Solo flight

[love-cooking2]

I must have been about 15 or 16 and old enough to look after myself in my parents absence.
I remember watching Graham Kerr's cookery programme, the galloping gourmet as he was known, with his glass of wine and flamboyant style.
My thoughts were if you can do it, I can do it better.
So I started with a pinch of this and a dash of that, raiding the cupboard as I went.
I transformed a braising steak in no time at all, into a meal fit to be used as a shoe sole.
I suspect it was more to do with the cut of meat, rather than the ingredients added to it, which included dried tarragon, dried fenugreek, dried mint, baking powder, curry powder, salt and pepper.
Have you noticed the odd man out?
So what was your first solo experiment, how did it turn out and how old were you?

 

[CraigC]

I ruined perfectly good Florida lobster tails. I had caught them the same day. The spices I still use today, but the technique and cooking time have changed. They really shouldn't be boiled for an hour. I ate them anyway! That was my first lesson that made me always ask myself, how can I improve on this?

Craig

 

[garlicjosh]

i was 13. Had just gone vegetarian and had to start cooking for myself..had no idea how to prepare tofu. ended up using it fully raw unsqueezed in some sort of pasta dish...it was terrible. ruined the whole thing. pretty sure I ruined a batch of brownies not long after that too...man i've come a long ways

 

[Zhizara]

I don't remember any particular problems until I was just married and tried to make the easy over eggs my new husband wanted. It probably was at least a year before I could do it consistently.

Talk about a long ways, now I make 2 for myself and flip them. Yeah, sometimes they break, but I just let them cook a few seconds more and slide them onto my plate while still runny.

 

[Linda123]

I wanted to make divinity/sea foam candy. I followed the directions explicity. Unfotunately, the receipe did not say to beat the egg whites. I buried the mess in the garden.

This happened when I was a teenager, still at home.

 

[Zhizara]

I wanted to make divinity/sea foam candy. I followed the directions explicity. Unfotunately, the receipe did not say to beat the egg whites. I buried the mess in the garden.

This happened when I was a teenager, still at home.

 

[jabbur]

I was a teenager and used to cooking but tried my hand at my grandma's ice cream hot fudge topping. Her fudge sauce turned chewy when applied to ice cream and was wonderful. I acquired the ingredients, mixed according to directions, then it came to the last step. It said to bring to a boil and stir constantly. Didn't say how long or how hard of a boil. I guesstimated and guessed wrong. Too high a boil for too long. We poured it on our ice cream and it it immediately became rock hard candy. A piece shattered and I actually cut my thumb! (no blood loss though) I learned about boiling sugar! That incident still gets talked about at family gatherings.