Your worst cooking disaster

[Tyler]

Come on, we've all had them. The question now is, what was your worst cooking disaster?

For me, and I actually forget if this was me or my mom, and I'm starting to think it was my mom, but she was cooking KD I believe, and for some reason there was an issue with the cheese packet (I think I had opened it before and took it out to pour over popcorn, lol!) and she said she found another one. I shrugged and continued on with whatever it was I was doing.

She finishes making the macaroni and cheese - so far so good. However, when we went to taste it, it tasted very odd. Sweet in fact. Very, very sweet.

What had happened was she had ended up using a packet of juice crystals for a grape juice drink by accident.

*Shudders*

[Sunfrog]

Hahaha! That's a good one. :D

One year for Thanksgiving I was invited to eat dinner at my girlfriend's house. Of course it is tradition to take something for the meal so I made sweet potato pie with maple syrup and walnuts. It would have been delicious except for one thing. I set the oven at the wrong temperature and the bottom didn't get cooked. Later, we were late leaving so I whipped the pie out of the oven and wrapped it in aluminum foil to keep it warm without checking to see if it was done and we left for her mom's in a hurry. Everyone got a big slice of raw pie for dessert. Ugh!! And everyone knew I was the one who cooked it! Man, was that embarassing!

[Tyler]

Ah that's not too bad... it's the thought that counts anyhow right?

Anyone else?

[Liketobake]

I don't like to admit to having disasters in the kitchen. However, since you have insisted, here you go.

A little while ago I made some burgers at my boyfriend’s house. That was an experience.

First of all the air circulation is horrible in his apartment. Consequently there was a lot of smoke that was created. Despite having many fans turned on, the smoke did not clear too quickly. Due to the smoke I wanted to get them cooked as quickly as possible. This lead to the burgers tasting very good, but being somewhat raw. In the end we ended up micro waving each one to get rid of the pink parts, that we just not quite done.

[momof2]

Next time try keeping the heat a little lower, and take your time. Slow cooking is better than fast food!

[Liketobake]

Thanks for the tip. I don't know about the last sentence though...


:)

[Tyler]

Next time try keeping the heat a little lower, and take your time. Slow cooking is better than fast food!

Part of the problem was that there were too many rolled oats in it. A certain somebody didn't measure and just willy dilly poured some oats into the meat mixture :P

I think that was partly why they burned so bad.

2 months later I'm still cleaning that frying pan...

[sean]

This is related to someone I know.

They were cooking lasagne and also watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on the television at the same time. At the moment where they were removing the lasagne from the oven, the guy on the program gave such a ridiculous answer to an easy question, and therefore lost the money, which caused them to shout in a rage at the TV and drop the thing all over the kitchen floor.

[momof2]

Part of the problem was that there were too many rolled oats in it. A certain somebody didn't measure and just willy dilly poured some oats into the meat mixture :P

I think that was partly why they burned so bad.

2 months later I'm still cleaning that frying pan...

Hi Tyler,

You are making cooking sound to much like a science. While I agree there is a science element to cooking, I also believe it should be an art. Adding "some" instead of a measured amount assures that the dish will taste slightly different each time it is prepared. (At least that is how I like to see it!) :)

[Tyler]

Haha, believe me, I agree that cooking is an art, and believe me, I rarely ever measure when I'm manifesting some new concoction in the kitchen. However, this rule of thumb of not being exact is based on the chef knowing what they're doing :P As in, not being exact but also knowing roughly what will still work.

Anyhow, I'm just blabbering now...

[pilgrim30]

Come on, we've all had them. The question now is, what was your worst cooking disaster?

Hello Tyler!

I hate to admit this, especially after I've bragged in other posts how my new hubby raves over my cooking . . . BUT:

It was our one-month anniversary. Now, mind you, back then (a little over two years ago) hubby did some cooking too and had generally always prepared breakfast for us both. But I wanted to get up early and prepare a special meal for him. I made the following recipe that I had found online. I had never made it before.

But, before I give the recipe and tell the tale, I need to give some background information first.

