Disastrous Cooking (or why I need a dog)
I am one of those people who might be termed an “adventurous” cook. I love experimenting with recipes, trying new ingredients, and I really do like a variety of dishes.
However, I am married to an engineer. Who happens to like his food cooked in a predictable, ordinary way. Whenever I try a new recipe, I get a raised eyebrow.
Tonight I decided to try a recipe for Jack Daniels Chicken. This sounded like a great idea. After all, TGIFridays makes good chicken. Why not? The problem was, there were about 100 different knock-off recipes and it’s been a while since I’ve eaten that type of chicken. So I ended up choosing the one with the fewest ingredients and decided to give it a shot.
My first clue that this was a disaster-in-the-making should have been the recipe direction where I was instructed to set the pan on fire. With a match. Oh, and watch out for the soaring flames. I, being a safety girl, decided to wait until my husband was at the hardware store before using a grill lighter to set the Jack Daniels on fire. In retrospect, the flames shot a little higher than I anticipated (read: I nearly incinerated the microwave). But it looked like fun, and what cook doesn’t want to try that trick at some point?
The recipe also called for 4 tsp. of tarragon. I had to dig around before I found the spice bottle and then when I dutifully measured out the ingredients, it occurred to me that my chicken dish was beginning to resemble grass clippings. Huh. 
Last, I was supposed to boil and reduce the sauce for 25 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, I had approximately one tablespoon of liquid left in my skillet. It resembled a sauteed lawn. Ick. So I went ahead and finished out the recipe, adding the heavy cream and hoping it would taste better than it looked. It didn’t.
My family picked at the dish, and we eventually threw it out and reheated the corned beef and cabbage from last night. Oh well. Worth a shot!
What’s the worst recipe you’ve ever tried?
Michelle posted in Writing @ 5:31 pm | Viewed 2521 times
Nicole Reising Says:
Oh my!
I’ve had a few that haven’t worked out alright but that is funny!
Cole
jeanne s. Says:
lol I must have blocked them all out. Of course my daughters would tell you different. Anything with mushrooms or stuffing from one daughter and turkey or chicken stew seems to be an absolutely resounding “no” from everyone (my one daughter fingerpainted with it once lol).
kacey Says:
there was this time that I was making this pasta dish for dinner…that’s it. Just a pasta dish. And I dumped the all the pasta down the drain as I was trying to strain off the water. My kids still talk about our “Pasta Down the Drain” dinner…
Kelly Says:
Too funny! I’m more of an “avoidance” cook. As in I avoid cooking whenever possible.
Bonnie Ferguson Says:
I used this extra spicy sauce for nachos once, and drank a whole pitcher of kool-aid to get through the meal!
beth Says:
First, my dogs are pickier eaters than we are — so if you have my luck, dogs wouldn’t help you out all that much.
I love to play in the kitchen - sadly the only time I really have time to do this is at holidays. One year Thanksgiving was a real downer. Plum-basted turkey sounds good, looks pretty in the pictures, but man is it gross.
Melissa Says:
LOL on almost incinerating the microwave! I don’t cook - I leave that up to my husband.
Melissa Mc Says:
What a great post! I’m an engineer like your hubby so I kind of run through the recipe before I cook to make sure it make sense. But somehow I totally ruined a Yorkshire pudding on Christmas Day. It wasn’t the recipe since it was from Joy of Cooking, but I totally screwed it up. Luckily I had a couple of cans of crescent rolls in the fridge as backup!
Carol M Says:
I’m not very adventurous when it comes to cooking or anything else! The most I’ve done is over cook some things and they turned out mushy. I’m glad your microwave is ok!
Missie Says:
When I was first married, I thought to surprise the Man with a homemade tuna casserole from one of those old-lady church cookbooks. Except I couldn’t figure out why it resembled soup instead of casserole…until my husband asked me where the noodles were. But in my defense, NOWHEREINTHERECIPE did it specify for me to put in noodles.