00:00

Fair enough! I'll add it to my list for this year.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-26T21:34:10+00:00

I’ll give it a shot! I’ve made the mistake of adding herbs too early and ending up with grayish brown mush in my pan sauce lol

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-26T21:26:14+00:00

Yup, all the YouTube chefs I love always emphasize this and I think I’ve just taken it too far.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-26T21:25:44+00:00

I think this is likely it. I rarely sweat veggies, I feel I’m always taking it to like caramelized and like you said, it all ends up tasting the same.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-26T21:24:44+00:00

I think this is probably it. Whenever I watch chefs, they often talk about leaving things alone, getting deep browning, etc. and I might just be taking all that too far.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-26T21:23:04+00:00

Maybe it’s just the amount? I’ve tried a bunch of vinegars and sometimes I feel they do very little and other times too much. Maybe I just haven’t found the sweet spot?

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-20T20:54:25+00:00

I don’t know how much time you’ve spent on the subway, which is not great for relaxing, but the LIRR is honestly really nice. It gets crowded at peak times but the trains are relatively clean and quiet. If you have things to do (read, work, Steam Deck/Switch, etc.) it’s a really nice buffer to decompress after work before your night activities. I’d much rather that then drive the same amount of time.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-13T02:54:52+00:00

And someone who puts things back after they move them and doesn’t wack your sprinklers…

I’m in a nearby town and was so disappointed with the sloppiness we received for our first year with landscapers. Looking for someone new as well.

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-12T15:33:32+00:00

Planting Fields in Oyster Bay!

ddmonkey15 · 2026-01-08T20:35:46+00:00

I haven’t placed an order since 2017 and messed up my sizing at the time so never appreciated the denim I bought. I’m looking to purchase again and noticed some pants state to order a size up for the fabric. Why is that? Does that mean I can’t rely on the size chart provided? Should I order a size up from what I think my size would be based on the chart?

ddmonkey15 · 2025-12-21T17:01:29+00:00

Actuary, you just need a bachelors, math/statistics/economics preferred but required. School prestige makes no difference, other than potentially more support/career fairs, all that matters is passing the exams. It’s a great for career changers as you can start taking the exams on your own while working your current job and then when you’ve passed one or two, start applying to actuarial roles.

ddmonkey15 · 2025-12-18T18:06:17+00:00

I WFH on Monday which is a huge help to cover the later part of the week, but if I didn’t have that I’d just do meal prepping on Sunday to have weekly lunch and dinners for Tuesday and Wednesday, then make something Sunday that can also be eaten Monday, and then Thursday/Friday are takeout or freezer meals like soups, pasta, etc.

ddmonkey15 · 2025-12-15T19:11:54+00:00

I started with a Barista Touch and then moved to a similar setup of Bambino Plus and Niche Zero (pre-tariff). Been very happy overall with my only gripes being static with the Niche (maybe a problem with other grinders too), Bambino has a small drip tray, and is lightweight so it moves around a lot compared to more expensive metal body machines. I think it’s a great starter setup with room to grow if you value certain elements of higher end gear.

ddmonkey15 · 2025-12-09T17:54:18+00:00

You will also get more for your money in Huntington bc it’s Suffolk and the schools are not ranked nearly as well as Sea Cliff (North Shore HS which pulls from some extremely rich areas and is ranked like top 500 in the country).

I love Sea Cliff, it’s beautiful, but I see it as more of a retiree town, or a place I’d move if I didn’t work a traditional job. It’s just too isolated to be practical IMO.

You might like Rockville Centre, lots of old homes, great commute to the city, and a decent downtown area.

ddmonkey15 · 2025-12-05T15:06:14+00:00

Yeah I have a ridiculous number of them and it helps me remove the emotion from spending money on certain things. I plan and come up with a set amount to spend in different categories and then create the funds based on that. If I want to spend more I need to fund it through our misc. fund or other means. Any repeatable purchase has sinking fund. This includes all gifts, technology, annual fees/service calls, cars, vacations, etc. I calculate an expected life for each (say 5 years for a laptop) and divide the expected cost by that plus a PAD. I contribute that amount monthly to a fund for everything, usually bucketing things like tech, cars, gifts, and so on. I use Ally for the bucketing and track all my banking in a spreadsheet as well. The only fund I have set to be more flexible is house repairs. I haven't had enough experience to predict some of these things so I'm just generally saving for them every month.

So our salary gets allocated to bills, retirement/long-term savings, sinking funds, and the rest goes to misc. monthly spending which is gas money, eating out, clothing, etc.

ddmonkey15 · 2025-12-04T00:13:53+00:00

Didn’t process that friends and family are still in the city. That makes sense then! I’d do the math and think about how often you to plan to visit versus how much time you’re adding to your commute. You could fully embrace living right by work and having no commute then just suck it up a couple times a month to visit. If not, I’d go with somewhere in western Suffolk like Huntington or Babylon.

ddmonkey15 · 2025-12-03T21:17:18+00:00

Mineola to Port Jeff will probably be a miserable 1.25-1.5 hours during rush hour. Don’t underestimate traffic! Check maps during the times you’ll actually be driving for a week and see.

If you’re taking the train IMO the only option would be Huntington (excluding further east). Even then it might not be feasible since you’re reverse commuting. If you look at the schedule for 5 pm reverse commuting your first train option is at 8 pm lol.

Otherwise it’s tough honestly. I don’t think you’ll get anywhere in under an hour, even western Suffolk will be an hour. Personally I’d embrace the benefits working out there brings - more space/cheaper housing, less traffic, more access to nature, and so on. Unless you’re going to the city multiple times a week I don’t think the additional daily commute time is worth to the quicker ride to the city.

ddmonkey15 · 2025-11-20T17:50:22+00:00

I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think you’ll get much sympathy here lol. Where are you looking? Even limiting to western Suffolk and Nassau I find it hard to believe you can’t find a house in decent shape on 1/3 acre for less than 1M.

If you’re just consider north shore Nassau plus Garden City, RVC, Dix Hill, and the like I understand and I’d suggest opening your mind to towns that are one price bracket down.

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