Recipe Fiasco
Update: I emailed Andrea Beaman from her website and she replied today with a very kind message-
Remember how in my last post I was emphasizing how great Andrea Beaman’s book, The Whole Truth is? Well, I guess it’s Murphy’s Law or something, but I went to try a new recipe from it last night and unfortunately it didn’t turn out so well. And that’s putting it lightly. On the way home from the wedding I found a recipe for Soba Noodles and Spicy Sesame Sauce that I was dying to try.
I went to two grocery stores because the first one didn’t have baked tofu. I hit up Ellwood’s for some locally produced, freshly baked oven “fried” tofu (the same tofu that is in the “bomb” goddess tofu wrap!!) and a jar of tahini. I had never used tahini or soba noodles before so I was stoked to try this recipe. Everything was going well – I cooked the buckwheat soba noodles, cut up the tofu and chopped the scallions. Everything is looking pretty right?
Well, everything was except for that huge blob of spicy tahini sauce. When preparing the sauce I followed the recipe exactly using 1 cup of tahini, 1/4 cup shoyu, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water, hot sesame oil and some other spicy ingredients. Like I mentioned, this was my first time using tahini so I no idea that 1 cup of tahini is A LOT to be putting in a sauce.
Here’s the finished product all mixed together.
You can’t tell from this picture the extent of it, but the noodles and tofu were literally drenched in the thick sauce. I took one bite and knew something had to be wrong. I let Isaac try it and at first he was being nice and said it was just okay, then he fessed up and said the dish was so rich it felt might give someone a heart attack. I had a few more bites and then I started to get really frustrated and disappointed. I wouldn’t have been so upset if it were a random recipe I was trying to create on my own, but when I follow a recipe to a T from a cookbook, I expect it to come out right. I had been so excited to try this recipe and I had put a lot time and money into making it and then it turned out horribly and almost completely inedible. Needless to say, it wasn’t a good feeling.
After researching and looking at the nutrients in tahini I realized that it would be really odd for a Better Food, Better Health recipe to call for 1 full cup of tahini, even if the dish does serve 6. I found other noodle dishes with sesame sauces on Andrea’s website and none called for over 3-4 tablespoons of tahini.I immediately starting searching online for recipe recalls, but I couldn’t find any. Perhaps the 1 cup of tahini was a misprint? I would be completely shocked if not, because I honestly don’t think anyone could actually eat more than 2 bites of this dish without getting a stomach ache.
I really couldn’t believe the recipe turned out like that, because every recipe I’ve tried before from The Whole Truth was been great. The fact that I had just written about how awesome the book was kind of fueled my fire. I was so upset that ended up emailing Andrea, asking if there was a misprint that she knew of. Hopefully I’ll hear back soon and if so, I’ll be sure to keep you all posted.
I was so frustrated at this point, I wanted to just throw the whole batch in the trash. I hate wasting food so I just put the noodles in a colander and rinsed it with cold water until at least 3/4 of the sauce was rinsed off. The residual sauce turned out to be much thinner than before and hopefully more palatable. I guess we will see when I face the leftovers at some point this week.
Here’s the watered down version.
I was sulking for the majority of the night over the recipe fiasco, but Isaac did a good job of cheering me up. Some banana soft serve with walnuts and chocolate chips helped as well.
Has anything like this ever happened to you? Have you used a cookbook recipe and it turned out awful? This makes me wonder how often misprints happen.
So that was the bad news, however I do have some good news, I leave for VACATION this Friday!!!! I’m going to Grand Cayman Islands with a friend from high school (and college for that matter). I literally can not wait!
Happy Monday Everyone.
That’s such a shame! I can imagine that 1 cup would have been too much. In my peanut noodle recipe, I use 1/2 cup peanut butter for 3/4 pound pasta and it’s perfect. Don’t get too down on yourself – it’s all part of experimenting in the kitchen, sometimes recipes are total duds! But you learned from it, and I’m sure you will never do it again!!
