We have all been there. You've been slaving away for hours trying to make the perfect pastry, the most delectable casserole, a dreamy sauce. Then, you get to a stage and something doesn't seem.... right. You triple-check the recipe, recount the steps in your head and still somehow, your vanilla custard looks more like scrambled egg whites than something you can spread in a tart.
Suddenly, you start to sweat a little, you can feel your pulse begin to quicken, you look at the clock and see you have 25 minutes before guests arrive and you have flour in your hair. Well, if there is one thing I have learned, crying and stamping your feet does not make your hollandaise sauce any less revolting looking (although it feels like it will!).
Well friends, fear no more, I'm going to teach you a Zoe-original method that I use, well, a lot.
CPR: Culinary Pandemonium Recovery
I feel the same way about cooking and baking as I do about being a musician: it's not just the amount of skill or talent you have, it's how well you can handle those small (or very large) mistakes we all make from time to time. Because some days, the damn pie crust just does not want to roll out (can I get an Amen?).
Here are some very straight-forward but helpful hints I've acquired (mostly the hard way) over the past few years.
1. Accidentally dumped a little too much of one ingredient in your dish? Hand slip while holding the salt? Well, the only sure-fire solution to that problem is letting your hand slip with everything.. aka. get ready to double that recipe! I had to freeze five tart doughs once... oops!
2. Here's a classic Zoe move: slaving away over your cake only to take it out of the pan too soon and it crumble into several steaming, vanilla pieces. Here's a couple great tricks: a) make a simple syrup on the stove with sugar and water (or you can add fruit to reduce down) and fill in the cracks. This will hold the cake together and make it a smoother surface to ice. b) fill in the cracks with frosting... who doesn't want more frosting? c) crumble that cake up, because you're making trifle!
3) When candy and fudge won't set: Add more liquid (cream) and but that pot back on the stove to keep boiling.. and have faith!
4) When your frosting looks like sugar soup. Well ladies and gentlemen, I don't mean to brag, but frosting just happens to be my specialty, born out of a long and deep love affair with birthday cake. The key to saving your frosting is small additions. Take a PORTION of your icing and add more confectioners' sugar until it's starting to get super thick, then add VERY small amounts of milk, or butter, or cream cheese, or really and delicious wet ingredient at a time while continually tasting so that the sugar doesn't dominate and give your guests cavities.
5) How to fix a cream sauce: I'm not sure if this is the best method, but it works for me! I set my sorry looking sauce aside and boil some new cream in a pot until it's reduced down significantly. Then I simply add the sorry sauce and whisk until my biceps are numb and voila! The creamy delicious sauce of your dreams.
I hope this helps your future kitchen endeavours, and I will be sure to post more as more disasters happen - which they will!
What are your go-to kitchen nightmare fixes?