My new husband and his late wife had been smokers. I cannot tolerate cigarette smoke, and especially a house smelling like stale smoke. So during the time I had been in my husband’s home, I spent the majority of it cleaning . . . cleaning the dirty dishes in the cupboard, washing walls, washing linens, etc. BUT, I had not gotten around to cleaning the oven. Matter of fact, since I seldom use it and don’t think about it, it still hasn’t been cleaned (not due to laziness on my part either). I use a large toaster oven that holds just about anything I wish to bake.

I followed the recipe instructions – to the letter. No modifications.

It states to put the butter into the dish and melt it, coating the sides well with the butter. Then mix the ingredients and pour them into the buttered dish. I did.

About halfway through the cooking process, smoke started billowing from the oven!! The butter had boiled over and was burning on the oven bottom. The thick smoke filled the entire kitchen and dinning room, and was wafting out into the other rooms as well. It was good that this was a summer month as I turned on the fan, opened the doors and windows and tried to get the smoke cleared out before my new hubby came to breakfast.

Dear Hubby did come in to breakfast. Naturally, he wanted to know what was burning.

I’ve not tried the recipe since, even though it was tasty and he said he would eat it again. If I ever do make it again, I’ll use half the butter. Or a larger dish.

The recipe:

APPLE PANNEKOEKEN

1 stick butter
1 1/2 c. flour
2 apples, peeled & sliced thin
Cinnamon & sugar mixture
1 1/2 c. milk
6 eggs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in 9 x 13 inch pan, tilting to cover the sides. Mix flour, milk and eggs together and pour into the pan. Arrange apple slices on the bottom and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mix. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Pannekoeken will puff up in the oven and deflate rapidly when serving. Pass the syrup, and sausage for an easy supper.

[pilgrim30]

Come on, we've all had them. The question now is, what was your worst cooking disaster?

Hello Tyler!

IF THIS APPEARS TWICE, FORGIVE ME!! I REPLIED USING "QUOTE USER" BUT IT HAS YET TO APPEAR HERE ON THIS THREAD. I'VE GIVEN IT ABOUT HALF AN HOUR TO SHOW AND IT HASN'T. PERHAPS IT WILL SHOW UP SOMEWHERE ELSE, 'YA THINK??

ANYWAY, HERE IT IS AGAIN USING "QUICK REPLY".

I hate to admit this, especially after I've bragged in other posts how my new hubby raves over my cooking . . . BUT:

It was our one-month anniversary. Now, mind you, back then (a little over two years ago) hubby did some cooking too and had generally always prepared breakfast for us both. But I wanted to get up early and prepare a special meal for him. I made the following recipe that I had found online. I had never made it before.

But, before I give the recipe and tell the tale, I need to give some background information first.

My new husband and his late wife had been smokers. I cannot tolerate cigarette smoke, and especially a house smelling like stale smoke. So during the time I had been in my husband’s home, I spent the majority of it cleaning . . . cleaning the dirty dishes in the cupboard, washing walls, washing linens, etc. BUT, I had not gotten around to cleaning the oven. Matter of fact, since I seldom use it and don’t think about it, it still hasn’t been cleaned (not due to laziness on my part either). I use a large toaster oven that holds just about anything I wish to bake.

I followed the recipe instructions – to the letter. No modifications.

It states to put the butter into the dish and melt it, coating the sides well with the butter. Then mix the ingredients and pour them into the buttered dish. I did.

About halfway through the cooking process, smoke started billowing from the oven!! The butter had boiled over and was burning on the oven bottom. The thick smoke filled the entire kitchen and dinning room, and was wafting out into the other rooms as well. It was good that this was a summer month as I turned on the fan, opened the doors and windows and tried to get the smoke cleared out before my new hubby came to breakfast.

Dear Hubby did come in to breakfast. Naturally, he wanted to know what was burning.

I’ve not tried the recipe since, even though it was tasty and he said he would eat it again. If I ever do make it again, I’ll use half the butter. Or a larger dish.

The recipe:

APPLE PANNEKOEKEN

1 stick butter
1 1/2 c. flour
2 apples, peeled & sliced thin
Cinnamon & sugar mixture
1 1/2 c. milk
6 eggs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in 9 x 13 inch pan, tilting to cover the sides. Mix flour, milk and eggs together and pour into the pan. Arrange apple slices on the bottom and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mix. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Pannekoeken will puff up in the oven and deflate rapidly when serving. Pass the syrup, and sausage for an easy supper.

