There are cooking disasters and then there are kitchen disasters. My cooking disasters happen a few times a year when I make a bad pot of rice that's either mushy (too much water) or dry and hard (too little water or I forgot to put the lid on and it was tooooo late).
My kitchen disasters are far and few between, except for the times that my friends mistakenly unscrewed the blender bottom and a whole batch of margaritas and banh xeo sizzling rice crepe batter went on the floor. Those were two separate occasions. Oh, then the times when I left the deep freezer door slightly ajar for 1 week or so. Oops. There's a "PLEASE CLOSE" sign on the door now.
This week, I had a doozy of a disaster. I was working on a recipe for a little mung bean dumpling that needed to get deep fried. A number of recipes said to blend it with a minimum of water to grind it up. I did that and the batter was lovely. Or so it seemed. Then I dropped a spoonful of it into hot oil to fry.Things were going well enough --lots of gentle sizzling noises and I had a 5 minute timer on. I stepped away from the stove to jot down some notes and suddenly, there was a loud noise and oil all over the kitchen.
The dumpling had exploded and hopped out of the pan onto the floor. There was oil on the exhaust, cupboard, counter, and floor. I had just cleaned the stove the night before. After waiting for things and me to cool off, I cleaned everything up. My husband encouraged me to go for it again, seeing as how I'd become dejected quite suddenly. He actually didn't believe me, I think.
So I heated up more oil and dropped several spoonfuls of batter in. This time, he was in the kitchen with me. What happened? Another explosion. But I had a witness and also a helper to clean up the mess. Unfortunately, I was standing over the stove observing the frying process when the explosion happened a little oil got on my face. Ouch for a few hours.
I was totally thrown off my game. Slapped in the face by a 1-inch mung bean dumpling. It was an I Love Lucy kind of day. I didn't just make explosive food once, but twice. Indeed, I had my Lucille Ball moment and greasy dirty clothes to prove it.
What happened next? I went off to my office and sulked. Then I read more books, Googled around, and slept on it. The next morning the solution was simple: add water. Duh. If you're wondering, I'm still working on the recipe but there have been no other explosive moments.
Tomorrow is the 4th of July in America and we traditionally set off massive fireworks displays to celebrate. Mine won't be in the kitchen. At least for a while.
Care to share your kitchen disaster(s)?
Natalie Sztern says
I am married 31 years this june having met and married my man while in first year McGill, so we are relatively young and modern. While renovating my kitchen about 10 years ago i fell in love with a Jennair: rotisserie and all the gizmos one truly doesn't need including a self-clean button. Well, three years ago i was preparing my traditional passover meal for 25 and having finished all my cooking by 7pm I went straight to bed; leaving the table setting for early the next morning.
Hubby who has
Andrea Nguyen says
Natalie, that's a precious story. Well, 10 hunky firemen showing up at your home -- that's quite something! Now your hubby knows how the oven stove and oven works!
Robyn says
I've done the blender thing, with daquiries. When you're living where rum costs 50 bucks for a small bottle it's real painful to watch a mixed drink spread all over the counter and floor.
The other kitchen disaster - more like a recipe disaster, actually - is my mom's. The first time she made lemon meringue pie (my dad's favorite) she added lots of gelatin to the lemon curd and overcooked the meringue. The resulting pie had the texture of a beach ball (as she put it). She cut it into fourths and
Tuty says
My kitchen disaster happened this year while using a 14 year old pressure cooker! I was going to make oxtail soup for dinner. Those of you who have cooked oxtail will agree with me that it takes 3-4 hours to do it without pressure cooker.
The darn thing blew up because the red pressure stopper has served its time... and I had not replaced it when I should have (mea culpa). Luckily, no one was in front of the stove... It was like Old Faithful Geyser!!! The whole kitchen smelled like oxtail soup f
Elaine says
While still a novice cook in high school, I made some baked lemon squares and added baking powder instead of baking soda to the lemon mixture, or vice-versa. Anyway, when I opened the open door to check it looked like the Seething Blob. I took it out and it eventually cooled to the consistency of cement. (My then-teenage brother subsequently devoured it -- the garbage disposal tendencies of a hungry, sweet-loving teen should never be underestimated!)
Otherwise it's mainly just been reheating som
Elaine says
While still a novice cook in high school, I made some baked lemon squares and added baking powder instead of baking soda to the lemon mixture, or vice-versa. Anyway, when I opened the open door to check it looked like the Seething Blob. I took it out and it eventually cooled to the consistency of cement. (My then-teenage brother subsequently devoured it -- the garbage disposal tendencies of a hungry, sweet-loving teen should never be underestimated!)
Otherwise it's mainly just been reheating som
Nate says
Ouch! I can imagine what a shock it is to see an exploding dumpling and then having hot oil splashed in your face. So sorry that you got hurt.
We hate to deep fry because it makes the house smell oily and we have to wipe down everything afterward. I guess we do it anyway because we figure it's too much work to get the deep fat fryer out of the garage and fill it up just for a small fry job.
Our neighbors have a big wok and propane tank setup in their patio for deep frying. Have you tried usi
White On Rice Couple says
I had that happen to me once when making bánh rán (or bánh cam). The mochi-like ball kept exploding and my filling would lay on the counter or fizzle away in the oil. I later realized that I made the shell too thin and had to make it a little thicker. The same thing happened to my family when we deep fried our stuffed squid. Now we just poke holes in it with a toothpick to release the juices and air. The joys of deep frying, but the results area always so good!
My worst kitchen disaster memor
paul kwan says
>Hi, Andrea;
>Yes, the Asian Culinary Forum is approaching. I have a question for you, would you mind send me an e-mail directly, thanks.
paul
Tram says
I love your story - I think sometimes Vietnamese food takes a lot of patience but oh so well worth it in the end! I made bun mang for my hubby the first time this year - bought the dried kind in the market and didn't realize I would have had to soak it for a few hours before using! I ended up boiling the heck out of it...2 hours later, still hard as twine....another 2 hours, eh, still not right. FINALLY, 6 hours into it, face red with the fervent boiling and feet hurting from pacing impatient
Andrea Nguyen says
Omigod! I just made dried bamboo shoot the other day and you gotta cook it to death. In fact, you can't OVERCOOK the stuff. Thanks for sharing, Tram!
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These kind of kitchen disaster are very common in my own kitchen, so I a good online course.
Computer Rentals says
My bad moment was whan I was trying to teach my little sister how to make Churros (it's a dip fried dessert) and in my recipe I usually use hot water in the mixture to make them soft and easy to fill up with caramel an cinamon...
But the mixture becomes cold before fry it.. so Churros were hard as plastic..