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Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Some Things Just Don't Go as Planned . . . but They Can Often Be Salvaged


So, I set 2 eggs to boil this morning, then went about my daily routine. At one point, I thought I smelled a faint burning odor. I just figured someone had burnt their toast earlier and thought nothing further of it. I hopped into the shower, still not thinking anything of the odor. It was when I got out and began to dry off that I suddenly remembered the eggs in a pot of water left to come to a boil. Grabbing my robe, I ran down the hall to the kitchen. I quickly dumped some water from the tea kettle into the dry pan, then put the whole thing under cold, running water. After getting myself dressed, I came out to the kitchen to see if any parts of the eggs could be salvaged.

after peeling, the burnt side of an egg
It turns out that, yes, you can burn the daylights out of about half of an egg and still have something edible left.
after peeling, the not-so-burnt side of an egg
After peeling the eggs, and discarding any portions that looked obviously burnt, I chopped what remained and made egg salad. I lost about half of one egg and about 2/3 of the other.

what was left after peeling both eggs & removing any burnt parts
So I was able to salvage more than the equivalent of 1 whole egg.


And do you know what? It tastes good. I think the ranch-style dressing that I used to turn it into egg salad has a lot to do with that.

Fortunately, the pot is fine, maybe a little scorched but otherwise okay. It's an old, heavy-bottomed pot that we generally use for making popcorn on the stove, so I'm not sure if the scorching is from this egg-mishap or from making popcorn all of these years.

So, I've scraped burnt toast, scraped the bottoms of burnt cookies, peeled off the top of burnt casseroles, used the top 2/3 of a pot of rice that burned to the bottom of pot, and now a new one -- peeled off burnt parts on boiled eggs. You would think that I don't know how to cook! But I do know how to salvage, which, as a skill, is important for avoiding wastefulness.

Has anybody else, here, ever boiled a pot of eggs dry?
I bet that my folly made a few of you smile, and that is worth a million dollars!

10 comments:

  1. So glad you didn't have a worse problem--you salvaged part of the eggs and the pan is ok--that's a win! The latest major cooking mishap in our house was actually caused by my hubby instead of me. He was cooking squash in a glass pan in the oven and he added a bit of water to the pan and the pan exploded. He was very upset with himself but I was grateful nothing worse had happened. Even after a thorough cleaning, we kept finding shards of glass. Amazing how that stuff scatters.

    And yes, of course we know you can cook! We all have had those "oops" moments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That sounds scary, Kris. I'm so glad that no one was hurt. I had something similar happen to me with a ceramic dish that had cooked dry. I added water and it cracked into several pieces, but not shattered as your glass dish did. Your husband could have been badly hurt by the flying glass pieces. I'm thankful for you that he wasn't!

      Delete
    2. It was a mess, that's for sure! I was concerned he had been burned. He still salvaged the squash, though!

      Delete
    3. Wow, he salvaged the squash after that! That's above and beyond the call of duty, I think.

      Delete
  2. While I have burnt a lot of things, I have not burnt boiled eggs. Kudos to you for saving the eggs to make egg salad. I think that was beyond the call of duty, but waste not, want not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      I had no idea that an egg could have a hole burned into the shell. This was a new culinary low. But it all turned out okay -- saved some of it at least.

      Delete
  3. Making hard boiled eggs can easily turn into a mishap because you can't smell them so forgetting they are cooking can easily turn into a mishap. I make sure to always turn on the timer. At least someone in the house will hear the timer go off and ask around on what to do. I try very hard to monitor eggs boiling by staying in the same room.

    I had a mishap with a pampered chef pizza stone. I follow the directions by putting it in a cold oven then letting it get warm. I had already warmed the stone and put my pizza on the stone and it was almost all the way cooked when we heard a big "bang" only to find the pizza stone exploded in three pieces. As expensive as that stone was, I never replaced it. I have several other pampered chef stoneware items but when they break I won't be replacing those either. They are very heavy but they do cook well.

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      ouch! Having a pricey pizza stone crack like that must've been an awful moment.
      I am definitely going to start setting a timer! I couldn't believe that I forgot I had the stove turned on to boil. I haven't left the stove on since my twins were babies. (We nearly burned the place down a couple of times in those early days -- so sleep deprived.)

      Delete
  4. You my get find this helpful. When I boil eggs, I put them in the can and cover with water and a lid, bring to boil and then set off the burner for twenty minutes. After that time I drain and rinse with cold water. Also less energy used.
    I do something similar with pasta...but a bit different also. I bring water to boil...then add pasta and bring back to boil...stir a bit so it doesn't stick....cover, remove from burner and let set twenty minutes. Drain and proceed with recipe.
    I have been doing this for years and like the end results.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Linda,
      Thanks. I'm going to have to start using the timer more. My standard way to boil eggs is to set the eggs in pan of water, bring to boil, shut off stove, cover and let cool in the water. Perfectly-cooked eggs (almost!) every time. I usually am aware that I've got something coming to a boil, so stay in the kitchen. I just totally forgot yesterday. I'm going to start using the timer from now on!
      And I will try to do pasta the way you've suggested. That would save a bit of energy, plus I wouldn't risk the pasta water boiling over onto the stove and making such a mess.

      Delete

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