Have you ever messed up a recipe that you cook on regular basis?

My worst problem is failing to watch the cooking. If I am using the stove or oven, I am prone to letting it go too long.

I love the microwave, because it stops all on its own when the food is done.

I love poached eggs and have experimented with various cooking methods including microwave, egg cups partially submerged in boiling water, steam, and lately (on a tip from a coffee shop waitress), just dunking them straight into simmering water. The latter method seems to work best, but about every other time they come out too runny or too firm. Obviously, the water has to be just the right temperature and the cooking time just so. Also, the size of the eggs figures in, too. Apparently, I’m not very good at juggling those variables. ;-)

No matter how often I make them, the first pancake is always terrible. I know this is mostly due to not knowing my stove-top well enough to get the pan at just the right temperature, but it always bothers me that it happens every single time.

I also made one batch of macaroni where I accidentally added way too much milk to the roux. The butter and flour was just floating in a milky sea. It took ages to reduce the sauce, but all that milk watered down all the other flavours.

One other instance that comes to mind is when I threw chicken in the slow-cooker and completely underseasoned it: salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic—everything needed to be tripled. The chicken was so bland and disappointing. I made a sauce the next day to try and save it.

Sure, sometimes my perfect brownie recipe simply doesn’t taste the same as always. I have never understood this. Same recipe, same pan, same temperature… but sometimes, it’s just… a little off. What’s up with that?

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room I dunk them straight in, but I swirl the water gently beforehand, then while it’s cooking. It keeps the whites from becoming a big mess – the swirl makes them stick closer to the yolk and makes for a more cohesive poached egg. Have you tried this? It might help.

@muppetish I’ve heard so many people say this about pancakes, yet my first is always the best – I think because there’s more butter in the pan. After that, I’m always burning the odd one. :(

There was the time I thought I’d grabbed the soy sauce and instead had A1 Steak Sauce. A1 really doesn’t cut it for stir-fried noodle dishes.

Never. My specialties are are always, well..special. haha

I’ve seldom made scrambled eggs/omelets the same way twice. They are always delicious, but there is no standard. I’m finally getting close to what is really scrambled eggs, the way I like them. I think this is a variation of making something you do well, badly.

My grandma messed up a brownie recipe a long time ago. Turned out to be a fantastic recipe for a ice cream topping. It is known in the family as “sticky stuff”. It is awesome. My sister and mom know the recipe. I will ask for it and post it if they are willing to share.

I just called my mom for the recipe. It actually wasn’t brownies gone wild. It was fudge. Like a molten fudge that doesn’t really set. She is digging up the recipe and I will post it when she finds it.

Sometimes my mother would cook without her glasses. One time she was making Veal Paprika. Except it wasn’t paprika; it was cayenne. She cooked the dish for my uncle who had an ulcer. It wasn’t a good scene, and it was the very last time she cooked without her glasses.

I had food delivered tonight and ordered a fried calamari. I made hunts tomato sauce to dip the calamari in and I put too much sugar in the sauce and cooked it too high. I make this sauce all the time, I don’t know why I screwed it up.

@snowberry

You made me LOL. :-)

@Valerie111 Do you listen to NPR? There was a ‘fake calamari’ show on there this summer that literally had me sitting outside a store for 10 minutes, waiting to hear the finish. Hilariously disgusting.

I have 2 recipes that scare the hell out of me. Chicken & noodles and carrot cake. Both are renowned, and neither has ever failed. Every time I make them, I think “THIS is gonna be the FAILURE.”

Be pleased, flip86…you FINALLY got your failure behind you!

:-)