It’s been quite a winter for many of us: storms, blizzards, arctic winds, freezing rain, and just about everything the season can throw at us. I’m telling you, it’s enough to bring on a serious case of cabin fever.
I thought we could all use some cheering up, and today’s Kitchen Talk will hopefully do just that. After all, laughter is the best medicine, right? (Or was it chocolate?) Our group therapy session starts right now and all you have to do is tell us:
What’s your most memorable kitchen mishap?
And by ‘memorable’ I mean worst, funniest, weirdest, or “so absurd it crosses into the realm of awesomeness.”
My story involves an aborted meal, destruction of beloved bakingware, and the possible inhalation of toxic fumes. How does one achieve that kind of widespread destruction? Just hurriedly stick a pan of lasagna into a hot oven and wait until an unholy smell permeates the kitchen. Then remember with horror that the pan was still tightly covered with plastic wrap. Not only will you manage to ruin dinner but you’ll also have to toss out the glass pan (who knew that stuff would be impossible to peel off?) and leave the house until that awful burnt-plastic smell dissipates.
Nanci’s mishap happened just this past Thanksgiving, when she painstakingly prepared turkey soup with the leftover bird. She put everything into the electric roaster, cooked it for about 6 hours, then put it out in the 20ºF night air to cool overnight. In the roaster. Which happened to be quite insulated. In the morning, she found still-lukewarm soup waiting for her, which she sadly had to discard.
Betsy shares, “I stuffed ungodly amounts of potato peels in my dad’s garbage disposal and broke it one Thanksgiving when my only responsibility was the potatoes. Shining moment.”
We all have our own shining moment and now we want to hear yours. Come on, we’re all friends here. Share those stories with us!
60 Comments
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beverlyb on 3.21.2014
Several years ago I was making a pie where you put everything in a blender, then pour into the pie plate. It makes it’s own crust and everything. It was just about full, when I could tell it was leaking at the bottom of the glass container. Before I could do anything, the bottom fell out of the glass container and all of the ingredients with it. I had glass, and milk, and coconut, and eggs splattered all over the floor, counter top, my recipe book and me! It took me a year before I could make that pie again, but I have and it is still a good recipe!
Bonnie from Louisiana on 3.11.2014
My son was in High School at the time, back in the late 90’s. He asked me to back some cookies for a fund raiser they were having for their Prom. Sure, no problem. What kind would you like me to make? Oh, those Oatmeal Scotchies you make would be great!.. Ok.. Got everything together, made the dough, scooped the amts on to one sheet, put it sheet in the oven. Was filling up the second sheet, when someting caught my eye.. The inside of my oven was filled with flames. On closer inspection, what used to be neetly placed mounds of cookie dough had turned into this melted mass of goo that was dripping off the sheet and onto the bottom of my oven, and then catching fire. Looked lovely really, like looking through a glass fireplace screen at a lovely fire. Tasted the dough, and realized that i had not only fogotten to put in the oatmeal, but had only added about half the flour. Was enough to resemble cookie dough, but not enough to withstand the heat for baking. We laughed untill we were crying.. And what a mess to clean.. I stll tell that story.
Cathy Mackay on 3.7.2014
I’ve had quite a few disasters in my life, but there is one that my family love to bring up time after time – it always provides a lot of laughter. I cooked the most fabulous beef mince curry which the whole family thought was delicious – hey they did, no really they did love it – it wasn’t till much later my mother asked me which mince I had used. After telling her I had used the mince that was in the blue packet, she informed that I had used the cat mince!!!! Of course all the complements went out the window and everyone was going ooh, yuk. Hey, but it wasn’t really my fault – my mother didn’t tell me which one was the cat mince and which was for people. I’ve improved since then – mostly – but I still have the odd disaster
Sid's Sea Palm Cooking on 3.3.2014
I’ve had a few, ummm, adventures in the kitchen. The first time I roasted a turkey and didn’t get the paper bag full of giblets and heart out of the neck cavity (I didn’t know they hid them there), and discovered them as I carved the turkey in front of some friends who I was trying to impress. I search every cavity on the bird now. Have never found a bag hidden in the neck cavity since.
