On Failed Recipes

Is it is just me or is it really depressing when you spend a bunch of time to make a new recipe and then it tastes awful?  I think this is one the main reasons I’ve never been a very adventurous eater.  I find things I like and I eat them over and over.  Maybe it gets a little boring to eat the same stuff, but at least I don’t have the disappointed (and hungry) feeling when I try something new and it turns out badly.

But the thing is I am trying to be a more adventurous eater, and I’ve actually been really lucky with all the new recipes I’ve tried since I started cooking.  Until now.  This week I’ve made two things that I just couldn’t finish eating.  And it’s not that I cooked them wrong, it’s that I didn’t like the taste.  Luckily, I think I can make some ingredient changes in both that would make them better.  I guess that’s part of the fun of cooking, though?  Trying new things, seeing what works and what doesn’t.  And hopefully that disappointed feeling doesn’t stay long because instead of dwelling, I’m thinking of ways to make it better next time.

The first problem dish was a risotto.  I’ve already mentioned that I’m not really a wine drinker.  I’ll drink it on special occasions, but there’s a never a time that I actually want a glass of wine.  I just don’t like the taste of wine or any alcohol really.  It’s makes me feel abnormal sometimes, but what can you do?  Anyway, I’ve used wine in other recipes and never had problems because those dishes never tasted like wine in the end, but this risotto?  It was basically wine flavored risotto.  It had parmesan and chicken broth in it, but the wine just completely overpowered everything.  If you like wine, you’d love this risotto, but both my boyfriend and I hated it.  I’m always looking for new (non-potato) side dishes, though, so I plan on making this again and substituting more chicken broth instead of the wine.  Chicken flavored rice isn’t as sophisticated, but at least it’s something I know will taste good.

The second dish was not nearly as bad as the risotto.  It was actaully edible, but the more I ate, the less I liked it.  It was meatloaf.  Meatloaf?!  I’ve always hated meatloaf, but I realized not long ago that I’ve never eaten any.  I remember my mom used to make it and I just refused to eat in on principle.  A loaf of meat?  Gross! So I came across a recipe in one of my cookbooks and decided that I should actually try meatload instead of just writing it off.  But I think the problem was the recipe because it was trying to be like “cool” meatloaf or something.  (Stupid Rachael Ray, all the recipes in this book are like that.)  It had weird stuff in it like ground almonds and scallions and bell peppers.  The gritty texture of the ground almonds is what really got to me after awhile, because it was combined with ground turkey which is much softer and mushier than ground beef, so it was like mushy and gritty at the same time, which is just not a very good combination.  But despite all that it wasn’t that bad. Brandon actually seemed to like it a lot and I can see how meatloaf could be good.  I just need to find a more traditional recipe, or at least substitute ground turkey for ground beef and maybe use bread crumbs instead of the ground almonds? Ground almonds are good in Pineapple upside down cake, not meatloaf. I did like the concept, which was these cute little individual sized loaves instead of one big menacing ball of meat, I probably wouldn’t have ever made the recipe if it hadn’t been for that.

Tonight is chicken because it’s really hard to screw up chicken.  Baby steps, right?  I can’t be expected to be adventurous all the time. Sometimes you just gotta make something because you know it’s gonna be good.