Sauce Burned on Bottom
Remove the pan from the heat immediately! Don't stir. Place the bottom of the pan into a sink full of cold water to stop the cooking. Don't stir the sauce! Pour the top 3/4 of it into a new pan, leaving the burned part behind. Taste the sauce. It might still be okay, but if you detect any burned flavor, you'll have to throw it away and start over.
Lumpy Gravy
Pour the gravy through a sieve into another saucepan. Don't press the gravy through - just let it drip through the sieve.
Candy Won't Set
When you're making cooked candy and it just won't set, add a few tablespoons of cream, return it to the heat, bring it to a boil and cook to the correct temperature as specified in the recipe. Cooked candies are simply concentrated sugar solutions. Removing more liquid by boiling is the only way to fix this problem.
Bread Machine Problems
For lots of help troubleshooting bread making problems, visit: Bread Machine Basics.
Runny Frosting
When faced with runny frosting, your first thought is to add tons more confectioner's sugar. But if the frosting is really runny, you probably don't have enough sugar to fix it and if you do manage to make it thicker, it will be too sweet. Divide the frosting in half and add confectioner's sugar to half of it. You'll have a better chance of thickening it this way.
Pie Problems
For an excellent list of pie help, see my lesson Pie Crust 101 and Step by Step Hot Water Pastry.
Hardened Chocolate
If you are melting chocolate and it suddenly becomes hard and grainy (seizes), chances are liquid got into the chocolate. You can smooth it out by adding a teaspoon of plain cooking oil or solid shortening per ounce of chocolate and heating gently while stirring.
Cookie Problems
To fix broken, burned, soft, hard, or uneven cookies, see Top 10 Tips for Making the Best Cookies.
Separating Eggs
If you are separating eggs and a bit of yolk gets into the white, take a piece of egg shell to scoop out the yolk. This works much better than using a spoon or your fingers. When you are separating large numbers of eggs, crack each one over a small bowl, separate the yolk from the white, then pour the white into a larger bowl with the others. This will prevent contaminating the whole bowl with one broken yolk.
Cake Sticks to Pan
Make sure to grease the cake pan using shortening or butter that is UNSALTED. Salted butter will make the cake stick. Try returning the cake to the oven for 3-4 minutes until the pan is hot. Then place the hot pan on top of a wet kitchen towel for about a minute. Or you can spin the cake pan on a stove burner for a few seconds to heat the bottom. Next time, use cooking spray that contains flour; almost nothing will stick to that. Also see Cake Science, my explanation of how the ingredients in cakes work together.
GENERAL ADVICE
- Read the recipe before you begin cooking.
- Make sure you have all the ingredients on hand. Or see Equivalents and Substitutions.
- Get in the habit of setting a timer five minutes less than the recipe suggests. And carry the timer with you if you leave the kitchen!
- Read How to Read a Recipe to learn how to read a 'cooking' recipe and a 'baking' recipe.
- Never measure any ingredient over the mixing bowl or saucepan.
- Test your oven accuracy using an oven thermometer.
Do you have a food disaster tip or question? Send an email my way and I'll add it to this list.
