Apr 9th, 2008
Who gets the cookbooks?
I really enjoyed reading the entries for the cookbook contest! And I especially loved the recurring theme of “here’s an awful meal I made for someone I love…who ate it without complaint.” So sweet!
The winner (determined by writing names on pieces of paper and randomly choosing one) is Deb at Chappy’s Mom! Congratulations, Deb! And thanks to everyone who posted their stories!
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I feel I ought to share my own tale of culinary tragedy. Well, I’ve made many mediocre meals, but there are two true disasters that come to mind. The first was when I was in high school or so and was instructed to roast the (then-thawed) whole chicken my mom had pulled out of the freezer that morning. This was in my pre-vegetarian days, but even then I think I knew less about meat preparation than I do now. I seasoned the chicken, put it in the pan, and put it in the over…all without removing the bag of stuff (giblets? guts?) from the interior. (I didn’t even know it was in there, much less that it had to be removed.) Yeah, we did not end up eating chicken that evening…
The other disaster involves literally burning the teflon off a non-stick pan while trying to stir-fry something. I’ve actually done this twice. (And I’ve since learned that teflon does not like being covered with oil that is then heated to a very high temperature.)
Congrats, Deb!
Both of those sound quite unpleasant. I haven’t managed either - but I don’t cook that much. My worst cooking disaster was trying to make pizza for the first time right after going gluten-free. I was using only rice flour (combining flours works much better), plus I managed to kill the yeast. The crust was so thin and rubbery it couldn’t even be cut, so we pulled off the toppings and ate them. The leftover crust and sauce looked like flayed skin… EWWW.
P.S. So my then roommates (both boys) threw it out onto the lawn… I wonder what the neighbors thought?!
congrats deb, lol, my mom did that with the chicken as well!