Lets share our Holiday Disaster/Near Disasters

[AuntieV]

With the holidays right around the corner I am starting to remember some of the near disasters that we have had fixing the big meal. These near misses always come up when we are sitting around visiting after the meal.

Here are a couple of mine:

Many years ago we decided that fixing the whole meal for about 35 people was way too much work and expense for just the three of us so we asked each family to contribute something. We let everyone pick what they wanted to bring except my Auntie Ruth. With her history of not knowing how to cook, we asked her to bring the potatoes. After all how can you mess up mashed potatoes?

Par for the course Auntie was the last to show up. She walked in the door with a 5 pound bag of raw spuds when we were ready to sit down to eat. Thank goodness we decided to have extra potatoes on hand. When we realized that she was not going to be here early we started peeling spuds.

Another time we had the bird in the oven when the oven decided to go into self cleaning mode. The oven held the bird hostage for over an hour before it unlocked even when the plug was pulled. Lucky for us the bird was not burned but was ready to serve when we were able to get the door open. We cooked the rest of the meal on top of the stove or in the convection/microwave.

 

[PieSusan]

My mom would always forget to serve the dinner rolls and after dessert was eaten she would find them in the kitchen and bring them out and ask if anyone wanted any? It always made us all laugh.

She rarely burned anything. Occasionally, while steaming string beans the pan would run dry and they would burn and she would toss them and it would be my job to clean all that black mess off the bottom of the pot.

Worst thing that I did--years and years ago, I had a cheesecake collapse because I was too young and impatient to let it set. Fortunately, when it collapsed and fell it did so on a on a clean table. So my mom was very quick thinking--it was her Julia Child moment. We got out the muffin tin and lined them with paper and then, got the ice cream scoop and made cheesecake balls and stuck the whole thing in the freezer. When they were served, no one was the wiser and my mom and I laughed about it. And my dad thought it was brillant.

Finally, when I first started bread baking, I once underbaked a bread and it wound up feeding the birds. So, don't get discouraged. Mishaps happen to everyone. That is why I loved Sara Moulton. She had an easy going way and went with the flow. It is a better way to be rather than driving yourself crazy with trying to be perfect all the time.

 

[smoke king]

Ummmmm, let see, Turkey fryer on the (carpeted) back porch......I assumed one box of peanut oil was the correct amount for one turkey so I put it all in....Then I dropped the birds and it gets a little hazy......oil overflowing and onto the open flame..........lots of yelling and confusion......dogs barking.......people running and dropping beers.........fire and thick black smoke (synthetic I/O carpet is not fire-retardent).........and finally, fire extinguisher powder all over everything within 30 feet!!

15 people feasting on Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts.

I have learned my lesson-this year I'm gonna use a little less oil !!

 

[babetoo]

mashed potatoes left in micro. no one asked why no mashed potatoes
sister-in-flying across kitchen when turkey grease was spilled.
my son pretending to have cut himself on electric knife while carving. catsup on his hand.looked really bad and most of family was in on it cept me.

 

[Barbara L]

I can't think of any real disasters, and we would always notice missing mashed potatoes! My mom did leave the peas in the microwave one year though. No one noticed until she found them the next day.

Barbara

 

[LPBeier]

I have a few.

The first isn't mine, but I just love it. My ex-husband's father always cooked the Christmas turkey and he liked to get a fresh one on Christmas Eve. They lived on the prairies at that time and it was a typical cold winter. He came home with all the groceries and brought everything in and put it away. The next morning he went to prepare the turkey and couldn't find it. Then he realized that he had forgotten it in the car. His beautiful fresh turkey was frozen solid. I think they had a roast beef from the freezer that year!

My Auntie Jean was not noted for her cooking but loved to entertain. She decided to have the whole family in for Thanksgiving and insisted that she would cook the entire dinner, no one had to bring anything. It was an incredible dinner and she talked about how she slaved over the stove, how she made her own salad dressing, and on and on. Well, my sister went into the kitchen for something and found a box from the catering company and as any typical 16 year old would, brought it out and said "Auntie Jean, did you do your own packaging too?"

Finally my own - I was making Christmas dinner for my family and DH's parents. I had just got a new stove with a convection oven and decided to try the turkey on convection roast. I didn't calculate the time properly as the only thing I had cooked in it previously was chocolate chip cookies (it was THAT new). We were scheduled to eat at 5:30. Well the turkey was done, I didn't have any of the vegetables cooked yet, though they were ready to be turned on and my in-laws weren't there yet. I was mortified - how could I have forgotten to turn them on. Then my sister came into the kitchen to calm me down and said "Laurie, it is only 3:30, there is lots of time yet! Man, that was a good oven! I carved the bird, then warmed it just before we were ready to eat and everything turned out perfect.

 

[chefmaloney]

One year I left the plastic bag of giblets unopened in the end of the bird. Didn't find it till we were carving. Mom asked me if that was my secret to producing such a tender bird. haha

(not holiday related) my brother took the chicken pot pies out of the trays and baked them on a cookie sheet. While HE was cleaning the cookie sheet he hollered: "How much do these cookie sheets cost?"

 

[Michelemarie]

These are all funny stories! The first turkey I ever made was for my parents - x-hubby and I were hurting from the previous night's party - he put the bird in the oven - with the bag of stuff inside - we did not know until we started carving the bird - oh well..........

 

[chefmaloney]

(just remembered another one)

Friends of ours had put the turkey on the outside patio table for a couple of hours to speed up the defrosting and the dogs next door got to it. They fought like dogs and shredded it.

 

[AuntieV]

Thanks everyone for sharing