A few months ago, just before a houseful of guests arrived for our monthly Tapas gathering, I placed a ziploc bag full of seasoned flour right onto a hot element on the stove. And when I realized I’d done so, I jerked the bag off in a hurry and managed to spread seasoned flour all over the freshly wiped stove, the still damp freshly mopped floor and myself in my black shirt and pants. And the lovely burnt plastic smell in the air did not help. I managed to get it mostly cleaned up just as the first guests were arriving.
A memorable evening, but not the right way.
Tabitha on 3.2.2014
We were making bacon wrapped jalepenos for New Years eve a couple of years ago. Stuffed them with cream cheese, wrapped them in bacon and popped them in the 450 degree gas oven. 15 minutes later we realized we had used a completely flat cookie sheet when the inside of the oven caught on fire, filling the house with smoke. No biggie, really. Just leave the door closed and shut the oven off until it goes out, so that’s what we did. Went to clean the oven, caught on fire AGAIN because of all the bacon grease in the bottom. The topper, ended up in the ER with my 1 year old with a case of croup because of the smoke inhalation:(
Sherri on 2.28.2014
When I was younger but it is worth noting just so no one else makes this mistake! haha I used corn syrup instead of vegetable oil for a pie crust….um yaaaaa hard as a rock!
Teresa R. on 2.24.2014
There are so many but the most recent happened last week. I was baking a cake for my daughter’s birthday and an earring fell into the batter. I didn’t know the earring was missing until my daughter cut the cake. The earring was In the very first piece of cake!
Julie on 2.22.2014
I made heavenly shortbread cookies and a hot chocolate mix to give away for Christmas presents, be glad you didn’t receive them! Both used powdered sugar which I was out of but in my Vita-Mix blender I can make powdered sugar out of regular sugar and cornstarch, which I did. But I did find the gasket that fits between the Vita-Mix canister and plastic cover was missing. No problem, it was old and cracked and I had a new one waiting in the drawer.
I made the cookies and noticed small bits of a rubbery material in them, a puzzle! I made some of the hot chocolate and there were bits of a rubbery material floating in the hot chocolate, a conundrum indeed!! To make a long, confusing story short, the rubber gasket must have fallen in the bottom of the Vita-Mix and I ground it up with the sugar!! Thank heavens I had not given any of them away!!!
Bitty on 2.22.2014
The fall I was planning my wedding, I had a large stockpot full of chicken and dumplings on the stove one day. I’d been extremely moody (attempting to find a birth control that didn’t make me into a raging Godzilla) and my roommates were excited for chicken and dumplings for supper.
The dumplings weren’t cooking as they should and I…sigh…I turned up the heat.
The bottom scorched, of course (cheap stockpot) and the entire batch tasted of a horrible, burnt flavor.
One of the few times in my life I Lost It. I cried, I yelled, I threw my oven mitt, and I checked myself into a local B & B for the night (not kidding).
Which begs the question: what’s funnier, the mishap, or the reaction?
Pammy on 2.22.2014
I forgot about the time I was making fried ravioli and the mercury thermometer broke in the pan. I thought the fumes were going to kill me.
Jessica on 2.21.2014
Boyfriends special birthday dinner, I made a beautiful lasagna… Placed the finished product (in its glass casserole dish) on top of the stove as I preheated … 10 minutes later I heard “POP KAPOW POP” and glass breaking… Came into the kitchen and found an exploded lasagna and glass dish covering my walls… I had forgotten to turn a burner off
My hubby (now!) still checks my stove at times 
…
Pvfrompv on 2.21.2014
My most memorable mishap was actually not in the kitchen, but camping. The boys had caught trout and I had forgotten the corn meal. Using what was on hand, I tried smooshing grape nuts, without great success. Still was able to coat the trout with them. Imagine our horror to see every grape nut ignite. The trout was polka dotted with burned grape nuts. Not so tasty.
Janet Anderson on 2.21.2014
First holiday meal in our new house, I cooked the turkey to a beautiful brown, but the internal temperature would not even approach the correct temp. I finally realized that the oven temperature was correct, but there was a separate selector knob that was set to Broil instead of Bake. We cut the bird into quarters and finished cooking it in the microwave. I think the men were pretty sloshed by the time dinner was ready!
peej2 on 2.21.2014
It wasn’t me but my boyfriend. He was going to eat the leftover oriental food from the previous night. Instead of soy sauce he poured on liquid smoke. He was befuddled because it didn’t taste the way I made it.
