Flops

Sunday, January 9, 2011

When you make new recipes a lot you need to have a system in place for what to do when the recipes is just plain awful. Mike is willing to try anything I cook, but we have a long standing backup plan of Papa John's Pizza for dishes that aren't worth finishing. Lately, I feel like I have had a lot of flops. I usually try to cook two new recipes a week and, other than desserts, everything I have tried in the last month has been pretty terrible.

Worst Recipe for the Month: Apple Onion Chicken


Parmesan cheese on spaghetti noodles and marinara sauce: Good.
Parmesan cheese on baked chicken and onions: Bad
It smelled like throw-up. After getting home from the pizzaria I had to take the trash out to the garage because the smell was stinking up the whole house.

Second Worst Recipe: Almond Crusted Turkey in Plum Sauce


Do NOT like hoisin sauce. The turkey is marinated in a hoisin sauce mixture, coated in an almond-sesame seed crust, baked and served with plum sauce. I wished I had washed the hoisin sauce off the chicken before coating it because the flavor and smell were ubber bad. I had to de-bone and skin a turkey breast for this recipe...sooo not worth it.

Third Worst Recipe: Flank Steak Vinegarette Salad

Way too much oil and vinegar in this salad; it was like slimy lettuce soup.  The potatoes were soggy, which is weird in salad. The sugar peas made no sense in the dish.  It was like someone made up a recipe by combining everything from their fridge, it had no cohesive flavor profile or texture. To add insult to injury, it took a really long time to make.

5 comments:

Blessed Mama! said...

So enjoyed reading this! I LOVE IT! We eat Papa Johns all the time! Aunt Linda

Anonymous said...

Where did these recipe's come from? We need to know so we can avoid a bad source!!

P.S. On the hoisin sauce front, it matters which region it comes from. My guess is that you had the bad variety which includes fish sauce, and is particularly offensive to me as well. Don't be afraid to try it again, but look for a the sweeter kind (as in mu shu pork) - try to buy it in a chinese grocer vs the grocery store, so that you can ask for another variety.

Amber said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I didn't know that hoisin sauce came in varieties either. I have used it a lot, but then one day had the same bad experience that you described, smell and all. This was in NJ where my bestie and I did a lot of cooking together. She is half chinese and taught me what to look for. It has definitely helped!!

Amber said...

One recipes came from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. One from Taste of Home Magazine. And the turkey in plum sauce one is from the Food Network. Interestingly enough Taste of Home has a recipe almost exactly the same as the Food Network one with the same ingredients except they omit the hosin sauce and is reposted under a different name. Here are the links to the recipes if you are interested:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Apple--n--Onion-Chicken

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beef/flank-steak-vinaigrette-salad/

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Appetizer/Poultry/recipe.html?dishid=9154

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Coconut-Crusted-Turkey-Strips
(apparently they didn't like the hoisin sauce in this recipe either)

Paula, thank you for the advice on the hoisin sauce. The brand I used was Dynasty and it came in a red and yellow wrapped jar. I will definitely try your advice and look for a more authentic hosin sauce, and without fish in it. I had no idea it could even have fish sauce in it!