Saturday, 26 November 2011

Should This Go On Fridge Soup?!





















Maybe as the one that got away? Hehehe! This post is coming hot off the presses- or even, hot off my gas stove. How many of you have never been faced with a similar ghostly image on the bottom of a saucepan which has burnt dry, but whose contents  have not gone beyond the edible point? If you can honestly say 'No' to my question, I salute you.

However, here's how today's picture post came about...

I diced six ounces of vegetables - marrow, leek, onion and tomato, to be precise - covered them in water and popped in a 1/4 of a stock cube, before setting my ringer for a time when I judged the veg would be cooked, and I would be able to adjust flavour/seasoning etc before consuming my lunchtime soup du jour.

However, before the ringer alerted my ears, my nose alerted my brain. All was not well.  I hurried towards the kitchen. With a muttered "Oh, No!", my hand reached for the steam-emitting saucepan lid even as the ringer rang...

With great presence of mind, I scooped the vegetables (which now resembled pulpy ratatouille) into a dish (after I'd tasted a sample to make sure they had no lingering burnt twang) only to discover this wonderful image on the base of my pan. With hot saucepan in the sink, instead of  turning the tap on it, I dashed for my camera to record its beauty! LOL

Perhaps I should think about writing a 'How NOT To Cook Book'...

Due to the amazing colours I achieved, I'm going to link this to Sepia Saturday! Hehehe! And now, to I Saw Sunday,  as well...
To make the most from the least , I've just written a Sunday160 for Monkey Man, as he chose cooking for his subject today, too, but of the successful variety!

Cooking is an ancient art with plenty of scope for accidental mistakes. The saving grace is laughter. Its spice can rescue any recipe with the magic of humour!

48 comments:

  1. Ha! It is a pretty pic though!! Sorry the soup was not as amendable!!
    Ha!!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  2. One hates to have all of that chopping wasted -- or semi wasted.

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  3. Dear Jinksy,
    I preach it to Husband - IF he cooks (mostly do I) - to stay in the kitchen! Cooking needs supervising - and stirring - and one can use the time inbetween (and IN the kitchen) to do other little jobs. But your picture is fine!
    With best wishes - Saint Britta :-)

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  4. This made me chortle Jinksy - they look as though they have been preserved in aspic and are actually quite pretty. The moral of the story, it seems to me, is always keep a camera handy!

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  5. Weaver - You’ve hit the nail on the head! Never mind the disaster- just be ready for a flash, bang, wallop! What a photograph!

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  6. Oh my! Love it. Fortunately our Thanksgiving feast was not the memory that came to mind when I saw your photo. Great presence of mind to take the pic and share the memory. :)

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  7. Reminds Me Of An Early Jackson Pollock........:)

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  8. I am known as the queen of burn! so well done to manage to save it a bit...I'm an expert they say!

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  9. Oh yes, been there, burned that pan! Of course when one is a blogger and has a camera at hand nothing is lost/wasted!

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  10. I just found your blog and I think it's great fun. I just wrote a piece you might be interested in called "Dining with the Smoke Detector" at Chubby Chatterbox. I'll be back for more visits.

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  11. Now, Julia Child would probably tell you that those caramelized bits at the bottom are the best part to make a flavourful soup. Just scrape them off with a wooden spoon and .... ;-)

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  12. Merisi - that WAS after scraping with a wooden spatula! They were only ghostly outlines left on the pan... LOL

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  13. What about the pot?
    I'll have you know we only use the best cook ware on fridge soup.

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  14. As they say , "You have a blog to feed "!

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  15. Was your heat turned up too high, or is your pinger unreliable? I think we should be told.

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  16. Doc- I'd say the heat was too high! The pinger worked perfectly...

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  17. Well Jinksy, I too have been there. That is why HH does most of the cooking these days. I have learned, however, to set my ringer in increments of only 10 minutes and just travel back and forth to the kitchen from my usual place crafting somewhere. Now mind you Friko says only the best cookware. Loved this post.
    QMM

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  18. You'll do anything to get a blog post ;-)

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  19. I've had more than one burnt pan. The easiest way to clean them is to leave them in sunlight for a day or two. It just flakes off.

