They say that in any craft, you have to start somewhere. That even the masters once started as newbies. I’m far from being a master -and that’s okay. Some of my friends say they want to cook but wouldn’t because they’re not good at it. It seem so paradoxical because the only way to be good at it is through trying it! (and keep trying it). While I firmly believe that it is through practice and experience that we get better, I could also relate to the heartache and pain of a kitchen disaster. So, in this post, I’m sharing the lessons I’ve learned from my kitchen mishaps so hopefully you could avoid making them.
8 Lessons Learned from Kitchen Mishaps
The big, bold idea that is Pancit Palabok
Sometimes I get a little too ambitious when a big idea strikes, like the time I planned to cook for the “#BayAreaVeganPotluck” for 100 people (and extra dish for 10) when I’m already co-organizing the event. Not to mention when the event is already a potluck and people will be bringing food to share.
I prepared my dishes, Pancit Palabok and Buko Pie, at my parent’s house which has a big kitchen, catering-size pots and pans, and a backyard with portable stove for outdoor cooking (so the smell won’t fill the house). My dad was baffled by my constant back and forth between kitchen and backyard. He asked, “Isn’t this for a potluck?”, implying I shouldn’t cook that much. Regardless of my parent’s constant wonder, they supervised, advised, and lent a helping hand to make my work seem less grueling.
But you see, I got it all planned out: I’ll separately make the Buko Pie crust and filling two days in advance and freeze them until ready to be baked on the day of the potluck. The day before the potluck, I would buy my Pancit ingredients at the farmers market, where I would get the freshest bunch of organic carrots from Ibarra Organics (How exciting!)
After coming from the market, I proceeded to the kitchen. One by one, I julienne the carrots. Wow, is it 2pm already? A mandolin would be handy right now, I thought. Then the oven time showed 3pm. An hour had already passed. I glanced at another wall clock to be sure. Two clocks can’t be wrong. To clarify, I could cut the carrots in any way but for some reason I stuck to thin match sticks shapes. It also didn’t help that I planned to cut the green beans on a very thin bias one piece at a time. It must had been my inner critic saying, it’s not Pancit Palabok if it’s not cut the traditional way! I paid the price for being too firm.
I took a bite of the carrots and green beans. They were good -crunchy and flavorful. I got excited again then moved on to the tofu, mushrooms, onions, and garlic. I sautéed all the vegetables and tofu. Everything was looking good and going as planned. All that cooking deserved a break, then on to the sauce.
LESSON LEARNED #1: The right equipment and tools do matter. If you have a lot of vegetables to chop, use the right equipment like a mandolin -or at least make sure you have a very sharp knife and a big softwood cutting board.
Pinch of white pepper to (almost) end it all
Instead of using a ready-made vegetable broth powder, I thought of making my own vegetable broth. The DIY combination had potato flour, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, and white pepper. Only, I ended up putting too much white pepper. My heart sank. I should had known that the white pepper from Rainbow Grocery would be potent because their stuff is always organic. I was out of ingredients to fix and counteract the pepper. It was literally too late to go back to Rainbow Grocery to create another vegetable broth powder from scratch, or to go to the asian market to buy the ready-made stuff. It was already 8pm. I felt helpless and hopeless. What had I done?
I should had already known that it was easier to season bit by bit than to cut back. I knew this. My mom softly yet firmly reminded me about this big lesson. If it sounded like all doom and gloom, it felt like it was. I couldn’t afford to wait to fix it the next day because I needed to be at the park early (though not as early as my co-organizers who planned to get there by 5am to reserve the spot). I couldn’t believe it -that extra pinch of white pepper jeopardized everything in that one gigantic pot of sauce.
LESSONS LEARNED #2: Buy twice the amount of ingredients needed so you don’t have to head back to the store in case you need to remake the dish. If first time is a charm and you end up not needing the extra ingredients, you could always return them to the store. Just make sure you have the receipt (double check with your store’s return policy prior to buying).
LESSONS LEARNED #3: It’s always easier to season one small portion at a time than to cut back from putting too much at once. Once again, never put too much at once, especially when it comes to spices!
My mother, the Palabok Master.
The only life lines I had were the extra potato flour, sea salt, and my mother who have been cooking Palabok even before I was born. But unlike those master chefs you see on tv, she didn’t yell at the top of her lungs screaming all the swear words to make me feel humiliated. My mom was serious but always had a solution in mind. “Don’t throw the whole pot away, save the half and add it to the new pot” she said. At times she would even joke around. Never mind that it was already 11pm. While my mom and I busily cooked, my dad headed to my car to load stuff for the picnic: tables, chairs, water jugs, signs, dollies, blankets, mp3 player, speaker, and other knick-knacks.
