Cooking mistakes that ended up okay?

[Laura Corin]

I just served myself home-made stewed apple with Greek yoghurt and a scatter of low-sugar granola for breakfast.  As I opened the apple container, I thought I smelled cumin, but just assumed that the lid had held onto a previous smell.  No, I used cumin instead of cinnamon in the apple.  But actually, it's okay.  I won't freeze the rest of the apple for future apple crumbles (!) but it's actually fine for breakfast.

What cooking mistakes have actually turned out okay?

[saraha]

None! When I mess up, I really mess up 😆

[TheReader]

I royally screwed up a pavlova once, only it tasted okay (we dubbed it "pavlova brownie brittle"). So, the taste was fine, but the comedy of errors to get to any kind of finished product at all was hilarious.  

*I'm sure I've told the story before, but it started with trying to whip egg whites into a meringue using the only tool available to me (a fork), and when I finally got some semblance of almost peaks (after HOURS of this), I accidentally added iodine instead of vanilla and had to toss the whole thing and start over. So then in desperation I just blended it all in the blender, tried to make whipped cream (also with the fork), and then our oven didn't have a low enough setting so had to adjust the temp/time. 

[VickiMNE]

I was once making a tried and true apple cinnamon bread recipe but decided to double it halfway through.  Then realized the reason I originally didn't was because I didn't have enough ingredients.  Oops!  It had double the sugar and apples but not the flour. My kids were thrilled with the result!  (I typically make low-sugar quick breads--but still!  It was oozing caramel...)

[73349]

My uncle was once pan-frying some beef and sprinkled it with cinnamon instead of black pepper (probably from the same kind of little McCormick's tin). His kids ate it happily.

[Carol in Cal.]

Gooey Butter Cake is the classic example turned into a feature, I guess.

[Starr]

2 hours ago, TheReader said:

I royally screwed up a pavlova once, only it tasted okay (we dubbed it "pavlova brownie brittle"). So, the taste was fine, but the comedy of errors to get to any kind of finished product at all was hilarious.  

*I'm sure I've told the story before, but it started with trying to whip egg whites into a meringue using the only tool available to me (a fork), and when I finally got some semblance of almost peaks (after HOURS of this), I accidentally added iodine instead of vanilla and had to toss the whole thing and start over. So then in desperation I just blended it all in the blender, tried to make whipped cream (also with the fork), and then our oven didn't have a low enough setting so had to adjust the temp/time. 

Pavlova by fork! There's fortitude. 

[dsmith]

I purchased a fudge-making kit, and I was supposed to add 2 tbsp of butter, but misread it and added a whole stick. It was delicious! We bought the kit again and I realized my mistake and made it correctly, and it wasn't even close to being as good as the first batch. I add the whole stick whenever we buy the kit, which for obvious reasons is not very often.😁

[TravelingChris]

First of all, I change recipes all the time---either because I can't have it so spicy (hot spicy- I love spices but because of my Sjogren's, I can't tolerate heat at all) or to accommodate someone's allergy.  ( I have so many food allergies in my family though none that are very basic like egg or flour. Mostly fruits and there I substitute vinegar and another fruit or sometimes just another fruit---the issue is that dd2 is allergic to all citrus so if lemon juice or orange juice is used, I have to substitute if she is here).  

But I also have made mistakes some times and mostly it hasn't mattered and I was super surprised because the ones that happened most recently was a baking and it came out absolutely fine.   But I also made some mistake recently with pizza dough and had to add more water and remix- I have no idea if I used the wrong measuring spoon or if I accidently added to much flour or what.  It ended up okay.

[Lady Florida.]

Not mine but my mother's when I was a young teen. She was making home fries. We called them home fries but you might call them something else. They're thin sliced potatoes and fried on the stovetop. She left them too long and they got very, very crisp though not actually burnt. She tried to find the soft ones but my brother and I ended up competing for the crispy ones. 

[Tree Frog]

On 10/15/2021 at 10:28 AM, Carolina Wren said:

My uncle was once pan-frying some beef and sprinkled it with cinnamon instead of black pepper (probably from the same kind of little McCormick's tin). His kids ate it happily.

My dd tells me that cinnamon adds to whatever she's making. She adds it to both savory and sweet dishes. It's her secret ingredient.

[Tap]

My x-h used to singe everything he grilled. If you didn't want something a bit overdone, you didn't want him to grill it! 

One night he made the best grilled chicken. It had great flavor, cooked to perfection and was sooo moist. Absolutely perfect! I asked him what he did differently, and he sheepishly said "I ran out of propane".