Gee…can’t imagine why.
Theresa on 2.21.2014
When I was first learning to bake I misread the ingredient list and instead of making brownies we had extremely angry chocolate soup….
lena on 2.21.2014
I made shortcakes in a glass pie dish. After removing it from the oven, I placed the shortcakes on a rack to cool. I wanted the hot pie dish to cool quickly so I placed it in the sink and ran cold water in it. It shattered into a million pieces.
Kat on 2.21.2014
Ha – perfect timing. I had one of these yesterday!
Mom came over my place for dinner. Simple dinner of sauteed chicken breast and potatoes. So as the potatoes were finishing, I took my frying pan put in some olive oil to heat up. Mom had come over to watch the Olympics, which we always did together when I was little. When I jumped in to see one of the skates, I completely forgot about my dinner. 3 minutes later smoke detectors are going off – and my house is filled with burnt olive oil smoke.
My FAVORITE is Thanksgiving a few years ago. Family tradition to sit around the living room and say what we are thankful for. It was a tough year for the family, but everyone was healthy – so we had a lot to be thankful for! So we were getting emotional and going on…and on…. Until we see smoke coming out of the kitchen! Totally forgot – we had just put the sweet potatoes and green beans under the broiler to crisp up top! Mom ran in to turn off the broiler – opened the oven – and the marshmallows were on FIRE! So she takes a pot holder and starts fanning and smothering them to put the fire out – and accidentally flings fire mallows all over the kitchen! Luckily – as the mallows were flying the fire went out – and all was good with the world. Scraped off the burnt layer, had a glass of wine, and enjoyed the rest of our dinner. Mom was a bit frayed though, even though everything still tasted delicious! Oh yeah – and my family’s been volunteering with the fire department for generations! Makin’ em proud!
Mary S. on 2.21.2014
I’ve had so many mishaps that always seem to happen when I’m preparing food for other people or for a large group.
However, the most memorable kitchen mishap came from my roommate in college. I still laugh about it to this day. It was four of us living together in a tiny apartment. Two of us could cook. One could at least handle boiling water and some essentials. The other (bless her heart) just had a hard time and was very grateful that the rest of us enjoyed cooking for others.
One day I got home from class and found some sort of batter all over the kitchen. And I smelled something baking. I asked my roommate (who can’t cook) what she was making. She was baking some brownies for a meeting we had later that night with a bunch of different sorority leaders. When mixing the brownie mix, she had chosen a very small bowl for a double batch and sent batter flying everywhere – including the stove top, which was a lovely smell when she heated it to attempt to melt some chocolate later.
With about 30 minutes to spare before our meeting, the timer went off on the brownies. When she started slicing them, I noticed something very…odd. They seemed like they weren’t quite cooked – something was runny. When I asked her about it, she said “Oh – the recipe said to use shortening but I didn’t think we had any so I just used olive oil instead!” She didn’t just lightly grease the pans – she used about 1/3 cup per pan.
I told her she couldn’t take the brownies to the meeting, but she insisted – so she set all of the brownies on some paper towels for a little bit – which were soaked a golden color from all of the oil!
When those brownies were passed around the meeting, I couldn’t stop from laughing as I politely declined. We never let her live that one down and were always very cautious when she offered up any baked goods!
Patricia @ ButterYum on 2.21.2014
Just a couple of days ago I put a glass measuring cup full of water into the microwave and set it for a couple minutes to boil. I walked away, got distracted, and about an hour later remembered that I had forgotten about the water. So I went back to the microwave and reset it for a couple minutes without looking inside. Then I pulled out a large glass mixing bowl and placed it on the counter in front of the microwave. A few seconds later the microwave door flew open with such force that it sounded like a bomb went off – and the microwave door shot the glass bowl off the counter like a canon. Of course the bowl shattered – hundreds of tiny shards of glass shrapnel all over the kitchen floor, dining room floor, foyer floor…. the debre field was huge. I was standing in my stocking feet right in the middle of it all and there was absolutely no place I could step to safely exit the room. Thankfully my daughter was home so she was able to throw my shoes to me so I could crunch my way over to the closet to get the broom, followed by two passes with the vacuum. Oh my – it was something.
