BS: Epic culinary failures

Subject: BS: Culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 09 Sep 14 - 09:28 PM

Note to self. Adding more and more salt to a balsamic dressing for a Greek potato salad recipe will not compensate for dried oregano so old it is more tan than green and olive oil that has gone somewhat rancid. It will only result in a dressing that tastes only of salt and bitterness.

If you are coming to the office pot luck tomorrow, avoid my potato salad. I'm tempted to put a sign on it that says "For Display Only."

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Sep 14 - 10:05 PM

If you make spaghetti with portobello mushrooms (and garlic + spices), the spores in the mushrooms will make the spaghetti grey-brown. If you then use the tiny bit left over as filling in an avant-garde omelet, it will taste great, but look like... I don't know--use your imagination. It was fairly brown, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 09 Sep 14 - 11:13 PM

This dish looks great. Tastes like rancid olive oil and the Atlantic Ocean with added salt.

I didn't know about the pot luck until yesterday. Plans apparently got moved up. Last I heard (last Wednesday) the pot luck (for a doctor who is leaving) was planned for Friday. I don't work at that clinic on Fridays so donated for a gift and told some one to sign my name on the card when it came around. I had private clients last night and tonight, so no time to think or shop. I had already bought the potatoes, garbanzos and red onion for a pot luck I am hosting on this coming Sunday, had not given a thought to how long the olive oil had been in hanging around, and have a garden full of fresh basil and oregano. I wasn't about to go out and try to harvest in the moonlight, then mince enough of both to make 1/4 cup of each - I always figure on doubling the quantity of such herbs if using fresh herbs. 1/4 cup of fresh, minced oregano is a lot of fresh oregano. And the basil is flowering and looking quite scraggly - would have taken a lot of picking through = time. And stripping leaves from stems then mincing fresh herbs like oregano in that quantity is time consuming.

Having said all that, here I am, on Mudcat, after 11:00 with the alarm going off at 5 am. Should say that is not how I wanted to spend my time, eh?

What pisses me off is that I could not, by force of will, make bad ingredients work, and I pretty knew that, but did not want to accept it. Delusions of being a master of the universe?

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 09 Sep 14 - 11:20 PM

And anyone have any helpful hints of keeping good olive oil from going rancid short of storing it in the refrigerater so it has to be "thawed" before use?

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 12:12 AM

Keep it in a cool dark place, and don't buy a container larger than you think you can use in a few months. Don't keep it in the fridge. I buy a large jug of it, 3 litres at a time, but I use a lot of olive oil. (I buy from a Middle Eastern grocery and the oil comes from a single town, let alone a single nation).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: maeve
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 07:11 AM

Olive oil turns rancid and loses its beneficial qualities when exposed to excessive light, heat, and air- I also take care to keep out moisture. If it's awkward to keep a large container of oil in a cool, dark cupboard, or if you buy a large container but aren't likely to use it up in a few months, try decanting portions into glass canning jars (fill 'em, and use metal lids with protective coating.) and refrigerating it. You can take out one jar at a time to keep in the pantry, or you can also just spoon out what you need when you need it. Only the best extra virgin olive oils should not be refrigerated.

Another potential advantage to keeping it in smaller jars- you could infuse a couple of small portions with different herbs. In that case refrigeration is usually advised. Gently heating the oil and washed-but-air-dried fresh herbs or using dried herbs reduces the likelihood of spoilage from moisture. I prefer to strain out the herbs after a few days unless I want them in the dish I'm preparing, leaving me with infused oil, ready to use. I imagine you could also freeze the infused oil/herbs in ice cube trays, as I do various kinds of pesto, then store it in well-sealed zip bags in the freezer.

Good luck with the potluck!

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Ed T
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 08:24 AM

I store mine in a dark, food stoage pantry, which is relatively light free for most of the time. I suspect air exposure is one factor related to the oil becoming taste rancid. So, I try to reduce the exposure of the opened oil surfaces to fresh oxygen by storing excess oil in smaller containers, where the oil level is near the top of the container.

