I once wanted to blend steaming hot strawberry jam in my Vitamix, but forgot the lid.
I started screaming, more out of surprise than because I had somehow hurt myself. My husband ran into the kitchen to find a scene worthy of Quentin Tarantino: he almost fainted, believing the red splatters on the walls were blood!
I learned the hard way that you should never peek at a home-made Christmas pudding to check it's ok in the run-up to Christmas. I did just that, took said pudding away for Christmas with friends, and of course when we took off the wrappings after steaming it on Christmas Day it was more mould than pudding: and steamed mould, at that!
I laughed out loud at the “I’m terrible at mindfulness, though I am excellent at ‘laziness’.” and when I saw “unknown” before the part about the melted utensils in the testing kitchen lol. PS When I was in high school, I invited some friends over for lunch while my parents were away. I put a pan with hot olive oil under running water, and it created a gigantic flame that nearly reached the ceiling. I panicked and threw it on the floor, and somehow it landed upside down, which put out the flame — phew. Don’t tell anyone because I don’t think my parents know yet, ahah.
This was joyous to read in my sunny greenhouse tea break. So here is mine. I have decided to start making bread again because as wonderful as my local artisan bakery is, I can’t afford my daily bread from there. Perhaps just weekends now. Anyway. I set out to make a Paul Hollywood crusty white loaf. All was well. It rose despite the yeast being a tad old etc etc. However I forgot to take it out of the probing basket before putting it in the oven. I was rather preoccupied with Eastenders to be fair but I also distinctly remember thinking how pretty it looked in the basket before I opened the oven door. I am surprised the thing didn’t catch fire! Anyway. Lesson learned - Must not watch Eastenders while baking.
This is fantastic! As a very very busy lady I'm forever making little mistakes, I've melted many a plastic spoon handle on the edge of a hot pan. I also once made egg custard tarts but I put them in the oven on it's grill setting rather than baking them.
Lumpy white sauce- disaster! Comes from being too impatient, wanting it done quickly… ( hint: to fix it, throw a couple of ice cubes or a spoonful of iced water, and whisk like hell until it’s smooth again- works!🙂). Happy cooking in these strange days, everyone.💕🥘.
I can relate to most of these disasters and add several more but perhaps one of my worst habits is not consulting the pantry before shopping for a recipe/event. Any ideas for 23 jars of capers and 16 cans of chickpeas?
Once I baked a new recipe in a glass dish. I took it out of oven and put on the electric stove to let it cool down a bit before slicing. It was smelling great and I was impatient to taste it. I left the kitchen and heard a big explosion. Apparently, I didn’t notice that the stove was on and it caused the glass to explode. There was pieces of glass everywhere in the kitchen. Now, I tell the story smiling but it was a huge near miss.
Some great kitchen goofs in this piece, and the comments.
As for me, I often misread tbsp and tsp in recipes, especially if I'm trying to multitask or rush. This has led to many misadventures over the years: dips that are far too spicy, sauces that are too salty with soy sauce, cake batters that have fizzed up out of the tin and gone all over the oven... It's a serious affliction.
Lots of good advice. My story is this. I had worked until midnight at Vanilla Black and had to start at 6am at another one of our restaurants. Our head chef had left me some instructions as to what needed doing. Prove the bread, boil some eggs and put the pastries in the oven. And to keep me sweet they had put the pastries on a silpat on a baking tray. Half asleep after a 16 hour shift the day before, I grabbed the tray and put it in the oven. Five minutes later I could smell burning plastic. Because I was in a daze I hadn’t realised that the tray was plastic, and it had melted in the oven. By the time I had turned it off and woken up, the plastic had re set around the oven racks. When the head chef arrived she thought it was hilarious. Until she saw the kitchen porter hacking the plastic from the racks with her £200 Japanese knife.
1. Always wear glasses to read recipe: Mum made a cake with 10 oz of rice flour - the recipe actually said 1 oz. It was incredibly gritty and became the base of a rather 'interesting' trifle.
2. Like an exam, read the full recipe first: achum was planning to impress his new girlfriend with a fancy recipe. He prepared and put together the dish in the afternoon and then found that the recipe told him to let it stand for 24 hours. Whoops!
3. If you're following a recipe that is on the bottom of a dish, make a note of the cooking instructions before you put the ingredients in the dish. (That was a university friend who produced a very underdone lasagne.)
4. This one was me: when using a colander, remember whether you want the stuff in the colander or the liquid that flows throough it - otherwise you might just be throwing away some decent stock.
All excellent examples. The 24 hour thing is exactly the type of instruction that you have to think about putting in the right place in a recipe. The current recipe form on here doesn’t really allow for it!
Loved this piece!
I once wanted to blend steaming hot strawberry jam in my Vitamix, but forgot the lid.
I started screaming, more out of surprise than because I had somehow hurt myself. My husband ran into the kitchen to find a scene worthy of Quentin Tarantino: he almost fainted, believing the red splatters on the walls were blood!
Your poor husband!
Great piece.
I learned the hard way that you should never peek at a home-made Christmas pudding to check it's ok in the run-up to Christmas. I did just that, took said pudding away for Christmas with friends, and of course when we took off the wrappings after steaming it on Christmas Day it was more mould than pudding: and steamed mould, at that!
