This is a quick little survey for all the cooking school folks.

What is the most mystifying or frustrating skill in cooking for you?

I my impression is that these are supposed to be rather simple, but I never really like the sauces and gravies I have made. Often when pan searing chicken, for example, I will try to make a quick sauce with the juices, but there are lots of "heavily caramelized" bits (burned) that just make the sauce taste bad and I usually never serve it. I suppose a lower cooking temp on the meat would probably solve this. I hope to learn pan sauce skills in the cooking program.

We have touched on this for a Premium Steaks' Course which will be released on the 14th. You are right though about the burned bits - call "sucs". Two things are critical:

1. You can't burn anything in the pan (or you just get a bitter sauce).

2. In order to NOT burn anything, you need to understand pan temperatures and how important they are in cooking. For example, a thick steak is cooked at a lower temperature than a thin steak.

* A great stock will also help you when making great pan sauces.

Hang in there. Help is on the way.

Whether it is alfredo or nacho, I can never get a cheese to incorporate into the sauce smoothly.

Usually people try to add all of the cheese at once, the trick is to add it slowly and mix in each bit before you add another small handful.
A few more things to think about:
- grated cheese is easy to evenly incorporate
- well-aged cheese melt and blend better
- make sure you either have the heat off (or very low) once you start to add the cheese
- don't over mix the cheese once it is added
- sometimes add a splash of white wine or lemon juice can fix a split sauce (if it goes with the dishes flavors that is)