Just read the thread about cooking the skin off the ham and the second post reminded me of a disaster I once had. Maybe more of you will share your disaster stories for some light relief from cooking I was making my favourite Fricasee of Chicken . had it cooked sitting in my favourite large white orcoroc (sp) casserole and I put it on top of the stove ready to serve. Got called away and while out of the kitchen heard this almighty explosion! I had forgotten I had an element going. there were chicken pieces all around the kitchen, along with the carrots and onions and the cheesy sauce. well it managed to hit the ceiling and every wall in the place! Luckily my flatmates and I saw the funny side of it as we cleaned . I think we ended up having fish and chips. I still miss that casserole dish and that was about 45 years go. I do still make the dish occasionally as we do love it.
lythande1,
Dec 13, 3:44am
I decided to cook up some apple for husband. He likes the stuff. Forgot about it and burned not only the apple but the pot. Took ages to clean.
Making the bread the other day. tipped too much flour in, got lazy and scooped some out with a spoon instead of re-measuring. I got pretty good foccacia! Pity it was supposed to be a normal loaf.
Years ago - went camping. Husband took a jar of his homemade beetroot. All good, bit left, so he sealed it back up, put it in the boot and we drove home. Come in the door, puts his jar down on the stainless steel bench. Boom. beetroot juice and bits of beetroot all over ceiling, walls etc. Guess it got a bit hot and fermenty on the way back.
fifie,
Dec 13, 3:55am
Ha ha sky dancing can just imagine the flying bird everywhere. My mess was when I got a new big cake tin with the bottom that lifts out. Made up this large choc cake brew, took it out of the oven thinking it was cooked top was good just quite didn’t get it to the cake rack on the bench and the bottom fell out of the tin. Raw mixture ran everywhere all in the partly open pot draws and all over the floor and my feet. Just shifted into the house I must have had oven on wrong setting lol what a mess.
skydancing,
Dec 13, 4:05am
lol great disasters - so good to be able to laugh after the event.
pauline999,
Dec 13, 5:18am
Put some eggs on to boil for lunch. Decided I would vacuum the bedrooms while I waited. mmmmmm- someone's cooking toast I thought, then there were these bangs coming from the kitchen. MY EGGS ! burnt shell and egg over the ceiling and stove top. I use a timer now, and carry it with me if I leave the kitchen.
samanya,
Dec 13, 5:41am
I've had a few. latest one was a cake (strawberry & rhubarb) made it many times, so why oh why did I try a new recipe when baking a birthday cake? Made it in advance & popped it in the freezer, I did think it felt a bit heavy & guess what, I defrosted it the day before the special birthday (my mother's) & 20 people coming for lunch, sliced it through thinking I'd fill it gateau style & it was just stodge/goo/crappy. So had to make another using my original recipe, when I was so time short. . thankfully it was OK. Eggs cooked in the microwave . pricked but still went *boom* & mess. Those are just a couple in the last couple of months . there are many more, but just can't think of them atm. Happens to us all.
socram,
Dec 13, 6:01am
Not as bad as some.
When courting my now wife, back in 1985, I made a batch of scones - something I'd done many, many times before - for her and her daughter. I forgot to add the baking powder. Needless to say, a total failure.
Probably the only real cooking failure over the last 32 years, but will they let me forget it? No way.
The real disaster though was when I was reliever in an officer's mess and Christmas eve, the guy who lived next to the mess, asked if I would cook his Christmas ham, as it was too large for his domestic oven.
I had no idea how much it weighed or how long to cook it for. Obviously, nowhere long enough, as I found out when back on duty Boxing Day, when he said it was just about raw. Probably ruined his Christmas lunch for a large family gathering.
misash,
Dec 13, 9:02am
I had a disaster tonight. I made meatloaf and served it then went away because I wasn't hungry at all. I came back and it was barely touched and there were sad and worried faces. I think there was something wrong with the mince that I bought at Countdown. It was prime mince on special and I froze it a couple of weeks ago. It tasted weird and I seasoned it (I thought that I might have over seasoned it) but it tasted so bland. Plus the texture was very, very strange. If you hear about a West Auckland family coming down with botulism, that's us.
