Worst/best meal you ever cooked?

pacific breeze · November 19th, 2005, 10:26 PM

My worst was a barbecue I gave when people asked me to cook their steaks without specifying how they wanted them cooked. We were all a little over-refreshed. Then everybody bitched that they were overdone. Well, I like my meat medium-to-well done!

The best had to be a Christmas dinner I cooked about 15 years ago. I spent days on the turkey,stuffing and trimmings, and it was worth it. But it wouldn't have been the same without my friends and family.

The worst Christmas dinner was at an English friend's house. The goose was half-cooked and fatty, the mashed potatoes and gravy were lumpy, and the vegetables were boiled into an unrecognizable mush. The dessert was good -- I made it -- and we all just drank a lot and had fun anyway. Even my friend admitted it was lousy and sent out for Chinese food.

muchlove · November 20th, 2005, 01:39 AM

This wasn't a meal, but I was supposed to bring a dessert to a Christmas party at work one year. So I had this gorgeous-sounding recipe from some magazine - apricot shaped cookies filled with hazelnut chocolate, crusted with orange and pink colored sugar - the idea was to make them look like real apricots. Oh, it sounded fabulous.

They didn't come out very well. They kept trying to burn on the bottom, so I took them out early... they were undercooked and doughy. The sugar wouldn't stick like it was supposed to, so it was all clumpy in spots and falling off in others. They kept falling apart when I'd spoon the chocolate filling in, so then I tried pouring in melted chocolate... that just oozed out everywhere. They looked terrible.

I took them to work anyway, and no one would eat them, except for my boss. He thought they were great!

I would love to try to make them again sometime... they were gorgeous in the pictures. I was only 17 when I did this, and I've since worked in a bakery, so I think I'd do a much better job now.

DisruptiveHair · November 20th, 2005, 07:08 AM

I cooked chicken breasts stuffed with homemade pesto sauce and fontina cheese with a red pepper, cream, and wine sauce...and fettucine with a homemade alfredo sauce containing only butter, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese. For dessert I made a layer cake with coffee, black cherries, and chocolate.

It's my "I want you to do me a favor" meal. It takes hours to prepare.

B.C. · November 20th, 2005, 07:23 AM

Worst meal I've made lately was oyster stew. I'd had it once and thought it was good. I saw a recipe in the paper that sounded good. What a waste of time and money. 2 cans of oysters, bottle of clam juice and heavy cream all down the toilet. My daughter and I forced down a bowl, the rest was flushed. Today I'm making an old favorite, quiche, that I haven't made in awhile with salad. It will be good for work tomorrow too.

jtoland · November 20th, 2005, 06:29 PM

The worst meal I made was when I tried to make Chicken Lo Mein myself. I ran out of soy sauce, the chicken was overcooked, and I put too much black pepper in it. It was a dry, burnt, and hot mess.

**Mr. Authority** · November 20th, 2005, 08:17 PM

Worst: Making homemade pumpkin pie for desert. I thought it would be easy to make a pie outta the can. The only thing though was that I did'nt have the right ingredients, so instead of 'evaporated milk' and 'nutmeg' I used 2% milk and cinnamon sticks that I broke in little pieces.

As a result I made a watery piece of crap with sticks of old cinnamon floating in the middle. Mind ya I was 15 at the time I made this.heh

Best: I made a simple meal for myself with boneless Chicken breast and spicy rice. I spiced up the chicken with seasoned salt and lemon pepper, and bolied some instant rice. Then when I was done with the rice, I added some seasoned salt and oreano to it. Simple but good.

miss_perfect · November 21st, 2005, 09:27 AM

The worst thing I ever made was the first thing I ever made for myself. I was 8 and my grandmother was baby-sitting my brother and I. I went into the kitchen, grabbed two slices of bread, and proceeded to make a chocolate syrup and sugar sandwich

.

The best was once I cooked a whole dinner/dessert for my ex and his family. All from scratch, I made spinach/artichoke dip, pesto shrimp and farfalle, and apple crisp.

Fonzarelli23 · November 21st, 2005, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by disruptivehair

I cooked chicken breasts stuffed with homemade pesto sauce and fontina cheese with a red pepper, cream, and wine sauce...and fettucine with a homemade alfredo sauce containing only butter, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese. For dessert I made a layer cake with coffee, black cherries, and chocolate.

It's my "I want you to do me a favor" meal. It takes hours to prepare.

Yummy! That chicken dish sounds really good!