Ann on 2.21.2014
I have totally done the stuffing potato peels down the garbage disposal too! In fact, I clog/break my garbage disposal so often my maintenance man thanks me every time I call him. He says since I moved in he never worries about his job security anymore.
lakeloverhh on 2.21.2014
I was 21 living far away from home and decided to host Thanksgiving Dinner for friends that also were going to be away from family. Everyone was bringing a dish and I was responsible for the turkey, gravy, and pumpkin pie. I had never made pie dough before so I took a shortcut and purchased prepared frozen pie crusts in disposable pans. I made the pumpkin pies and they came out beautifully. The turkey and gravy were amazing. after enjoying a wonderful meal I went out to the kitchen to dish up the pumpkin pie and just couldn’t cut it. The crust was so tough. Well … apparently there is a wax paper lining in the bottom of the pie shell that should have been removed before filling. I of course skipped this little detail. I got out a serrated knife and cut the pie into slices and before plating I flipped the pie filling out of each piece, peeled the paper off and replaced the filling. I covered up my mistake with lots of freshly whipped cream. I confessed to my friends and we still laugh about it now — many years later.
Beth M. on 2.21.2014
I was 18 years old, my brother was 20 and he was in college. He went to a college 45 minutes away from home. My parents and I were going to his Jazz concert so my mom decided that she would bring him homemade pizza which led to me having to make the pizza. I know how to make dough, however, this day, I managed to not make the best dough, it did not rise. I still made the pizza, not only did it not rise, but the cheese burnt a little as well, it was the saddest looking pizza. I was mortified, I protested on taking the pizza, my mom insisted. My brother had 3 roommates and I knew them all. The one roommate was from Spain, he told my brother, “that was a nice gesture of your sister to bring dinner but she has no business making pizza stick your mother’s cooking” This guy loved my mom’s Thanksgiving dinner, and every meal he was home for. He would ask for a Thanksgiving dinner in summer and mom would cook it for him. I am now 42 and have mastered the pizza. Only if I can redeem myself to the roommates.
Jenny on 2.21.2014
A few years back, I had slow-cooked a beautiful beef rump roast all day long in the oven. I had used my enamel-coated stoneware dutch oven as always. It was a thing of beautiful perfection: super juicy, fall-apart tender and surrounded by perfectly cooked red potatoes, carrots and onions. It smelled and looked divine. It finished cooking a little early for dinner and I didn’t want to overcook it, so I pulled it out of the oven and set it on the stove top until it was time for dinner (about 90 minutes). When dinner time rolled around, I needed to heat back up some and I absent-mindedly turned on the burner that the roast was sitting on to heat it up a little. I had forgotten that enameled stoneware can handle the oven, but NOT the direct heat of a stove top burner. A few minutes went by and I lifted the lid to check if it was hot enough. The pot chose that very moment to self-destruct. The entire bottom of the pot exploded and broke clean through and detached from the rest of the pot itself, sending shards of broken stoneware all over the roast and veggies and sending the precious gravy flying everywhere.
Needless to say, dinner was ruined (who wants to eat shards of stoneware?) and, heartbroken, I went and fetched some mediocre fried chicken from an off-brand restaurant. I also promptly upgraded to an enamel-coated cast iron dutch oven which is practically indestructible. 
Shanna on 2.21.2014
Well, in order to tell my story I have to make an embarrassing confession….I was making breakfast for my family one morning. I had decided that I was a busy working mom and to save myself some time I bought the shake and pour pancake mix. I filled the bottle with water and put the lid on and shook (imagine taking frustration out kind of shaking…). I guess the lid wasn’t on good. Pancake batter flew all over the kitchen and all over me (why, yes I was showered and dressed for the day already, why do you ask?) I swear the world literally stopped turning while my family and I recovered from the shock. I continued to find crusted pancake batter in odd places in the kitchen for years. I wonder if the new owners have found any? I have never again bought the shake and pour mix, and every time I make pancakes, my kids ask if I remember the time…
Carolyn on 2.21.2014
My mishap is very humorous and very memorable. I was newly married living in Italy. I was making dinner (and pms-ing) and somehow the green peas kept accidentally spilling on the floor. I asked the peas if that was where they would rather be and decided I would help them out. I slung peas all over the tiny kitchen. (Sometimes PMS just gets the best of you ;-)) After calming down with a glass of wine, I wiped the peas up. When my husband came home he came into the kitchen to greet me. He saw a few peas stuck on the kitchen wall that I had missed and asked why there were peas stuck to the wall. I grinned and said, “because that is where they want to be, any more questions?” He giggled, backed off ;-), and poured me another glass of wine. Oh by the way… I felt soooo much better after I flung peas all over the place!!!!!
