Comments on: Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Homemade Pizza (er, how not to improvise when making pizza!)

By: Molly

Molly — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:44:29 +0000

Oh, sometimes it happens. Inventing is good! At least you usually do well. (And I’m glad to see that somebody else puts bbq sauce on pizza like me!)

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:11:41 +0000

I tried to make Joloff Rice. I was so excited because it made me nostalgic for my days as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. What I actually made was a true discredit to the very tasty West African dish. My husband claimed to be full after I made it (We eat dinner very late and sometimes he eats on the way home, so it wasn’t a big deal.) A few days later, I mentioned how badly it turned out and that I probably wasn’t even going to eat the leftovers. This is huge for a woman who wants to throw anything subprime into an omelet, a pancake, or soup stock. “Yeah, I wasn’t going to say anything then but when you were cooking it the smell made me sick to my stomach.” I still don’t know what went wrong! I think mainly I tried to throw in some leftover red beans. They may have been…unsuitable. FAIL.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:42:12 +0000

possibly the best post ever! thanks for sharing the good and the bad!

By: Michelle Cox

Michelle Cox — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:41:24 +0000

Great story. I had a similar experience with a beef barley vegetable casserole. And my kids are equally excited that our “eat from the pantry” meals are almost gone.

By: Chef Juls

Chef Juls — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:47:19 +0000

would have had to taste the dough to figure out what went wrong but the sauce is easy..VINEGAR..you needed vinegar and possible some mustard.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:53:33 +0000

When we were newly married I experimented with an italian meatloaf recipe. It was awful and it went to the trash. We still laugh about it. A waste of money, but I guess for a few dollars down the drain, it’s worth a lifelong joke among the family

By: LindaB

LindaB — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:40:20 +0000

A FUNNY story you will remember forever. It seems like all those meals that are all perfectly cooked and served are usually forgotten while the ones that were doomed to failure will be remembered much too long. …Well, at least it looks good!

By: Jane in Pa

Jane in Pa — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:01:59 +0000

I have been reading here long enough to know that your family is NOT wasteful. It’s probably best that you didn’t eat the pizza because what if everyone got sick? And you still managed to eat from something you had on hand- I would have been running out for take out for sure! These are the times when you just have to laugh and remember that if this the worst part of the day, you are doing just fine

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:50:57 +0000

Thanks for the laugh! My husband and I still get a chuckle over the time I tried a recipe for cornbread that had actual corn in it. It was horrible.

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:48:26 +0000

Too funny. The same thing happened to me a couple months ago. I froze some pizza dough (maybe the one you posted here). It didn’t raise after thawing, but I threw it in the pizza pan and topped it with salsa and cheddar cheese. Looked so good that it was hard to imagine something could taste so bad. The dough was tough, didn’t raise, and tasted weirdly sour, and the salsa was incredibly sour. Tasted like spoiled tomatoes. I never, ever throw food away either. Even if I don’t like a dish, I’ll eat it, even if no one else does (but hubby’s very good about eating leftovers, too–now!) but this pizza was simply inedible so out it went. Wasn’t even a difficult decision–I just took another taste. It seems hard to imagine a pizza that is that offensive, but I’ve been there, so I feel your pain! These days, I don’t freeze dough, and I always taste the toppings first!

By: Amber

Amber — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:15:46 +0000

It happens to the best of us. One thing that will help prevent a total disaster from reaching the table is to taste everything along the way (thanks Top Chef!). Taste each component and alter it as you go. The final dish won’t taste good if each individual part doesn’t . If part of the dish doesn’t taste right, you have a chance to fix it before it ruins the whole dish. Hopefully this way, you can get everything tasting right before your family digs in.

By: Brenda

Brenda — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:14:17 +0000

Everyone has had something like that happen. It’s good to have something we can laugh about & to keep us humble. ) Mine was Black Bean Burgers. I thought it sounded very healthy & they might be good topped with lettuce & tomato, but there was no was to save them. They were AWFUL. They made it to our trash too!

By: Ellen Drake

Ellen Drake — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:57:05 +0000

I think we’ve all been there, Crystal! Thanks for sharing the story, and best wishes on a successful ending to your month of eating from the pantry.

By: Cyn

Cyn — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:18:32 +0000

Thanks for sharing this. Nice to know others have their failures in the kitchen too. My mom always made BBQ sauce with ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar. It makes for one on the sweet side. My boyfriend likes it spicier so we add salsa to his and he really likes that. I’m thinking your idea would have worked with the addition of the mustard and the vinegar (seems to me the Worcestershire would add a nice punch). For the person who asked about freezing pizza dough, I always freeze mine and it works great. Might have just been a fluke this time. I experimented with a recipe my mom always used to make and it wasn’t exactly a flop as in inedible but it was pretty bland so I had to add spices etc. to it on my plate to make it more palatable. Guess it’s back to the drawing board on that one!

By: Jennifer Kaiser

Jennifer Kaiser — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:08:05 +0000

When I improvise,this is what always happens to me! I can’t make substitutions or my food just doesn’t turn out. You get an A for effort in my book

By: Cathy

Cathy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:02:05 +0000

oh Chrystal!
This just sounds disgusting! Turkey and Worcestershire? What were you thinking????
I think we’ve all been there too and I too have pitched many things I thought would be good. Gotta watch that leftover turkey…it can be an overwhelming flavor.

Cathy

By: paige

paige — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:31:18 +0000

I had the same thing happen with bread dough, that I had made and frozen, but when I thawed it, it never rose. I cooked it anyway, hoping it would rise in the oven. No. Although it smelled great and actually tastes ok, it’s so dense no one wants to eat it. Sorry about the pizza.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:29:05 +0000

Sorry that you had to throw out the pizza, but thank you for being humble enough to share your story! That you can share your mistakes as well as your successes is part of what makes your blog so great!

By: Buffie

Buffie — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:18:39 +0000

Ugh, this reminds me of when I tried a new recipe for broccoli cheese soup in the crock pot. It smelled really good, but it tasted HORRIBLE. We wound up tossing it and ordering a pizza. My hubby still teases me about that soup too.

By: Jenna

Jenna — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:05:27 +0000

Glad to hear your not perfect! I do this kind of stuff all the time then I look at all the great food you make and feel inferior. So glad to know this happens even to the best of us.