So I decided to do a free-form poll today. The question of the week is:
What is your worst cooking disaster?
We all have had them...those days when you have Thanksgiving guests coming over and you forgot to defrost the turkey, or turn off the sauce, or one of a thousand other major or minor disasters that happen as we cook in our homes (or restaurants for those of you in the profession). I, and my readers, want to hear about them in a pitiful effort to salve our own wounds. And frankly, a lot of these stories can be pretty hilarious in retrospect, and who doesn't need a little humor on a Monday?
So tell me all about it my friends, and next Monday I'll have a special prize for my favorite!
(warning: I will be attempting to sniff out fake stories with my Sherlock-like analytical skills, so don't try pulling a fast one on me!)
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5 comments:
I'm sure I could come up with many other disasters, but this is the first one that came to mind. It's not an actual disaster, but I was certain it would be:
It was Thanksgiving 1999 or 2000, Chris and I were hosting a few friends, including a couple of co-workers of mine from Australia. For some reason, this really intimidated me, as I really wanted to impress them with Thanksgiving dinner.
As I was working on preparations, I nicked my thumb with a knife, and cleaned it, and put on a bandaid and went about my cooking. Since I didn't make the turkey, I was most responsible for the pies, including my favorite, a cranberry and blueberry pie. So I'm stirring the filling, which is blueberries and cranberries, sugar, and orange zest, in a pan over the stove when I notice that my bandaid is no longer on my finger. All I can think of is that it must have fallen into the filling. I stir around, and don't see anything suspiciously bandage-esqu, but I can't help but worry that I wouldn't recognize it amongst the juice-covered berries sitting in the lovely thickened red sauce. I decide to finish the pie and try to figure out what to do later.
So I'm torn through all of dinner as to what I should say when I serve the pie. Do I say that there's a possibility that there's an old bandaid in the filling, even though I don't think it's really there? I can't imagine anyone eating the pie after being told that. Do I just not say anything at all and risk someone coming across the bandaid? Do I just not serve my pie at all? My favorite pie that always wins me rave reviews? I'm totally paralyzed with indecision.
In the end, I served the pie, and the Australians, being that this is their first US Thanksgiving meal, opt to eat the pumpkin pie anyway, as it's more traditional than a Scandinavian berry pie. And then shortly after serving the pie, I went into the bathroom and notice that the bandaid had fallen next to the sink last time I'd been in there and washed my hands. So no real catastrophe, but in my head, it was a total disaster in so many ways.
I accidentally turned off the oven instead of the timer and served a pan of enchiladas that were cold to my parents (or was it Ann's parents?). I was shuffling a bunch of things around and didn't notice. They were too polite to say anything and just sat there eating cold enchiladas.
I think it was your parents, Chris. And I was so freakin' hungry, I ate them without realizing they weren't cooked.
The question of disastrous cooking failures came up at the work party last night and my boss had one of the best stories I've ever heard.
When him and his wife first started dating, his now-wife only knew how to make two things - nachos and [something else]. She wanted to cook him dinner and asked him what he want. Not wanting to request anything too complicated and embarrass her, he asked for mac and cheese.
She goes into the kitchen without him; time passes. When he goes in to see how she's doing, he sees that she has put dry macaroni on a tinfoil-lined broiler pan, grated cheese over the top, and put the whole mess under the broiler. He laughs. She throws him out of the kitchen.
Hmmm....so far we've got band aid vs. uncooked stories....I'd say Ann's story is better told, but no actual disaster occurred - currently style vs. substance is the battle.
But I'm not deciding until Monday, so the jury's still out! :-)
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