Kim M on 2.21.2014
When I was 11 my 14-year-old sister and I were “latch-key” kids after school, since both my parents had to work. I always got home about 15-20 minutes before her and one day decided to make tomato soup for a snack. At first I planned to make it in our new microwave, but then I remembered that I didn’t really like it when my mom made it in the microwave, so I transferred it to the stove. Being a bit lazy and not wanting to wash an extra dish, I just put it on the stove in the ceramic mixing bowl I had used in the microwave. About 2 minutes later the bowl, predictably, exploded all over the kitchen! No one told me you couldn’t put glass or ceramic on the stovetop. Lesson rather dramatically learned! Luckily I wasn’t hurt by the shards of flying ceramic and the soup wasn’t very hot yet, but I was completely overwhelmed by the gigantic tomato soup/ceramic shrapnel mess all over the kitchen. So I switched off the stove, laid tea towels over the biggest part of the mess on the stove (to hide it I guess I was thinking) and went to clean myself up. My sister arrived home a few minutes later and let out a shriek I’d never heard before. I came out and told her through hysterical tears that the mess was too big and I’d have to wait till Mom got home to clean it up. Luckily, older and wiser heads prevailed and she helped me scrub the kitchen. My Mom found the whole story more amusing than rage-provoking, much to my relief. Probably because it wasn’t still there when she got home several hours later. However, she continued to use the remainder of the mixing bowls, minus the one I exploded, for years and I always cringed every time she took them out.
Lainey on 2.21.2014
While preparing my first homemade meal in our newly purchased home, I began preparing gravy from the pan drippings on the stove…..which were in a glass pyrex pan. I’d done this so many other times with nothing bad happening but naturally this time in the last couple minutes of letting the gravy thicken under heat that was a little too high, BANG the entire 11×13 pan EXPLODED everywhere coating the wall, stove and floor with hundreds of tiny shards of gravy covered glass. This also included my feet which were cut by the glass. Aaaaaand, the hot glass pieces that hit the floor melted little divots in the linoleum.
Needless to say I screamed bloody murder because I was so scared at what had happened, and then burst into tears because I thought I ruined dinner. Thankfully my boyfriend was very understanding, going to the store for cheater gravy after helping me clean and patch up. Even more thankfully, the other food wasn’t on the stove or near the “blast zone” at the time, so we could still salvage the dinner and eat around 10 that night.
Seven years later and we still laugh about what happened – I got a new Calphalon roasting pan for Christmas that year and never had another “gravy mishap” again!
Emilee on 2.21.2014
As a teenager I was supposed to make hard boiled eggs for our family of 8–lots of eggs. Well, I forgot it was on the stove and all the water boiled out. Then the eggs exploded all over the kitchen.
Beth Duncan on 2.21.2014
I always turn the oven on for 60-90 seconds when it’s time to proof bread dough and one day I forgot to set the timer…so I put the kneaded dough in the oven w/ towel over the bowl and leave to go walk for an hour…well when I got back the dough had risen all right, and baked! it was like a rock!
Patricia @ ButterYum on 2.20.2014
I could share a number of kitchen mishaps that have happened to me through the years, but I’ll stick to the most recent. Over the holidays I made a beautiful pumpkin pie, but somehow, while putting it in the oven, I managed to spill about a third of it. It didn’t just spill on the bottom of my oven, it spilled on the door, the hinge, the gasket – it even managed to make it’s way between the multiple glass panes of the window. Since I still had two thirds of the filling left in the pie shell, I decided ignore the spill and bake my pie anyway. I closed the oven door and cringed as I watched pie filling ooze down the front of my oven. Ugh. Okay, so I baked what was left of my salvaged pie, but that also meant the spill baked, like cement, everywhere. When the pie was done, I pulled it out of the oven and closed the door and walked away. We ate stove-top-only meals for several days until I worked up the courage to tackle the mess that awaited. My wonderful husband took the oven door apart and I spent the good part of an afternoon chipping away solidified pumpkin pie filling from all the vent holes, screw heads, hinge springs, gasket, glass panes, cracks, and crevices. My oven door is now cleaner than it’s been in years, but I hope it NEVER happens again!
