For me, it’s anything with Panko Bread Crumbs. .
Also, grating Parmigiano-Reggiano over any type of pasta…gets all over the island, the floor and we have the granite that you have to look sideways to see if there is anything on the counter top…
That dang parm. All over, somehow.
Lately I’ve been battling bread crumbs when cutting slices from a whole loaf.
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@Plumeria, are you using a microplane for your cheese? I make messes, but not with that.
Fried chicken is a PITA, which is why I rarely make it and only when the cleaning person is coming the next day.
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This sounds a little silly, but cauliflower. I have yet to find a way to cut up a head of cauliflower that doesn’t result in little white bits going everywhere on my kitchen counter and floor. And given the color of my tiles, they’re very difficult to see and clean up completely. I’ve found stray ones days later.
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What is up with that damn cauliflower all over the place…cut that bad boy and its like cutting into confetti bomb!
Plus, they hide everywhere…
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searing a steak on the stovetop in the iron skillet. Even with one of those grease screens covering it, I end up having to Windex everything the next day.
Interestingly, I solved this same problem with bacon by doing it in the oven instead, but that just won’t get you a sear on a steak.
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I use a microplane for my parma cheese and it still goes all over the place. The only way I’ve found to avoid that is to grate it over a large bowl, then sprinkle it on my food.
seriously. I have to move every object out of the way if I’m searing a steak on the stove. I even find grease on the floor after. Bacon in the oven is the best—I line my pan w/ tin foil and that makes grease collecting very easy (let it cool down, then pick up the foil w/ cooled fat and toss in trash).
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Anything with flour . No matter how careful it gets away . Pasta making . I have it draped all over the kitchen . Bread . I would love a separate cook house to experiment :
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Flour’s bad, but mung bean starch is worse. I think it’s lighter than helium. It wafts all over the place. Then it gets gummy if any liquid touches it.
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Hand-pulled noodles.
When I get lackadaisical, I end up looking like a blind person with a bad twitch in the arm applying foundation.
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I like to see that Ipse!
Tacos!
Between frying up the tortillas, grating the xsharp cheese that gets all over the island, cutting up green onions, cherry tomt’s with the little seeds that are everywhere, raw jalapeno chiles and when you’ve got that little cut on your finger that burns like a mo fo and then you wipe your eyes, forgetting you’ve got God Damn jalapeno juice, now, in your eyes too!
Damn it…
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I can make a mess if I start in (as I frequently do) by hauling out all the ingredients etcetera before looking to see if there’s room for any of it. I almost did that today because I brought home the missing ingredients for some celery soup I want to make and had the bag unpacked before I realized that I didn’t even have room in the sink! I have to keep saying, over and over, “Mis en place, dammit, mis en place!” I also need a kitchen with table space …
About that messy cauliflower: I have a bowl or two the size of a cauliflower head, and a favorite set of recipes that begin with steaming it. So I set a bowl the right size in the sink and put the cauliflower down into it, top down and stem up, then start cutting around the stalk with a 4" Sabatier, first to remove the leaves and leaf stems, then angling the blade down towards the center of the stalk and all the way around. This gets down to the white part, but with all the floweret bases still attached. Then I put it stay down in my steamer pot and steam for 10-12 minutes. That done, I put it back into the bowl, put on my heavy rubber gloves, grab the knife and cut the stalk out to expose the floweret stems … and take it from there. Now, if you’re not going to steam it you can still do the bowl and knife part. Access to the innards with the bowl to catch stuff is key.
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[quote=“nashwill, post:13, topic:3013”]
I have to keep saying, over and over, “Mis en place, dammit, mis en place!” I also need a kitchen with table space …
[/quote]Ditto
Fried Chicken & Enchiladas
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I don’t fry, it makes a disgusting mess.
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Yep
I love making and eating baba ghanoush. But scrubbing bits of charred eggplant and caramelized juice off my burners? Not so much…
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Oooh, I just remembered bacon. Talk about grease! And the smell lasts for days. No bacon in my house, ever. Well, except for maybe the occasional lardons, but in a self-contained environment only.
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Bacon used to be my absolute weakness. I’ve heard that cooking bacon on parchment-lined baking sheets in the oven is far less messier. You’d still have to contend with the lingering odor though…