Kitchen Mistakes

[AmeliaJane]

Make me feel better about my recent kitchen disaster--good ingredients, a cookbook I have used before, an hour of prep time...and I ended up with a pot of brown glop instead of a delicious curry. I am a good food salvager/repurposer and after getting down two servings even I gave up and composted the rest. Argh--I hate wasting food! When have your kitchen plans gone awry?

[Mrs-M]

Awww... better luck next time, AmeliaJane.

I, myself, have ruined more pots of soup than anything else in my day! Some, I was able to salvage, while others went straight out to the compost!

[Tussiemussies]

Once when I was first married I made a pumpkin pie for my Sister in law and her husband. I forgot to put in the sugar!!!l LOL

[Mrs-M]

Hey, that might of not been so bad, Tussie, as you could have sweetened-up the whipping cream extra!

A good number of things I make, I've cut way back on the sugar, and they're way better!

[lhamo]

I burned the pasta sauce on Saturday -- thankfully, there was still enough unburned bits that we could eat it, and DS said it tasted fine. I was glad I had already agreed to let DD eat cornflakes for dinner, though -- she wouldn't have touched it with her picky palate!

How the heck do you burn pasta sauce? I hate my stove sometimes. None of the burners have a wide enough range of power/heat. The big one is TOO HOT (that's the one that did the burning forgot to turn it down to the absolutely lowest setting, which is still too hot). And the small ones aren't really small enough, either. I'm terrified I'm going to destroy my enamel coated dutch oven because even the lowest element is too hot.

lhamo

[iris lily]

Once I sliced up DH's pet amaryllis bulb, thinking it was a fennel bulb. I put it in a little butter in a saute pan and lightly browned it. It tasted bad but I thought perhaps that's what it was supposed to taste like. I didn't eat the entire thing, but did eat a few spoonfulls of it.

Later in the evening when I had stomach cramps, I figured out that the fennel DH told me he placed on the counter was still there. So what did *I* eat? Oh.

[HomemadeChange]

I once made a homemade pizza and FORGOT THE SAUCE. What can I say? It had been a tough week LOL. It turned out though as a delicious errr cheese bread. haha DH didn't mind, but I sure felt silly.

[JaneV2.0]

Once I sliced up DH's pet amaryllis bulb, thinking it was a fennel bulb. I put it in a little butter in a saute pan and lightly browned it. It tasted bad but I thought perhaps that's what it was supposed to taste like. I didn't eat the entire thing, but did eat a few spoonfulls of it.

Later in the evening when I had stomach cramps, I figured out that the fennel DH told me he placed on the counter was still there. So what did *I* eat? Oh.

It's hard to top that; I won't even try.

Recently, while making curry sauce, I noticed the slurry was foamy. I tasted it, and it wasn't "right." Then I figured out I had substitute baking soda for cornstarch. Oops. Glad I tasted it before I mucked up the whole dish.

[Mrs-M]

Originally Posted by Iris lily
Once I sliced up DH's pet amaryllis bulb, thinking it was a fennel bulb. I put it in a little butter in a saute pan and lightly browned it. It tasted bad but I thought perhaps that's what it was supposed to taste like. I didn't eat the entire thing, but did eat a few spoonfulls of it.

Later in the evening when I had stomach cramps, I figured out that the fennel DH told me he placed on the counter was still there. So what did *I* eat? Oh.

Originally posted by JaneV2.0.
It's hard to top that; I won't even try.

ROTFLMAO!

[treehugger]

Oh, AmeliaJane, that is such a bummer when that happens! I can't offer up and hilarious or comforting examples of my own, not because I don't make mistakes, but because I am fortunate to have the ability to forget about them after they happen. I do think that what makes a successful cook is not achieving perfection, but accepting that failures happen and then getting right back on that horse.

And when in doubt, come back here and read Iris lily's spectacular amaryllis bulb cooking story (thank goodness that's not a poisonous bulb and that you only ate a few bites!).

Kara

P.S., I just remembered a failure I didn't bounce back from. I tried gnocchi once (once!) and failed miserably. So much for getting back on that horse.