[NOCHEF&JUSTLOVESFOOD.YUM]

When I was 12 , I was elected to do the "second" turkey for Thanksgiving. ( We always had 20-30 people farm family LOL) Well, it came out nicely, even the bag of innards inside were ALMOST cooked.....

[Liketobake]

LOL nochefjustlovesfood.yum that was quite funny.
:D

[PigsnieLite]

Innurds are delicious especially when you feed them to the cat.

[abanynini]

I've had my fair share of kitchen disasters. Once I walked through a screen door while trying to get a shattering baking dish out of the oven. That wasn't the worse though, I think that the worst involves my Deep Fryer (http://www.katom.com). My dog slammed into the table when she was still a pup...resulting in a quart or so of boiling oil landed on the floor. This was more scary that dangerous. No one was hurt.

[sweet and Japanese]

During my younger years, when I was still finding my way around the kitchen, my friend and I were making pancakes and custard for both our families. All was going good and well, and the pancakes were nice, fluffy, and perfect. When it came time to make the custard, however, we realized we didn't have cornstarch in the house. Somehow we had the bright idea of using potato starch instead. I don't know about you, but if you've ever made custard with potato starch as the thickener...the texture isn't very appealing to the stomach. Hardly any of us ate breakfast...

[HattoriHanzo]

NO YOUR NOT !!!

[awesomeapril]

I've had the same problems with not having a hood in my kitchen. It makes it hard to get a good sear on anything...and keep the house smoke free.

My worst was the intention of my first recipe which my sisters and I. We were makign a concoction that looked like road kill in order to put into bags to put in the raod so we could watch cars drive over them and the bags go splat. I've come a long way:)

[Big Daddy's House]

Try opening a window in the kitchen and one in the next room across from the kitchen, if possible, and turn on a fan to help get rid of the excess smoke. I don't have a hood either.

This method also helps to keep the smoke alarm from screaming. It works for me! Also, partially cover the meat that you are searing. This helps to trap some of the smoke inside the pot and the grease splatters less.

[CreekCorner]

I left my DQ ice cream birthday cake out and then went to go out with my friends and forgot I left it out. I'll leave the rest up for your imagination.

[Big Daddy's House]

I would hate to mention it, but the end results must have been a disaster!!

[samue1eb]

Before I could cook I made shrimp jerky for a friend and it wasn't meant to be jerky.

[Village Idiot]

Nothing too bad here. About a month ago I was impatient and trying to blend hot peppers to make hot sauce. The plastic cap got sucked through and into the blender. Ended up with a mess and a batch of peppers that had to be thrown out because of the extra plastic flavoring I added.

I did leave a beer can chicken in the oven for an extra hour and a half one night when me and friends were hanging out and drinking. Fortunately low and slow and the can of beer in the chicken's ass kept it moist and nothing burned or dried out.

[HattoriHanzo]

my worst cooking disaster was when i haven't noticed that put a lot of soy sauce in the beef steak that im cooking.. thanks god that my mom was there to rescue what m cooking.. ;p

Well said....I think ? :confused:

[Big Daddy's House]

I don't like those spamming links in that member's sig.

[Big Daddy's House]

I just banned that member for all those spamming links in his or her sig.

[rlogan]

I'm not sure if it was my worst, but there is one that comes to mind.

I often have small to medium sized gatherings at home where I cook a great dinner and dessert, and everyone drinks waaay too much. I had one of these 2 New Years ago.

There were about 6 or 7 guests over, and we were very drunk. Very very drunk. Around 1am we realized that we had never had dessert. I had made a great creme brulee of some sort (don't recall exactly right now - probably white chocolate banana). In any case, I didn't have a blowtorch to carmalize the sugar, so I was just going to use the broiler. I'd done it dozens of times before, no problem. Something was different this time though.. This was my first year in my new house, which had a great gas oven, as opposed to the junky electric one from my old apartment. I put the creme brulee in, turn the broiler on, and wait a couple minutes. I go to look and see how they're coming, and they're on fire. Actually on fire - flames coming up and everything. I'm still very drunk at this point, and my head tells me "Just close the oven and pretend nothing happened", so I did. After a minute one of my guests said "Uh... you sure you don't want to like... do something about that?". I opened up the oven, blew them out, and took them out of the oven. All but 1 were actually looking pretty good, surprisingly. I let them sit for a minute and grabbed a spoon - not great, but not nearly as terrible as you would think considering it had been on fire a second ago. Everyone was still pretty drunk too, so by morning, even the really burnt one was gone.