hound31,
Dec 13, 11:46am
From Dunedin, so not sure if Countdown down here get their meat from the same supplier as yours. I won't buy mince from there any more. Went to make a simple mince stew a few weeks ago. I always brown the meat off, add water and leave in fridge overnight to skim fat off then add veg and seasoning and cook (this was Prime Mince). Now I expect a layer of fat the next day, but what I got was about 5cm of awful looking yellow fat, just about made me hurl, chucked it out. Funnily enough, when telling a friend about it, she said she'd had a similar experience, wierd texture and everything. I buy my meat from New World now,
jan2242,
Dec 14, 12:41am
I think the worst ones, not me but my mother, was putting a bowl of left over potatoes from the night before, in the oven to heat up for dinner. The bowl was plastic and was caked everywhere. The other I recall was the element on the stove exploding sending the pot of stewing rhubarb over the ceiling and walls. It blew the bottom out of the pot.
westward1,
Dec 14, 1:53am
Had hubbies parents (first meeting) coming for drinks and finger food. Went to a lot of trouble, making nibbles, etc. Fifteen minutes before they arrived I raced upstairs for a quick shower, and dress. Introductions, and pleasantries were shared. I directed them into the lounge while my lad got drinks. He called me out, so I said please relax and help yourself to the nibbles. When we came back, only 2 or 3 minutes later, there they sat with po faces. As we put the glasses of wine onto the coffee table, every plate was empty, it was not possible that all that food could have gone in 3 minutes. was it? "Ummmm, gosh you must have been hungry" is all I could think to say. Future F-I-L said, "But we haven't had anything" Then an almighty fart resonated from under the coffee table. My dog, has scoffed the lot.
fey,
Dec 14, 2:37am
Years ago mum was planning a roast for dinner and had taken it out of the fridge to bring to room temperature on the bench. Went away, did some stuff then realised it was getting late and rushed back and switched the oven on. Forgot she had a roll of dog food in the oven (where the cat couldn't get it) and ended up roasting that, plastic and all.
Friend of mum's catering for group at an AGM of a local club. Had put some sort of chicken corn soup thing in one of those old crockpots. Turns out the crockpot was not working properly. I will never forget the smell of it when she brought it out and opened it intending for people to help themselves. The smell was the worst thing I have ever smelled. Shortly after everyone left, most having not eaten cause the smell covered everything.
samanya,
Dec 14, 6:01am
not my disaster but Mum had her fruit soaking for the Christmas cake in a lidded bucket . she asked my brother to give the chooks their vege scraps & he took the wrong bucket & they got the lovely boozy mix! Worst thing was the chooks turned their noses up at it!
autumnwinds,
Dec 14, 6:48am
I've fortunately had very few, over the years, and only minor. . except for the one that had about 220 witnesses!
As the chair of the social committee for a sports club, I organised (and cooked most of) the "supper" for the start of an international event (NZers and the other country).
The canapes, salads, platters of meat, and all the trimmings went just fine.
So the social club members and I cleared the table and plates and placed all the desserts - pavlovas, fruit salad, chocolate exclairs (all the staples of the 70's. ) and a new set of plates out.
PLUS my beautifully made and decorated genuine USA pumpkin pies - something a little different, easy to slice, and liked by males in particular.
Yes, well. some very strange faces, and most of the pies left in the flan dishes.
Those pies, that looked so darn beautiful. ! Drat - I'd forgotten very vital ingredient. The sugar!
YUK!
skydancing,
Dec 14, 7:23am
LOL great stories. loved them all
gshj,
Dec 14, 8:35pm
These are great! I had just gone flatting and was making a packet gravy, and had the brilliant idea of putting in my new tupperware shaker thing. Of course the top blew off as I shook it and gravy went everywhere - including on the sparkly textured ceiling. Not sure if I ever did get it all off!
kiwitrish,
Dec 14, 8:39pm
When I first got married my dh said he loved jelly and custard. I made the jelly in a lovely mould and it turned out beautiful. I then made the custard and poured it over the jelly. No one told me the custard should not be hot. We ended up with pink custard.
skydancing,
Nov 21, 9:48am
lol love the pink jelly. W hen my brother got married I was only about 14 and they had invited me around for dinner one night. I got there early and my sister in law was cooking mince. she asked me what she was supposed to with it and of course I had no idea! She dished it up as it was lol. We still laugh about that meal 57 years on.
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