What recipe have you tried, hated and wished you never wasted so much time making it?

[kevintheorangecarrot]

I have just tried a creamy garlic, chicken and mushroom sauce and I really wish I hadn't now. I consumed as much as I could as well as my DH, then thrown the rest in the bin (thank god for food waste recycling where I live!)

Crumpets - a waste of time. Warburtons already have these nailed.

Homemade curry sauce. No matter what I try it turns out inedible.

I'm not a bad baker but scones are my nemesis. I've tried all the tricks.

I second crumpets!

Paste for Thai dishes. Turns out the fresh ones you can buy are exactly as good and it doesn’t involved me crushing lemongrass and grinding coriander seeds.

Anything Thai. I can use every authentic ingredient you care to name, but it’s always shit.

Vietnamese prawn rolls. Or prawn condoms as they will be forever known in our house. The outsides were a cold, rubbery, claggy disaster that stuck to the roof of your mouth..I’ll leave them to the experts in future!

I made a Thai mushroom noodle soup sort of thing that was slimy and disgusting. Imagine a bowl of spicy slugs.

Christmas cake! I countless hours making the beast only to hate it...

Macaroni cheese - the recipe I used took ages and tasted..........ok.
Not as nice as a ready meal one.

Ooh - I've got a great recipe for macaroni cheese. Food of the Gods. I once made a biryani dish from some swanky Indian restaurant's cook book and it wasn't worth the effort involved.

@wowfudge care to share, then..?

Soup . You make far too much and I get bored , I prefer the ones in the fridge section

Hummous

Sure - it's this as seen on a Barefoot Contessa programme a few years ago. The recipe originally stated chipotle chilli powder, which is what I use (cos I bought a tin). Mix breadcrumbs with chopped parsley and some of the grated cheese for the topping. The chilli and garlic bring out the cheesiness of the cheese. Mature cheddar works fine - you don't need the specific cheeses the recipe states.

Every single thing I have ever cooked in a slow cooker, which now only comes out of the cupboard if I want to make scented candles.

Jerk Chicken and Coconut Rice.

Took me bloody hours from scratch. Was pretty inedible.

I leave Caribbean food to the experts now!

Fresh pasta.

I third crumpets.

Also, this Christmas I tried Jamie’s make ahead gravy. It took bloody ages and was grey and tasteless. I accept it was probably user error but still, bisto with the roasting juices added at the end was always better than this was ever going to be.

Hollandaise sauce - horrible (and it was perfect, no curdle, no drama). Birianyi - husband says it was as good as a restaurant (and we don't flatter each other unnecessarily over food because, well, that would mean one of had to eat something terrible again!), but I thought it was meh.

Home made seitan.

I really want to love it, I've spent hours and hours poring over books and websites, lovingly built my own inventions on existing ones, and I think I now understand the science well enough. I can make a vegan sausage that has the appearance and texture of pepperoni, and a chicken drumstick with 'meat' that falls off the 'bone.'

Unfortunately I'm incredibly sensitive to the taste of the vital wheat gluten in it and it's mostly not that nice (to me, other people will scoff it happily.) I really ought to stop trying but the elusive perfect recipe always seems like it might be the next one.....

Agree about Jamie’s gravy. Unpleasant and a waste of time.

I also made a chicken and tomato tray she thingie from a Jamie Oliver book. It wasn’t that time consuming, but the reviews raved about it and despite following the recipe to the letter it was a bland and slimy mess.

Chicken in a white wine and taragon sauce. It tasted like privet water.

A jerk chicken thing that tasted like benilyn.

And a proper old fashioned jam rolypoly that tasted of soap.

About a million attempts at authentic Indian takeaway curry until I found The Curry Secret book. Smash it every time now though.

I feel like this about all the Indian dishes I've tried to cook. Spent ages, tasted awful - I've just accepted that what I usually get from the takeaway will be delicious and I'll stick to that in future

Gingerbread biscuits..first try this Christmas..burnt on top, weirdly soft/spongy, almost gooey inside 😬 never again..buying the packet ones and decorating with icing with Dd..wasted a whole pot of Golden syrup too.