What simple cooking mistake has turned out to be a great new find?

[chowser]

Inspired by this thread:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7133...

I was thinking of the opposite. I've been on a quest to replicate Carol's cookies which are tall (a few threads on them here). Recently, my daughter made ccc cookies recently and left out the brown sugar. We baked them anyway. They were great--nice, tall, not too sweet but sweeter than a scone w/ the same height. It helped that she accidently used milk chocolate chips. So, I'm using that as a springboard to perfect the tall cookie.

So, what mistakes have you made that opened a whole new door for you?

[al b. darned]

I made one last night. I was making Basmati rice with mushrooms, pistachios, and garlic scape pods.

Previously I had made up some butter with chopped scapes and creme cheese with garlic scapes in small stainless steel bowls. I assumed the bowl in the fridge was the butter, especially since DW had said that very morning that the cream cheese mixture was all gone.

I grabbed the bowl and proceeded to put a big scoop into the rice, when I discovered that it was, in fact, cream cheese. It was so good I put the rest of it into the rice. I did have to nuke it for about 30 secs to get the cream cheese soft enough to mix in, but the results were tasty. I'll probably do it again on purpose.

[roxlet]

I was making indian style cauliflower and potatoes, and I over cooked both of them. I decided to put them in through the potato ricer and serve them as a kind of mashed potatoes. They were so good that my son always asks for them.

[chowser]

That sounds really good. I love mashed cauliflower and potatoes and aloo ghobi. That would take it up another notch.

[cheesecake17]

that sounds delicious.. do you have a more detailed recipe?

[roxlet]

I'll be happy to post it when I get home in about 3 weeks.

[cheesecake17]

thanks!! won't be able to make it till around then anyway...

[brooklynkoshereater]

I sauteed garlic and spinach in a frying pan that i had just used to caramelize vidalia onions (and didn't really wash out in between cooking dishes)- even though the onions weren't still in the pan, the sweetness that lingered in the pan gave a great taste to the spinach.

[thursday]

I know I have a ton more, but the one that most comes to mind is leaving the haricots verts on the stove while I went to do something quick, and then forgetting about them. I used to HATE green beans and only made them in an attempt to eat healthier. Put a little burn on them and all of a sudden they're delicious!

Actually, accidentally buying the chunky sea salt instead of the fine ground had the same effect - tossed on the green beans (or any other veggie for that matter), it's a much more satisfying crunch while actually using less salt because the flavor is stronger when you get it.

[chowser]

Are there that few CH who haven't made mistakes that turned out great? A couple of mine were new for me, but I found out pretty common knowledge. It's been years since I discovered:

1) Overcooked rice pilaf with the nice crunchy bottom--I was going to throw it out but tasted it first and it was a great mistake.

2) Smooshed a garlic clove and realized the skin slips right off.

3) Those brussel sprout chips--roasted them and tasted the dark leaves that fell off. Best snack chip ever.

4) Undercooked cookies w/ a raw center are melt in your mouth delicious.

[lilmomma]

chowser, are you talking about the Carol's cookies that they sell at Saks or other high end stores? If so, may I have the recipe? I love those!!!!

[chowser]

It was the basic chocolate chip cookies from the Best Recipe, not the big and chewy ones but their traditional ones. Nothing special about the recipe but it calls for 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of white. She left out the brown sugar altogether. My first plan is to play with it, using 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 cup white and see if I can get the same tallness. But, they were pretty sweet w/ only 1/2 cup of white so I think I can easily reduce it to 1/2 c, brown and 1/4 cup white. I still need to play with it to get the right chewiness of ccc but these looked the same as hers.

[lilmomma]

I don't know what the traditional "best recipe" recipe is. And what was changed about the method. Thanks.

[chowser]

Here's the recipe below. My daughter left out the brown sugar and the cookies were tall, just like Carol's cookies. But, they're not chewy so I think, as I said in my last post that I'd use different proportions for the sugar. In the tall "mistake", she only used 1/2 cup of sugar.

Best Recipe Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 c ap flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c butter, softened
1 c brown sugar (omitted)
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp water
2 c chocolate chips
1 c coarsely chopped nuts (also omitted)

Whisk together dry ingredients. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, mix. Slowly add dry. Bake 350 for 8-12 minutes, depends on size. The recipe says 375, but I find that darkens them too much.

[ipsedixit]

chowser,

Your current post reminded me of your previous (tangentially related) query: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7131...

Have you tried the aforementioned experiment yet?

Sorry for the digression ...

[chowser]

Not yet. My daughter has taken over the cookie baking for now, which is how we made this new discovery. There is, believe it or not, only so much room for ccc in our lives. I will do that experiment but have also taken this tangent of making tall cookies. So many cookies to bake, so little time.

[Niki in Dayton]

The first time a I cooked a turkey, I was unfamiliar with its anatomy and cooked it breast-side down in the roaster. It didn't look so pretty when it was time to carve, but it had the best (moist, flavorful) breast meat ever! Now I often start both turkey and chicken breast side down, then flip the bird to allow the skin to crisp and to improve presentation.

[roro1831]

I never made that mistake, but did a couple of turkeys like that. Made a difference in the finished product.