When cooking from scratch goes awry

[1GoldenSun]

Sometimes I'll make something "from scratch" without following any kind of recipe, and something is just "off" about it. Then I think that maybe if I add a little of this or a little of that--say, some garlic or some pasta or a can of tomatoes or some grated cheese (depending on what it is) it might improve the dish. Hope springs eternal and I continue to add ingredients. And next thing you know I've got something just as meh but lots more of it.

If I serve it to my family it mostly ends up scraped off into the garbage. I don't want it to go to waste so I end up eating it all myself. Except I know that even if I eat it for lunch and dinner for an entire week (a dismal prospect) I won't get through it all before it spoils so I put in in a container in the freezer. Six months or so later I can't figure out what it is and give it the old heave-ho, which is probably what I should have done with it from the beginning.

I made a pot of soup yesterday. I've made it a hundred times--browned hamburger and a chopped onion, mixed vegetables, a can of diced tomatoes, beef broth, elbow macaroni, and some spices. Easy peasy and always tasty. Except this time. I put way too much macaroni in and it soaked up all the broth and made the "soup" too bland and the ratio of macaroni to meat and veg was way off. Today I tried browning more beef and onion and adding more vegetables and broth. But by now the macaroni is a little mushy and the flavor still isn't right.

After adding a lot of garlic powder and some balsamic vinegar, the flavor is finally palatable, but the macaroni is on a downward descent into mushiness and the kids are already turning up their noses. And I probably have about a gallon of soup.

Next time something is a failure in its first iteration, I'm going to remember this and just cut my losses.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I'm sorry but I'm laughing because I relate to this so much! Not on a personal level but I have a good friend who does this; each time she swears she won't do it again but it's some kind of compulsion to not let her hard work go to waste. Now me, I just dump the failed experiment in the trash and start over, and I chalk up my losses to the cost of perfecting my recipe Try looking at it that way next time?

 

[Christine]

It's time to learn that you are not a "natural" cook! Join our club! I gave up on trying to cook on the fly about 30 years ago.

Honestly, follow recipes and do it over and over again. Eventually you will get good at it and start to be able to better "feel" your way through scratch cooking.

But even people cooking from scratch have learned some basics that they build on. How to always make a good soup base, or a roux, or a cream sauce. Once you master those, you can start improvising with them.

 

[Pamlur]

You could use a slotted spoon and scoop out the "macaroni mush"; maybe cook some fresh to drop in if you were inclined.

 

[marthachick]

I was thinking maybe remove the macaroni if possible also.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Next time something is a failure in its first iteration, I'm going to remember this and just cut my losses.

Nope. Next time you 're going to forget all about this time, and last time, and the time before that, and the time...and do it alllll over again

 

[QueenIsabella]

Huh, I don't seem to have this problem. Maybe I'm good at diving what flavors go well together? Or more likely, my Italian instincts kick in, and I throw in some sauce and a fancy pasta to distract my gang, and they eat it. Many times, my family has commented on how I take some random leftovers and the odd can from the pantry, and turn it into gold. Believe me, if I knew the secret, I'd pass it on.

OTOH, I've had more than my share of Pinterest cooking fails. Nobody cares if it's not as pretty as the picture, but sometimes, the outcomes taste just awful. Naturally, the author and comments rave about how delicious it is, but...nope. Maybe it's my "cooking karma"? Not everything on Pinterest has been a fail, for sure, but I've had enough bad luck to keep me wary.

 

[LovesTimone]

Scratch cooking is one of those things... when it's good it's really good, and when it's bad it's terrible...

When I make anything with pasta or noodles it in, I will cook the whole box... separately, drain and rinse... I don't like the extra starch off of the pasta or noodles in most dishes.. I add to the consistence that I am looking for, and whatever is left over I make something like pasta salad with, or make soup, or another pasta dish something simple, like brown butter lemon sauce, with some spinach, mushroom, and use as a side dish, or add some leftover chicken to it stretch into another main course...

 

[amcnj]

With liquid dishes containing macaroni, such as soups, we keep the pasta separate and each individual adds as much as they want to their dish. Even if there are leftovers, the macaroni is kept separate.

But it is amazing how difficult it can be to try and recover the flavor you want when the mix is off. I also have difficulty throwing away food so have been the consumer of some so so dishes that no one else wanted any more of!

I wonder if taking one small portion out and trying to “fix” that would help. Although if you do get it right will you be able to duplicate it.

 

[MIGrandma]

With liquid dishes containing macaroni, such as soups, we keep the pasta separate and each individual adds as much as they want to their dish. Even if there are leftovers, the macaroni is kept separate.

But it is amazing how difficult it can be to try and recover the flavor you want when the mix is off. I also have difficulty throwing away food so have been the consumer of some so so dishes that no one else wanted any more of!

I wonder if taking one small portion out and trying to “fix” that would help. Although if you do get it right will you be able to duplicate it.

I was thinking the same thing, about keeping the pasta separate.

I love cooking and baking, but never do anything without following a recipe. I am too afraid of something not turning out right if I don’t go by a recipe and would feel guilty having to throw it away.

 

[Christine]

OTOH, I've had more than my share of Pinterest cooking fails. Nobody cares if it's not as pretty as the picture, but sometimes, the outcomes taste just awful. Naturally, the author and comments rave about how delicious it is, but...nope. Maybe it's my "cooking karma"? Not everything on Pinterest has been a fail, for sure, but I've had enough bad luck to keep me wary.

