Name 3 Dishes You Should Order Rather Than Making Yourself

No contributions to the thread, but for this wafer thin dinner mint..

I don't deep fry at home. Don't want that heavy oil funk filling the kitchen. I know you can avoid that with an air fryer, but we've avoided getting one because fried foods should be eaten only rarely in any case ...

Ratatouille: so many steps if you want the distinct flavors Julia Childs dictates.

If it isn't easy, I don't bother.

Most Vietnamese food; I don't have the herbs or the patience.

Pizza

Egg *yolks*, OP.

Hot dogs,

I was just going to say Thai food, R5. I’ve had Indian down pat for twenty but the few times I tried to make Thai it hasn’t gone well. I can’t taste the fish sauce in restaurant Thai food, but when I add it to homemade Thai food it tastes like ass!

Sausages

Baked Alaska is the easiest of all "fancy" desserts to prepare. Bake (or purchase) a pound cake; slice it. Buy some vanilla ice cream; scoop it. Whip up some egg whites and sugar; dollop liberally. Turn on the broiler; toast the whole mess. Voila! Baked Alaska.

Fried chicken

Burgers

anything fried

Fugu

Pizza

Pho

The worst casserole ever.

Soufflé

Anything deep fried.

Fried in a pan … sure, I won’t do it, but other, more competent cooks, can.

Dropping breaded chicken in a pot of boiling hot lard, in a home kitchen, is at the very least asking for a difficult cleaning process. Not to mention the airing out of the house.

i know people did it 50 years ago, but some things are better left to “professionals” these days. or at least teenagers with access to deep frying equipment.

i would add crepes and eggs benedict.

Agree about fried chicken, even though I have a fantastic recipe, but it is time-consuming, messy, and makes the house stink for days after. Really, anything that is deep fried.

Prime rib is always better at a (good) restaurant than it is at home. But I'll put my standing rib roast up against any restaurants.

Coq au vin, or anything that is braised. It takes way too long at home.

Fried seafood - for reasons too soon and too long evident if you ever have

Fried chicken - as above

(Fresh) Pasta - I like that I know how to make tagliolini or gnocchi, for instance, and I enjoyed making it a few times. Now, though, I have access to excellent freshly made stuff from shops that do it for you, and very well.

Steaks - Not something I ever order if I have a choice, so I'm not instigating a major kitchen cleaning for a dish that's far from a favorite.

Indian food - I love it, but there are only a few relatively simple main dishes I make at home. The range if ingredients and the timing of adding various sources and some of the hot oil requirements for breads and small plates...I still to a few classic chicken or vegetarian dishes that are more or less one-pot meals plus some rice and a simple bread and side dish

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Steaks. You can only get great perfect steak at a bona fide steak house like smith and Wolensky and Keen's

Dim sum in general - A group of friends and I would go out Sundays for dim sum to soothe our hangovers. I could make some of those things at home, but I'd rather have people roll carts by the table so we could point out tasty looking dishes.

tuna salad

quesadillas

French fries

spaghetti w/meatballs

pancakes/waffles

stuffed chicken breast

cereal

Ditto on deep fried not at home. Too messy. Who wants all that grease on the walls. Crepes are easy at home. Actually never had them in a restaurant. I like making those Italian crepes /manicotti with ricotta for Christmas, that’s as far as my Christmas spirit will go.

Tamales. I understand they're a shit ton of work.

If you're making a big batch of ratatouille and then freezing it, it's worth it. I used to do this every fall, using my garden produce - oven roasting all the vegetables individually, then combining and further reducing. It was great because in this form, the flavors were intensified and it's endlessly versatile. You could just add it to pizza, or in sandwiches, or layers in lasagna. But making ratatouille for a single meal or two... no. It is a lot of work.

Fried chicken

Seafood poboy, pizza, fried chicken

A Reuben sandwich. You have to buy the corned beef, Swiss cheese, marble rye and sauerkraut. I make my own Russian dressing.

I could get one delivered for $25 or buy the ingredients to make four of them and cook 'em at home for the same amount of money. But I only need one.

Fried chicken and pizza. The people who make it do it for a living. They do it better.