Cooking... by the seat of my Pants! » kitchen disasters

Service Please!

Jerry — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:03:18 +0000

I have worked on-and-off in the restaurant industry for years. In that time I’ve come to understand that a certain level of service is expected both in the kitchen and in the front of the house. Granted, the level of service I expect depends entirely on the establishment in which you happen … [visit site to read more]

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Post tags: Fail, kitchen disasters, Restaurant Reviews, travesties

The dinner that wasn’t, a comedy of errors.

Jerry — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:06:47 +0000

Some things just aren’t meant to be. Apparently one of those things was the birthday dinner I’d been planning for my wife for an entire week. It was nothing over the top fancy, just a simple dinner of seared scallops over wilted romaine with garlicky butter and olive oil fettuccini. All-in-all, a dinner that should have taken less than 20 minutes to make from start to finish if everything had gone right.

Of course, it didn’t go right. It didn’t go right at all.

First, for some reason … [visit site to read more]

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Post tags: kitchen disasters

Candied Cranberries – A total disaster

Jerry — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:47:44 +0000

OK, the morning started out with a plan. I was going to start out making candied cranberries as a topping for a tartlet I’ll be making tomorrow. This was to be the “pop” of color and flavor on top. Well, they popped, all right! I dropped my perfectly and carefully prepared cranberries into my oh-so-gently simmering simple syrup, as per the directions and each and every one of them split wide open within five seconds.

The end result? See for yourself…

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Post tags: kitchen disasters, OOps!, recipes gone wrong

Why Giada, Why?

Jerry — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:34:19 +0000

This was initially slated to be one of 12 cookie recipes for the Holidays. Instead it has become December’s first Kitchen Disaster. I should have known from the recipe that these cookies would never work as promised from the recipe at Food Network. I would have been right to follow my instincts. Why I decided to pick a recipe from Giada DeLaurentis is beyond me. I should have known that an Italian cook wasn’t going to have great success with a native American fruit like blueberries.

Instead of the beautiful blue flecked cookies shown there, we ended up with these mutant sons of the monster from the Blob. Not only were they unappetizing to look at, but these cookies wouldn’t have been all that great even if I had followed my first instincts and used the berries while still frozen. (Which would have made them prettier.)

So Giada, you let me down. I’ll remember that the next time I see a recipe on your show that makes me go “Ooooooh!”

I’ve included the recipe just in case a more talented cookie maker can find a way to repair this mess. As always, my thoughts are right near the end. Ciao.

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Post tags: kitchen disasters, Recipes