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!)

I cooked tripe because of him, and didn't hate it.
I love his food and writing

Cakes, any baking in fact
I’m a pretty good cook. My curries are legendary and the family choose one over a takeaway any time. Can also do a good Chinese/Thai whatever but my cakes are shit
Every year I watch GBBO and think “I can do that” so spend a fortune on ingredients only for it to turn out tasting and looking awful

Any Mary Berry recipe that isn't a cake. Always bland and disappointing. If I want classic English-style food, I now stick to Delia.

I once cooked a vair fancy rabbit dish for DH. Afterwards he said 'the chicken was nice'. Never again.

Any Mary Berry recipe that isn't a cake. Always bland and disappointing

I'm surprised. I have her Absolute Favourites cookery book, and the recipes are delicious. The express lasagne made with sausage meat is anything but bland and boring.

A Delia Smith recipe for apple pie with a cheese crust. Took forever making the shortcrust pastry with all the grated mature cheddar in it (really, what was I thinking?). It tasted like an apple pie that someone had been sick in.

Ginfordinner I gave up with Mary Berry but we regularly eat at a friend's house who is still a fan. Not eaten a good recipe yet

@IHaveBrilloHair

The book irritates me though because it isn’t always true to the tv. Fir example, the cheese pie (which is delicious), when he was talking about it and cooking it, he made a real point about using white pepper, for a specific flavour. Yet the book states black pepper.

May seem a small thing, but says to me that the book editor wasn’t really that engaged!

I love cooking and am generally pretty good at it (sourdough, fresh pasta, meringues, cakes, curries, soups) but...

Scones (just can't)

Risotto (it's either too firm or too soupy with no in between)

Swiss roll (texture all wrong)

Anything from the slow cooker tends to have a 'slow cookery' kind of taste

I like Mary Berry and love that sausagemeat lasagne, delicious and very quick.

Anything with tofu in it, tried it several times and always fail.

I’ve never made anything decent in a slow cooker. I agree with @Boireannachlaidir - everything has a certain flavour or maybe lack of it. Disappointed because I’d LOVE to use it more.

Homemade bread...I could have stuck it in a wall and it would have lasted as well as any brick!

Bluecookiemonster
Try Ottelonghi's black pepper tofu, it's amazing.

I consider myself a good cook but I can’t make caramel filling for millionaires shortbread. I’ve tried, I always catch the bottom of the pan even though I stir the mixture a lot and then it has to be thrown. The ingredients are fairly costly too with butter, condensed milk etc. It’s time consuming to make millionaires shortbread as I have to make the base and cook it. Then after the caramel layer I melt chocolate and then if I managed to get the cutting up stage, which I don’t, it’s a bugger to cut into neat squares....if I put it in the fridge to harden up Icant cut it up without cutting my finger....leave it on the worktop the mix gets soft and sticky and untidy to cut and gets toffee everywhere....But I love eating it when it’s right and I just can’t make it as well as my Mum does.

Sunflower101

I consider myself a good cook but I can’t make caramel filling for millionaires shortbread.

I've got a recipe that's pretty fool-proof (ie I can make it without problems). I'll look it out and post it when I'm in the vicinity of my recipe books.
It's definitely not rushed-person-reading-it-proof though. A friend tried it and telephoned to ask why it wouldn't set...
Turned out she'd used evaporated milk instead of condensed.
Made a nice butterscotch sauce for icecream apparently.

@HoneysuckleSpeck - I will dig out the recipe book and post the scone recipe as soon as I can - promise.

I used to be OK at sponge cakes, but I can’t do them in our current oven - I always end up over baking them, even when I reduce the temperature, take it off fan and cut the baking time.

A few years ago, I did a small favour for a friend, and as a thank you, she baked me a chocolate cake. When ds3 got home from school, I to,d him to get himself a slice. When he’d eaten it, he came and told me how delicious it was, and I said I’d pass his compliments on to my friend. “Can you ask her if she’ll make my birthday cake next year, instead of you.” was his reply.

Frankly he was lucky to get another birthday!

My partner tried to make Eggs Arnold Bennett. It looked straightforward and tasty in the recipe book. The reality was neither. At one point a temper tantrum from the frustrated chef resulted in half-cooked eggs being splattered up the wall. It has since then been known as ‘Eggs F*cking Bennett’ in our home.

@Boireannachlaidir - NIgel Slater is your best chance at a good risotto

They made that on Professional Masterchef this series and it looked amazing.

I'm a great cook, but absolutely terrible baker.
I have a kitchenaid which is known in our house as the very expensive kitchen ornament

Gormless I have made Omelette Arnold Bennett.

The result was amazing but it took all day and used almost every bowl, pan and utensil I have.

DH as chief washer-upper said he loved it but could I not make it again. I was v happy to agree.

@AnnaMagnani I’d forgotten about all the washing up!! But am glad that when it works it tastes good :)

I wonder if good cooks are sometimes bad bakers because cooking well can be quite instinctive, tasting, checking, adjusting, even adapting recipes to suit your own personal tastes (or what you have in the cupboard), whereas baking is more of an exact science. I can't be bothered with baking and complicated recipes, and am more comfortable when I can just go with the flow.

I think you are right fantababy I’m definitely an adapt and taste kind of cook whereas baking is more precise. dd15 doesn’t really cook but when she did at school her baking was amazing, especially pastry as she’s very precise about everything