While heat extremes shoukd be avoided, I suspect temperature alone is not the bigest factor, as olive oil is stored for long periods in some fairly warm climates. Sunlight exposure seems to promote the oil degrading in taste quality (though it may not impact it for other uses, such as lubrication). :)

Below is one link with info...I suspect there are many others.

olive oil 

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 08:52 AM

Many years ago working as I Chef I was making Crème Patissiere. I got a bowl cracked sixty (yes 60)added cornflour and the whole lot frothed up over the side of the bowl, over the table ..... strange I thought, cleaned up the mess and started again, this time watched by 6 or 7 other chefs. Cracked 60 eggs added the cornflour .... the whole thing started to froth up violently over the bowl, over the table ...... bloody strange.

OK, third time lucky, cracked 60 eggs ...... it was then I noticed I'd been using baking powder instead of cornflour !!

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Ed T
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 09:01 AM

A friend of mine once told me his new wife used gladiolus bulbs (that were stored in a cold cellar, near vegetables) in preparing a spaghetti sauce, I suspect thinking they were garlic? I dont recall how he rated the sauce's flavour?

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 09:08 AM

I once made creamed tuna on mashed potatoes and learned that you should always drain off the oil the tuna is packed in. I also learned that this is a very, very monochromatic dish.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Ed T
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 10:41 AM

One should always drain off can fluids, as the coatings combine with them during heat retorting and through age.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 11:25 AM

I dunno if it was epic, but it was hilarious. In my checkered yoot I used to hold regular Lasagna Parties-- people would come, cook, drink, smoke, eat. People would then take home a portion commensurate with as much as they had eaten, to stow in their freezer. It was a rolling, drop-in affair-- I'd be at the stove sometimes for days making the small-batch sauce flavored especially to each arrival's taste.

One year I enjoyed a few of those activities so much that when it was time to dine with one group, THAT was when we all realized NO ONE HAD TURNED ON THE OVEN. And for that meal I'd hauled out some of my OWN frozen batch.

I think the new kitchen in Ohio will suit this kind of party perfectly! ;-)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 11:41 AM

My cousin learned how to use her pressure cooker on the occasion of inviting us over for dinner and then realizing she hadn't turned on the crock pot with the chicken, the main ingredient in the dish she was preparing. She had received one as a wedding present but didn't know how to use it, but mom was a pro. Dinner was later, but not that late, and whatever she had been planning to add the cooked chicken to tasted just fine.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 11:59 AM

Learn the difference between a garlic clove and a garlic bulb!

A colleague's mistake rather than mine. The worse one that happened to me was a cheap corkscrew snapping when I tried to draw a cork the first time we ever had people to dinner.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 12:01 PM

A few years ago when mom was really getting old, somebody made (or tried to make) cornbread for Thanksgiving once... it never solidified but remained kind of saucy, and mom could apparently not understand that it was supposed to be cornbread and was just rather confused... so "who med ze cornbread" has become a phrase in the family now, for an unacknowledged milestone like if you miss someone's birthday, oh, did someone make cornbread?

Also once when we made mechoui, which is an entire animal (in this case I think lamb, but it might have been a pig) stuffed with couscous and a bunch of other stuff roasted over a fire all day being turned by hand... and something on the spit itself turned the couscous black wherever it had touched. We were in southern India at the time and had taken the animal away into the kitchen to cut up once it was cooked, so we just kind of took all the black stuffing out and didn't tell anybody and nobody got sick but we still don't know what it was, we'd made a lot of mechoui over the years but this only happened the once.

Oh and once somebody was bringing out a sliced ham just as the wedding reception guests were arriving, beautifully arranged back on the bone, when they tripped over the basset hound and the whole thing went flying. I went and stalled the arriving guests by chatting madly in the garden while mom and dad quickly piled all the ham the dog didn't get back on the plate all anyhow and my sister got the dog out the back door... nobody said anything about the dog hair at least. Thank you for getting me to remember that! I must have been 12 or so...

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 12:32 PM

Mrrzy, here is a favorite scene from A Christmas Story.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 12:52 PM

once upon a time when I had not long left my family home & was embarking on the world of cooking ...

The recipe said bring the sugar & water to the boil & boil for 5 mins (or similar time) so I brought it to the boil, & left to do something else.

Clouds of black smoke everywhere & I had a very interesting
mass of black stuff in my aluminium saucepan that looked something like
slag furnace steel - photo 2 result 1 dead saucepan

Well, it didn't say I needed to stir the boiling syrup ...

