Mislabeling, Giggle Fits, and Hot Lava
Kitchen Confessional | Pro Edition
The professionals have come out of the kitchen to spill their confessions with us (literally). See, even the pros make mistakes. Actually, it should read, especially the pros make mistakes!
We are all in this together, from the oops, I burned it, to the oh, SUGAR, I forgot to add the salt, to the famous last words of ‘should I ratchet strap the fridge? Nah, we are not going that far.’ (See photo below of the aftermath of this decision.)
Butter Cult is a safe space to share your deepest, darkest kitchen moments🖤. In doing this, you will not only get it off your chest, but you will also help us ALL learn and grow by sharing YOUR stories. The kitchen is not that serious, and we should be having more fun with our failures.
Kitchen Confessions from the Pros
When we mislabeled a batch of mild special reserve salsa as hot. We did not realize this until we were at the farmers market sampling the ‘mild,’ and customers tasting the mild were struggling with the heat level. I immediately tried the salsa and quickly realized what had happened. The interesting part was watching a few of the poor souls who tried this salsa and had their mouths set on fire at the booth. 🔥Salsa Dan
This is both hysterical and a travesty. Spice is soooooo different to every palate that mislabeling a mild could be a matter of life and death for some people. I can just picture people at the farmers market booth dressed up all cute with their manic dog in tow, thinking they are going to have a free little salsa snackie, and POW, they get hit in the taste buds with a very hot salsa. I have had this salsa, and the hot really means hot! It’s not some waft of wannabe spice. It is a full KO to the senses. Don’t get me started on the extra hot or the extra extra hot!
I caught nuts on fire in the oven because the oven wasn’t done preheating, and the oven heated from the broiler setting. I never trust ovens anymore. 😆🥴Fed and Full
If we can get past the phrase ‘caught my nuts on fire’ without going into a full-fledged giggle fit, then we can acknowledge that this was VERY unfortunate. Nuts are very sensitive! (Take a breath.) You should never walk away if you are toasting nuts on the stove top, OR set a timer if you have them in the oven. That is the first lesson here. The second is tricky. This submission is from a private chef who works in many kitchens. When you do this, you have to relearn where things are and how the equipment on site works. Thus, the oven heating from the broiling setting was most likely not expected. Now that I am thinking about it, does my oven heat from the broiling setting🧐 I don’t think so. Maybe I will try it out on some poor unsuspecting nuts.
Speaking of not trusting ovens. I was renting a space for my boutique catering company, and I was allowed to use this chest freezer that was converted into a fridge to store my goods. It was early days, so I jumped at the opportunity and opted not to buy a fridge just yet. I had no idea how a converted freezer works and flung that lid open and closed as much as I needed. I had a small order that was due early Saturday morning, and to save me from getting up at the crack of dawn, I decided to prepare it on Friday afternoon and then just roll in before the customer pickup on Saturday. NBD. The next morning, I did just that. I roll in and head to the fridge to get the mini charcuterie boxes out so I can put them in a nice bag with their crackers. I opened the fridge and it was a freezer. EVERYTHING inside was frozen solid! The charcuterie boxes, the extra cheese, the meats, the leftover fruit, everything! I stood there looking at it like WTF happened here. I was checking for a knob or dial or something that would indicate that I accidentally changed the temperature. I had to let the customer know that her boxes were frozen and that I couldn’t even replace them because everything was frozen. She was bummed and turned very slowly and walked out the door—we were both processing what had just transpired. Don’t worry, I gave her a refund and apologized profusely. Turns out that there is a little probe thermometer that sits in the freezer and controls the temperature to a fridge setting. I had somehow knocked this out when I was opening and closing the lid the day before😫. This had never happened before, and it never happened again because I, marched straight out the door that day and went and bought a fridge! 💋Nicole
The lesson here is don’t be cheap and invest in your business. A couple of these cuties were solid frozen, just so you have a visual.
The first kitchen mistake I made was doubling the amount of baking powder in a recipe. Thinking I didn’t put it in the first time. My cakes were lava! I cried. Everyone just laughed it off and said to start over. Mise en Place is very important! 🧁Clarion
What’s the lesson? Mise en place! It is French for everything in its place, the prepping of the ingredients BEFORE you begin to make your dish. In a professional kitchen, this is extra important because the batches you are making are large and the ingredients may be all over the kitchen, and you have to gather what you need, usually on a cart and wheel them back to your area. You can’t take the whole flour bin cause other people may need to use it. Then once you have all your ingredients measured, you can start the baking process and, in theory, not mix up or miss any ingredients. But the best laid plans, haha.
Upcoming confessional themes are moms’ and pets. If you are a mom or have a mom-related kitchen mishap story, please share it with us! Also looking for some juicy pet-related kitchen mishaps. Did the dog eat your entire pumpkin pie off the counter? Did you cat spill an entire container of salt and give zero F’s? Did a seagull swoop down and steal your freshly fried funnel cake at Disneyland? Tell us your stories and share with someone who needs a laugh! If you want to include a photo with your mishap story, that would be incredible, but not required. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
Cheers,
Nicole | Butter Cult
As promised. The aftermath of not ratchet-strapping the fridge😂
