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True southern biscuits, handmade with unmeasured ingredients. Fortunately, my family wouldn't mind my trying various attempts at this one.

BTW, while developing my German-Polish Oven-Roasted Potato Salad, I referenced Barbara Lauterbach's book "Potato Salad: Fifty Favorite Recipes". There ya' go, 51 more recipes to try to get it right! ;-)

Rice. I am rice impaired. I can glove bone a turkey with a paring knife, make an enviable cassoulet and make more ethnic food than you can shake a stick at - but I cannot make long grain rice.

Mine turns into joint compound.

I can make risotto, rice pudding and paella.

Pie crust. But I've resolved to get this resolved in '08, even if people have to scrape the filling off the crust of hundreds of slices of pie before I get it down pat.

Fried chicken. Lucky for me, I've got a FIL and a MIL who both make absolutely the most AWESOME fried chicken ever, both using completely different methods. So, at this point, I don't see much sense in pursuing this one any further. When hubby or I get a craving, I just say, "Guess it's time to go to TN!" And, since his folks are divorced, we usually get it at least twice -- once at her house, and once at his. Darn. {evil laugh}

Carmelizing sugar. I know, not technically a dish!

Although I've actually had two notable successes with it (once for flan and once for an apple tart), there have been FAR more horrible failures. No technique seems to work consistently. And I even invested in an unlined copper sugar pan. Pretty, but useless.

i can't make a really good cup of coffee, no matter what method i use or what coffee i buy.

the last time i tried it, i used a new stovetop espresso maker, and the coffee was so strong that i was shaking and miserable for hours.

I make truly dreadful coffee, and I can't poach eggs for beans. No wonder I never have anyone over for brunch.

I am rice impaired also - I have to make rice in a rice cooker.

I've made macaroni and cheese dozens of times with various recipes, and it never comes out quite right. Macaroni and cheese is my white whale.

thanks Luna! I have a million different recipes, but somehow I manage to make a wreck out of every one I've tried. I'd pretty much given up, but with summer just around the corner, I'll have to give it another go.

I make a fantastic pasta salad though, so that usually makes up for lack of potato.

Baha- re: your coffee....do what I did, invest in a Keurig single cup coffee maker. No muss no fuss! I'm not a big coffee drinker but my company installed the industrial ones that have the waterline attached and most people love it, there are so many different flavors to choose from and you can even get a separate little filter attachment where you can use your own grounds in the maker. I bought the residential version for my husband for his birthday last year and he loves it, you insert the cup, push a button, wait 30 seconds for it to fill your mug, then simply throw the little cup into the trash. They also sell K-cups of tea and hot cocoa too.

http://www.keurig.com/brewers.asp?mscsid=BDXCCA974NNX9LNKVUPAMHG4T359DGG9

I bought the B60, although it was much more expensive when I bought it... tsk.

I hold the world's record for the most yeast-dough product failures!

I have a wonderful pizza stone... and I can't get the pizza onto it. I end up wimping out at the thought of a floppy dough mess on the bottom of the oven and end up putting the pizza on a baking sheet on the darn stone.

I too also have an issue with mac & cheese. I think that's because I keep attempting to healthify it. I'm slowly giving up on making it taste good with low fat products... and it's slowly getting better with each attempt...

@QueenHerm......you need a pizza peel, that's what the professionals use to put the pizza in the oven and get it out, too. Slide the pizza onto the stone, bake, then slip the peel underneath and remove from the oven.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-3646058-4135362?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pizza+peel

@SparklingDiamond... I've finally mastered the sausage gravy, I'll be glad to help if I can! Here's how I make mine:

I start with a standard 12" non stick frying pan, fry 1lb sausage, crumbled, do not drain! I add nearly 1/2c AP flour, 2T at a time. Keep adding flour until you can't get any more to stick to the sausage. Immediately add milk until about 1/2" from the lip of the pan, somewhere around 3 pints. Salt and pepper to taste. You'll want to simmer it instead of boiling, as that would burn the milk, stir frequenty, scraping the bottom of the pan. I'm sure you've seen what happens if some of the extra flour settles to the bottom! It should take somewhere around 20-25 minutes. Now, the important part. The gravy should still be somewhat free-flowing, so you want to remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes to cool and to thicken. Spoon over the biscuits and enjoy!

As for my constant failure... sushi rice. I just can't get it right! It always tastes too much like vinegar to me...

@BaHa - I am so with you on the coffee. Doesn't matter what I do! My husband makes it soooooo much better -- and he doesn't even drink coffee! So sad.

I must admit to being somewhat poached egg challenged. When I say "somewhat", I mean that one out of, oh, say, three times, do they turn out perfectly. I always end up overcooking. My husband loves dippy yolks, but it's pretty much a crapshoot at our house. At least I can make a decent hollandaise to cover the yellow golf ball-like yolk.

@donnie - Tony Bourdain taught me how to make the perfect hb eggs.
"How To Hard-Boil A Freaking Egg" from Les Halles Cookbook.
Put your eggs gently into a small pot filled with cold water. Bring the water to a rapid boil. As soon as the water is boiling, shut off the heat and put a lid on top. After 10 min.,remove the eggs and slide them carefully into ice water to cool. When cool? Peel. Here's how you know if you've done it right: If the egg is cooked through, the shell peels off cleanly, and the yolk is not surrounded by an unsightly gray ring. Gray ring? Try again, knucklehead (I'm paraphrasing here).
After years of making hb eggs the way my mom taught me (boiling them to within an inch of their little lives!), I decided to change my life for the better. Tony intimidated me right into making great hb eggs every time.

Rice. Well, maybe not impaired, but rice seems to be able to make me stupid. I put rice and water in a pot, and forget to turn on the heat. I forget that the heat is on, and I burn the pan. I forget how long the rice has been cooking, and I lift the lid repeatedly, which doesn't help the cooking process. I cook the rice too early, and its cold by the time we eat. I start cooking it too late.and I have watery, crunchy rice.

I solved the problem by buying a super-cheap rice cooker -- it was under $15 dollars. I put the rice and water in, press the button, and when its done it stays warm. No more worries.