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  20. Sue - I'd have to wait a long time for that in England! Luckily my stainless steel pans come clean in a flash with hot water and Fairy liquid. :)

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  21. Grabbing the camera! - Ah a women after my own heart!

    I like the way you think lady, and your saucepan art is beautiful. :-)

    x

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  22. Looks familiar....I thought I was the only one to do this. I love stainless steel pans for the very same reason- easily cleaned!

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  23. Oh,you still got it! Sense of humor. Sense of all things zany.

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  24. A dish can go this direction! I love my soup with the onions burnt.May be a little short of the whole bit being burnt.There's a certain aroma in burnt soup. Thanks for sharing!

    Hank

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  25. Smiles as I have been known to grab my camera when things have gone bad like the time I found a tomato in the pantry that was well past it's use-by date and had wonderfully fascinating fungus growing out if it :-)

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  26. I have done the same Jinsky but have never thought to take a photo. I must say it still looks good......:-)

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  27. Yes, without a doubt I have done the same. I don't believe my burnt offerings have ever made such interesting patterns though.

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  28. Sepia Soup : you have got to love it (with a little salt added)

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  29. I love home made soup, but I have had some casualties too. At least you had the bonus of a photo :-) Jo

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  30. Fine but don't ask me to clean out the pan!

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  31. Bob Scotney - as I told Sue J, stainless steel pots come clean with minimum effort, no matter how bad they look! LOL

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  32. I've had my share of disasters too .. spicy laughter usually makes everything taste better.

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  33. Oh Penny = I have 2 pots that I can barely use again due to similar misfortune! But look at the bright side -- it gave fodder for a light-hearted post!

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  34. yeah i think i would be scrubbing the pan for a while...did that with pasta i forgot...out pan still has ghosts...

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  35. Jinksy I take my hat off to you for not hiding the disaster under a cushion and blogging about your excellent soup! I note from your list of ingredients that although you put in a stock cube, there was no water. Could that be the crucial missing ingredient?

    PS I'm an expert burner of pans - blame poetry!

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  36. Viv - "covered them in water" I wrote, m'dear, so no missing ingredient! LOL

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  37. Love the wisdom and whimsy in your 160. Thanks for playing.

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  38. We have a particular problem with tomato chutney--delicious when done right, but it must be boiled down extensively. As you can imagine, we sometimes have not only burned up chutney, but also a ruined pot!

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  39. The dash of humour is the best ingredient by far. I've not had a pan look quite that bad/beautiful but a few years back, I was tearing bread into tiny bits in order to stuff a turkey. I have cats that quite like bread and I didn't want them getting into it while I focused on other things so I put the plastic bowl filled with bread into the unused oven to protect it from the cats.

    Frazzled with all I had to do, I forgot about it completely and turned on the oven to preheat. Yup, my nose alerted me too. When I opened the oven door, the bread was toasting and the large bowl was unrecognizable. It had melted into the shape of a tropical fish. Somewhere I have a photo but I wouldn't know where to begin to look for it. Part of the plastic melted into the wire rack so you can imagine how difficult cleanup was.. at such an already-hectic time.

    Our unintended sculptures are masterpieces. ;)

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  40. I have definitely done that a time or two!

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  41. The zest of laughter sweetens the pot.

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  42. I hear your pain Jinksy. I am official dish washer and clean-up-after-meals guy here, and regularly battle with similar challenges. For me, having the right equipment (a good scrubber) is essential--and puring hot water in it quickly to soak helps me stay sane while eating as well.

    I hope you had a nice weekend.

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  43. I once rescued a spaghetti sauce my friend was burning with a bit of wine. I still don't trust her near a stove to this day. We eat at a restaurant when we meet now. Just don't tell her why I do that...
    ;)~

    interesting pic, to say the least!!
    :D~
    HUGZ

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  44. Crop the pan out and you've got an interesting abstract!

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  45. Best cook's tale yet. Thanks for the laugh!

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  46. That looks delicious. Good that you captured it and now my mouth is watering.
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  47. ah, saucepan ghosts - I was confused by your comment on my photo blog but now that I have found this I see what you were meaning - very good :)

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  48. At first I thought it was a photo of your actual soup. Next time I burn a pot of something I hope I'll remember to take a photo after I save what I can.

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