Oh gosh!
It was a long time ago but NEVER AGAIN!!!
I laughed out loud at the “I’m terrible at mindfulness, though I am excellent at ‘laziness’.” and when I saw “unknown” before the part about the melted utensils in the testing kitchen lol. PS When I was in high school, I invited some friends over for lunch while my parents were away. I put a pan with hot olive oil under running water, and it created a gigantic flame that nearly reached the ceiling. I panicked and threw it on the floor, and somehow it landed upside down, which put out the flame — phew. Don’t tell anyone because I don’t think my parents know yet, ahah.
Totally agree with you (Lulu) about the pressure cooker. My most used piece of ‘specialist’ kitchen kit.
This was joyous to read in my sunny greenhouse tea break. So here is mine. I have decided to start making bread again because as wonderful as my local artisan bakery is, I can’t afford my daily bread from there. Perhaps just weekends now. Anyway. I set out to make a Paul Hollywood crusty white loaf. All was well. It rose despite the yeast being a tad old etc etc. However I forgot to take it out of the probing basket before putting it in the oven. I was rather preoccupied with Eastenders to be fair but I also distinctly remember thinking how pretty it looked in the basket before I opened the oven door. I am surprised the thing didn’t catch fire! Anyway. Lesson learned - Must not watch Eastenders while baking.
Have you got a nice toasted basket now...?
well… it took an hour to disk off the dough and then I ran it through the dishwasher and it’s like new! Just a bit darker 🤣🤣
This is fantastic! As a very very busy lady I'm forever making little mistakes, I've melted many a plastic spoon handle on the edge of a hot pan. I also once made egg custard tarts but I put them in the oven on it's grill setting rather than baking them.
Oh, the grill versus oven mistake, yes, done that too.
Lumpy white sauce- disaster! Comes from being too impatient, wanting it done quickly… ( hint: to fix it, throw a couple of ice cubes or a spoonful of iced water, and whisk like hell until it’s smooth again- works!🙂). Happy cooking in these strange days, everyone.💕🥘.
Excellent tip thanks. I've done that on more than one occasion.
I can relate to most of these disasters and add several more but perhaps one of my worst habits is not consulting the pantry before shopping for a recipe/event. Any ideas for 23 jars of capers and 16 cans of chickpeas?
Oh goodness! I could steadily make my way through the chickpeas in a couple of months but the capers are a bit trickier, though I do love them. Perhaps this will help? https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/capers-recipes
Ooh yes. Some great inspiration here.
Once I baked a new recipe in a glass dish. I took it out of oven and put on the electric stove to let it cool down a bit before slicing. It was smelling great and I was impatient to taste it. I left the kitchen and heard a big explosion. Apparently, I didn’t notice that the stove was on and it caused the glass to explode. There was pieces of glass everywhere in the kitchen. Now, I tell the story smiling but it was a huge near miss.
Oh my goodness, that does sound like a lucky escape.
Indeed. I smile now while talking about it but it was scary at that time.
Some great kitchen goofs in this piece, and the comments.
As for me, I often misread tbsp and tsp in recipes, especially if I'm trying to multitask or rush. This has led to many misadventures over the years: dips that are far too spicy, sauces that are too salty with soy sauce, cake batters that have fizzed up out of the tin and gone all over the oven... It's a serious affliction.
The tbsp and tsp thing is very easy to do, especially when working off a phone screen. My eyesight isn't what it used to be!
Lots of good advice. My story is this. I had worked until midnight at Vanilla Black and had to start at 6am at another one of our restaurants. Our head chef had left me some instructions as to what needed doing. Prove the bread, boil some eggs and put the pastries in the oven. And to keep me sweet they had put the pastries on a silpat on a baking tray. Half asleep after a 16 hour shift the day before, I grabbed the tray and put it in the oven. Five minutes later I could smell burning plastic. Because I was in a daze I hadn’t realised that the tray was plastic, and it had melted in the oven. By the time I had turned it off and woken up, the plastic had re set around the oven racks. When the head chef arrived she thought it was hilarious. Until she saw the kitchen porter hacking the plastic from the racks with her £200 Japanese knife.
That is indeed oops. What happened to the KP?!
I gave him a pay rise.
Don't use your hand as a chopping board #avocado hand.
Great piece – thank you!
That was/is such a thing. I’ve taken someone to A&E more than once.
I know – I once had a client – a professional violinist – who nearly lost finger!
1. Always wear glasses to read recipe: Mum made a cake with 10 oz of rice flour - the recipe actually said 1 oz. It was incredibly gritty and became the base of a rather 'interesting' trifle.
2. Like an exam, read the full recipe first: achum was planning to impress his new girlfriend with a fancy recipe. He prepared and put together the dish in the afternoon and then found that the recipe told him to let it stand for 24 hours. Whoops!
3. If you're following a recipe that is on the bottom of a dish, make a note of the cooking instructions before you put the ingredients in the dish. (That was a university friend who produced a very underdone lasagne.)
4. This one was me: when using a colander, remember whether you want the stuff in the colander or the liquid that flows throough it - otherwise you might just be throwing away some decent stock.
All excellent examples. The 24 hour thing is exactly the type of instruction that you have to think about putting in the right place in a recipe. The current recipe form on here doesn’t really allow for it!