Biggest Mistake Home Cooks? Make

[rich]

This is the time of year when there is a lot of eating at home (either yours or a friend/relative). What is the biggest mistake made by home cooks?

I know when I first started cooking it was overspicing/"herbing" dishes.

Edited November 27, 2002 by rich (log)

[GordonCooks]

Overcooking fish & veggies

Inferior spicing (i.e. inappropriate amounts of salt & pepper or using spices of poor quality)

Frying - At temps that are too low.

[Monica Bhide]

Using spices that are not fresh!

[CathyL]

Not allowing meats and poultry to rest before carving.

[bushey]

Not allowing meats and poultry to rest before carving.

Guilty as charged......every time we cook a turkey or roast I vow to organize my time better so I can let it rest, yet I always seems to be carving it five minutes after I take it out of the oven.

Just like Linus and the Great Pumpkin: this year, it will be different.

[tommy]

tasting with your eyes.

[SobaAddict70]

Not tasting enough. (Seriously!)

Taste as you go, should be the number one rule.

2. safety/hygiene issues.

3. efficiency issues -- makes cleanup a lot faster if you minimize clutter and cleanup as you go!

SA

[CathyL]

We're all rooting for you, Bushey!

[rich]

Not allowing meats and poultry to rest before carving.

Interesting. My mom cooks Thanksgiving dinner and she "over rests" the bird. By the time I get to carve the poor thing, I feel like letting it rest in peace.

[Sandra Levine]

Cooking with too low a flame?

[bushey]

Rich, LOL!

Actually, the problem with "rest period" in our kitchen is my husband -- he has a thing about having hot food hot, which is a good thing but is also a very nudnik thing. He hovers around saying "the turkey's going to get cold!" and threatens to get in there and do the carving himself......which would result in a hot, yet unattractive bird .

Maybe I need to distract him with many glasses of wine and tending the fire.

(edited for redundancy and repetition)

Edited November 27, 2002 by bushey (log)

[GordonCooks]

I forgot - dull cutlery

Whenever i'm lending a cooking hand - I travel with my own knife set and wood board (hate the glass ones)

[maggiethecat]

Cockiness. My Exec Chef always swears he's going to stick with the menu plan until about 45 mintes before the guests arrive. Then he decides that we need:

1)A loaf of his famous artisanal bread.

2)Puff pastry cheese straws...from scratch

3)Another vegetable side

4)That interesting Latvian (or whatever) fish ap he saw in an obscure cookbook which he now has to find before he starts cooking.

5)The (already) decorated dessert is "just too plain looking"...out come the pastry tips

6)Trotter's lime-caramel ice cream would be woderful with that tart. He's right, it would, but could we please change our clothes and give the house a lick and a promise instead?

Every time I find a gray hair I blame it on the hour before our last dinner party.

[tommy]

I forgot - dull cutlery

right. so many home cooks, that i know, have horrible cultery. i've actually brought my own to dinner parties.

and, since i'm not beyond reproach, mine is always way too dull.

Edited November 27, 2002 by tommy (log)

[tigerwoman]

I forgot - dull cutlery

Whenever i'm lending a cooking hand - I travel with my own knife set and wood board (hate the glass ones)

not having the right tools to do the job.

Not just dull knife but wrong knife.

Not enough counter space.

Stove and or burners don't get hot enough.

[ChocoKitty]

Food safety. No, you really shouldn't leave the stuffing in the bird when you refrigerate it.

On a side note: I found this funny story about a nightmare Thanksgiving. Some people just shouldn't cook:

http://www.fool.com/community/pod/2002/021127.htm

[Stone]

Misplacing the question? mark

Not using enough butter.

Trying to use too many ingredients/flavors in a single dish

Not inviting me to dinner

[tighe]

I know when I first started cooking it was overspicing/"herbing" dishes.

When I started cooking I had the opposite problem. Was so afraid of making things too salty or too spicy that I under-seasoned.

I also have a distinguished record of having consistently dull knives......

[tommy]

i didn't use butter for years...under some sort of misdirected concept that it was "healthy" to avoid butter. now i'm smart(er).

[Priscilla]

Like Tolstoy said about each unhappy family being unhappy in its own way, novice cooks I have known make unique mistakes.

Overall though I think a widely-shared problem is, as previously mentioned, a reluctance to jack up the heat. Also previously mentioned, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink.

[Marlene]

On a side note: I found this funny story about a nightmare Thanksgiving. Some people just shouldn't cook:

http://www.fool.com/community/pod/2002/021127.htm

Hillarious!

[rich]

i didn't use butter for years

You never watched Julia Child?

[rich]

1)A loaf of his famous artisanal bread.

And just how are you using the word artisanal?

[rich]

Misplacing the question? mark

That was just to get your attention.

Did it?work

[maggiethecat]

1)A loaf of his famous artisanal bread.

And just how are you using the word artisanal?

In the words of the respected Jaybee:

"not mass produced and therefore worth a premium price."