There's been a time or two when I've over-seasoned things so much they were not edible. I learned my lesson there. There are limits to the garlic and other seasonings. And it's a total myth that adding a potato will "absorb the extra salt".

For potatoes, I'm a rare breed. I happen to like potatoes. I prefer my mashed potatoes to be without a ton of milk (making them soupy), cheese (except on a loaded baked) or other additives. I like a good firm mound of taters to hold the gravy. For times without gravy, I add butter at the table.

If we're talking potatoes, I had a baked mishap just a couple of weeks ago. It's the second time in my long cooking experience that's happened, but the first time I could see a reason. The first time, I was cooking a prime rib at the same time, and I'd opened the oven to check the internal temp of the roast. When I closed the oven door the element must have kicked in to bring the oven temp back up and the potato had sealed around its 'baking nail' - exploded with the additional heat covering my oven entire interior (and my pan holding roast) with fluffy potato. I actually heard it implode. This more recent time, it was only a partial burst and it went downward, I was able to shop vac burst potato when the oven cooled and I still don't know why the skin split on it, poofing out the inner potato as under pressure.

Did someone say potatoes? I'll take mine mashed with real butter, piled high, and topped with cracked salt and pepper.

Fiasco? So much to choose from. I made a spectacularly beautiful fudge pie for company that was coming over and the house was immaculate. Immaculate house+dropped pie on the floor=big sticky mess. And no pie. A lot of scrambling in those last few minutes.

Thanksgiving guests

I was making German Potato Salad in my pressure cooker and instead of 3tsps of salt I did 3 TBLS of salt. Inedible! And I had a house full for dinner.

I was making baked potatoes over a campfire one time. I asked my husband to poke them a little to see if they were done. He barely touched on with the edge of a shovel when it popped open and ash went flying everywhere. They weren't only done, they were incinerated. No problem, I'll just do something on the stovetop in the RV. Except the propane was empty - we forgot to check before leaving home. Anyway, we had steak with a side of steak that night! (There may have been alcohol involved :) ).

I wrote on another thread somewhere that I saw Martha Stewart slap her baked potatoes down on the counter to make the fluffy inside when they're opened up.

Well, when I next made baked potatoes, I took one of the hot suckers and gave it a short toss onto my kitchen island and...SPLAT!

Potato everywhere!

This one is on my FIL, years ago. FIL is NOT a cook. They decided to smoke a turkey for a holiday, maybe it was Easter. They put it on the smoker, then left to go to church. We would arrive a little later to tend it. When they came home after church, FIL decided it wasn't cooking fast enough, so he put a small fan on the ground and blew air over the coals.

Fast forward to removing the lid. The fan had blown the ashes from the fire pan up to the bird, and it was completely coated. And they were baked on. MIL had to take the bird inside and peel it.

I suggested that, if the manufacturer had thought a fan was a good idea, perhaps they would have included one. He was never again put in charge of smoking a bird. Or anything else.

When I'm really sick, the only thing that tastes good to me is a baked potato. I like mine with a bit of butter, salt and pepper and plain Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream.

DH goes to fix this for me and brings it to me in bed. I took one bite and spat it out; he'd used VANILLA yogurt instead of plain! Heinous!

Now to go from bad to worse, he was so annoyed with himself that instead of just putting it in the teas, he opened the back door and threw it out into a 3ft pile of ME snow next to the door.

Yes, for the next 2 months until the dogs and I returned to KY, every time the dogs went out, they headed for this pile of snow, and instead of taking care of business, dug frantically in the snow hoping to find the baked potato. Good noses on those dogs!

He said later that when the rock hard pile finally melted in late May, there was the "freeze dried" baked potato!

ROFLMAO these stories are hilarious. Glad to see I am not the only one. Keep them coming and they don't have to be about potatoes. I am sure a couple more of you are trying to get on chopped.

