Cooking Failures

[davidn]

I don't visit the LJ homepage very often, only finding myself there when I've accidentally logged out. But somehow I was on it the other week, and saw - below the birthday reminders that I always forget about - a community that was completely made for me in the Spotlight section. Cooking Failures is a place to share adventures in the kitchen that have gone horribly wrong.

It's not the site's most active community, but as I have particular expertise in this field I've been contributing with a couple of posts, the latest of which was a story from a year in student halls that I don't think I've mentioned here before. If anyone else has similar tales of disaster, do come in and join the revelry in our own (or other people's) incompetence.

Comments

[kytheraen.livejournal.com]

My favourite had to be the dude who, upon reading the instructions on a packet of pasta n sauce, emptied all the ingredients into the hall's kettle and taped the button down so it continuously boiled for ten minutes.

Also a yah girl I used to do OTC with, who was most definitely one of these living out of daddy's wallet types, I met in Tesco one day filling her basket with sandwiches and cold chicken and crisps and... just things that you could eat straight out the packet. Upon questioning her strange shopping collection, it was discovered she doesn't cook. At all. Not even toast.

"So, do you not cook pasta or anything? That's really easy to do."
"But... don't you, like, have to, like, boil the water and stuff?"

Poor dear was missing her housekeepers.

[davidn]

I was never taught to cook, but I can at least say that I can cook pasta without destroying it! Although the amount you need to put in versus the amount that comes out is always strangely deceptive...

It seems there are many ways you can abuse a kettle that I hadn't yet thought of... did everyone just have slightly cheese and tomato flavoured coffee for the rest of that week? D:

[kytheraen.livejournal.com]

Me thinks they binned the kettle ;)

And I have to say I'm pretty adept at pasta measurements. Three and a bit handfuls of penne seems to do the trick for two people. Rice, now I have no idea how much rice is the right amount.

[kibet.livejournal.com]

For rice it tends to be how much you like. Going by your 3 and a bit handfuls for pasta, I would say a 3/4 cup would be plenty, little bit less would be if going as an accompianment, a little bit more of being part of main dish. If you use a cup to measure it then it is easier to gauge how much more or less to add next time.

[kibet.livejournal.com]

I am considering joining. I could probably add a post about when I made purest grey.

[kytheraen.livejournal.com]

Depends on how big your cups are ;) I've got measurement cups these days though so it's not so much of a hassle :)

[kibet.livejournal.com]

A british 3/4 cup is about 150-175g of rice i'd estimate, which is plenty for 2 people.