Cooking Disasters

Z-Cook

Z-Cook

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Recipe Challenge Judge
Joined
24 Oct 2025
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Location
UK & N.AZ
Do we all have them?
My latest.
Genoise at altitude!
A cake for an occasion.
My Genoise sponge cake - three tries so far. Never had issues before but hey. First was my own fault - thought I'd try a swiss meringue tweak. Rubber. Number 2 rose perfectly. Then sank in the middle. . Never had that before! Even looked at Julia Child. Number 3 was AI's fault. Or mine for following really bad advice. Told me to use a 2" high pan. No higher. Batter overflowed everywhere. I had a go at it for bad advice too. They're programmed to pretend to be sorry. 🤔
I rescued the sunken cake. It'll be my recipe challenge entry. The texture was ok. Onto number 4 for later in the week. Not doing Victoria sponge or box mix cake. 😅
 
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Absolutely. If you don't make mistakes, it's because you've never tried anything. (Albert Einstein).
I'm not a good baker. Last week I had to make a lemon vanilla cake (simple, from a packet) and a chocolate cake (also from a packet).
Followed the instructions to a T, and put them both in the oven at the same time.
The lemon vanilla came out looking like a nuclear mushroom. The chocolate cake sunk in the middle. :hyper: :laugh:
 
No real disasters recently....
I'll put up my thinking cap for the latest and report back.
My standard is making something, knowing I got all ingredients (but not double checking), then finding I miss something essential.
Which I then proceed to find after I made another plan. And since I live by myself, I can't blame anyone else ;)
 
Not mine, this one, but a cautionary tale.
One of our best friends came over for lunch on Sunday, and brought 3 kgs of fresh mussels.
One of the guests was a trained chef, who learned his trade in Barcelona.
The lady who "steamed" the mussels asked "how long should I cook them for?"
"6-8 minutes maximum"
She cooked the base for 6-8 minutes, then added the mussels for 6-8 minutes, then added the wine for 6-8 minutes, then reheated them for 6-8 minutes to serve.
I can assure you that overcooked mussels turn into tasteless string. No-one said a word, however, because we're all too polite:happy:
 
karadekoolaid said:
Not mine, this one, but a cautionary tale.
One of our best friends came over for lunch on Sunday, and brought 3 kgs of fresh mussels.
One of the guests was a trained chef, who learned his trade in Barcelona.
The lady who "steamed" the mussels asked "how long should I cook them for?"
"6-8 minutes maximum"
She cooked the base for 6-8 minutes, then added the mussels for 6-8 minutes, then added the wine for 6-8 minutes, then reheated them for 6-8 minutes to serve.
I can assure you that overcooked mussels turn into tasteless string. No-one said a word, however, because we're all too polite:happy:
Click to expand...

I knew someone who thought it cruel to throw live mussels into a hot pan. So, he added them to cooled sauce/stock and very slowly heated them up. Same sort of result as the above (or possibly worse).
 
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Well, at least the rollers are clean...
1000073047.jpg
 
Morning Glory said:
I got rid of my pasta machine. Too much faffing about. And due to no kitchen table, the only way to attach it to a surface was to open a cupboard in the kitchen. Most awkward!
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This one attached to the KA stand mixer. I had an island made with cabinets in the bottom for all the bread dough and sausage making stuff.
 
Barriehie said:
This one attached to the KA stand mixer. I had an island made with cabinets in the bottom for all the bread dough and sausage making stuff.
Click to expand...
The thing about the US is that generally space is more available. Here, the people with larger kitchens tend to be the better off with larger houses. My kitchen has no room for islands. It barely has room for me!

Talking of disasters, my Easter meal was one such. I cooked this lamb tagine two days before. I kept tweaking it and adding to it. In the end it tasted muddled and muddy. Completely overworked. We had Nando's delivered.
 
Morning Glory said:
The thing about the US is that generally space is more available. Here, the people with larger kitchens tend to be the better off with larger houses. My kitchen has no room for islands. It barely has room for me!

Talking of disasters, my Easter meal was one such. I cooked this lamb tagine two days before. I kept tweaking it and adding to it. In the end it tasted muddled and muddy. Completely overworked. We had Nando's delivered.
Click to expand...
I recall you had concerns with what to make. Sorry it didn't work out were you able to salvage any of it?
 
Barriehie said:
I recall you had concerns with what to make. Sorry it didn't work out were you able to salvage any of it?
Click to expand...

In fact it would have been better than Nando's. I'd never had Nando's before.

I left the tagine out for the foxes. It was a crisis of confidence really.
 
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Morning Glory said:
Talking of disasters, my Easter meal was one such. I cooked this lamb tagine two days before. I kept tweaking it and adding to it. In the end it tasted muddled and muddy. Completely overworked. We had Nando's delivered.
Click to expand...
Sometimes ends up like that 😅
The neighbourhood dogs get small unexpected banquets from time to time if the dish is salvageable!
 
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