The burnt chili that made me quit following recipes to the letter

Last Saturday I tried a new chili recipe from a popular food blog and scorched the bottom of my 12 quart pot because the heat setting was way off for my stove. Instead of dumping it, I scraped off the unburnt top layer, added extra tomatoes and beans, and it actually tasted fine. That failure taught me that recipes are just starting points, not gospel, and now I adjust cooking times and temps based on my own equipment. Has anyone else had a kitchen disaster that changed how you approach cooking?

1 comments

1 Comment

grays1321d ago

Scorched a whole batch of gumbo once because I trusted the recipe's "simmer gently" and my stove decided that meant "blast furnace." Now I treat every written time and temp like a polite suggestion from a stranger who's never met my kitchen.