Kat on 2.20.2014
Once in university, I found out that I had to leave early the next morning to go work at a kids’ camp. I wanted to make some boiled eggs to take with me for lunch on the journey, but I was panicked about finishing a paper that was due. Put the eggs on to boil, closed the kitchen door, went to my bedroom to work with a closed door, and completely forgot about the eggs. After hearing some shrieking from my roommate, I found the eggs burning in the pot on the stove! Had to put out the fire, throw away the ruined pot, and there was a damaged spot on the stove.
My roommate was so angry with me that I had to move out – it was the last straw of a tense time!
Jeff A on 2.20.2014
One evening making Bananas Foster I was I didn’t even think of it and was using a plastic spatula.I ended up with Spatula Foster.
Syrup-ladden plastic isn’t quite edible unfortunately. I lost the last bananas I had in the house and the pan it cooked in….and the spatula.
Acacia Svonavec on 2.20.2014
I mistakenly picked up cinnamon instead of the chili powder while making chili – need I say more?!
Lisa Wallace on 2.20.2014
At some point when I was first married, and we were living in a TINY apartment on campus, with a ridiculously small kitchen (1 drawer, if you can believe it) – I decided to make some banana bread, with my mother’s trusty recipe. Things seemed to be going well, and I had put it in the oven to bake. But, with the kitchen being so small, I immediately started to clean up, since there is no room for messes. I got things cleared and cleaned and leaned back against the kitchen table and crossed my arms in a very self-satisfied manner. But, that somehow put me eye-to-eye with…the bananas! It was much too late to take the pan out and mix the bananas in, so I let it finish baking. I thought it might taste okay, or perhaps be good for some other use like French toast. Nope. Truly boring stuff.
RMV on 2.20.2014
I was NOT a cook when I married, but I knew my husband’s favorite dessert was lemon meringue pie so I was determined to surprise him. Our tiny apartment kitchen had only a fridge, stove and sink. No counter at all. I laid brown paper bags down on our rickety kitchen table and used that. When I tried to roll out the pie crust, it stuck no matter how much flour I put down. I knew my mother-in-law used a glass rolling pin filled with ice water for pastry, but not having one, I grabbed a beer bottle from the fridge,scraped the label off and used that. The filling and meringue went pretty well. That night I proudly set the pie on the table and my husband manfully ate a slice. The next night when I served it he asked how much my feelings would be hurt if he scraped the filling off the crust and just ate the filling. All the flour I’d added to the crust made it hard as a rock. For many years after that I only made graham cracker crusts. This year my son-in-law asked that his Christmas gift be a lemon meringue pie. My daughter is a wonderful cook but doesn’t care for making pie. I was apprehensive, but it turned out to be fabulous and he was a happy camper.
Vicki Marston on 2.20.2014
My ex-mother in law was a fabulous cook. She was a county extension officer and judged pies and pastries at fairs all over Kansas back in the day. She made the most delicious sugar cookies I had ever eaten. ( I have posted the recipe on Tasty Kitchen) The first time I made them I put in 4″T” of cream of tarter instead of 4″t”. Oh my, they were the most awful tasting bitter cookies I had ever eaten. I threw the whole mess away and started over. Was a very expensive lesson for a 19 yr. old working in a beauty shop for 50% commission 40 yrs. ago. Haircuts were $3 back then so my self supporting budget was very tight. Never made that mistake again!
Erica Lea on 2.20.2014
One of my more recent kitchen mishaps involved chicken broth. I was simmering a pot on the stove when my sister and her husband offered to drive in with us to visit our dying grandfather. We left the house in a rush and I completely forgot about the pot. I remembered before we got home and was sure our house would be up in flames.
“Well, at least the house isn’t burned down,” I said as we pulled in the driveway.
But as we opened the door, we could smell a horrible, smoky stench. Needless to say the chicken was burnt to a crisp. It took quite a to get the smell out of the house. I’m pretty paranoid about making sure everything is turned off before I leave the house now.
AngAk on 2.20.2014
my neighbor decided to use the self-cleaning oven option to clean her very dirty oven. Never having used this before, she simply set it and let it go. the oven was so dirty that it started a fire and burned the kitchen so badly that she now has a brand spanking new kitchen. lesson learned: wipe up bad spills and whatever you can before starting the self clean cycle.
