To churn out delicious and appealing meals from the kitchen, and minding human imperfection, problems prop up in the process.
For some people, the moment some of these mistakes happen, the next thing is to throw the food away and settle for eating out or just snacking.
“If there is any problem I usually encounter, it is in adding salt to ogbono soup. Most of the time, I throw the whole soup away because it is beyond salvaging,” revealed Maria Adeyemi, a housewife.
However, cooking experts have revealed that everything doesn’t have to be thrown away in such situations, as some are redeemable while some others can be converted into something as delicious as what we planned out in the first place.
As easy as it may seem, some people’s pasta still comes out sticky and gummy. This could be as a result of cooking in a small pot, not breaking up the noodles or not using enough water.
Bimbo Coker, a Lagos-based caterer, explains that the best way to cook pasta is to fill a large pot with water and let it come to a rapid boil. Then add two tablespoons of salt before adding the pasta and stirring occasionally.
“However, if the pasta is already sticky, drain it well and toss in your favourite sauce, instead of olive oil. If it won’t be eaten immediately, rinse the pasta in cold water to remove the starch,” she explained.
In the same line is the issue of over-cooked rice. This may be as a result of too much water or inconsistent cooking heat. Coker explained that the way to go is to rinse it in cold water in a sieve and separate the rice with the fingers.
Alternatively, she said, it can be turned into rice pudding, or fried rice with vegetables and other spices.
There is also the ‘too salty’ disaster. Although there was a belief that the easy solution to salty food is to drop raw potatoes into it to ‘absorb’ the salty flavour, it has been discovered that it is not really realistic.
“If your stew or soup is too salty, reduce the salty liquid and add plain liquid; fresh unsalted stock or just water. If it is rice, remove some of the salty one and stir in plain, cooked, unsalted rice to balance the flavour,” Sola Olatunji, a caterer, proffered.
Olatunji had also dealt with the challenge of getting her cake out of the pan after baking. She measured everything, but forgot to oil the pan with butter; so the cake stuck.
To get the cake out, she simply tried cutting it into three pieces and gently lifting out the pieces with a spatula, then ‘gluing’ them together with frosting; but she also tried out something else.
“A friend of mine advised me to put it in a freezer, so that it can cool down. When I removed it, I ran a butter knife around the sides. Then I insert two forks at opposite ends and, using them as levers, nudge the cake upwards. Finally, I upturn the pan, tap one edge and out it comes,” she narrated.
When the soup or stew has too much oil floating on it, the first thing that comes to mind is scooping away the excess oil.
But Coker has her own way of doing it – with ice cubes. “I stir them into the pot and the fat will stick to the cubes. But I have to be fast, so they don’t melt in,” she said.
There is no big deal about making mistakes in the kitchen, so long as one is ready to rectify them by being creative or starting all over again.
