Sometimes cooking just doesn’t work out. It’s rare that I make something completely inedible, but I have turned out several less than delicious dishes lately. I’ll spare you the recipes, but please join me on this tour of Unfortunate Eats.
First up: Elbow Grease Enchiladas
The ingredients look good, don’t they? That wasn’t the problem. This recipe required dipping each tortilla in hot oil to soften. Apparently, this is a more authentic way to assemble enchiladas. For some reason, this simple step was not easy for me. I ended up with a plate of soggy, oily tortillas soaking through several paper towels.
The other problem with this recipe was the assembly line required to put the dish together. Take a soggy, oily tortilla. Dip it completely in enchilada sauce. Add filling roll and place in the dish. I had grease and sauce up to my elbows after making these. And the result tasted pretty good, but not quite as good as Enchiladas with Tomato-Chili Sauce, and they were lots more work to make.
Come along to our next stop, Lackluster Linguini:
Simple recipe. Healthy ingredients. I thought it would be a winner. Even with plenty of fresh garlic it just didn’t taste good. In fact, it didn’t taste at all. Plain Jane Pasta. Lackluster Linguini.
We’ve come to the dessert portion of our tour. I didn’t think it was possible to really mess up a dessert. I was wrong. However, it didn’t keep us from eating them.
These are the ingredients for You-Lie-Like-a-Dog Cookies
Such promise. How is it possible to go wrong with cocoa, sugar and caramel bits? They should have been wonderful. A soft cookie with chocolate dough studded with caramel. The promise of greatness was a lie. The texture was off. The caramel too hard for the cookie. The chocolate wasn’t deep enough to fully set off the caramel. So dissapointing.
Last, but not least: These-Smell-Funny-Butt-Dust-Brownies
My second attempt at these Picnic Bars and they were an even worse flop. The first time, I left out the eggs. I shared that story here, along with why we called them Butt Dust Brownies. At least those tasted good. For reasons unknown to any of us, the entire time these baked, they smelled weird. I can’t even identify the odor. And they tasted strange too. Luckily, my family is more interested in getting to eat chocolate, even if it doesn’t taste good. Even if we complained about the strange taste, while eating them.
In case you ever wondered, I do make all the recipe I share on Eat at Home. Main dishes are our dinners and I’m usually trying to snap photos quickly before we sit down to eat. I share only what we like. It’s my goal to weed through the recipes for you. I hope that any recipe you try from my site will be a hit with your family too. I know it won’t always work out that way, but that’s what I strive for. I don’t want you to cook up your own series of unfortunate eats.
I’ve had my share of flops too, and I HATE to throw out uneaten food!
That’s the risk of trying new recipes- but well worth it. Even better when someone else shares their flops to keep the rest of us from throwing out food!
I think we all have flops occasionally.
That linguine does look good though. Maybe I’ll steal the idea and tweak it a bit.
I love the names you gave your flops…too cute!
hmmm, I wonder why your enchiladas flopped. thats exactly how my mom makes them… with the oil, I mean. she puts them in the hot oil to make them soft, but she doesnt dip them in sauce afterwards. she just fills them with filling… ground beef mixed with taco spices, tomato sauce, and cheese… rolls them up… puts them in a dish with cheese on top and pops them in the oven to let the cheese melt. we call these “Fake Enchiladas” but they are really good.
Cheryl, all I can figure is that the oil was not hot enough. It seemed hot, it sizzled, but maybe it needed to be hotter. I might get brave and try it again sometime. If I do, I’ll take your hint of not dipping them into the sauce. That would make it much neater.
When I make ecnchiladas, I just warm the tortillas on the griddle pan until they are soft and pliable, no need for hot oil – maybe that would help? Though it is a very time consuming dish.
I’m sorry your authentic enchiladas didn’t turn out good! I make them like that all the time- but I do one thing differently- in the assembly line I dip in the red enchilada sauce first- then fry them about a minute in hot oil (350 degrees), then do the filling- they never turn out greasy! better luck next time.
Sometimes when pasta doesn’t taste all that great- sometimes it just needs another dash or two of salt. (what a great way to make turn a healthy meal into unhealthy…..)
Howdy, I love your site. Thank you for all the great recipes, menu’s and tips. When I make “authentic” enchiladas I omit the oil dipping. My family thought they were to greasy when I made them this way. Now, I simply heat the tortillas in a pan to make them soft, fill them with the goodies and place them on a pan that has enchilada sauce on the bottom. Then when the pan is full I pour enchilada sauce over the top, add cheese and bake.
I think I will try the way Stephanie makes them 🙂 and see if my family notices.
I make enchiladas with the oil dipping, too, but do not dip in the enchilada sauce. I only use corn tortillas as I have heard that flour ones do not fare as well in the dipping process. Also, I only dip them for a few seconds and take them right out–if you leave them in longer, you end up with corn chips (which is not all bad!) Anyway, I love your recipes and my family enjoys them each week. I’m sure your flops are few and far between–My greatest flop was the meatloaf that wouldn’t cook. Over an hour in the oven and finally–in frustration–broke it up and cooked it several minutes on the stove top. The meat still would not brown. Ugh. We ordered pizza. This was followed a few weeks later by burnt to a crisp pork tenderloin. Another pizza night.
I’ve had many flops as well. It’s nice to see someone admitting to cooking not always going well 🙂
And I’ve learned with enchiladas {a fave here in our home} to skip the dipping of tortillas entirely….because it IS just too darn messy! Pouring the sauce over the top before baking works just as well! {or it does when I do it! lol}
It is so nice to know that even great cooks have recipes that just don’t fly! I felt like I was the only one (and I am NOT a great cook) who works hard on a new recipe only to have it taste awful and not even want to eat it. That brings me very near to tears.