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: ranger1
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 01:07 PM

Once my mom was sick and my step-dad made dinner that night. He'd followed mom's instructions for tuna noodle casserole to a "t", or so he thought. We kids were all at the table digging in and he asked how it was. Silence for a moment while we older kids tried to think of how to tactfully tell him what my youngest sister suddenly blurted out: "Hey! You forgot the tuna!"

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 02:30 PM

"Learn the difference between a garlic clove and a garlic bulb!"

Ummm... right. 55 years ago, found a recipe for Turkey dressing. Bought garlic...(it did seem like a lot)

Picture 4 adults spending an hour or so picking garlic bits out of cooked dressing with tweezers AFTER Mom explained the difference. It was still not too bad...

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 02:58 PM

when my brother married a second time, they housed as many family members as they could at their house. So he made a huge pot of tomato sauce and had boxes of pasta to feed everyone. Well, after three days of reheating, the Italian sausage links had every bit of fat sucked out of them. As hubby said for years after, "I never knew you could snap a sausage link in two."

I was just happy that my brother didn't meltdown dealing with his future in-laws.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Ed T
Date: 10 Sep 14 - 06:40 PM

""Learn the difference between a garlic clove and a garlic bulb!""

I expect his new wife learned that lesson the hard way:)

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 06:16 AM

Am loving this thread, and realizing I've caused enough of these to keep it going all year : )

Chapter One: leaving the sugar completely out of the Thanksgiving coconut custard pie. Which everyone wanted more than anything. First bites, polite stares, then PFLOOY around the table.

.... I'll work my way up to the exploding Pyrex sagas. With an 's'.

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 06:30 AM

Toffee made with salt in place of caster sugar doesn't work and, as far as I can tell, is without remedy. You may know better.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: sciencegeek
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 06:49 AM

"Toffee made with salt in place of caster sugar doesn't work and, as far as I can tell, is without remedy. You may know better."

and is part of the legend of "salt water taffy" from Atlantic City, NJ LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 10:55 AM

Well, there was the time we found a big unlabeled can of something in the street. One night my mother couldn't think of anything for dinner so she opened the of...roofing tar.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 11:35 AM

My brother--- 3 years younger-- used to like mustard a lot. He tried it on baloney, hamburgers, hot dogs, on plain bread... almost anything. He then decided mustard was good on anything

Then he tried it on ice cream.

He 'revised' his theory..... nothing like experimental science to advance culinary knowledge.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 01:21 PM

too many fiascos - but here is one that's not too painful to recall... lol

We enjoy a nice sauerbraten every now and again, so I marinated the meat... but things got busy that week so it marinated way longer than usual. Well it was tender alright... the darn thing melted when I cooked it. Think pulled beef "braten"... Mike called it the best gravy I ever made... we poured it over the boiled potatoes. sigh...

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Morticia
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 01:32 PM

Didn't have tinned tomatoes last night to put in the spag bol. Used Passata instead, they are both tomato type product, should be no difference, right? Wrong.....one of the most disgusting dinners I have ever made, ever.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 04:14 PM

With four kids to raise, my mother was always looking for new recipes that called for inexpensive ingredients. She visited the county agriculture extension agent for recipes one time and came home with a couple of lulus - the "liver and kidney teriyaki" was awful - and we kids renamed it "liver and kidney harikari" - so she got the hint and didn't make it again. Another recipe she tried only once was the concord grape flavored tapioca pudding. The recipe made enough for a small army and she didn't think to reduce it for the first time. We threw away a lot of pudding.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 05:12 PM

My mother never had the opportunity to learn serious cooking, as our family was 'on the road' the 1st 8-9 years of her marriage. She did basic stuff, and managed pretty well.....

except for meatloaf.

Meatloaf was a fairly cheap thing to fix in the 1940s & 1950s, and there are many easy ways to do it... but Mom always managed to make it into a dense, hard to chew mass. I used to tell people that one could take a 1/4" slice and slap an enemy across the face with it.

Her secret? She never 'quite' believed her recipe on how many bread crumbs to add. She'd mix things up, look at it, and decide "it needs a little bit more". It came out pretty bland and tough. My brother & I would douse it with ketchup and manage to eat it... ketchup made lots of stuff palatable for kids.

