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Top Fails Of The ChefSteps Forum Community

seijoed

For when things go wrong.....

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Cheryl_71360

Yea, I think I win this one. I was heading out on a trip and had my wok on the stove with a little oil in it. I wanted to get it put away before I left. My cat took off running out side and I went to chase her down and forgot about my wok. The second pic is when my sourdough became invaded by aliens. I just can't catch a break.

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

so my adult daughter, who according to her, has NEVER seen me make a mistake in the kitchen (God Bless That Child) was laughing so hard at this she almost suffered an episode of "incontinence".......yes I burned the Hawaiian bread rolls

Yes that is what they were before I started.

prince_of_porcelain

Started to post this in the what's for dinner thread, but thought better and moved it over here:

It's a Clusterduck!

One Duck. Two Dishes.

(and some pressure cooked duck stock in the freezer for a later date). I

bought the duck at the farmer's market because it was there, and it was

duck. Unfortunately, I didn't really consider what I was going to do

with it until about 6:00 last night when I realized I had a duck and no

dinner plan. (A somewhat preferable position to be in than no dinner plan and no duck, I suppose.) So basically it's duck and whatever I could find in the

garden, fridge or pantry on the spur of the moment.

One of these turned out semi-decent, and the other was pretty much inedible....

Dish

1, first night: Duck Breast (Sous Vide @ 57C, pre and post seared), Baby Ruby Red

Chard, Pickled Shallot, Mexican Tarragon, Volunteer Fennel Fronds. Sauce was

made on the fly with Ranier Cherries, Makers Mark, Grains of Paradise,

Angostura Bitters, and Champagne Vinegar.

Dish

2, next day: 21 hr. Duck Confit Didn't really have time to cure, so I salted

and vacuum packed (because in my head that seemed likely to speed up the

curing process?) for about 3 hours, then rinsed and dropped in the

circulator at 67C for another 18 hours. I didn't have time to chill, so I

pulled and seared off right away, then pulled the meat by hand and

piled on some garden greens. Topped with 13m/75C Egg, Cured Lemon Peel,

Pickled Shallot, Ricotta Salata, Basil Flowers, and more volunteer

Fennel Fronds.

I'm sorry.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Not all microwaves are the same.

I decided to try the CS microwave garlic confit. I was three rooms away and smelt burnt garlic. Twenty minutes at 20% gave me this and the smell of burnt garlic throughout the dog room. I was almost pure carbon.

David_G_64142

Spent a Sunday night making the Pomme Rosti recipe and when I took the Rosti out of the oven to cool, I cleaned up a bit. Completely forgot it was in the oven and put my bare hand on a searing hot pan handle. I was in tremendous pain. I was so pissed that I ate the whole f-ng buttery Rosti before going to the hospital.

InSearchOf_Heston_11061

Oh, and lets not forget the time we tried to make a raspberry souffle using the chefsteps recipe...

These sank in literally the exact same amount of time it took to get iOS 7.1 to open the camera app.

InSearchOf_Heston_11061

Would anyone like to see our first attempt at sous vide hollandaise?

We've had so many kitchen disasters in our time, from vegetable stock-flavoured truffles to cheese toastie "hash" http://www.insearchofheston.com/2013/11/the-gallery-of-regrettable-failures/

aaron.murphycrews

Thanks @Johoan. You are right about the flavors not surviving the SV process. I cooked the remaining rib 48hr @ 62- the texture was much improved (moist, with just enough chew), but the flavors still didn't work for me. Next time I'll go with the clean cook and season after, thanks for the tip!

christopher_12897

@Manfred

welp i bet if i put it on a menu that might determine its worth. might be a hard sell

Manfred_18311

@Randybobandy, Your squid ink brulee looks different from color but I would not consider a failure. How you determine a failure if quality in making and taste is intact?! Think more of vanguard.

christopher_12897

Goose Fail. Need a rondeau or something.

Squid Ink Creme Brulee. Probably fail worthy but It was good. Not gonna lie

seijoed

@AMC, I'd brine, clean sear, cook sous vide and re-apply spices.

I think this falls in the same category as the "best shortribs" thread.

Things aren't gonna work the same way, so think about more how to do it the other way.

Herbs / citrus, - that is gonna get weird or soapy (rosemary) as well as "pickling"

My fave example is a really, really hard trimmed brisket, seasoned and cold smoked, then

clean it off and cook it sous vide, torch it and re-season.

aaron.murphycrews

I just tried to do a SV version my favorite braised boneless short rib recipe: boneless short rib, dry rubbed with 5 spice for a few days, seared fiercely and then braised with toasted sesame oil, plum sauce, orange rind/juice and some others. I set one rib aside for SV and braised the rest for dinner. The braised ribs were amazing, one of the best things I've done with beef.

Fast forward three days, and the much anticipated SV version (76 hours total @ 54ºC) was a major failure. The bright flavors of citrus, ginger, garlic and anise were muted, the meat was dry like grandma's brisket (sorry gram), and the texture chewed more like a starchy potato than either a steak or a braise. Sort of a loss on all fronts.

My suspicion is perhaps the long cook time is responsible for loss of the citrus/ginger/garlic bite? Something about aromatic flavors breaking down more rapidly? Just guessing here. Anyone notice this pattern on long cooks?

As for texture, maybe it went too long? 76 hours instead of 72 seems pretty close, but it was only a single 1lb. boneless rib. Alternatively (or additionally), the acid in the braising liquid could have contributed to the breakdown of proteins. Texture was definitely the biggest problem.

