Friday Flops

Anyone out there who writes and tests their own recipes, would be lying to you if they said everything was always hunky dory in the kitchen. The fact is, sometimes we have a wonderful idea that doesn't pan out, perhaps we're overambitious, or just simply negligent while we're cooking. It happens to the best of us and it's important to understand WHERE and WHY we messed up. 

Let's take a look at 3 recipes I was sure were going to work, but simply did not.

Street Corn Risotto

The idea? Flawless. The execution? Disastrous lol. I've toasted corn many times and I was wholly aware that corn often leaves a brownish residue in your pan / skillet. Knowing this, I toasted my corn for my creamy street corn topping and instead of wiping out the skillet, proceeded to immediately start what was supposed to be a dreamy, white risotto, in that skillet.

It wasn't long before I realized that my corn residue was turning my risotto sh!t brown. This became especially evident after I deglazed with my white wine. I looked down and saw brown liquid bubbling away in my skillet. What was supposed to be a gorgeous, crystal clear risotto now looked like I had cooked it in beef broth.

After I realized that there was no salvaging the appearance, I continued anyways. I think the worst part is that it tasted amazing. That creamy street corn salad on top of that rich and delicious risotto was absolute perfection. I just couldn't stop seeing that poopy brown risotto that ruined the vibe for me. I'll definitely retest this idea. 

With that being said, if you're doing double duty in your skillet, make sure that you wipe it out, or at the very least, toast your corn in a separate skillet for goodness sake.

Cheesy Guacamole Double Smash Burgs

Go big or go home, that's what they say. Sometimes however, perhaps minimizing things a touch is the better option. In theory, these were going to be perfect, but I underestimated the weight and richness of this many layers.

Two smash patties, two pieces of melty Monterey jack, and two slatherings of guacamole. When I tried to pick it up, it was collapsing under the weight of all of the toppings. The burgers were missing crunch and the brioche couldn't handle the amount of toppings. They were so messy. 

With that being said, they were freaking delicious. Admittedly, they were super rich and I was missing something to cut that richness and some crunch to cut through the layers of richness. I'll try these again, but next time, I'll keep them as singles. 

Fried Pierogies over Whipped Cottage Cheese

You know, this one stung because negligence is to blame for why this wonderful idea bombed. My whipped cottage cheese was absolutely fabulous; citrusy, smooth, and so inviting. The pierogies that I've made millions of times are where things went abhorrently downhill.

How is it that I burnt the onions, and then somehow burnt the pierogies too? Like, was I coherent? I have no explaination for the abomination that occurred, but what I can say is that I was truly disappointed in myself. Once I saw those pierogies burning to the skillet, I knew this one was going downhill.

Kitchen fails are an unfortunate part of the creative process. Whether it's an issue with the idea as a whole, the preparation, or the execution, it never feels great to mess something up. What we CAN do however, is learn from our errors. That's what got me to this point today. I've messed up plenty of times along the way and it's important to understand what went wrong so that we can rectify and retest.

​Do you guys have any kitchen fails that really bummed you out, but perhaps you learned a little something from?

HAPPY VEG