The Recipe Sounded Great, But it Tasted Horrible!?

Have you ever read a recipe and thought, "Hey, that sounds good. I think I’ll try it," and have the finished product turn out to be not at all what you expected?

Example # 1: Lemon Chicken
Oh. My. God. This was 10 years ago and I still remember it and shudder. Pounded chicken cutlets in a lemon sauce that was so sour and had such a bad mouth-feel, that I had to throw it away and make another dinner right away.

Example # 2: Butternut Squash Soup
Gagging at the memory of this one and it was lots of work, too. Roast the squash, peel it, puree it, add cream & chicken stock and it was horrible. Not a flavor I’d ever want to re-create – this one went straight into the compost pile and I had to make another fast dinner to replace it.

I learned my lesson, though: when trying a recipe for the first time, follow it exactly and don’t make any substitutions.

So … what’s your recipe horror story?

I will award Best Answer within a short time and won’t screw around and let this go to Voting. Go on, confess.

I marinated some chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar, I guess a little too long. It was sooo strong and we couldn’t even get it to our mouths, past our noses. We had to throw them all away. Luckily I had some side dishes. So we had a vegetarian meal. Then I found out my partner doesn’t like vinegar anyway!

3 comments

  1. Miami Lilly says:

    I made this traditional soup called ribollita. It’s supposed to be thick, and full of veggies. It’s thick because you throw in stale bread at the end. I guess my bread was too fresh, and it got slimey. Not the right texture for a soup..or anything I’d want in my mouth.
    References :

  2. Nano says:

    I marinated some chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar, I guess a little too long. It was sooo strong and we couldn’t even get it to our mouths, past our noses. We had to throw them all away. Luckily I had some side dishes. So we had a vegetarian meal. Then I found out my partner doesn’t like vinegar anyway!
    References :

  3. trextonte says:

    Ha ha ha ha OMG, I’m really giggling now !

    I like to make breaded fried eggplant – my boyfriend and I both love it.

    I usually soak it in milk, to remove the slightly bitter taste.

    I recently read that it’s good to coat it in salt, so I decided to try it.

    W O W – I rinsed the slices very well, but they were so disgustingly salty, I had to dump the whole finished batch. EEIIIWWW !!!

    But believe it or not, I’m a great cook otherwise – I love to try new recipies.
    References :
    sad personal kitchen disaster

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*