I've made it 100 times

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Ever make something you can reproduce in your sleep.
And it goes wrong?

I went to make bread last week.
Yeast admittedly.
Completely overproved and very flat. I toasted it in the end, but it still wasn't good enough to actually enjoy eating.

I was a bit shocked by this, as I can turn out at worst a mediocre loaf no problem.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I was saying the very same thing to myself last night. There's a lovely stall in the local markets selling Italian foods.

http://www.eatdrinkideas.co.uk/

One of their gems is Tomino da Padella, a cheese wrapped in ham, that is griddled for a couple of minutes each side to crisp the ham and start to melt the cheese. In this house it's served with new potatoes and veg. I have just harvested some late-planted 'Annabelle' potatoes and was cooking those. I was slightly worried (wrongly) that the spuds hadn't cooked properly and took my eye off the ball, overcooking the Tomini and allowing the cheese to escape. Done it correctly so many times before, cussed myself for my incompetence last night. It still tasted fine of course, but wasn't quite the gently oozing effect I wanted.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Whoops.
Nice to hear it came good in the end, Badgers.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I gave a course on chutneys, pickles and marmalades about a month ago. It´s the Nth time I´ve done it, and I always start with strawberry jam, because it´s delicious, easy and impossible to screw up.
So much talking and explaining and answering questions, that I burnt it. Yep. I turned the pan upside down, and it was all stuck to the bottom

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I burnt some broad beans at the weekend. There were just a couple of servings, late sown again in an attempt to avoid blackfly. Put the pan on the stove, went into the living room and got chatting to Mrs B. Forgot the beans. They were black-eyed by the time I remembered. Had to clean the saucepan with boiling water and soda.


Mind you, I burnt a salad once.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

OK I'll ask.
Howdya burn a salad?

Clive, I should think the potential to burn chutneys and sugar jams is perhaps higher than a lot of things.
Especially with people watching.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

It was a chick pea salad, I burnt the chick peas like I burnt the broad beans. It wouldn't happen now (at least with chick peas if not broad beans ), I'd do them in the Instant Pot

[Joanbunting Profile]

Last time I made yorkshire puds i came massively unstuck and to this day I don't know why.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Ah, I see, Badgers.

Joan, I got a tip on the old board, can't remember who.
To put a bit of vinegar in the batter of the yorkshire puds. They came out flatter than they went in.

My old oven also let the heat out through the gap in the door. Never did seal properly.
So yorkshires weren't on my list of things to make.
It warmed the house a treat though!
My new oven is a raging furnace - so efficient. I'm looking forward to making a Christmas roast, that has accurate timings.

[dennispc Profile]

Sounds like ... the time I was kneading dough - something wrong - I'd forgotten the yeast! Doh!

[patpoyntz Profile]

A few years ago my Christmas cake looked very strange when it came out of the oven, then I found the flour still on the scales!. It was basically a fruity boozy frittata I suppose...but we didn’t eat it.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

The one that bugs me is pastry
Been making it for years, I weigh accurately, I use the same oven, the same dishes / tins / moulds and of course the same oven

Usually excellent

Then every so often EITHER a soggy bottom OR an edge that breaks away in chunks

[Pampy Profile]

Pastry is affected by the ambient temperature I think.

[Suffs Profile]

Years ago I made a three layer sponge gateau for my children's PTA annual cake sale ... I delivered it, bought some scones hung around and chatted a bit, went home and suddenly had an awful thought and went through the bin ......... only two greasproof paper circles!!! ... I could only pray that missing one was on the bottom layer ......... but I never found out

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I use a breadmaker quite a bit, probably made best part of 2000 loaves in ours. The bread is generally very good, occasionally it goes wrong. This is never the machine's fault. Usually it's the yeast a bit old or the temperatures a bit off. Once I forgot to put the paddle in.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Re-reading my post above using the same oven twice may be where I am going wrong

[Wic Profile]

I had a whole week like that last week. Everything I touched fell apart! The bread was a brick, the icing for the cake went wrong, I forgot to get mushrooms, etc etc etc. I decided against getting a complex about it, just hoped I’d make it through in one piece.

So far, so good ...

[Pampy Profile]

Once I forgot to put the paddle in.

I've done exactly the same thing!

[jeral Profile]

Reading the thread title, "I've made it 100 times", my immediate reaction was "and it's never come out the same twice". (I'm an inveterate tweaker.)

I'm sure mood affects perception, i.e. things taste great if in a good mood yet mediocre if not, even though technically the same.

Of course, if things go wrong, it's entirely the fault of whichever inanimate object first springs to mind as it couldn't possibly be due to anything I've done

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Nah, Jeral- I think you´re tweaking up the wrong tastebud.
Things you make every day; a fried egg, an omelette, chips, roast potatoes.... they don´t go wrong because of your mood. They go wrong for other reasons. And who knows what those reasons, or circumstances, are?
If I´m not in a cooking mood, heck, I don´t cook!