When I left home, my wife suggested meatloaf, and I decided to wing it! I did some basic stuff in some recipe and went light on additives, and voilà! decent meatloaf!

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 06:35 PM

Janie? What happened to that potato salad? I think some of it can be found in another thread. (Grin.)

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 08:55 PM

Well....a good bit of the salt was dealt with by the potatoes absorbing it overnight. Not enough of it, but it no longer tasted like the sea. It did not all get eaten. (did I mention I went outside and forgot to watch the pot, so overcooked the potatoes?) So it wasn't a visually attractive dish either.   3 people who were brave enough to try it did come by my office door and asked for the recipe. I could still taste the bitterness and the lack of robust oregano - but these folks had never eaten it before....And I kept my mouth shut and passed along the recipe. They will be pleasantly surprised when they fix it with good ingredients. Regarding the recipe - I simply said "add salt to suit your taste."

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 09:05 PM

For big holiday meals my mother and both usually don't try to make bread or rolls from scratch and buy frozen, heat-and-serve french or sourdough rolls. I learned most of my cooking from her, including popping the rolls in the oven at the last minute then forgetting they are in there in the rush to get the meal laid out on the table - The smoke alarm has served as the dinner gong more than once.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 09:54 PM

Microwave popcorn anyone? During what was supposed to be an afternoon break at work I put a bag in and turned it on - receptionist called and needed me to go up front for some reason. I forgot all about it. Suddenly she says "I smell something burning." Me. "Oh no, the popcorn!" I dash back to the kitchenette where there is some smoke seeping out around the door of the microwave, but no flames. I open the door to remove the charred bag. The smoke billows out and sets off the fire alarm. 150 people working or visiting 5 county agencies housed in the building and two fire trucks responding to the alarm.

Talk about embarrassed!

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Jeri
Date: 11 Sep 14 - 10:25 PM

Somebody at work once torched the toaster with an incendiary Pop-tart. I have a hard time thinking that a flaming toaster-with-p-tart is worse than the smell of burnt popcorn, though. Even when you cook microwave popcorn right, it smells burnt.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 12 Sep 14 - 12:13 AM

Is this where I confess that I am one of those weirdos who really likes somewhat burnt popcorn? Especially if burnt in butter? (Honest, though, that is not what I was trying to achieve on that particular occasion.)

Interesting to note from doing a brief and non-discriminatory google search re: gladiolus that some species are used as food in Africa, as well as for medicinal purposes. I'm a wild foods buff, so was curious when from reports above, it was clear that they at least are not significantly toxic -well- no one is reported to have died:>)

Really like the idea of using a wide-mouthed jar to store olive oil in the frig. Thanks. Living alone, I rarely cook these days. That last batch of olive oil was stored in a dark cupboard, in a tin and was towards the end of the tin, but was probably close to a year old from when the tin was opened. I do use olive oil often to spritz salads (I love my 'misto') but rarely cook. Tossed what was left in the tin and bought more olive oil today, in a very small bottle - but will probably take 6-12 months before I go through that even.

From the bonafide chefs among us - vulcanic eggs and hints of stories of exploding pyrex?! Tell more.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Sep 14 - 03:58 AM

I still have nasty memories of The Exploding Pressure Cooker way back in 1975 when I was expecting Number One Son.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Sep 14 - 04:27 AM

Very early in my first marriage, way back in Spring 1959, Valerie, who was finding her nurturing-wife feet, came across two recipes submitted to the Fleet St women's magazine she was sub-editor of, and had the bright idea of combining elements of White-Fish-In-Cider and Cod's-Roes-With-Something-or-other-else.

The resulting concoction was so spectacularly, horribly inedible, that, thenceforward, right throughout our ½-century marriage, "Cod's Roes In Cider" became our eternal all-purpose private-language phrase for, or denunciation of, any particularly spectacular booboo or flopperoo...

I'd call that "epic"!

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 12 Sep 14 - 06:09 AM

Well, I'll work up to the exploding glass by telling you about First Duck. Meant to impress Father-in-Law, and I was very excited about the possibilities of that rotisserie thingy on the grill.