When we lived in Oklahoma it was my first time having a jennair range with a grill section. I had good success with Steaks on it and decided to try a Slab of baby back ribs. I put a dry rub on them, no sauce because I thought it might burn. I put the ribs on the grill section with the downdraft on. I was doing other stuff in the kitchen and everything was fine. So I stepped right outside the kitchen to the back porch to talk to my husband. Not 5 minutes. Suddenly we hear an alarm, I look through the window into the kitchen and I see big flames! We run inside I grab the fire extinguisher I always have in the kitchen. Hit the flames with it. Get the fire put out. Now I have a huge mess. The ribs are black and covered with foam from the extinguisher. The cabinets are covered in black soot. I pull the ribs off to the trash and realized that it got so hot it melted the metal grates of the grill. They were a molten blob stuck to the heating element!

I could not believe how fast that happened it could have been catastrophic. I never cooked ribs on the grill ever. I had to get a whole new grill section for the stove. I watched it like a hawk every time I used it but it did catch fire a few times when I was right there. I decided they were too dangerous and just did away with the grill and put regular burners back in.

I had a buttermilk disaster too I was making homemade biscuits sausage and white gravy. I accidentally grabbed buttermilk for the gravy. It took me a while to figure out what I had done because I rarely had buttermilk in the fridge. Yuck.

ravencajun-how horrifying! I had something similar happen when I was making hummingbird food on the gas stovetop.

Basically, I make simple syrup and cook the water and sugar until it simmers and the sugar dissolves. But, one day, I went outside for something and totally forgot about it!

When I went back in, there was smoke all through the house and the pot had a mushroom of black sugar. I'm certain it would have turned catastrophic if I hadn't been using my heavy All-Clad pot.

That pot saved our home, I'm sure of it. It endured unbelievable heat, but after much scrubbing, it is all cleaned up and as good as ever.

Mimi, what are the chances. My friends girlfriend did the same last year. She put a big pot of sugar and water on the stove for the hummingbirds, many feeders, stepped outside for a minute, and you know how that goes, one thing leads to another. The first they knew something was wrong was the dog barking towards the house, which was filled with smoke. Same volcano/mushroom of burned black sugar in her pan. He stopped here with the pan, to calm down and show us what he was taking the dumpster at his office to throw away ;0) A couple of fans and some scrubbing of the kitchen woodwork took care of things and no long term harm done.

We had no damage to our cabinetry or the range hood, but that hood was HOT!

I now set a timer as soon as I turn on the stove when I'm making the syrup, and I go NOWHERE!!

Those kind of scares are the ones that last a lifetime. Scared me to death. Thank goodness we all survived the disaster!

I don't multitask or walk away when cooking or using the BBQ outside. I'm perhaps more careful than I need to be but I don't wish to have an unwanted experience.

If something is under the broiler, in a skillet, or in a pot of boiling water, I won't leave the kitchen for more than 30 seconds without turning the heat off. Baking or roasting in an oven at a moderate temperature doesn't need that kind of attention but I always use a timer set to 5-10 minutes less than what's expected (depending on what it is and the length of cooking time) so as not to overcook anything.

I would never consider starting something to cook and then leaving the house. I care too much about my dog and my house to take any risk, no kind of food is that important to me.

Why do so many of these mishaps involve potatoes, one of the easiest things to cook?

I have a problem with sweet potatoes erupting in the oven. I rub them with butter or coconut oil and pierce them but they alway seem to explode. Any hints to prevent this?

A year after coming to the USA in 1972 I volunteered to make the Turkey for Thanksgiving. My sister told me, about using a paper sack (which had to be spread with Crisco).

Soooo, I creased the paper sack really good, put in the turkey, and put it in the oven.

A while later, there was smoke filling the kitchen.

Yup, you prolly guessed it, the paper sack was on fire.. no, it was almost gone by the time I looked in to the oven.

This was my one and only "smoked turkey" I ever made. LOL

Moni

I never rub anything on sweet potatoes? Scrubbed clean and pricked. Maybe the oil is doing it somehow? Weakens the skin? Yeah, that's it ;) I have no idea, obviously

I have a problem with sweet potatoes erupting in the oven. I rub them with butter or coconut oil and pierce them but they alway seem to explode. Any hints to prevent this?

******

Hmm...maybe pierce and wrap them with tin foil until done, then unwrap, rub with oil and put back in oven for 10' to crips up a bit.

