Baker's Mistakes

[Sethro]

Could you possibly cook them off and give them to a local shelter or food pantry? At least this way it wouldn't be a total waste.  I understand not wanting to sell inferior product, but something good could be done with it.

←

"And while you're at it, why don't you bring along some chicken skins and lobster shells."

←

Top O' the Muffin to ya!

Actually, shelters are not legally allowed to acept "handouts" like that. They have to go through programs like City Harvest or what have you. Unfortunately dealing with such programs is convoluted and wastes alot of time, which is why most businesses end up throwing food away instead of going through the hassle of getting it to shelters through legal chanels.

If it were me, I would try to pawn the mutant muffins off on staff or familly. I try to never throw food away, unless its spoilled or otherwise inedible. Never alow sup-par product to reach your customers though. As said elsewhere, reputation is everything. Plus you know the first time you decide to sell a half-assed product, its going straight to a food writer!

[Carrot Top]

If the owner really wants to save his trifling pennies, then what could be more appropriate than to make him a trifle?

A trifle is the only place bad muffins can go and belong.

.......................................

Don't know if this would work in your situation, chefpeon. But trifles can be made individually in cute little cups and sold that way, if that helps.

I still say dump the stuff, but if you can't, you can't.

[chefpeon]

Actually, shelters are not legally allowed to acept "handouts" like that. They have to go through programs like City Harvest or what have you. Unfortunately dealing with such programs is convoluted and wastes alot of time, which is why most businesses end up throwing food away instead of going through the hassle of getting it to shelters through legal chanels.

I think I knew that at one time....but I totally forgot about it. It really is a shame though.....

I see a lot of perfectly good food go in the trash for one reason or another and it just makes

me ill....especially knowing there are hungry people in my town. Laws do exist for a reason

though, the intention being to protect. But sometimes laws end up being more hurtful than

helpful.

If it were me, I would try to pawn the mutant muffins off on staff or familly.

Hee hee.....I'd try to do that too, but the staff and family around here are way fussier than my

customers.....!

[John DePaula]

Just consider this a cost of training for the new assistant. Don't try to sell them to your faithful clients.

Edited September 19, 2005 by John DePaula (log)

[aidensnd2]

I would toss it.

At work if someone makes a mistake like that and there isn't a way to fix it quickly and easily then we toss it and start over. Adding more ingredients to try to come up with something useable is a waste of money and time if you aren't sure that the 'fix' is going to work.

Maybe people wouldn't notice the difference unless they tasted them side by side but if a new customer tries one of the substandard ones what are the chances of them continuing to be a customer? In my opinion losing one batch of batter is going to be cheaper than sending out substandard product and potentially losing customers.

[K8memphis]

... If I were to change the name however, I'd probably do something like "Glorious Morning Muffins" or wait! Maybe "I Don't Do Mornings" Muffin?

I would possibly disguise the mutants with a drizzle or a glaze or something. Maybe a shot of sweetened cream cheese y'know on top or stuck down in the middle. Maybe something like that. I mean maybe they can't keep them refrigerated, but lots of people keep cream cheese stuff at room temp, not that I'm saying it's ok, I'm just trying to give you some ideas. Maybe brush the top with honey and stick 'em in some chopped nuts, toasted coconut...stuff like that maybe. Plant a bit of icing and then a pretty pecan half.

Those are great solutions if you're baking at home. When you have clients that buy a product based on what it already IS, then when you give them something that looks in any way different, they will question it, and most likely complain. Even if what you did to it is an "improvement", they may not feel that way. Also, if I stuck cream cheese or a pecan half on it this time, and they actually liked it, they may come to expect it. They'll say, "Why no pecans this time?" Hard to explain (without telling the truth). I'm honest to a fault. I'd say trying to make a bad muffin look pretty.....is like.....puttin' lipstick on a pig......

←

Well, all bacon beautification and flavor enhancement attempts aside ...

Umm, could you send an extra dozen 'somethings' to the affected customers afer another order or two goes by. Being honest is very important, but unless you're on the stand you are not compelled to tell the whole truth. Use nuance to your advantage, maybe??

Make it a customer appreciation thing. Or give a ten percent off. Free delivery once. I don't know all the particulars of your situation. I just remember the cute little building in the pictures you posted once. So would any type of little freebie help smooth any little hangnails rubbing anybody, you, them, the boss, the assistant?? But not with the very next order, a couple orders down the line.

Just a little something to 'make nice'. Maybe just send a little bunch of goodies for the employees themselves??? One of those cheesecakes you recommended in the autumn post or something??? Make some minis er something.

It would be upsetting for that to happen. Just a thought for you. But y'know what else? We get burned so often on so many things, it all levels out. I'm sorry the boss did that though.

So perhaps a customer appreciation thing or a Celebrate Autumn sampler???

Just a thought.

Have a good one.

[Sugarella]

QUOTE

(I have no idea why rum balls are such big sellers, but they are - so it's a win-win).

