When recipes attack

[JennyUptown]

Help. I am admittedly a reluctant cook part of the time and a bad cook some of the time. But I find it hard to believe that even I can mess up a cookbook recipe for fettucine alfredo that has been good to me (if not my heart) many times before.

But the last two times I have made it, the cheese won't become a part of the sauce. Instead, it clumps in a big ol' glob of parmesan. I checked my ingredients (all fresh, for once), the temperatures suggested in the recipe...I varied nothing. Yet...clumps o' cheese.

Have any of you also had recipes suddenly go bad?

[ExtraMSG]

Sounds like you need starch to allow the cheese to bind with the cream.

[Marlene]

I'd need to see your recipe to understand this, but for what it's worth, I sometimes add cream cheese to an alfredo sauce which (a)l makes it thicker and creamier) and (b) tends to resist clumping.

[Suzanne F]

It could be the cheese itself, assuming that you used a different piece of cheese from the earlier times you made it. As an organic ingredient, with natural, seasonal variations, cheese may actually BE different from time to time, and thus react differently.

Also, assuming the cheese is shredded or grated, did you add it the same way, so as to spread it out, or did you maybe add it in one glump this time?

Marlene's suggestion is a good one, and also accomplishes what ExtraMSG says, since commercial cream cheese has starch and binders in it. I almost always add some to my cheese sauces, for exactly the same reasons.

[snowangel]

Would it make a difference in how finely one grated the cheese?

[ExtraMSG]

Can't acid cause coagulation here, too? Maybe there was something acidic.

[JAZ]

Can't acid cause coagulation here, too? Maybe there was something acidic.

Actually, according to Shirley Corriher, acid helps to keep the cheese from becoming stringy (hence its use in cheese fondue).

[cjs]

finely grated parmesan into simmering heavy cream etc.

can't see why it wouldn't work??? did you choose a decent cheese?

no rinsing the pasta after cooking either. The surface starch will help to thicken the sauce as well.

also, maybe just not enough cheese.

Edited February 12, 2004 by cjs (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

Clumped cheese, to me, usually means too high heat. Next time try lowering or even removing the pan from the heat before adding the cheese.

However, it sounds like JennyUptown was going for a more, "tell us about your recipe gone bad experiences" theme here. In that vein, sure I have. But, of course when I serve it, it's supposed to be that way.

[fifi]

Not my problem but my sister just put up 8 batches of "mystery orange" (probably calamondins) marmalade. Seven of them jelled nicely. One didn't. Jellies and preserves can be perverse. When making these things, it is wise to have a ready made supply of decorative labels for "Pancake Syrup". Preprinted, they give the impression that you intended to make syrup.

[Toasted]

Many of my recipes have gone "suddenly bad" like the paneer that wouldn't

set or the tried and true chili that suddenly tasted bitter or the puff pastry that

wouldn't puff. Sometimes it's the ingredients and sometimes I'm just not

"on" in terms of cooking. Sometimes my sinus issues interfer with my ability

to accurately season the food. Sometimes the weather does funny things to

my dough while it's rising. Sometimes I just dump out whenever I'm making

and try it another day.

[Al_Dente]

Unless there was heavy drinking involved, I seem to have pretty good luck avoiding disaster.

My worst disaster in recent memory involved beer and tequila. Folks got hungry, so I rumaged around the fridge and found a nice lookin flank steak which I then proceeded to destroy. I butterflied the entire thing into one huge thin piece of meat. My brilliant idea was to stuff it with mozzarella, garlic, and parsley, roll it up and tie it, and throw it on the grill. When I finished rolling it, it was the size and shape of a NFL regulation football. My tequila induced state convinced me that this would be grillable somehow. By the time it was done on the inside (had my handy thermometer in there), it was dry as a bone and tough as leather.

I still get grief over this.

Edited February 12, 2004 by Al_Dente (log)

[JennyUptown]

Rachel was indeed right about the intent of this thread. That said, I'm also more than happy to hear ways that I might improve my own cooking in the future.

[bloviatrix]

My most recent disaster was the halvah I tried to make for Rosh Hashanna. I followed the recipe carefully. And yet, it never set up. It remained soft and oozy. And to make matters worse, the honey and tehina separated so there were two layers. Needless to say, it all ended it in the garbage.

[Oreganought]

Did you add the cheese off the heat?or did you continue to cook the sauce with the cheese in it?If you did the later,that might be the culprit.

[FistFullaRoux]

My wife and I honeymooned in San Antonio, where she tried tortilla soup for the first time, and loved it. So I tried to make it when we got back.

So I made a soup that was just a hair too salty, but had good flavor and texture. The salty part was exacerbated by the store bought tortilla chips we both happily piled into the bowls. After the first bite, she and I lookad at each other and without a word, spit it back into our respective cups. It was too salty to swallow, and there wasn't enough left to try to fix.

We had baked potatoes that night.

[phaelon56]

I wish I could remember what stand-up comic had this classic line (I paraphrase - can't remember it verbatim):

" When I look at a cookbook and see how the recipe is supposed to come out it's kind of like the way I feel when I watch a science fiction movie - I say to myself 'No way that's ever gonna happen!' "

[JennyUptown]

Argh...clumping happened again last night in spite of your helpful tip to remove the pot from the heat when adding the cheese [gradually, not in a big dump]. After I add the cheese, am I supposed to return the pot to the heat at some point or do I just stir until it's incorporated.

Even better, do any of you have a really descriptive, step-by-step receipe for alfredo sauce?