Do you have ANY idea how much flippin' fat is on even the skinniest looking duck?? I do now, but didn't then, until the fire trucks showed up.

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Sep 14 - 10:22 AM

Culinary failure snobbery:

When I was young, I was over at a friend's house when we heard fire trucks on the next block where another friend lived. Of course we ran over to see...there was a blackened pot sitting in the driveway, and the embarrassed family apologizing to the firemen. It was not a big city, so the fire 'report' made the "daily happenings" column in the newspaper.

"Burned pot roast causes small fire"... something like that.

I had looked in the pot... it was a dozen hot dogs that had boiled dry. (The father was a well-known captain on the police force.)

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 12 Sep 14 - 10:42 AM

LOL... the original blackened dishes...

my mom would fall asleep and burn the tea kettle...

I've had mine own disasters that way... too sad, but I've even burned soup... sigh

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 12 Sep 14 - 05:29 PM

Well, there was the boy scout who put a can of spaghetti in the camp fire - without piercing it. The bang was heard in the next town and the entire campsite covered in worms.

Or me bruvva who was a custard addict - so was challenged to make something different with it. Two drops of blue food ccolour did it, ever tried eating green custard? Peculiarly unappetising.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 13 Sep 14 - 12:50 AM

There once was a gourme from Crediton
Took som pate d foie gras and spread it on
A chocolate biscuit
And murmured "I'll risk it"
His grave bears the date that he said it on.

Epic enough?

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 14 - 03:16 AM

My pressure cooker exploded and embedded green beans in the kitchen ceilling.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Sep 14 - 03:50 AM

Way back in the 70's my colleague decided she wanted a piece (or maybe 2) of toasty cheese so got out the old office toaster something like this with sides that open out toasted the first side, covered the other side with cheese, then popped it in to the toaster.

Unfortunately the cheese did not stay in place (DUH!) & the office was filled with the smell of burning cheese.

Some decades later with new technology, all staff received a very terse email from Office Operations forbidding microwaved popcorn. The note also reminded everyone that the fee for a false-alarm fire brigade call-out was $600, & that staff members who cause such alarms will pay it in future. And finally all users of the microwave had to watch it the whole time it was operating.

sandra (wondering what a false-alarm callout costs now)

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: LadyJean
Date: 13 Sep 14 - 08:01 PM

My sister and I were told to cook a turkey for a large Thanksgiving dinner. Which meant I cooked the turkey. I fixed stuffing, pulled the plastic bag full of turkey innards out of the front end of the bird. Put in the stuffing. Wrapped the bird in foil, and put it in the oven. A few minutes later my sister's partner stopped in and asked if I'd taken the bag of turkey innards out of the BACK of the turkey.

In my defense, I'd cooked turkeys before, but they only had one bag of innards, in the front! And my sister spent the whole time watching a Woody Allen movie.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 14 Sep 14 - 12:56 PM

Ah, reminds me of the Christmas turkey not long after I moved home, turkey bags still in an unidentified box, and none available anywhere. So I begged one off a major quality UK supermarket, who swore it was fine.
Except it wasn't, we had the most excellent bird, none of the juices escaped because the plastic shrank to fuse with the skin...

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Sep 14 - 10:48 PM

Ah.. I am reminded of my German teacher in college! He told of spending a couple years in Germany as an exchange professor. Came the holidays, they wondered if they could find a turkey to remind them of home. Went to the local butcher shop.
"Yes," said the butcher, "we don't get many requests, but I can special order you a turkey.. if you don't mind if it's frozen."
Fine, they said, so 3 days before Christmas they went to the shop to get their turkey. It was frozen, just as promised.... not cleaned and plucked... just frozen after it's head was removed.

   If I remember correctly, turkey dinner was a couple days late as they worked out how to defrost the bird, scald it, pluck it, clean it and finally cook it.

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: Janie
Date: 14 Sep 14 - 11:48 PM

Ouch!

Subject: RE: BS: Epic culinary failures
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 15 Sep 14 - 08:27 AM

And then there was the sad fate of a rather fine bottle of limoncello I bought, had one drink from, and then it disappeared.
I later discovered my daughter had snaffled it for a sleepover with some of her girlfriends (aged 16), who helped themselves to a wineglassfull each...most of which went down the sink, followed by the rest of the bottle.