After a recent cooking disaster where they opted to not use a recipe and instead invent a new dish I had to think of some of the times when things I was making didn't turn out the way I wanted them to.
One of the first was a birthday cake I had made for Mom that turned out to be a disaster. There were many more instances of cooking failures. Like the time the flour paste was added to cold chicken broth to make gravy and when it didn't thicken more paste was made and added again and again. By the time the broth became hot enough to boil the paste suddenly decided to do it's job and there was nothing left except a big glob of disgusting dough instead of a nice gravy.
There was the awful Thanksgiving dinner I prepared for LV before we were married and then later I wanted to try out a new lemon pie recipe to serve on our date. It had a special meringue crust and the filling was looking delightfully silky. I was feeling pleased as I tasted the filling and it was delicious.
On Sunday evening when the usual time rolled around that we had a snack I went to the pantry and got the pie. I set it on the table and handed a knife to LV. When he cut it I was dismayed to find that it hadn't set at all. As a matter of fact it had become a lot thinner and now resembled a disgusting watery pudding. LV asked for a spoon and bravely helped himself to a bowl full and calmly ate it as if it was exactly the way it should have been.
Thankfully I have learned from my mistakes and cooking disasters hardly ever happen. And when ever the children serve something that didn't turn out right I have to smile as I eat it knowing that this is a part of the adventures of having young eager cooks in the kitchen. And I want to savor every moment of it!
Loved the story of the lemon pie. I think we become great cooks by trying and learning from those mistakes!!
ReplyDeleteI remember a certain batch of chocolate chip cookies I made when I was 10. We were out of eggs so I used hard boiled - it was interesting.
My youngest loves to cook and I totally let him because I think it is a great thing for kids to want to cook and to try new things.
Love the last picture and it looks yummy too!
I remember making those kinds of mistakes as young cook too. I think they're helpful, as long as you can persevere through them.
ReplyDeleteI remember a batch of cornbread where I used baking soda instead of baking powder and it was flat, hard and salty.
We still laugh about the time I substituted grits in cookies since we were out of oatmeal :)
Mine love to cook and create also, but how on earth do we get them to love to clean up afterwards????
ReplyDeleteSH! My guilty secret is that I still can't make a decent lemon meringue. Sometimes the filling is runny, sometimes the pastry case is soggy - even though I blind bake it first - and sometimes the meringue looks like snow - the snow in our farmyard when it turns slushy and mixes with the mud underneath!
ReplyDeleteI gave up on trying to make them a few years back and now persuade my daughter to do it when she visits. I taught her and hers are perfect every time, despite the poor efforts of her teacher.
I just wanted to say thanks for stopping by my new little blog and leaving a few words of encouragement. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through your blog!
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the tartan!
ReplyDeleteIs that cast iron cookware I see in the picture ? Still the best. I use it every day.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm forced to tell of my faux pas in the kitchen! My yeast bread attempts were fit only for constructing a foundation for a building. My first try at doughnuts resulted in having to dunk (SOAK!) each bite in coffee! Another kitchen disaster was when,as a young bride, I turned the oven on to preheat while I went downstairs to take the wash off the line. Returning to the kitchen, I discovered the plastic cake saver (with cake inside) was melted all over the oven! (I'd stored it there because we had such a tiny kitchen! ACK!!!
ReplyDeletePS, my granddaughter recently decided to cook an egg in the microwave. Suffice it to say, it blew up and created quite a mess!
ReplyDeleteLittle Rosie is looking just way too adorable in her dress, cooking breakfast!! Now I have to go give Cherie Bakow trouble for putting hard boiled eggs in chocolate chip cookies because my daughter did the same thing!!! I love cooking but I can mostly just follow directions - Scott, on the other hand, can tweak and adjust and make things come out just right. Love that lemon pie story - LV is such a sweetie for going right along with it.
ReplyDeleteI do wish my mother had allowed me to cook in her kitchen. My girls are much better cooks than I am because they were given specific chores early on. Even today a messy working area is something to clear quickly, not savor over and enjoy. I still miss that which I never knew. You and your children are blessed.
ReplyDeleteI'd be surprised if that timeline thing lasts. It's so terribly unpopular!
ReplyDeleteWhy would you not speak Dutch to Buddy? It will only help him in the long run. Der Appel fallt net weit vum Schtamm. :)
We've all had our failures! My eldest once had adreadful sore throat so I fixed her a cup of hot chocolate, and then decided to stir in a raw egg for extra nourishment. Oh, what a horrible gloopy mess! The Lord of the Manor once used corn meal instead of corn starch to thicken a pie. The kids made me a birthday cake and were in too much of a hurry to let it cool before they iced it, and then stuck the candles right on the very edge, so the entire thing slid sideways and then the candles fell over!
ReplyDeleteI once made a chocolate birthday cake that started to fall completely apart when I went to ice it. So I dumped it all in a bowl and served it with a spoon. The kids loved it.
ReplyDeleteThe recipe called for one whole egg.....my roommate added just that, one whole egg, shell and all....I had to teach her to boil water even!! But by the time she married she was a pretty good cook.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I made supper the first time for my hubby, when we were dating. I messed up horribly on the biscuits, which I usually could make without a thought. However, that day I don't know what I did... but I had biscuits overflowing from the pan and falling on the bottom of the stove. It was a mess!
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