Well, I just lost my whole post. Suffice it to say, next time I make the yummy soup that got nicknamed O.D. Sludge (as in olive drab), I'll use green chard and yellow carrots, and if red is what I have on hand, I'll make something else. :)

Examples of what hubby calls "good intentions --- poor execution".

My butt-ugly foods all came from using blue/purple/black varieties of food. Purple potatoes - mashed - didn't endear themselves to anyone (although they taste the same), and black rice made into rice pudding was just awful looking. I've now milled sprouted blue corn for cornmeal enough we expect that weird color of cornbread, but it certainly took several times before it was "accepted".

-Grainlady

Yes, I do get some ugly food, but I don't take pictures of it, I just eat it, including last week's bread pudding! (grin)

Lars, that sounds just like something Ashley would do.

Grandpa used to make something he called "ground up soup", which was ground beef or venison and various vegetables, all put though the food grinder and then cooked. The only thing that was a given was that it had to have rutabaga, Grandpa loved his "beggies". Now that was one ugly pot of food, but my brother just loved the stuff.

Annie

All in the eye of the beholder, and in the mouth of the consumer.

Blackened black trout on black carrots and black beans, with black garlic sauce.

dcarch

Well, okay, Dcarch, that's a bit extreme, but it doesn't look so unappetizing. :) More like the charred bottom of the pan. :)

The chili that wouldn't die.

I don't have a photo....why would I ;-) But, imagine cabbage rolls of purple cabbage in a plain terra cotta baker - there was nothing appetite inspiring about it. Another that comes to mind is a dish I'd tried to quickly put together to easily reheat on the boat. Some kind of crumbled sausage, mushroom, scrambled egg concoction to be served on warm breakfast rolls. Cooled and in its plastic carry container, it had the appearance of something that had collected in the sink drain strainer after hand washing mountains of dishes.

Dcarch, you could bring that here next Oct 31st....(I'm sure the taste was wonderful, just looks a little gothic ;-))

All...the...time. Makes sense until i plate. So i cover up with fresh garnish like parsley, celery leaves, parsley.

And why i used a finger puppet for the Easter lamb pic to divert the camera phone focus away from the ugly meat slab/

Oh goodness!!! Finger puppet bunny looks scared with the knife pointing at him! Didn't even notice the meat slab! LOL

Smiles,

Sooz

My bean cakes always look awful, but taste great topped with avocado, sour cream, cheese and chopped scallions.

Well there was the purple soup....made from some leftover ham a purple onion, red cabbage and kidney beans...very VERY purple, declicous but looked awful in my pink transferware bowls.

I recently made a butt-ugly side dish!

I've been making mashed/pureed cauliflower in lieu of potatoes (carbs! bad! and all that) and I added a bit of gorgonzola cheese. The blue-grey veins turned the mix a dingy greyish color that looked awful.

Note to self- add blue cheeses in at the end, stir in by hand, do not blend in food processor.

Haha - thought about this thread last night as I looked @ my plate: oven roasted chicken legs & potato wedges (which didn't brown up very much) & curry roasted cauliflower = a big ole plate o' brown & tan = P

But it was delish = D

Almost took a pic, but was too hungry to wait.

2 times, both came out looking like puke, 1 was a rhubarb pie filling that I didn't add enough raspberries to, another was a sweet and sour sauce that was supposed to be red.

Cream of broccoli and carrots. Tastes delicious, but oh my, the brown color! Not very appealing... :)

Anything purple is the worst color with tan food. It dilutes and becomes grey.

Yuck. I did have some blue cornmeal and a very good fresh supply. Everything i made was a bit moldy in looks. I used it for homemade EnglishMuffins. So good but at least we knew they were fresh!, lol. Best to keep those foods among friends and family...and still it needs encouragement to consume, : )

I have made amazing soups with fresh, fresh, everything and taste test and homemade stock...then stick blend...haha. Blah puke, then add something green to rescue the color...usually works with a crispy crouton and a garnish.

(tomato powder is my best friend, thanks to Grainlady) That puppy will fix any color food issue and add just a bit of zing without too much tomato flavor.

I also stock spinach powder now for a color issue and a good veg addition.

Thanks for the tip about colorants! My old soup taste fixer is turmeric, but that can make the soup a strong ochre color. It's not unappetizing or ugly, exactly, but does look a bit too much like paint. :)

Two things come immediately to mind, but they weren't really ugly at all?? Dad was a big fan of early TV cooking shows, when they were on public TV... Julia, Graham K, Frugal Gourmet, etc. One time he decided "we" would make won-ton soup from scratch. The broth came out very nice. Won-ton noodles looked great but were so TOUGH you could barely chew them. What I thought was rolled thin enough... well, it wasn't.

Another time he decide "we" would make Beef Wellington... BIG $$$ hunka tenderloin. Hauled out a cookbook for a recipe for the pastry dough to wrap beef in. It looked MAAHVELOUS going into oven and even better coming out... if I do say so myself. Well, you LITERALLY could not cut through the crust. We pretty much had to break up and pry off the crust. Luckily, that expensive hunka meat was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was eaten without any crust on it.