Hatrack River Forum: Be honest, who's messed up Mac & Cheese?

This is topic Be honest, who's messed up Mac & Cheese? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=042069

Posted by Jeesh (Member # 9163) on :

Or burnt toast? Or burnt popcorn? Or somehow made the easiest food to make, taste funky?

I've actually, forgotten about the boiling water and all the water eveaporatated. [Blushing]

Posted by Epictetus (Member # 6235) on :

I screwed up chocolate milk once. I used unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the chocolate milk mix. Embarrasing at the time, but I learned my lesson pretty quickly.

Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :

quote:
I've actually, forgotten about the boiling water and all the water eveaporatated.

Ditto. Far too many times. [Razz]

Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :

I burn popcorn from time to time. The popcorn button on my microwave cooks the popcorn too long, so I usually have to stop it after a certain time. If I don't, the whole bag more or less burns.

Posted by Jeesh (Member # 9163) on :

I have the opposite problem. The microwave never cooks it long enough. I always get half a bag of kernels.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanecer:

quote:
I've actually, forgotten about the boiling water and all the water eveaporatated.
Ditto. Far too many times.

Good heavens, the number of kettles I've ruined beyond repair...

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jeesh:
I have the opposite problem. The microwave never cooks it long enough. I always get half a bag of kernels.

I'm more in this camp than in the overcooking one. I tend to under-toast bread, lest I burn it and then refuse to eat it. And I can never get the timing right on popcorn.

Boiling water, though... can't say I've screwed that up. Sure, I put my hand on the burner when I was about five, but I'm normally hungry enough to watch the dang pot boil so I don't miss it. [Smile]

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

I actually like my popcorn just the tiniest bit burnt. Kind of like it's been toasted.

Quid, you are in dire need of a whistling tea kettle.

And I don't think I've ever messed up Mac & Cheese. I've improved it, but never messed it up.

Posted by larisse (Member # 2221) on :

Mac & Cheese... only once when I overcooked the noodles and made them a mass of mushy starch.

I happen to like burnt toast. Not sure why. I also like my hamburgers well, well done... almost charred. Same with hotdogs. (The only way I'll eat them other than barbecued.)

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :

quote:
Originally posted by larisse:
I also like my hamburgers well, well done... almost charred. Same with hotdogs. (The only way I'll eat them other than barbecued.)

Charred burgers? [Angst]

It's almost blasphemy! I much prefer mine an almost-medium/medium-rare.

I was thinking about messing up food, and I realized that I never actually learned how to make bacon, so I normally screw that up. I've gotten to the point where I just omit it from the breakfast menu. [Smile]

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

Back in Canada, I ended up getting an electric auto-off tea kettle. It was the best thing ever. Only problem was I still never quite got around to making my tea... [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :

The secret to not burning or undercooking popcorn is on the bag. You have to listen to it as it pops, and if you can count to 2 or 3 in between pops, it's time to stop the microwave. If you leave the door closed for a little while, it might pop a few more kernels because of the heat built up. (If you can count to JUST under 2 seconds several times, you're probably counting too slow.)

Only time I burn or undercook popcorn is when I use the popcorn button. By the way, usually people who use the popcorn button properly have reset it according to what kind of popcorn they have.

Anyway...

I have messed up mac & cheese. Sometimes I overcook it. I hate al dente pasta, so I shoot for just past that.

My favorite easy variation for mac & cheese is to omit the milk from the recipe and add a can of diced tomatoes. Yummy.

Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanecer:

quote:
I've actually, forgotten about the boiling water and all the water eveaporatated.
Ditto. Far too many times.

But have you ever turned on the WRONG BURNER without noticing, and cooked a pan with NOTHING IN IT! Left it for 30 minutes!

Every bit of foreign material on it was crusty and burned to a crisp, It was frightening.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

[Angst]

I don't know what you're talking about. [Angst]

Posted by tmservo (Member # 8552) on :

I have. Generally, I mess up in measuring how much milk to add and it comes out too soupy.

