Personally, I’ve had some epic fails while attempting to cook for my family. Burned Brussels sprouts, overcooked pasta, and an ultimate chocolate pie disaster are just a few examples. These experiences haven’t stopped me from trying in the kitchen, though. Consequently, my husband is the home cook most of the time.
A Reddit thread titled, “What was your worst cooking fail?” highlighted times when things just didn’t go right in the kitchen. From the classic mistake of confusing a tablespoon and a teaspoon to Pinterest recipes gone awry, these are the best cooking fails we found.
Spice Up Your Life
Around the time when I was just learning to cook; I was making a spicy chicken dish. I’m Indian so as it is the normal [for the] spice amount [to be] pretty high. Anyway, I confused teaspoon with [a] tablespoon and put in 3x as much chili powder [than] asked. My family was basically eating fire that night.
Phreedom Phighter
We can’t even imagine what a three-times-spciy Indian dish would taste like! Pass the milk, please!
Dishwasher Drama
When I was a teenager, I was a [dish washer] at a restaurant with an Asian head chef. She was boiling a 10-gallon pot of meat and vegetables all day. Then she asked me to strain it while she went out for a smoke, so I drained it all into a colander. When she got back she was pissed cause she wanted me to strain the broth into another pot, so we could keep the broth and throw out the boiled ingredients.
Total Immortal
To be fair, this kid wasn’t given great directions. The chef should have had the forethought to explain it well or to do the job themselves. All that delicious broth down the drain is a sad thought, though.
Pinterest Flop
I saw this Pinterest hack where if you turn a toaster sideways, then put cheese on top of one of the pieces of bread, and toast both pieces of bread in the sideways toaster, the cheese will melt and you can make a grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese was melting, but then the toaster timer went off and the bread popped out of the toaster face down on the ground. I had to clean up the cheese from the ground and had no grilled cheese sandwich. Basically tried a Pinterest hack and it ended up on the floor.
Amao9098
Pinterest always makes everything look so easy! It’s also important to note that there were more commenters in this thread that cautioned against this hack. Making a grilled cheese the traditional way is definitely much safer.
Chicken Nugget Fiasco
I went to put a pan full of chicken nuggets into the oven. As I put the pan in by one edge, I stopped holding it up as I slid it in. It tipped over and dumped all of the nuggets down onto the inside of the oven door and they bounced down into the oven, below the bottom rack. I had to quickly turn the oven off, pull the racks out and reach in to grab them asap. They quickly burned a bit on the bottom and [made] the kitchen stink. All while my wife laughed at me. I’d starve without her.
Openletter8
Even something as simple as making chicken nuggets can go sideways if you’re not paying attention. Luckily, the wife was there to save the day!