Boy, ain't that the truth. When I was green and fresh out of pastry school, and I discovered what

rum balls "really" were, I never ate one again. tongue.gif

****************

Ok....I'll ask..... what are they "really"!?! ?? I like eating rum balls....should I stop!?

Argh!! Edited once again to try & fix the quote & not succeed.......

Edited September 19, 2005 by Sugarella (log)

[jgm]

I'm going to jump in here and throw in a customer's opinion. I've never worked in a professional kitchen in my life, but I've eaten plenty of their products.

This weekend my husband and I returned to a small, local restaurant. It's a soup and sandwich place, and has wonderful food. I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks... we haven't eaten there in awhile, and their cheese soup is a favorite of mine. (Fortunately, I have other favorites on their menu, too.)

The soup was a major disappointment. It was not as I had remembered. Trouble is, was it a bad batch of soup, or did absence make the heart grow fonder?

I really don't see myself ordering this soup again. I have a feeling that over the past year, since I've been making it a point to eat better food, my palate has improved, and the soup just isn't something I'm going to enjoy anymore. They make a marvelous BLT, though, and I'll return for that.

Customers have a lot of choices, and there's always something new. Knowingly selling an inferior product is a betrayal of trust, and a good way to send a loyal customer straight into the arms of your competition.

[Carrot Top]

Yes, consistency is vitally important to any customer. In any field.

It's the right thing to do, to be consistent.

He wasn't. Shame on him.

Really.

And it is the sad fact that chefpeon is caught in the middle.

I don't like this man.

[Pam R]

Ok....I'll ask..... what are they "really"!?! ??    I like eating rum balls....should I stop!?

The rum ball. Some places make rum balls out of ...well basically garbage - things that they can no longer sell that have been sitting around too long. I've heard other horror stories but choose not to believe them.

Others (like me) use up scraps of cakes or cookies that have never seen a showcase. If I bake a cake and have to cut off pieces to even it out - I keep them for rum balls. If I'm using lady fingers to make something.. any extras go in the rum ball bin.. I actually buy a plain tea biscuit that I use just for rum balls.

These things are ground up and mixed with cocoa, corn syrup, nuts (optional) and dark rum. Rolled in chocolate shots or nuts or whatever you like, a rumball.

[K8memphis]

These things are ground up and mixed with cocoa, corn syrup, nuts (optional) and dark rum.  Rolled in chocolate shots or nuts or whatever you like, a rumball.

←

Pam, Thanks so much for telling us what you put in your rum balls! We have a lot of fresh cake scraps at work.

Thanks again

QUOTE

(I have no idea why rum balls are such big sellers, but they are - so it's a win-win).

Boy, ain't that the truth. When I was green and fresh out of pastry school, and I discovered what

rum balls "really" were, I never ate one again. tongue.gif

****************

Ok....I'll ask..... what are they "really"!?! ??    I like eating rum balls....should I stop!?

Argh!! Edited once again to try & fix the quote & not succeed.......

←

Sugarella, if you are copying and pasting your quote, you hit the quote button up at the top before and after you paste. You can also 'collect' the quotes you want to post a reply to by hitting the blue add"" button at the bottom right-ish of each post. Then you can edit down to the quote you are wanting but be sure to leave the first & last bracketed stuff intact. Or hit the blue reply"" if you just want to quote & reply to one post.

: )

[chiantiglace]

At work if someone makes a mistake like that and there isn't a way to fix it quickly and easily then we toss it and start over. Adding more ingredients to try to come up with something useable is a waste of money and time if you aren't sure that the 'fix' is going to work.

I'm sorry, I really cant understand this qoute. The reason of fixing the batter is because if you threw it out then that would be labeled a complete waste of TIME and MONEY. SO how hard is it to make a new batch, which obviously your going to do anyways, and incorporate 1/3 of the slightly off batch into it. The muffins will still come out perfectly fine considering they had all the proper chemical functions working. I can understand the fear of fixing something if you've never done it. But you need to start trying because most of the culinary business does it 24/7. You can't expect everyone to do there job perfectly all the time, even the professionals. SOOOO many trainee's have botched sooooo many things. I had one girl that just seemed to not be able to get cookies right, ever. But they were always close.so what is 10 minutes out of my day to save 250 cookies? I'm sorry I just dont underrstand how 3 dollars labor sacrifices 500 dollars sales.

These things are ground up and mixed with cocoa, corn syrup, nuts (optional) and dark rum.  Rolled in chocolate shots or nuts or whatever you like, a rumball.

I worked with a lady once who made rum balls religously. That was one thing i wouldn't do. I did everything I could to try and avoid it. One day she was makin carrot cake for a wedding or something, not sure but it was a lot of carrot cake and she forgot to incorporate the carrot into the batter before baking. Oh man. So much "spice cake" the her rum balls came out to be gritty spice balls. I couldn't help but laugh to myself for a week.