[Village Idiot]

I almost had a new one...I knocked my Shun chef knife off the counter while trying to put it away...I was wearing flip flops...

I did a flying split and screamed "Ohmygodmytoesmytoes!!!!". Forunately they were all still firmly attached to my feet when I landed then looked down.

[Whoopie Pie]

I almost had a new one...I knocked my Shun chef knife off the counter while trying to put it away...I was wearing flip flops...

I did a flying split and screamed "Ohmygodmytoesmytoes!!!!". Forunately they were all still firmly attached to my feet when I landed then looked down.

I did something similar with my chef's knife (Whustoff). It stuck right in the wood floor, now I have a small hole in the floor, nobody knows it is there but me, LOL luckily the pattern of the parquet hides it pretty well!

[neha999]

Come on, we've all had them. The question now is, what was your worst cooking disaster?

For me, and I actually forget if this was me or my mom, and I'm starting to think it was my mom, but she was cooking KD I believe, and for some reason there was an issue with the cheese packet (I think I had opened it before and took it out to pour over popcorn, lol!) and she said she found another one. I shrugged and continued on with whatever it was I was doing.

She finishes making the macaroni and cheese - so far so good. However, when we went to taste it, it tasted very odd. Sweet in fact. Very, very sweet.

What had happened was she had ended up using a packet of juice crystals for a grape juice drink by accident.

*Shudders*
I too believe that cooking is an art, but I think a simple dish can be made delicious if we put our heart and soul in it.
A dish with a fancy name or look does not tastes nice unless it is cooked slowly and heartily.
An expert cook can also be a failure sometimes I believe.
Whenever I have tried to cook something when I am not in a mood to do so, it has no doubt turned out to be a disaster.

[PappaLazarou]

That's a good question. About one year ago when my girlfriend come at my home. I make a cup of tea for her but I'm so stupid that by mistake i add salt in the place of sugar and offer it to her. She taste it and smiled at me and told me about the taste of tea. But this event take us very close. B'cos after this i was standing like an innocent guy. She stand up and hug me and she kiss my forehead wow.........
Now she is my wife.

I hope your not an English teacher ?

[Amora]

Armanjackson, that is such a sweet story!
I tend to erase certain things from my memory, but I can remember droping a cake on the floor, and worse yet, once I was turning a flan onto a plate, and the whole thing splashed all over the kitchen, talk about sticky situation :)

[Rebbiecook]

I am pretty good at cooking disasters. My worst one however was when i was in catering college and I was moving my newly boiled veg off a stove and managed to set myself on fire.. i never went back!

[topchef]

when my grill flaked out on me during service on steak night, I still had 30 covers to day and the waiters had the unfortunate job of telling the customers, :o:o

[crazyjack]

once i baked a cake.
that was such a terrible one that i cant even explain.

[CreekCorner]

I've had some Thanksgiving Disasters that I don't want to relive .... pls don't make me.

[Big Daddy's House]

Tell us. We'd like to hear it. Hah!!

[saltworks]

saurkraut, leftover refried beans, old frozen hamburger bun, and hot sauce = BAD IDEA

[Big Daddy's House]

Saurkraut. Yuck!!!!!

[saltworks]

i like saurkraut actually, in hot dogs, not in mush

[Big Daddy's House]

Can't stand the stuff!!

[saltworks]

everyones gotta have something. i had a bad experience as a kid in boarding school with bad coleslaw, which we were forced to eat. now i cant stand it

[awesomeapril]

everyones gotta have something. i had a bad experience as a kid in boarding school with bad coleslaw, which we were forced to eat. now i cant stand it

haha I have the same issue with mayo!...I'm in slow recovery.

[LuvsToCook]

saurkraut, leftover refried beans, old frozen hamburger bun, and hot sauce = BAD IDEA

I have to agree! VERY BAD idea :eek:

[CreekCorner]

I always worry about Thanksgiving. It's not my cooking but my relatives that scare me.