Patricia (baker4two) on 2.20.2014
I will tell you about the weirdest thing that ever happened to me in the kitchen:
I used to buy Adams peanut butter in the big jar that had the oil floating on top. When you brought it home, you had to mix the oil with the peanut butter on the bottom of the jar. It was impossible to stir, so I came up with the bright idea of putting it in the blender to stir it up. All went well until I spooned in more peanut butter than oil. My poor Oster blender was just overwhelmed and actually unscrewed itself from the base and went flying through the air in an upright position. I must’ve been in fine form that day, because as the glass top of the blender went flying over the kitchen sink——-I caught it by the handle with my left hand. I feel so sad that no one else saw this feat of perfect reflex.
Beckie on 2.20.2014
As I was preparing for hostessing my first Thanksgiving, as a newly wed, I had to do all the cooking myself, since our guests were all coming from out of town. The night before my in-laws arrived, I was hurrying to get the desserts done ahead. Making my Mother’s pumpkin pie recipe was going to be easy, except that I used aluminum pie plates, instead of my glass one. As I lowered the pies into the oven, the pie plates buckled and folded in half. Pumpkin filling went everywhere. No one had advised me to use a cookie sheet to hold the flimsy pie plates. Lesson learned… 41 years ago. No pumpkin pie for us. That was almost as bad as the fact that I had such a mess to clean up.
Maegan on 2.20.2014
I once dumped crepe batter–mistaking it for the yeast water mixture–into a batch of naan bread. Completely ruined two recipes and ended up having to discard 12 cups of flour and more olive oil than I care to think about. Woo!
I also had two recipes worth of cream cheese frosting fail on me at right around midnight. I got to make a late night run to the grocery store since the cakes were for a bake sale that was happening the next day.
Lisa on 2.20.2014
I decided the day before Thanksgiving to clean my oven to prepare for the big day. That night placed my pumpkin pie in the oven to bake for it’s hour, set to normal temp. Within 10 min’s the kitchen was filled with smoke. I opened the oven & the pie was liquid covered in black. Cleaning the oven killed the oven thermometer & it was stuck on 500 degrees. Had to make my turkey in my traveling neighbors oven along with the balance of the meal. Had to replace the stove that week.
Jo Ann from RI. on 2.20.2014
Thanksgiving a year ago. I started cooking a beautiful large bird, took it out for awhile and set it on a hard plastic cutting board then returned it to the oven with the cutting board stuck to the bottom of the pan. Not to long after my family started to smell toxic fumes. We luckily put out the flames but the smoke set off the fire alarm. After much cleaning and weeping on my part we got reservation and ate out. Lesson learn…don’t get distracted.
Rockabyebye on 2.20.2014
Hmmm. I have several… The first time I had company for dinner after becoming a mom, I made tomato suace from scratch for lasagna. It was simmering on the stove when my 4 week old daughter began to fuss. I quickly switched the stove off and went to check on her, Ater a few minutes I heard a “blump” sound that I didn’t recognize. Back to the kitchen to discover I had turned the heat to High instead of Off. The sauce had exploded all over the kitchen which had a French door and a ceiling fan. I scrubbed the ceiling with a mop. In tears. We ordered pizza.
Another time, that very same daughter, then a teenager, was making jello in a glass bowl we had used for jello many times before. When she poured the boiling water over the powder, the bowl exploded into tiny slivers of glass embedded in sticky orange jello.
I have more, but enough about me:)
Theresa on 2.20.2014
Back in my college days, we often hosted a game night for various friends. My roommate and I decided to make some snacks–she was doing her famous Rice Krispy Treats and I decided to make a Hot Fudge Sundae Cake. She had just finished her and the pan of treats was sitting on the counter next to the stove. I finished pouring my cake into its glass baking dish and placed it on the stove while I opened the pre-heated oven. I somehow was distracted at that moment and didn’t realize my cold glass baking dish had been left on the burner that was still hot from making Rice Krispy treats.
My glass dish with soupy, goopy chocolate cake exploded all over the kitchen, ruining the cake, the lovely pan of Rice Krispy treats, and most every surface the eye could see. To this day, it is the worst kitchen mishap of my life, and I am so thankful nobody happened to be standing near the stove when this happened. And the mess was just plain awful to clean up–I was finding glass slivers, dried chocolate splotches, and bits of Rice Krispy treats for days!
