Worst cooking experience

[4 luv of eggs]

We've all had them. Dinners that end up on the compost heap, things that explode or recipes that just don't turn out right.

I was hoping that you would like to share some of your less than perfect endeavours.

This is just one of mine...believe me there are many others. I was new to canning and had just visited the local pick-your-own farm and brought home 40 pounds of peaches. It had rained the night before but hubby and I schlogged our way around the orchard. We picked those that were ripe but still rock hard figuring we'd let them soften and put them up the following weekend. We lined them up on the dining room table when we got them home.

All was well until the following day. Some of the peaches didn't quite look right. Throughout the day, we noticed that some of the peaches were turning black and collapsing. They were bruising and oozing. I reluctantly pitched them wondering what was wrong. By the next morning, a work day, more had begun to morph and by the time we got home they were all in a state of rot. We tried to salvage what we could but each time hubby said "rotten" or "too hard" and tossed them in the trash, my heart fell. I stood there crying while I cut up the few that we could save. My dreams of jars and jars of put-up peaches ended up to be about 6 jars. I then found out that you should never pick peaches after it rains. Alway wait for a dry spell.

I would love the hear some of your stories.

Please share.

 

[SallyF]

As a teenager, I decided to bake a cake one day while the rest of the family was at work. I chose a caramel cake recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook, which involved making a caramel syrup from scratch as the basis and using it both in the cake recipe and in the frosting. Somehow I read the recipe wrong; never did figure out what I did, but when I went back later and read the recipe, I didn't do what it described. The cake not only didn't rise, it fell. My mom was a noted baker in the area, made wedding cakes and all that. I was so embarrassed I couldn't even talk about it and was afraid to feed it to the pigs for fear they wouldn't eat all of it and someone would wonder what it was. I finally took a shovel and went out and buried it in the woods behind the chicken coop. Never tried that recipe again.

 

[sourland]

Way back early in our marriage, my wife decided to cook some of the blowfish fillets that I had recently caught. I came home to a horrendous smell in the house. Turns out that she had cooked the once thawed, partially spoiled squid that I was using for bait and had refrozen. After the tears were done, we went out for a dinner that we could ill afford. Makes for one of the good stories to tell the grandchildren.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I attempted to make lime chicken enchiladas once...the recipe called for lime zest...I never had "zested" anything so I didn't know what I was doing...needless to say, I ended up with a lot of the white stuff from under the peel in the sauce and it was so bitter it was inedible! I did not ever try that recipe again and that was probably 2005!

 

[redhen]

My fisrt time i cooked a turkey..i left the bag of giblets inside of it..
Theres been many more since.. just cant think of them all right now..

 

[FarmerJamie]

I've had plenty of "that didn't turn out rights", but I think my cousin has the family "epic fail". She was about 12, making a cake at our Grandma's for a family party later. Didn't understand that "2 cups of coffee" meant brewed coffee liquid, not 2 cups of ground coffee beans. Thank goodness the local grocery store hadn't closed yet.

 

[sourland]

Redhen, my wife did that too. Guess I understand why I've been the cook since retiring.

 

[booker81]

It's not as much a story but a freak annoyance - I love to cook, and love being in the kitchen.

Except when I was pregnant.

Apparently I had the Midas touch of fire when I was preggo - EVERYTHING turned to flames. I had fire in the microwave. Fire in the oven. Fire on the stove. Even when I washed and scrubbed every trace of grease from the burner catch pan (electric) the thing would light on fire when I turned it on.

It got to the point we just disabled the smoke detectors in the kitchen (well, wailing on it with a broom counts as "disabling"), and when I'd start swearing and the smoke started rolling, hubby would sit in the easy chair and just ask, "Whatcha burning now?"

I went through a lot of baking soda in those nine months. I averaged flames every two weeks.

Once I had our child, I got a sweet deal on a used stove, never looked back

 

[bburn]

First one was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans and rolls.

Follow a recipe using Paprika in the flower. Seasoned the chicken rolled it in flower and set it to cooking. Cooked potatoes to mash. Everything almost done and started making the gravy using the flower that I rolled the chicken in. All the sudden things started rising to the top. Who knew paprika could get bugs???? (keep it in the freezer now) Did not tell my new husband or his friend who was eating dinner with us. Skimmed and skimmed until I had them all.

I did not eat any chicken or gravy.....just was not hungry after all that cooking......lol.

Then the next year I wanted to cook my grandmothers recipe for 24 Carrot Cake. I followed the recipe exactly.....I cooked it as long as the recipe said and checked it and it was not done. I checked it every 15 minutes after that and then my new mother in law came in and looked at it.....still not done. I could have cooked that cake for a week and it would never have gotten done. It called for a can of pineapple but it did not say to drain the juice off....how's a girl to know?

 

[Pelican49]

All I can say is "Tuna noodle casserole" without the tuna is really really bland. And they'll never let me live it down.