I have one marinated rib left in the freezer, so I'll try again with the same preparation for 48hr @ 62ºC. Fingers crossed.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I did sous vide it, just made sure I was more on top of my time. I really liked the confit of the legs I did for some cassoulet

Pepijn_31744

Do you still sous vide it? Or have you gone back to traditional means of preparation?

Brendan_Lee_56950

Haha @pepijn i've learned that the hard way too.

Pepijn_31744

So yeah, holding rabbit in the sous vide bath longer than needed does not improve its texture. That is, unless you like rabbit porridge...

Mira_63004

I royally f'd up the CS pressure cooked banana recipe this week. I wish I had taken a shot of it, it was beyyyooond burnt after being not even a min under pressure. (I could smell it). I think it had to do with me substituting white sugar for brown, I think.

The other thing I can think of was a spherification test I did like 4 years ago. SO, keep in mind this was in 2010, before there was much mainstream info on the subject, so feel free to laugh, I know I still do every time I look at it... I was attempting a deconstructed shrimp curry..

http://www.mirauncut.com/shrimp-curry-molecular-gastronomy/

rsantayanajr

I'm pretty sure I screwed up somewhere: I ended up with six 5oz servings when recipe yield was three 5oz servings. I have plenty of theories. Who knows... 1/6 though...

Brendan_Lee_56950

Pink ooze belongs in mcnuggets and ninja turtle movies!

prince_of_porcelain

Despite good intentions, this was basically a disaster.
Chocolate Ganache w/ Maldon, Ruby Red Grapefruit-Grand Marnier Gelee, Strawberry

Angostura Sherbet, Roasted Hazelenut, Dark Chocolate Shavings.

This

was actually the second attempt to plate...the first was much worse, and

I served that one, though in my defense I'd had a wee bit to drink by that

time. This time the sherbet was actually set but the gelee broke. Pretty much

the opposite of the first attempt which I did have enough good sense not

to photograph as my ice cream churner failed to freeze the sherbet adequately and it melted into a pink ooze across the plates.

matthew.snyder77

Cod HM

'HM' stands for 'hot mess. I spent the better part of two days' worth of free time composing this dish in my head, and when it came time to execute I did literally nothing right. The cod fell apart in the vac bag, so I couldn't saute it to finish; the red wine sauce (which is conspicuous in its absence from the final plate) broke when I overheated it; the scallion gel tasted more of orange juice and jalapeno, which isn't bad - but it wasn't what I was going for; the wax beans came out okay, I guess. Ugh.

I believe this is what optimists call a 'learning opportunity'. What was so frustrating was that the mistakes were all of a fairly basic nature, and I allowed them to be compounded over the course of about the final 5-7 minutes of the cook.

Cod was wild caught and frozen and then defrosted in room temp water bath the day before cooking. (You can get it in bulk at Whole Foods, it's a decent product for what I call 'practice cooking'). It was cooked improvised SV in a 120°F water bath (Playmate cooler) for about 45 minutes, and when I removed it the fish just began breaking up..

I think I need to use like 3x the amount of scallions for that gel to hit the flavors I wanted; seriously underestimated that.

The red wine sauce is variation on Ripert that I've made dozens of times; reduce ~250g red wine by half, add that volume of sherry vinegar, reduce that to just a couple tablespoons, mount with tons of butter (it's a highly acidic concoction at this point) and some EVOO to balance flavors, and add ~0.2% xanthan to stabilize and achieve the desired mouthfeel. Got it too hot when reheating and it fell to complete crap. So that was fun.

Wow... just a miserable cooking experience, this dish.

Brandon_34695

Had everything mixed for a CS orange soda into my siphon, but every charger I put in just fizzed out the bottom of the threads of the lid.

I tightened it even more and tried again, I had a hard time taking it back off. Anyone ever experience this kind of fail?

Hey total fail! I realized I was missing the rubber gasket in there after the last cleaning.

Samuel_68313

Yeah, I mean if that is your biggest fail then you're probably winning at this whole cooking thing.

pgcath

@Lennard - Heh! I have to keep a sense of humor about it. I have a lot of successes, but sometimes the failures are more fun. The looks of horror on people's faces as I popped fish poop noodles in my mouth and masticated gleefully were worth it.

Your plating "fails" seem to still be more artistic than my best composed plate. The only thing that seems the least dodgy on your plate is the finish of the salmon with the non-sticking gel coating. The rest is awesome.

Lennard__34626

lol @pgcath it sounds like youre giving top chef judge comments to yourself

First dish I ever tried to plate. I remember going in feeling very confident that it would look good, first real taste of how difficult plating can be if you dont have the right vision. Supposed to be salmon in a lemon gel(didnt brine the fish-albumin, gel didnt stick), salmon skin tuille, purple carrot, balsamic vinegar, pea panna cotta

Jack_Mayer_85396

@pgcath - how about triple WOW! That's straight to the Hall of Fame ... Ha Ha, thanks for sharing.

seijoed

Hah, I've done the egg a couple of times too, got me so frustrated I almost broke the old blender I had.

Samuel_68313

I love it when you forget to add a basic ingredient. I tend to make my various flavoured mayonnaises by basically putting everything in a container and using an immersion blender, one time it just wasn't coming together and I couldn't figure out why, until I realised I had forgotten to add the egg.

seijoed

I'm pretty amazed it kept shape,

I've done several fails where they just go mush.

Or like those frozen reverse I did forgetting the seal...