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That stinks! I hate when that happens – I’m pretty sure it ruined a baked good I was trying to make a few years ago.
Your vacay sounds awesome! I want another!
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I added too much baking soda one time. ewwww.
I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you.
maybe it was a misprint and hasn’t been recalled yet. her recipe on this link calls for 3 T of tahini.
http://www.andreabeaman.com/recipe_july.html
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Just a quick note: thank you for posting your smoothie recipe! I have the same small packet of Amazing Grass hanging out in my pantry and didn’t really know how to make it taste good. As luck would have it, I’ve got all of the other ingredients you listed, too — I know what tomorrow’s breakfast will be!
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Oh yes. I like to try recipes out of the news paper and let me just say they are famous for typos…
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Aw sorry the recipe didn’t turn out
The tofu and your banana soft serve look FANTASTIC though! I’ve done the too much baking soda once as well – yuck.
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I hate when the recipes do not workout! I always add and change mine around! As for the soft serve, it is my personal opinion that ‘ice cream’ cures all! I make a fantastic chocolate protein soft serve EVERY night. It is the high light of my day! lol
I would make a stir fry and add some bok choy, mung spouts, baby corn, water chestnuts, soy sauce (of miso) and saute them up until done. Add some bell peppers, and red onion (they tend to neutralize strong flavors) or if you can do dairy add a couple TBS of blended cottage cheese, sour cream, soy sour cream, ricotta etc. It really pars it down. I also recommend mixing it with diced sweet tomatos or salsa!!! Yum!! Salsa, tabasco, or hot house tomatos mask anything!! Have you thought of making a frittatta?? That would taste quite good actually!! Just add veggies, spinach and egg and pour it on a skillet!
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I’m so sorry that your dish didn’t turn out! that’s such a bummer! I actually had to do something similar recently when I used a sauce packet james had wanted on a stir fry. BLECH! it was gross and I had used TONS of our farmers market veggies to make it so there would be leftovers for James’ lunch. Luckily I salvaged it by doing just what you did: rinsing it off in a colander. Worked like a charm!
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1 cup of tahini sounds like the heart attack special. I’ve had some disasters, but it’s usually not the recipe’s fault. I’m just one of those people who can’t follow a recipe and always change something up, and let’s just say that’s not always for the better.
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Martha Stewart’s Hazelnut Blondies. They looked so good on paper, and when I baked them, no matter how long I baked them, they just got darker on the inside while staying raw on the outside. And they totally fell apart when I tried to take them out of the pan. I pride myself on being a good baker, and hazelnuts are expensive! So when that recipe didn’t work out, I was really, really annoyed. Trust me, I feel your pain.
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Sorry, darker on the outside, raw on the on the inside
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That happens to me, but only when I’ve made a mistake and didn’t know it. Maybe it was just meant to be a really rich dish? 1 Cup of Tahini is a whole butt load. When I make hummus I use like 1 or 2 Ts for a whole can of beans. I think I would add more noodles to it next time or to the leftovers. Good news is now you have tahini for hummus making.
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UGH! So sorry
1 cup of tahini is insane – that has to be a misprint! Way to make the best of it though! Have fun on vacay!
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I’ve put too much miso & tamari in the same recipe before. Oh, was it ever salty and awful.
1 cup of tahini is crazy. I’ve never used that much in any recipe, including hummus, which (depending on the recipe) can be heavy on tahini.
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The banana soft serve looks amazing. I make a “banana bread smoothie” with frozen bananas, milk (or soy milk), walnuts and cinnamon… try it sometime, it is amazing!
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I’ve found typos in cookbooks many times! I’m actually surprised how many there are. I can’t say I’ve ever had anything as big as that misprint – it’s usually in the recipe directions, where it talks about an ingredient that wasn’t actually in the ingredient list. At least you found out the proper amount!
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Too bad about the fiasco…all those ingredients sound like they would be delish together!
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