We are conditioned to believe that homemade is always better, however, that is not always the case. Many items lose their freshness so quickly that they are almost always better frozen or canned except when in season and extremely fresh, while other items require a level effort so high that the payoff of homemade is not worth the effort and often even leads to an inferior final product than the prepared version. Here are ten items, in no particular order, that are almost always better bought than made.
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Puff Pastry & Phyllo
Puff Pastry and Phyllo are similar constructs that can take days to make, and which can be extremely temperamental and frustrating. Even a lot of the best pastry chefs purchase their puff pastry and phyllo doughs from bakeries that specialize in their creation. While there may be a great sense of satisfaction in making your own puff pastry or phyllo dough, the final results are often not as good or not much better than dough bought frozen from a reputable bakery.
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Croissants
Croissants fall into the same category as Puff Pastry, making them is a difficult long process that often leads to a finished result that is just not worth the effort. It can take a lot of practice and work to be able to make a croissant from scratch that is even almost as good as one made by a high quality bakery that specializes in their creation. In the end the time investment is better spent on the use of the croissant rather than its creation.
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Pumpkin
It is true that preparing and roasting fresh pumpkins will lead to a small increase in the quality of a pumpkin pie, but most pastry chefs agree that the level of effort for the small increase in quality is just not worth it. Instead of slaving over the pumpkin, work with spicing the canned pumpkin to make the perfect pie. Nobody, not even the pickiest eater will be able to taste the difference.
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Shelled Peas
Logic dictates that fresh vegetables will always be better than frozen, however, in the case of shelled peas this is not usually the case unless you are able to pick up the fresh peas picked that day from a farmers market or your own garden. Peas begin to loose their sweetness from the moment they are picked so by the time you purchase week old or more peas from the local grocery store and shell them your efforts will lead to a final product that is inferior to the frozen peas that were frozen immediately after being picked and shelled.
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Canned Crab
This one is hard to believe, but crab starts losing flavor as soon as it is killed, so unless you leave near a wharf that produces fresh crab daily or you can buy them live the ones that where killed and immediately frozen still on the boat for canning will almost always taste better.
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BBQ Sauce
While I am not denying that home made BBQ sauce can be superior to ones purchased in a jar, the amount of work and experimentation required to make a sauce as good as some of the ones readily available is not always worth the extra time and cost. This is not to say that any BBQ sauce you find in the aisles of your local supermarket will be better than a basic home sauce, but there are many small artisan sauce makers that produce excellent sauce. Experiment with them and you are sure to find one that matches the sauce you prefer and for a fraction of the cost and time of making it yourself.
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Spice Mixes
There are some horrible spice mixes on the market and also some excellent ones. The time and money it will take to assemble the spices to mix and take the time to experiment to create your perfect mix it is often much better to go with a premixed one for daily use. That is not to say you shouldn’t experiment with your own, but often the benefits do not outweigh the cost.
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Chick Peas
Starting from fresh Chick Peas for something like hummus can be rewarding, but you will quickly find that your end product will be the same with jarred chick peas. Instead experiment with spicing the chick peas correctly. With chick peas stay away from the cans as they can often have a tinny flavor, instead buy chick peas available in glass jars in their own broth. The end results will the same as anything you produce from fresh.
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Beans
Like chick peas the time spent with fresh beans will often not result in a superior product. Instead go with high quality canned beans. Unlike many canned items beans do not have a tinny flavor from the can and in most preparations you will not be able to distinguish the difference. I have spent hours preparing fresh beans for red beans and rice and chili only to have the final results being indistinguishable from the same dish that I made using canned.
Exception: Green beans
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Tomatoes (when locally out of season)
I would never claim that canned tomatoes are better than fresh tomatoes from a farmers market or your own garden when in season, but when tomatoes are not in season in your area you can be sure that they were picked prior to being riped, have been artificially colored, and are at least a week old. The result is almost flavorless. Canned tomatoes where picked, prepared, and canned while in season and retain their flavor, and like beans they do not pick up the flavor of the can. This is not always true or all brands, but many are far superior to anything you can find on the produce section off season, and will almost always leads to better tasting tomato based sauces. For the best flavor stay away from discount brands that often use inferior tomatoes, this is one of the items that you want to pay a few cents more per can you’ll pay for more well known brands or, even better, artisan brands, to get a ripe tomato taste even off season.
I rarely prepare desserts and so I was a bit distressed when I was asked to bring a dessert to our family’s Christmas celebration this year. I wasn’t sure what to bring, but I did now that I wanted it to be a traditional Christmas dessert, not a pie, delicious with a beautiful presentation, and, due to my schedule, quick to make. After some thought and research, I decided on my take on a traditional English Trifle.Traditionally Trifles are made with alcohol, but due to the number of very young children that would be at the party I decided against using it and instead made a thinner pudding layer than is traditionally used. Another limitation was that, due to severe allergies in a member of the family I was unable to use any form of nuts. I included optional steps at in the recipe to reintroduce these ingredients if desired.To facilitate multiple serving sizes I decided to make multiple cake, fruit, and sauce layers. I also took a couple of short cuts to decrease the preparation time. The first is that I purchased a large store bought Angel Food cake. The second is that I used instant pudding mix as a flavoring and thickener rather than make a vanilla custard sauce completely from scratch. The end result was fantastic.
One of my fondest food memories of family gatherings when I was younger was my Grandmothers macaroni salad. I don’t know how she made it, but it has always been the macaroni salad up against I compare all others, and all of them have always fell short. A few years ago I set out to discover her recipe, and after I discovered that no member of the family could duplicate it, I set out to do so by trial and error. After many unsuccessful attempts I finally found a combination of ingredients that closely matched the rich flavor I remember, and then I set out to add my own changes. For the last two years I have made and remade macaroni salad seeking the best recipe I could find, and finally I found a combination of ingredients that I really enjoy. After all my changes it no longer tastes just like the macaroni salad I remember, but it adds a slight twist on an old classic and brings layers of flavor to what is often a very one dimensional dish. This recipe adds heavy whipping cream and whipped mayonnaise for a more creamy sauce, and a small amount of Miracle Whip and Dijon Mustard for a more rounded flavor. The addition of Red Freseno Pepper and Vidalia Onion to the traditional celery adds a slight sweetness and crunch, and a subtle complexity to what is often a simple tasting dish.
There are two dishes that I love to make with fresh corn: creamed corn and southwestern style corn. As spring is here and fresh corn is started to show at the market I decided to try combining the two. Its not an overall original dish, but with its subtle heat juxtaposed with the sweetness of the fresh corn, it is incredible as a side or a main course.
There are few foods more comforting than a cottage pie. Cheap and easy to make it is the perfect fall and winter dish. The problem is that making a proper one can be very time consuming and better for a lazy Sunday afternoon than a weeknight meal. Earlier this week I decided I wanted to make a Cottage pie for dinner on a Monday evening and decided that I would do it in under an hour, the results were excellent, not greasy at all, and complete in about 40 minutes start to finish. I was amazed at how easy it actually was once I broke it down into parts. First there is the potato topping, second the beef and vegetable mixture, and third the gravy. By managing time and cooking each simultaneously and replacing the traditional heavy creams with stalk it becomes a easy weeknight meal.