Burning toast? Hell, do that all the freaking time. I blame the equipment, though. [Smile]

Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :

I mess up soup. I don't know what I do to it, but half the time it comes out completely wrong. The outside edges will be burnt crispy, while the middle portion of the soup becomes a congealed, disgusting blob. It's rather ridiculous.

--ApostleRadio

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

quote:
The secret to not burning or undercooking popcorn is on the bag. You have to listen to it as it pops, and if you can count to 2 or 3 in between pops, it's time to stop the microwave.

Katarain's got the right idea about popcorn. Stop relying on the little buttons and you will get a much better result.

prolixshore: Are you stirring the soup as it cooks? Especially if it's a gloopy soup, you will need to stir it so you don't get an unevenly heated product.

I tend to make real macaroni and cheese (with, you know, cheese and pasta and milk). I find the boxed kind absolutely disgusting.

Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :

Back in my former life, I once royally messed up Hamburger Helper.
I have also burnt popcorn.

Posted by Ben (Member # 6117) on :

Lindsay and I went camping with a friend a couple months ago, and I was in charge of preparing the Macaroni.

We didn't have a strainer as we were only using a camping stove and small pot. I am holding the pot upside down while pressing the lid to the pot, so as to let the water drain. It was draining VERY slowly, so I pull the lid away from the pot a little, forgetting the power of gravity. Everything in the pot fell into the woods and everybody was starving. It was nice.

On a side note, A guy we were camping with doesn't like to use milk in his Kraft dinner. He finds it is pointless.

Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :

We've had mac 'n' cheese come out kinda bad because it was expired (clumpy cheese), but I can't recall that it was ever ruined due to preparation. Of course, I'm really not a picky eater (as evidenced by my consumption of mac 'n' cheese, if you ask me -- I'll even eat Easy Mac), so maybe I've ruined it and I neither noticed nor cared.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

*pokes KPC*

Posted by ambyr (Member # 7616) on :

Not only have I burnt toast, I've had toast go up in flames. The heating element in my parents' toaster oven is waaaay too close to the rack. . .or at least that's the story I'm sticking to.

Posted by Altáriël of Dorthonion (Member # 6473) on :

That's nothing. Ask me how many times I let the oven on for the night. Or the time I forgot I was frying chicken. Or the times I forgot I was boiling water for coffee. Or the times I've forgotten the stove was on for no apparent reason.

I'm a danger to myself and those around me.

Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :

I once burnt a cardboard pizza box in the oven by accident. I had turned the oven onto preheat to cook a frozen pizza. My father had left a pizza box (with a few slices of pizza in it) in the oven the previous night. I had no clue it was in there until smoke started coming out of the oven. Bad smell, big oops on my part. Now I check every time before I turn the oven on. [Big Grin]

Posted by Altáriël of Dorthonion (Member # 6473) on :

You also reminded me of the Oreo cookies in the styrofoam cup inside the microwave. The smoke and burnt cup (it caught fire) made the fire alarms ring like heck and the cops came. It was during yearbook camp. The program director wasn't too happy.

Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :

If I eat a lot of Ramen in a month, then have my first Macaroni in a while, I'll often cook it for 4 minutes instead fo 8 out of habit. And then don't realize it until I'm eating it.

Posted by Altáriël of Dorthonion (Member # 6473) on :

gross.

Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :

In a story going back about 30 years, my brother and I were home alone, and I was making Kraft macaroni and cheese.

Recently we had gotten into modifying food, like adding spices to Ragu sauce or chili, so my brother decided to be inventive with the mac and cheese.

He added cinnamon. Don't ask why.

I shook the plate into the garbage, and it wouldn't come off the plate. My brother acted like that was some kind of divine intervention that prevented me from throwing out his masterpiece. I did eventually scrape it off and throw it out. I don't remember if he actually ate some or not. I didn't.

For some time after that I was convinced that cinnamon had certain cementing properties. Nowadays I think we must have just made a particularly dry mixture that day.

Does anyone make homemade macaroni and cheese? Or is this whole thread about the boxed kind?

Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :

Homemade here, just like Teshi. I'm too much of a control freak.

Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :

I broke a chocolate cake. The chocolately sludge wasn't bad, but the Home Ec teacher couldn't in good conscience give us a good grade for a cake unrisen.