I have had more fails from Pinterest and random internet recipes than I care to mention. I've almost completely stopped using people's blogs and informal sites to find things. Either people have no idea what good food is or that haven't really tested out a recipe. I've been trying to stick to sites that have good reputations and seem to test out their recipes numerous times.

 

[Floridaman999]

I have had more fails from Pinterest and random internet recipes than I care to mention. I've almost completely stopped using people's blogs and informal sites to find things. Either people have no idea what good food is or that haven't really tested out a recipe. I've been trying to stick to sites that have good reputations and seem to test out their recipes numerous times.

I've had excellent luck with finding some recipes on Reddit. Once a recipe is put up, it is tried, changed and reviewed by professional and amateur cooks alike, and in the end the recipe is very good.

I've had the same problems with some of the online recipes I've tried, but my luck with stuff I find on a food based sub Reddit has been excellent.

 

[piccolopat]

Unless I am using barley or rice in my soup, I've been cooking the pasta (like orzo) separately and adding when we sit down to eat. I just put it in a strainer and pour boiling water over it to warm it up a bit. This helps to keep the pasta from turning into mush.

 

[1GoldenSun]

The thing is I've made this particular soup many times and it's always been good. Not this time, haha! I am usually pretty good at throwing things together without a recipe, and I absolutely hate following recipes (although I grudgingly do when baking), but I have the occasional fail.

I wish I could remove the macaroni, but the entire soup is chunky so it's not really possible. Luckily, I did finally get it to where the flavor is decent--I think the balsamic vinegar helped--and I can stand mushy macaroni. And my husband thought it was fine. Not my best offering, but edible. He ate two bowls for dinner last night, which isn't a useful metric since he's less picky than I am. There's just SO MUCH of it now! And my husband travels for work during the week, so it'll be up to me to eat it.

I like the idea of cooking the pasta separately before adding it to soups. What got me in trouble in the first place was I didn't want to be stuck with half a box of uncooked pasta so I convinced myself that there was enough soup for the entire box and dumped it all in. Half would have been more appropriate. I am lazy and would not like having to cook the pasta first, but cooked pasta never goes uneaten in my house, and I really think adding the pasta per serving of soup would work best, since the macaroni always seems to get mushy over time. This is why I don't like to make large batches of this particular soup.

And I know, I know, next time I mess something up I'll probably do the same thing again. I'm like a gambler in a casino trying to win my money back.

 

[Christine]

I've had excellent luck with finding some recipes on Reddit. Once a recipe is put up, it is tried, changed and reviewed by professional and amateur cooks alike, and in the end the recipe is very good.

I've had the same problems with some of the online recipes I've tried, but my luck with stuff I find on a food based sub Reddit has been excellent.

Thanks for that tip. I'll give it a try. I am not a Reddit user at all but I guess I should figure it out!

 

[CT Yankee]

This is why when I search for a recipe online, the first word in my Google search is usually the word "easy." As in, "Easy recipe for _____."

 

[_19disnA]

I have had more fails from Pinterest and random internet recipes than I care to mention. I've almost completely stopped using people's blogs and informal sites to find things. Either people have no idea what good food is or that haven't really tested out a recipe. I've been trying to stick to sites that have good reputations and seem to test out their recipes numerous times.

I agree. 'Foodnetwork' & 'America's test kitchen' along with several other sites based on TV cooking shows actually have test kitchens and only post proven recipes. That is where I start when wanting to make something new for the first time. Sites like 'Allrecipes' don't have a test kitchen and their site was made up by combining user posted recipes from several older sites. Unless you read the reviews, you can waste a LOT of time/money making defective recipes, so I have stopped using them along with personal blogs of people that happen to show up when doing a recipe search. Also good to compare the ratio of key ingredients from several similar recipes. Then you can notice if something is obviously 'off' before you actually make it. Non-professional cooks often post recipes that either assume certain things and/or leave out steps/ingredients thinking that will be obvious to others.

 

[Dancind]

Did this with beef and rice soup. Made it in the Instant Pot and the rice turned to mush. Luckily, DH liked it so it didn't all go to waste. I don't have a lot of fails but when I do, I go big.

 

[tasha99]

With liquid dishes containing macaroni, such as soups, we keep the pasta separate and each individual adds as much as they want to their dish. Even if there are leftovers, the macaroni is kept separate.

But it is amazing how difficult it can be to try and recover the flavor you want when the mix is off. I also have difficulty throwing away food so have been the consumer of some so so dishes that no one else wanted any more of!

I wonder if taking one small portion out and trying to “fix” that would help. Although if you do get it right will you be able to duplicate it.

I do this too. It's very important not to store leftover pasta etc in the soup water or it will just keep expanding into mush. Your yummy homemade soup leftovers will end up tasting like canned soup if the pasta isn't separate.

Did this with beef and rice soup. Made it in the Instant Pot and the rice turned to mush. Luckily, DH liked it so it didn't all go to waste. I don't have a lot of fails but when I do, I go big.

Haha--that cracked me up. Me too. I'm a good cook, but have had some spectacular fails. The worst was pad thai a few years ago. We sat down to eat it, and everyone just started laughing it was so ridiculously bad. We ended up going out to a thai restaurant that night, but my family still talks about that epic pad thai.

 

[North of Mouse]

OP, I can relate in not wanting to follow recipes. I learned cooking from my mom and she never measured anything - it was just some of this, that, pinches of this/that seasoning, etc, etc. My biggest thing is when something is a huge hit with my dh, and he says make it like this every time, then, it's like I don't remember 'exactly' how it was made LOL.

I love to cook/bake, and get ideas from different recipes, but not follow them at all. After many years you just know what spices/herbs 'make' a dish.