Poll for all the people who cook

Tonight I experimented. Sometimes this goes well. Other times (like tonight) not so much. My experiment is for a future blog video so I'll keep to myself what this particular failure was but it wasn't my biggest.

My biggest experiment failure was my first pass at ricottage pancakes. I had seen them on Eggface's website and was all excited to make them. I have NO idea what I did wrong that first  time but they came out AWFUL! Did not look good, did not taste good, just was a bad, bad thing. I have since made them correctly and they are wonderful (thank you Eggface!) but that first time...yowsa...

For all the cooks...what was your most disastrous experiment? It doesn't have to be WLS related.

 Well... my failure isn't exactly cooking related.  But it's definitely experiment related.

 I'm a long time reader of the Pasta Queen website (she lost half her weight through diet and exercise - blogged about it and got a book deal - and she's hilarious).  So anyway she's got this regular segment on her blog called "Lick the Produce."   Basically she goes to the grocery store or fruit market or wherever and finds produce she's never tried before (fruit or veggie).  Take it home and tries it for the first time and blogs about it.  

So a few months ago I was inspired to give it a try. But first you should know that I'm kind of picky when it comes to fruit.  I'm more adventurous with veggies, but definitely picky with fruit.  I don't eat melon (any kind of melon) and don't really like stone fruit or any type of food that requires too much work (peel and eat shrimp, hot wings, oranges, crab legs).  Ok... so I decided to try new produce.  

Ugli Fruit -- yuck
Papaya -- yuck 
Rutabaga - yuck
Jicama -- yuck
Mango -- yuck (plain is bad, put it in stuff and it's alright)
Starfruit - yuck
Plantanes -- yuck (but I probably didn't cook them right)
Pomagrante -- tasty, but way too much work for not much reward

Ok.... so you get the idea.  I tried really hard to be open minded, but I just couldn't deal with and eventually gave up.  

You didn't like jicama?!?!? I love jicama! (which of course doesn't mean you have to...just sayin..)

Plantanos! I used to love plantanos w/ scrambled eggs and rice. YUM.

 I had high hopes for Jicama.  WIth both you and Tara raving about it, I really wanted to like them too (such good stats on that thing and perfect post-meal crunch).  It really reminded me of my elementary school days when Danny Reed would bring sugar beets to show-n-tell and the teacher would peel it and cut it up into chunks so we could all have a taste.  (Yes folks, sugar does come from beets, not just cane!)  So, I tried Jicama but it just didn't call to me like it does to you.  

Well kudos to you for trying!

As far as the plantains...you cook them sort of how you'd cook a potato. Did you ever make potato hash for breakfast pre-op? Kinda like that. It's an acquired taste I think. Folks expect them to taste banana like.

I think the only veggie I straight up can't stand (and it's only in one variation) is okra cooked by itself. The slime! Ew! But cut okra that has been frozen, I can use in stews and gumbo and stuff and be fine.

Nik, try okra, fresh whole stems, BAKED.  Yummy goodness right there!  I trim the touch stalk end, wash, salt and pepper and bake.  Awesome!

Of course, I love okra any way, any how, any time.

even when it's slimy? EWWWW! (smiles)

I've had it that way and that's good too. My mother makes a dish called (simply) corn, tomato and okra. She uses cut okra though. She cuts corn right off the cob after its been grilled in a little butter, chops up fresh tomatoes, and combines with okra. She fries up a couple pieces of bacon and then cooks the veggies in the leavings and puts the crumbled bacon in there too. Then she adds some red pepper flakes, some chili powder, and a little cayenne.

WOOO-WHEEE! That's some good eatin'!

I always feel a need to apologize when I don't like something-- I don't want to be provincial or uncultured--- but the fact is I hate seafood, and I hate Indian food. yes, I keep trying. Yes I have had gret quality stuff. I just don't like the flavors.

My first major stupid mistake was, in fact , tonight. I have Butter Rum extract and went to put a drop in my shake and instead got a glug. I didn't want to waste it so I tried adding a ton of syrups and sweeteners, and it had the distinct taste of sweetened isoproyl alcohol...Mmmmm! ;)

Ok, I will play...
My first time cooking hamburgers.  (I was very young)
The only thing I had helped make with my mom was cookies.  You make them into balls and when you bake them they spread out to make flat cookies...  (are you getting the picture yet?)

We lived on a farm and my dad came in and told me he needed me to try and make something for lunch for him and the farm hands since everyone else was gone but me.  I am sure I gave him the deer in the headlights look...  He said just make hamburgers.  Little ol' me just said oookay...

Anyway, everyone got a chuckle out of meat balls since, as we all know now, hamburgers patties are not made like cookies where they spread out nicely into flat cookies.