Which brings me to my sweet potato disaster. I sometimes cook sweet potatoes in the microwave, and realize they ooze when pierced. So, I placed 2 pierced sweet potatoes on a terrycloth kitchen towel to catch the mess, and zapped them.

Minutes later, I smelled something burning and look to see the microwave filled with smoke!

The oozing sap from the potatoes had burned glowing hot holes in the towels and the edges and they were just *this close* to catching fire.

Boy, it took awhile to air that stink out!

Lesson learned. Never put anything flammable under a hot, oozing sweet potato!

Was cooking dinner and decided since I was already in the kitchen to toss the ingredients for stew into the electric pressure cooker so we could eat it the next day. COMPLETELY forgot about it, since it pretty much takes care of itself until the end of the time limit and has a beeper.

Standing and talking with DH and DD waiting for dinner to finish up when we hear this sudden sizzling sort of sound. Really loud, sudden, shocking! We thought something on the stove was exploding!

Yeah. It was the pressure cooker coming to pressure and sealing closed LOLOLOL! Once we realized what it was, there was literally rolling on the floor and laughing. We have also had the pressure canner vent suddenly and scare us all - like hit the floor scared and the dogs take off like a shot - tee hee!

Dances.

When I first married, I had no experience in cooking. The only thing I could make was grilled cheese!

New hubby asked for Chicken and Dumplings, and like a fool I agreed to make them.

I called my mother long distance and got directions.

I prepped everything ahead like she instructed. Then put the chicken on to boil. That's when I got into trouble!

She hadn't described the froth that would come to the top of the pot, so I assumed I had a rotten chicken! After my crying stopped, I threw the chicken outand headed to the store for another. Cut in up added the onion and carrots and tried again. Crap! Well it happened again. Now I am an emotional mess!

Later...hubby comes home...says..."that chicken smells great!" I start crying my eyes out. Took me awhile to calm down and tell him about the two rotten chickens I had to toss in the trash. It seemed to make him cry too. Later he told me the tears were from holding in laughter.

Grilled cheese for dinner.

Avatars · More Info

Aunt Audrey, your story is precious!

On a Boy Scout camp out, it was planned to have blue berry pancakes the next morning. All was proceeding well during breakfast preparation until the cook discovered that our supply rascal had not procured the blue berries. The rascal, being resourceful, said, "No problem." and grabbed a box of chocolate chips and tossed those into the batter. It did work. The pancakes did appear like blueberry ones and we could stomach the taste - It wasn't too bad as camp food goes.

The problem came later when the dishwasher tried to clean the griddle. Those chocolate chips left a permanent spot on the hot griddle wherever contact was made. It was impossible to get it completely clean.

I honestly can't think of a major smoke or flame or explosion event. However, there was the time when the perfectly grilled turkey did a swan dive during the transfer from the Weber to the platter, landing on its belly on the cement patio.

After the split second of shock, we both laughed until it hurt. (Of course, the turkey was retrieved and scolded.)

I have done the same thing making hummingbird food! One day last summer I put a batch on the stove. Then I immediately forgot and left the house to go run a few errands. 30 minutes later, I am driving home and remembered the pot on the stove. Husband and step-son were airing out the house when I got there. My heart was racing! That stink lingered for the next day and a half. Now I set a timer AND stay in the kitchen until the stove is turned off.

One time I had two pans going on the stove. On the left was chicken a la king. On the right was this melt-in-your-mouth peppermint Christmas candy that takes an hour of stirring to make, and if you're lucky, it isn't grainy when it's done. When it was time to add the 3 cloves of minced garlic to the chicken dish, I accidentally added it to the candy. I realized it right away, but since the candy was almost done, I finished it. Sadly, it was one of the very few times over the last 25 years the candy was perfect - it really did melt in the mouth, and of course, it was quite garlic flavored.

I eat a hard boiled egg every day and do a dozen and a half at a time. I learned NOT to leave the room or if I do, carry the egg carton with me.

My mother was an excellent cook. I learned nothing from her. I married young right out of college and was making swiss steak( back in the day when I ate meat). So instead of browning it and turning it with a fork, I used a spatula and hot grease flew on my wrist. We were too poor to go to a doctor so we went to a drug store and got some salve. I still have that little glass jar just to remember.