What is your food prep nemesis?

[hoovarmin]

For me it's dicing carrots. It is heinously tedious and I always amazed to complete the task with fingers intact. I diced these tonight for stir-fried rice and cursed under my breath the entire time.

[au4stree]

Peeling garlic. And then the subsequent mince. Thus the reason I get my minced garlic from a jar *gasp!!* 😳

[Dewesq55]

+1 to MsTwiggy 's comment

[tamidw]

I keep a jar of minced garlic in fridge too. But will use fresh garlic for many things as well. But it’s nice to have jar or tube on hand for various things.

[Carolyn]

I use the heck out of jar garlic. I buy some cloves now and then.

[mrteddyprincess]

I've always said the hardest job in gardening is picking green beans. You have to be careful not to pull so hard that you take out the plant. So it always seems like hours of being bent over and trying to be gentle to not destroy the plants so I can get a second or third crop. I enjoy almost every other aspect of growing food, harvesting it, and cooking. But that one task stands out for me. B

[hoovarmin]

mrteddyprincess that is awesome. I don't know that they would grow well here in our harsh climate. In summer, which really begins here in April, the temps at night stay very high, which is just brutal for most produce other than citrus.

[mrteddyprincess]

hoovarmin I bet you can grow green beans there. You just have to grow them the right time of the year, which could be late fall/winter.

[texastweeter]

My bean and pea picking skills are +1!

[DavidNorcross]

I just do not like to peel potatoes. Don’t ask me why, just not my favorite.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I love tater skins in my mashed taters, plus ya don't have to peel anything but the worst bruises. I hate when we make taters for friends that hate skins, might as well just buy instant taters or premade anyway.

[texastweeter]

Leave em on and call em "rustic style"

[jfmorris]

I just scrub them with a brush under running water, and keep the peel, mostly from laziness.

[STEbbq]

I am really not a fan of using the microplane. I am not really worried about cutting myself so much as that I find the effort rather tedious in terms of FULL concentration.

[hoovarmin]

Same. It drives me nuts.

[Zman23]

Hmm...

Trimming the fat off of a packer or cutting apart chicken wings.

[hoovarmin]

I'm ok with the wings, but yes, trimming a packer is a chore I do not enjoy. I do enjoy the tallow though.

[mrteddyprincess]

I got a way with chicken wings...we should talk.

Brian

[Spinaker]

Big powerful kitchen sheers make a huge difference!

[FCDank]

Cutting anything on a cutting board that moves!

[texastweeter]

Wet towel trick FTW

[FireMan]

Remember to kill it first. 🕶

[FCDank]

I use the washcloth or towel trick. Have shared that many times.

[Purc]

For me, prepping and the anticipation of the end result is great. It is the cleanup after everything that I hate.

[barelfly]

Carrots aren’t fun….but for me, brussel sprouts. I love eating them but for me, they have to be shredded so they will crisp up really nice and that takes several cuts per sprout. It drives me nuts and is so slow!


and chopping chocolate, although i’ve done it since the incident. Not my favorite thing either.

[WayneT]

+1 on chopping chocolate, especially high cacao content bars. I’ve started using these and they melt perfectly without the need to make them smaller.

https://www.scharffenberger.com/products/99-unsweetened-dark-chocolate-baking-portions

[barelfly]

WayneT hmmm I’ve never tried melting and using in my cheesecakes. That’s the only time I’ve chopped chocolate. I’ll have to give this a try.

Are you using them in batters for cakes and such?

[WayneT]

These square are used to make tortes, cakes, frosting, drinking chocolate and other cool stuff. At 99% cacao content, it has to be mixed with sugar to make it palatable.

[ocaztec]

Oh man....how about prepping fresh thyme. Having to "pick" those leaves while keeping stems out - killer.

[Andrrr]

I absolutely despise and loathe prepping thyme.

[58limited]

If using in a soup or beans or other such dish I just tie a bundle together. The leaves fall off during cooking and I removed the bundled stems. Otherwise I have a little plastic thing bought on a whim that looks like a spoon with an upright handle. The handle has holes and you draw the stems through to pull off the leaves which fall into the spoon - similar to what Donw describes.

[FireMan]

Pick the leaves? I just use my teeth. Stick the dad gum twig in yer mouth & pull, yessir.

[Texas Larry]

Peeling shrimp! Ugh! Tedious.

[Richard Chrz]

Yeah, this one too. I do it, but…

[Jerod Broussard]

CLEANING shrimp! Growing up on a rice farm THAT was the most forced labor I ever experienced with water-leveling a close second.

[CaptainMike]

Bourbon.

It's also essential.

[Richard Chrz]

My favorite prep work,

[texastweeter]

Have to taste it every 5 mins it goes bad fast

[Richard Chrz]

A bit different on the take, of prep work. As much as I love my stand mixer, and I do, and almost foresee myself getting a larger one at some point, I foresee some growth in the next 2 years. But for me, the initial mixing of dough is my least favorite, the bench work, all the way through proofing is my favorite part. Baking is a visual reward for the bench work, and payment for the mixer part. But that is mostly dexterity and energy based. I would hire a person to come and do the initial mix my dough.

Other food prep enjoyed. Like I love making pasta. And cutting board work. But I don’t do a lot of French style cooking prep work like those carrots, that would be a lot of work,

[hoovarmin]

I don't like the mixing either. But the rest I like a bunch.

[shify]

Id say either prepping brussel sprouts or snap peas are my nemesis. I’d probably lean towards hating snap peas more just because there are so damn many of them in a serving so it takes forever to peel the damn stringy part out to get enough for the family.

edit: dicing celery gets an honorable mention of hate.

[texastweeter]

If you pick em rite, you can leave the string on the plant

[hoovarmin]

Dicing celery is up there with carrots for me, but since they are less dense it's at least less dangerous.

[Alan Brice]

I just leave the celery intact. Rinse off the leafy end, very well with the sprayer on the faucet. Cut as small as you want it to be then go thru the pile to get any renegade biguns. Twist the bag closed and put the remaining in crisper.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I hate making deviled eggs. Mainly because I do a ton of work and don't eat them.

[texastweeter]

I knew there was something wrong with you. Get you some wicked chickens, they lay deviled eggs...

[FireMan]

Simple, let those that eat em fix em.