No matter how good a cook you are there will be times when you can ruin a recipe. Adding too much salt or burning the base of the pan can wreck a meal so I want to share some tips on how to save a meal.
If for example you add too much salt the best way to save this dish is to add chunks of raw potato into the dish and hopefully the potato will absorb the excess salt but remove the potato before serving and throw out.
The worst thing that can quickly ruin a meal is scorching or burning the base of the saucepan. The burnt flavour can quickly go into the sauce and make it inedible. It may be too late to save the dish but I have something that you could try and see if it helps before you throw out the dish. If you accidentally scorch or burn the base of a dish then as quickly as possible tip out the contents into another saucepan or bowl. Don’t touch the sides or the base of the pan or scrape any of the bottom either. Just remove what ever falls out and throw the rest away, worth a try.
What about when you have gone to all the trouble of making a cake and when you turn it out it has stuck to the pan and you have a big chunk sitting in the tin? The best way to save the cake is to get an egg scraper out and gently lift the stuck cake out hopefully in one piece or as few pieces as possible. Then make up some frosting for the top of the cake and allow a bit more. Spread some frosting over the hole in the cake and stick the pieces back together now turn over gently and then top with frosting.
If you accidentally add too much curry or chilli to a dish then I suggest that you either add milk or what I use a lot is evaporated light milk which will soften the intensity of the sauce. If it is really, really hot then you may have to take some of the sauce out of the pan first then add some extra evaporated milk until you get the sauce to an edible level.
My final tip is to be careful when you just throw ingredients into the pot. I always use measuring spoons and cups so remember to measure and you may avoid ruining a meal.
This article was written by Australia’s Low Fat Queen Annette Sym. You may not reprint this article.)
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