14 Complicated Dishes That Aren't Worth Making At Home

We'd never want to discourage anyone from improving their culinary skills and trying out new recipes, but some dishes can be much more complicated than they seem. This list is somewhat subjective, and there might be entries that you consider worth the effort, even if others might not see things that way. However, these dishes all have challenging aspects that might make you think twice before trying them at home.

Ultimately, you have to weigh the costs of ingredients, specialist kitchen equipment, and your time, against the benefits of how much you're going to enjoy the final product. You'll also want to assess the risk factor — if you're lacking in technical ability or experience, what are the chances a mistake will ruin the entire dish? You can judge for yourself whether or not any of the dishes below are worth making at home, but in our experience, they're meals that are better enjoyed in a restaurant and made by professional chefs with the proper tools and best ingredients.

Authentic risotto is one of the all-time comfort dishes — it's hot and creamy with the ability to pack in heaps of delicious flavors, plus it's extremely versatile. On paper, it's also pretty straightforward to make.

Aside from the specific type of rice required — usually Arborio — the ingredients aren't especially fancy or hard to find, and you're effectively just adding wine and stock to the rice so it absorbs all the deliciousness and takes on that velvety texture. However, you can't make risotto by simply simmering the rice in the liquids and coming back to the pan when it's ready. To get the rice to release its starches for the desired texture, you need to add the liquid one ladle at a time, stirring each time until the stock is fully incorporated. There are no breaks, and you can't take your eye off the rice. For a regular-sized batch, we're talking upwards of 20 minutes of ladle, stir, and repeat. What's more, if you're planning on making side dishes, you'll have to do these before you start on the risotto because your attention can't stray from the rice. Also, the best risotto, and most restaurant versions, are made using homemade stock rather than store-bought, so if you're aiming high, that's another long process to add to your risotto prep.

Given the countless varieties of pasta and the huge range of dishes you can make with it, it's a food that's hard to get bored of. Plus, it's easy to get hold of and quick and simple to make — all you need to do is boil it in hot water for the right amount of time depending on the type of pasta.

If you ever start feeling like pasta dishes aren't challenging enough and decide to make your own pasta from scratch, there are a few things to bear in mind. First, pasta is made with dough, and as we'll continue to point out in this piece, working with dough is never as simple as you think. Getting the egg-to-flour ratio just right is difficult but crucial to avoid ending up with a dough that's too dry or too sticky, and the mixture needs to be kneaded until it's smooth and elastic without becoming too dense. Then, the dough has to rest so the gluten structure can relax before it's rolled flat, and lastly, you have to portion and shape it into your desired pasta. The easiest way is to use a machine, but these aren't cheap and you're still going to be limited to a handful of pasta styles. Truthfully, you're better off just buying premium pasta from the store and perfecting your cooking times.

English in origin, a well-made Beef Wellington is a stunningly rich and flavorful dish. Although, if you've ever made one, you probably found yourself wondering whether it was worth the time, effort, and cost.

The recipe calls for a quality cut of beef tenderloin, which is then coated in mushroom duxelles, swaddled in prosciutto, then wrapped in puff pastry. The duxelles helps absorb the moisture from the beef to prevent the pastry from getting soggy, so getting this aspect right is crucial if you want the perfect crust. Even assuming you're using store-bought pastry, once you've tackled the complicated assembly of your ingredients, cooking them is a fine balancing act. Ideally, you want the beef to be medium-rare so it remains juicy inside while getting the pastry on the outside golden brown. The larger the cut of beef you use, the trickier this part gets. At the end of the day, Beef Wellington is an expensive dish to attempt with a number of things that can go wrong, and even if you nail it the first time, the pay-off arguably isn't worth it.

We're not going to try and argue that handmade sausages aren't superior to processed store-bought ones, but you should know what you're getting into if you try to make them yourself. First, you need to start with the perfect filling.

It's not enough just to get the flavors right for your sausage filling, as you also need to make sure it contains enough fat. You'll want to aim for at least 25 percent fat, which is still half the amount most commercial versions contain, and you may need to add more fat to your meat mix. Next, you'll need to source and stuff your sausage casings which is delicate work, often requiring specialized equipment if you want to ensure consistency and avoid bursting the skins. While there's certainly satisfaction to be had in making your own sausages from scratch, you're better off heading to your local butcher. Here, you'll be able to buy handmade sausages for a fraction of the price in the knowledge they're fresh and professionally made.

Whether you're a pork or veggie fan, steamed or fried, it's hard not to love filled dumplings. However, given how quickly they are to snack though, making them yourself might leave you wondering whether it was time well spent.

Once again, we start with dough — this time, it needs to be soft and pliable without being too sticky, something that takes practice to get right. Then your filling needs to be the right consistency, if it's too dry or moist, it will affect the dough as it cooks. There are a few different methods for wrapping dumplings, but all of them are slightly fiddly. Every dumpling needs to be perfectly sealed, and you'll likely find yourself tired of folding dumplings if you're making a large batch. And, let's face it, there's not much point in making a small batch. Finally, it can be tricky to judge the cooking times for dumplings, with different fillings and styles requiring adjusted timings to avoid over or undercooking them. Being able to make dumplings is a worthwhile skill, but know that it's something that will take plenty of attempts to master.

On the surface, croissants might not seem too complicated to make at home, but achieving that deliciously airy texture with crispy flakes of pastry that are buttery, not oily, is no mean feat. The process shares some similarities with making puff pastry but has a few more technical aspects thrown in.

First, the ingredient list is slightly more complicated as it includes an active yeast component that needs time to start its feeding process before you can fully mix the dough. Then the dough needs about an hour in the fridge to cool down before you can laminate it by folding in the butter like you would with puff pastry. After this painstaking step, you have to roll out your dough, cut it into triangles, and start shaping them into their crescent croissant shapes. Again, this is fiddly and requires careful temperature control to avoid the butter melting prematurely. In our experience, it's better to buy croissants from a local baker and bake or reheat them at home. As long as you reheat them in the oven and not the microwave or toaster, they'll look and taste as good as if they were freshly made by a pro.

Despite being a delicious dessert, Baked Alaska is the sort of cake that makes you wonder why someone attempted to create it in the first place. Like macarons, it often tops the list of the most daunting baking recipes.

The bottom layer of a Baked Alaska is usually just regular cake, something that's not too tricky to make — so far, good. However, the next layer is ice cream, which has to be cold enough to keep its form but soft enough to mold into shape. If that wasn't enough, we need to bust out our meringue-making skills once again, because a Baked Alaska is then coated in the stuff. The final stage is browning the dessert's meringue exterior under direct heat, usually under a broiler, which isn't always the easiest piece of equipment to use. You can probably guess that precise timing and temperatures are critical when you're putting ice cream in the oven and don't want it to melt. Like macarons, this can be a great recipe to test your baking skills after plenty of practice, but not one to try without prior experience.