I have lost my mind!

ElizabethB

ElizabethB

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I learned to cook country, Cajun food hanging on to my mother's apron strings and my father's back pocket. I am the eldest of 7 children, so the learning process started early. One of the first things I learned to cook was long grain white rice. Put the rice in a pot. Smooth the top. Stick your index finger into the rice. Use your thumb to mark the depth of the rice on your finger. Gently rest your finger on the rice with your thumb in place. Add enough water to reach your thumb. Add a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil without stirring the rice. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and simmer until water is absorbed. Perfection every time.
Tonight, I lost my mind and followed the package directions instead of my parent's tried and true method. I have a pot of sticky, clumped rice. Gross. Shoot me please.
I really can not believe that I did something so stupid.
Have any of you ever lost your mind? Have you gone against your tried-and-true methods and ended up with a bad experience?
I need a drink.
 
ElizabethB said:
I learned to cook country, Cajun food hanging on to my mother's apron strings and my father's back pocket. I am the eldest of 7 children, so the learning process started early. One of the first things I learned to cook was long grain white rice. Put the rice in a pot. Smooth the top. Stick your index finger into the rice. Use your thumb to mark the depth of the rice on your finger. Gently rest your finger on the rice with your thumb in place. Add enough water to reach your thumb. Add a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil without stirring the rice. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and simmer until water is absorbed. Perfection every time.
Tonight, I lost my mind and followed the package directions instead of my parent's tried and true method. I have a pot of sticky, clumped rice. Gross. Shoot me please.
I really can not believe that I did something so stupid.
Have any of you ever lost your mind? Have you gone against your tried-and-true methods and ended up with a bad experience?
I need a drink.
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I really can only make one comment...........

 
Not that often - but I did go silly yesterday. I thought I'd make crispy fried chicken (a spicy version). Instead of using wheat flour to coat I used brown rice flour. And I didn't use an egg first, as I somehow thought the flour would stick OK to the spicy marinade.

Why did I use rice flour? At the back of my lost mind, I recalled a chef mentioning how rice flour goes extra crispy. What I'd forgotten was that it was in a batter not a flour coating.

Suffice it to say the chicken was a half burnt on the outside with a mottled rice flour coating and raw in the middle.
 
ElizabethB unlike you, I had to teach myself how to cook, any and everything.
But I too lost my mind, once and only once, the same way you did.
I have my T&T way of cooking white rice, and it comes out beautifully each time.
Once I thought I'd follow the directions on the side of the bag of rice, NOPE!!!
 
Cooking rice is something I consider to be trivially simple. I've cooked rice literally thousands of times. I just measure things. For long grain I put 2 cups of water or stock or whatever to to 1 cup of rice. For short grain I use 1 1/2 to 1. I bring to a boil and then tone it down to a simmer and cover the pot. I don't like to mess with the rice while it is cooking so I use pots with glass lids so I can watch it. I know when it is done just by looking at it. It is ready when the surface of the rice is covered with dimples where pockets of liquid used to be and there is no movement. You can taste test it. Long grain usually takes about 20 minutes and short grain about 15 minutes. But it is still done when it is visually done. I don't actually time it.

My mother had a favorite pot for cooking rice. She would put liquid in the pot and then pour rice until the pile just reached the surface of the water. It worked well for her. It never worked for me perhaps because I don't have a favorite rice pot. I bought a rice cooker long ago and used it a couple of times. It produced properly cooked rice. It is in storage now since it is more complicated and fussy to use than just putting rice and liquid in a pot and firing it up.
 
Yorky
I received a rice cooker when I married my first husband in '72. I did use it because it was THE small appliance to have. Not for long. It was not great when cooking for two. It was either donated or sold at a garage sale.
blades said:
Cooking rice is something I consider to be trivially simple. I've cooked rice literally thousands of times.
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blades
So do I and so have I.
George was shocked. He never learned to cook rice without a rice cooker. He has always been amazed at how well my rice turned out cooked T&T. I fixed us each a cocktail and we had a good laugh.
I am happy to see that I am not alone in the occasional lapse of good sense and T&T knowledge.
 
ElizabethB said:
Yorky
I received a rice cooker when I married my first husband in '72. I did use it because it was THE small appliance to have. Not for long. It was not great when cooking for two. It was either donated or sold at a garage sale.
Click to expand...

They've obviously become more efficient since '72. The results from mine are consistently good whether it is cooking rice for one or six (or possibly more).
 
Stupid thing I do from time to time despite knowing better: putting in too much salt and ruining a dish.

I'm normally fairly good and will salt and taste along the way, or, through experience know roughly the amount that isn't too much and I can just top it up at the end if it isn't quite there.

Then, there will be times when I lose my mind and think 'I'm Gordon Fr*gging Ramsey!!' and grab a big handful like a chef in those videos and liberally dump it in the pot, only to ruin a couple of hours of work and quite a few dollars of ingredients. Then out come the food delivery menus and the realisation that 'I am not Gordon Fr*gging Ramsey!!'.
 
vernplum said:
Stupid thing I do from time to time despite knowing better: putting in too much salt and ruining a dish.
Click to expand...
With the salt, I’m guilty of using chicken stock/broth base, which is salty, telling myself at the start of cooking, “Don’t add the salt this calls for in the recipe,” and then adding the salt and it’s way too salty.
 
vernplum said:
Stupid thing I do from time to time despite knowing better: putting in too much salt and ruining a dish.

I'm normally fairly good and will salt and taste along the way, or, through experience know roughly the amount that isn't too much and I can just top it up at the end if it isn't quite there.

Then, there will be times when I lose my mind and think 'I'm Gordon Fr*gging Ramsey!!' and grab a big handful like a chef in those videos and liberally dump it in the pot, only to ruin a couple of hours of work and quite a few dollars of ingredients. Then out come the food delivery menus and the realisation that 'I am not Gordon Fr*gging Ramsey!!'.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah - I've done just that. The only thing I know to rescue it (depending on the dish) is to add some raw potatoes and simmer until they are done and have absorbed some of the salt.
 
badjak said:
I do go wrong with adding chili's.
Also with making sambal.
You just look at them and figure something like: it's only 1 little chili. How hot can that be.... Surely it will be better if I use 2, or 3 :wink:
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Or a dozen?

1697240844946.png
 
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