Bloopers

I have a friend who recommended that I have a section on my blog called, "Bloopers". Sounded like a great idea to me! I mean, wouldn't it be fun to hear the stories of disasters or mishaps in the kitchen that a trained chef makes? For some reason, it doesn't matter how much I know about cooking, if I have the distractions that come with raising my 3 children, and trying to run a household, I at times can't accomplish anything. I mean, it has taken me 10 minutes to write these past few sentences because I got a visit from some young, preppy political flunky who wanted to know if I'm voting for Obama or Romney, Allen or Kaine. It's bad enough that they call you, right? (Actually, I'm unlisted so my mother-in-law is unfortunate enough to get our calls for some reason.) My daughter is also yelling to me from another room asking for spelling help with a birthday card she is working on. Distractions, distractions everywhere!

My first story is something that happened just the other day. I was sweating peppers and onions that went with a dish for an event I had to attend. (When you “sweat” vegetables, you cook them in a pan with oil or butter over medium heat, stirring often, so they don’t brown. The idea is to soften them.) My pan was really hot so I just threw in the oil then the onions which were already sliced. The peppers were not ready to go but I was already late for the occasion and had to get things going so I figured I could quickly cut them up and throw them in as I went which can be a mistake in cooking. (You should always have everything prepped and ready to go before you cook. It’s called mise en place which is French for everything in place.) I had half a pepper in the pan when my daughter yelled to me that her little brother just pooped on the floor. He’s screaming, I’m yelling don’t move, he’s screaming some more which is when I dropped what I was doing and ran to help him before he stamped the house with poop footprints. Onions and half of a pepper are cooking, I’m cleaning him and his mess up and the peppers aren’t in the pan yet. After a few minutes I did manage to give the onions and half pepper a stir by holding the wooden spoon between my wrists. Five minutes later when I made it back to my pan, I quickly finished putting the peppers in, cooked them for a few more minutes and then turned off the heat, covered the pan and essentially let them steam until I had to leave. They were not evenly cooked but they turned out just fine, different from my expected outcome, but fine.

 

I have sweated many vegetables many times so I knew how long I could be away from the pan before things got ugly. If someone had asked me what the right course of action would have been I would have recommended taking the pan off the heat until you were able to give it your full attention. I rarely follow my own advice though! My Real Mom suggestion: don't expect perfection when you're cooking. Life will distract you whether it be kids or a good conversation. Not every mistake is fixable but every mistake is a learning experience for the next time so don't be afraid of failing in the kitchen...Get out there and cook!