Clair Ellis on 2.20.2014
In college, I was house sitting for my sister and while getting ready for church I decided to heat a frozen biscuit in the microwave…for 5 minutes. Needless to say that is roughly 3 minutes too long. I managed to smoke up the whole house and ruin her microwave. Oh, I also went to church smelling like a bonfire.
Mary on 2.20.2014
All the comments are hilarious! I just love this. I can so relate, but this is my husband’s story, I only smelled the aftermath later that evening. He was trying to season two non-stick pans (why? Who knows? I think he got confused with seasoning the so-called “non-stick” green ceramic pans.) The pans got too hot and the oil in the first one caught on fire so he grabbed the handle and took it outside, then came back in to find the other pan was flaming! He cleaned it up pretty well but my white dinning room curtains are now not so white.
Linda Stewart on 2.20.2014
I have two that come to mind that stick with me and can’t seem to be topped!
1 … I had baby Lima beans cooking in a pressure cooker. The cooker was relatively new so I wasn’t concerned with anything going wrong and continued right along with the rest of dinner. About 20is or so minutes into the ‘jiggly’ process of the pressure cooking, the entire pressure valve blew off the cooker spewing boiling hot bean juice all over my kitchen. The stove top, exhaust cover, cabinets, wall, floor, even the ceiling was covered. Fortunately I had walked out of the kitchen to check on the girls who were playing in their room so no one was injured or burned. It could have been a catastrophe had anyone been in the kitchen when it happened. I found spots that had been missed with the initial cleaning, for months after that happened. Haven’t used a pressure cooker since … Thank Heaven’s for Crock Pots.
2 – A couple of years ago I started making chocolate bowls. I thought they would be fun to use for the boy’s birthday parties. They are fun, and relatively simple to make, provided you exercise patience and your chocolate isn’t too hot when you begin. It took several tries, several busted balloons, and wiping chocolate of walls, counters, cabinets, floors, ceilings, self, kids, and cat to figure out the right combination. Now I make them to hold mixed fruit, ice cream, anything that you want to serve in a bowl that will be decorative and you can eat it too.
cindykb on 2.20.2014
I am a ridiculous multi tasker to begin with, which often gets me into trouble.For kids birthday cakes, I always make Gramma Violet’s Red Velvet Frosting. The first step is making a rue of flour and milk. To hurry the cooling process, I decided the cool night air would do the trick, so set the pan outside….several tasks later, I went to check the cooled mix………which wasn’t there?!?! Had I not made it? Did I just plan to put it outside and never really gotten there far. Sigh…….I mixed and cooked again……..put the pan outside……….only this time the pan was empty when I returned to check on it. What?? Have I totally lost my mind ??? Onto batch #3……..only this time, I will join my pan on the patio as it cools. Bill the Goat and Larry the Newfie, graciously joined me on the patio, which is when I noticed a definitely sticky Goat Nose, and White goo Bearded Larry!! Larry had apparently carried off the first pan, and Bill Goat graciously helped him devour the contents of both pans!
Lynne on 2.20.2014
I have two that come to immediate memory–one is a family legend and one, not so much.
The 1st–I made lasagna and as I was taking the gloriousness out of the oven, I promptly dropped it. Luckily, I had a cover on it so the upside down lasagna (lasagna’s are like buttered toast–landing on the gooey side–every time!) only looked worse for wear. But since this was a “first time meal” my super finicky son wouldn’t touch it. That is until I told him it wasn’t just regular lasagna, but special “floor lasagna”. So he tried it and liked it. So, always after that, the only way he’d eat lasagna was if it was “floor lasagna”.
the 2nd: We scraped the “popcorn” off our kitchen/dining room/living room ceilings and re-did them with a mud texture. If you have removed popcorn, you know that you have to create an inverted condom out of plastic tarps of some sort to collect the ubiquitous dust that is created in the process. As we were taping the plastic I noticed that I had left the Brita pitcher out–so I quickly stuck it in the oven. Then forgot all about it. And you know what happened the next time I used the oven. Yep–melted Brita pitcher. YUCK–the melted plastic smell lingered seemingly forever.