We stopped cooking at 11:30pm and went to bed around midnight. The next day, I got up at 6am to get back to the sauce I had to rescue. I realized the only solution was to go to a 24-hour grocery store to buy a standard vegetable broth. Oh the vegetable broth drama! If only it would end with a simple broth from the 24-hour grocery store five minutes away from my house. I darted to the store and got myself two organic boxes of generic vegetable broth. I had never tried them before so I wasn’t exactly out of the woods yet.
LESSON LEARNED #4: Don’t be afraid to ask for a lending hand. Asking for help could ease some of the stress. It also makes cooking more fun.
LESSON LEARNED #5: Improvise and be flexible to change. Sometimes, not everything will go as planned. Stuff happens. The key is to roll with the punches and think fast on your feet.
Palabok done at last.
The rescued pot of sauce was a combination of the previous fiery, peppery version and the new bland one from the store. It sort of worked. I kept blending the two until I had achieved the right balance. The result wasn’t I had originally in mind but it tasted like what I would have back in my hometown Bacoor Cavite. I added the annatto powder to color the sauce orange-red and poured the potato starch slurry to thicken the consistency. Once boiling, I turned off the heat. The Pancit Palabok sauce was done. My mom blanched the noodles; I baked the Buko pie in the oven until golden. We prepared everything in trays, covered them in foil, and loaded them in the car.
I got ready, gave big thanks and hugs to my parents, and headed out the door. I was off to pick up my boyfriend Chris at the bart station then off to the picnic site. It was already 9:30am but my co-organizers said it was no problem (the picnic starts at 11:30am).
LESSON LEARNED #6: To tame strong flavors, counteract with water or a bland liquid. Keep blending slowly but surely until you have achieved the right balance. However, if you are attempting to rescue a burnt ingredient, don’t! It’s almost never worth the effort to remedy anything burnt.
LESSON LEARNED #7: Quality over quantity. Focus on the quality of your dish and not the amount of serving it will yield -even if it means you won’t be able to feed everyone (unless you’re paid to fulfill a certain headcount).
“Why am I doing this to myself?”
Chris and I got a little lost. My phone’s GPS kept leading up to a recreational center and not a regional park. Great… But we finally figured it out and found the picnic site. We unloaded everything that we just carefully loaded less than an hour ago. Thankfully, we got dollies to transport the stuff (we didn’t last year and it was quite a workout to say the least).
My co-organizers, Rosie and Jen, were already there. Rosie, her boyfriend Rich, and their dog Mochi, got there before the break of dawn, at 5am! Rosie said she was also cooking late at night and didn’t get enough sleep. Jen who was in charge of the name tags, utensils, picnic props, raffles, and other activities also got there early. I then talked about my 12-hour stint in the kitchen and jokingly asked why was I doing this myself. But the answer eventually came clear when the guests started trickling in.
The hard work and sacrifice that Rosie, Jen, I, and our loved ones had put into this event, paid off when about 80-90 guests arrived. Most of the guests were new faces. We all enjoyed the buffet of vegan food and the company of friends old and new. All the worries and stress went away. Everyone was having a great time.
The guests were a variation of vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores -Rich’s parents were there, Rosie’s cousin was there, and relatives of our vegan guests were there. I was glad they did make it. After all, I think that’s what veganism is all about -sharing the vegan food and the vegan lifestyle to the rest of the community.
LESSONS LEARNED #8: Have fun! Life is too short to be miserable over a kitchen mishap. The important thing is to learn from it and enjoy the result of your hard work.
Scenes from the Bay Area Vegan Potluck:
I’m sure there are more mistakes to be done and more lessons to be learned from them -and that’s okay. I think it’s an illusion that a beautiful chef creation perfectly formed itself on a first run without any trouble. In fact the troubles and challenges make the experience more rewarding especially once you’ve finally gotten the recipe right.
I was able to get a second chance when I was asked to cook for another event called “Project Merienda“. I chose to make Pancit Palabok again and this time, I applied the lessons I learned from the potluck. Everyone at “Project Merienda” (who were all omnivores) raved about the Palabok. Even other guest chefs said my Palabok was one of my best dishes yet. It was a great feeling.
Scenes from “Project Merienda”:
For the Pancit Palabok recipe, here’s the video tutorial. Don’t worry, this one does not require white pepper! Also, it’s the version that uses the ready-made vegetable broth found at Asian grocery stores. If you’d like to make your own, simply use equal parts nutritional yeast and potato flour with a few pinches of onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper, and kala namak aka “black salt”. I’m contemplating on uploading another YouTube video to show this second version.
Do you have a kitchen mishap that made you a better cook? You’re more than welcome to share these lessons here. I would love to learn from them as well!