[tonytiger87]

My worst was recent. I set the kitchen on fire because i was multitasking LOL. It was just a small fire though thank god and nothing was really burned except my pan. Lesson learned: when frying something never attempt to multitask, just concentrate on the job at hand!

[Big Daddy's House]

Thank God that it wasn't a tragedy!!

[saltworks]

My worst was recent. I set the kitchen on fire because i was multitasking LOL. It was just a small fire though thank god and nothing was really burned except my pan. Lesson learned: when frying something never attempt to multitask, just concentrate on the job at hand!

i've definitely burnt a few pans by forgetting about heating up oil, which stinks!

[saltworks]

I have to agree! VERY BAD idea :eek:

yes, thanks for agreeing with me. i still cant believe i did that

[saltworks]

haha I have the same issue with mayo!...I'm in slow recovery.

i have a college friend that was attacked by birds as a child and was pooped on. still to this day, she cant eat or look at anything creamy....

[Matt Kay]

When I was 17 I worked at Steak Escape in the food court of my local mall. One day at around 11 o'clock (I still remember what time it was and you'll know why if you keep reading) I was blanching the potatoes I just finished cutting for the french fries. I had about 100 pounds of potatoes to toss into the fryer over the course of many batches.

Of course I was wearing latex gloves to comply with health regulations which were slick with potato juice and oil. I was just about to dump another batch into the fryer when I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and there was this beautiful girl on the other side of the counter. She was asking me for the time.

With typical 17 year old "ladies man coolness" I shifted my weight onto my left hand to look debonair as I was leaning on the fryer. But, because the glove was so slick my hand slid and went straight into the fryer.

I pulled my hand out as quickly as it went it in. My glove was melting. The fingers were drooping and were about 6 inches long before I managed to pull it off. Through some miracle I was not burned seriously. It wasn't any worse than a burn from a hot shower. Fortunately when you blanch the heat is much lower than when you're ready to put the crispy finish on french fries.

I'm not sure if the girl was laughing or horrified but either way she was walking away. I've become much better around women since then.

[saltworks]

When I was 17 I worked at Steak Escape in the food court of my local mall. One day at around 11 o'clock (I still remember what time it was and you'll know why if you keep reading) I was blanching the potatoes I just finished cutting for the french fries. I had about 100 pounds of potatoes to toss into the fryer over the course of many batches.

Of course I was wearing latex gloves to comply with health regulations which were slick with potato juice and oil. I was just about to dump another batch into the fryer when I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and there was this beautiful girl on the other side of the counter. She was asking me for the time.

With typical 17 year old "ladies man coolness" I shifted my weight onto my left hand to look debonair as I was leaning on the fryer. But, because the glove was so slick my hand slid and went straight into the fryer.

I pulled my hand out as quickly as it went it in. My glove was melting. The fingers were drooping and were about 6 inches long before I managed to pull it off. Through some miracle I was not burned seriously. It wasn't any worse than a burn from a hot shower. Fortunately when you blanch the heat is much lower than when you're ready to put the crispy finish on french fries.

I'm not sure if the girl was laughing or horrified but either way she was walking away. I've become much better around women since then.

awesome story! we've all had our moments. thanks for sharing

[daviddwilson]

This is related to someone I know.

They were cooking lasagne and also watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on the television at the same time. At the moment where they were removing the lasagne from the oven, the guy on the program gave such a ridiculous answer to an easy question, and therefore lost the money, which caused them to shout in a rage at the TV and drop the thing all over the kitchen floor.
You are making cooking sound to much like a science. While I agree there is a science element to cooking, I also believe it should be an art. Adding "some" instead of a measured amount assures that the dish will taste slightly different each time it is prepared. (At least that is how I like to see it!)


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[False Sig Removed]

[abi_csi]

i tried to make lasagne. insted of using a tomato sauce with the meat i used the cream sauce for the pasta sheets. i wasnt aware i did anything wrong untill i dished it up and everyone laughed. we went for a pizza that night

[Kaneer]

I'm new to the whole cooking scene so I don't have a lot of cooking disasters to brag about. but as soon as I do I will be sure to update you all