Edited September 19, 2005 by chiantiglace (log)

[K8memphis]

The soup was a major disappointment.  It was not as I had remembered.  Trouble is, was it a bad batch of soup, or did absence make the heart grow fonder?

I really don't see myself ordering this soup again...  They make a marvelous BLT, though, and I'll return for that.

Customers have a lot of choices, and there's always something new.  Knowingly selling an inferior product is a betrayal of trust, and a good way to send a loyal customer straight into the arms of your competition.

←

That's an interesting point. If I have already been a patron, I will allow a place an off day and I will order the item again. Two times in a row and mmno probably not again. But I'd go & try a different item if my husband liked the place. If it was the first visit & it sucked, I probably would not go back. Bad service on the other hand is a deal breaker on the first visit. No mercy.

At work if someone makes a mistake like that and there isn't a way to fix it quickly and easily then we toss it and start over. Adding more ingredients to try to come up with something useable is a waste of money and time if you aren't sure that the 'fix' is going to work.

I'm sorry, I really cant understand this qoute. The reason of fixing the batter is because if you threw it out then that would be labeled a complete waste of TIME and MONEY. SO how hard is it to make a new batch, which obviously your going to do anyways, and incorporate 1/3 of the slightly off batch into it. The muffins will still come out perfectly fine considering they had all the proper chemical functions working. I can understand the fear of fixing something if you've never done it. But you need to start trying because most of the culinary business does it 24/7. You can't expect everyone to do there job perfectly all the time, even the professionals. SOOOO many trainee's have botched sooooo many things. I had one girl that just seemed to not be able to get cookies right, ever. But they were always close.so what is 10 minutes out of my day to save 250 cookies? I'm sorry I just dont underrstand how 3 dollars labor sacrifices 500 dollars sales.

←

If the old story is correct, brownies were born by someone's mistake. One man's booboo is the next guy's brownie. Hey most of us were probably mistakes, hey wait, wrong forum

[chefpeon]

QUOTE

At work if someone makes a mistake like that and there isn't a way to fix it quickly and easily then we toss it and start over. Adding more ingredients to try to come up with something useable is a waste of money and time if you aren't sure that the 'fix' is going to work.

I'm sorry, I really cant understand this qoute. The reason of fixing the batter is because if you threw it out then that would be labeled a complete waste of TIME and MONEY. SO how hard is it to make a new batch, which obviously your going to do anyways, and incorporate 1/3 of the slightly off batch into it. The muffins will still come out perfectly fine considering they had all the proper chemical functions working. I can understand the fear of fixing something if you've never done it. But you need to start trying because most of the culinary business does it 24/7. You can't expect everyone to do there job perfectly all the time, even the professionals. SOOOO many trainee's have botched sooooo many things. I had one girl that just seemed to not be able to get cookies right, ever. But they were always close.so what is 10 minutes out of my day to save 250 cookies? I'm sorry I just dont underrstand how 3 dollars labor sacrifices 500 dollars sales

Don't overreact Chianti! aidensnd said:

and there isn't a way to fix it quickly and easily

I would imagine your idea of incorporating a new batter into the old one IS a quick and easy fix.

I think aidensnd is thinking more along the lines of maybe adding fruit to "fix it up", and then

finding that the fruit didn't help much, and tossing out the batter, which ends up costing more time and money. I too, would not spend much time on a bad batter, unless I was ABSOLUTELY

sure my solution would fix the problem. I think that's what aidensnd is saying.

[aidensnd2]

I would imagine your idea of incorporating a new batter into the old one IS a quick and easy fix. I think aidensnd is thinking more along the lines of maybe adding fruit to "fix it up", and then finding that the fruit didn't help much, and tossing out the batter, which ends up costing more time and money. I too, would not spend much time on a bad batter, unless I was ABSOLUTELY sure my solution would fix the problem. I think that's what aidensnd is saying.

That's what I meant.

If the batter is already messed up I wouldn't want to waste time and product in a blind attempt to make use of it. I've seen it too many times where someone makes a mistake and then spends an hour and uses a bunch more product trying to salvage it only to end up throwing it all away in the end when they could have cut their losses and made a new, correct batch in a couple of minutes. On the other hand If I knew that simply adding XYZ and whisking for 2 minutes would fix it then by all means I would, I just wouldn't start experimenting blindly...

[ruthcooks]

Another great way to use up cake scraps is in bread pudding. Bread and cqke in equal parts is a good proportion. I like individual ones with candied fruit added, serve them warm with whipped cream.

[K8memphis]

Thank you, Ruth, great idea.

[Shelley G.]

Could you possibly cook them off and give them to a local shelter or food pantry? At least this way it wouldn't be a total waste.  I understand not wanting to sell inferior product, but something good could be done with it.

←

What a good idea! It doesn't happen too often at my restaurant, but there is the odd goof. We have lots of regulars who love their particular treat - I would never put out anything substandard. Never. But I like your idea a lot, and will implement it next time (though we always hope there will be never be a next time)