Common Kitchen Mishaps (and How to Fix Them)

Whether you are making a party-worthy potato salad or just a simple, salt- and olive oil-dressed side, boiled potatoes are a quick base for many dishes. But what if that pot of simple, starchy veggies goes too far, and you end up with a bowl of bland mush? The easiest thing to do is just to make mashed potatoes instead. Whip those too-soft spuds until smooth, adding milk, butter, a little soft cheese, garlic, or fresh green herbs — whatever flavorful ingredients you have on hand.

Recipe: The Ultimate Mashed Potatoes

If you're not in the mood for mashed potatoes, there is something else you can do with those mushy, over-boiled potato pieces in your pot. After draining the potatoes, cut them into thick slices or wedges (carefully, so they don't crumble too much), then fry in a heated sauté pan until the edges become crispy. For extra flavor, throw in some onions or peppers (like in the recipe below), or a fragrant herb like rosemary.

Recipe: Pepper and Potato Home Fries

Instead of throwing out your day-old bread, work with that slightly stale texture and make crostini. Slice and toast the dried out bread to get it extra crispy before topping it with your favorite ingredients.

Recipe: Stilton-Pear Crostini Drizzled with Pumpkin Seed Oil

Want another way to use up a stale loaf of bread? Soak it in a flavorful liquid and some juicy vegetables to make a panzanella salad or to thicken a gazpacho.

Recipe: Shrimp Panzanella

Tomatoes usually taste best when stored outside the refrigerator — they are actually quite a fragile fruit, and keeping them in the fridge can damage the membranes inside, causing them to lose flavor, Harold McGee writes in his seminal book, On Food and Cooking. But if you committed a food storage no-no and put yours in the fridge, or just were unlucky and got a bad bunch, there is something you can do about it. Roasting concentrates tomatoes' flavor, so roast any bland-tasting tomatoes before adding them to your favorite dishes, salsas, or sauces.

Recipe: Linguine with Shrimp and Creamy Roasted Tomatoes

Rice is one of those basic ingredients it seems essential to master, but it can take awhile to learn how to cook it just right. If you add too much water to the pot and end up with soft muck instead of perfectly separated grains, it's still usable. Mold that mushy rice into balls around your favorite cheese, then bread and fry the rice balls to make the classic Italian snack arancini. It's traditionally made with arborio rice (the same type used to make risotto), but other short grain rices should work just as well. For added flavor, mix some seasonings into the rice before forming into balls — try thyme, basil, or spicy red pepper flakes.

Recipe: Mini Arancini

We all know how delicious a perfectly cooked, juicy piece of chicken can be, but all too often chicken turns out dry and tasteless — usually because it's a little overcooked. But as long as it's not charred beyond all recognition, overcooked chicken can be remedied, at least to an extent. While you can't put back in any juiciness that you lost, you can mask a piece of chicken's dryness and add flavor and moisture with a well-made sauce. Use bold ingredients, like sweet fruits, tangy citrus, red wine, or fragrant herbs (rosemary, thyme, and basil), which will add bursts of intense flavor. To make the chicken seem a little more moist, slice it before ladling sauce on top. That way more liquid will seep into each bite.

Recipe: Seared Chicken with Apricot Sauce

Freshly made mayo is a real treat, especially if you use it as the base in a homemade aioli or dipping sauce. But what to do when it breaks? The key to making good mayo is proper emulsification — after all the other ingredients are whisked together, make sure to add the oil in a very slow, steady stream, whisking vigorously the whole time. If your mayo breaks, fix it by making a double batch — this may sound counter-intuitive, but trust us! In a separate bowl, begin again, adding the oil very slowly to the other items in the bowl and whisking each drop in thoroughly before adding more. Once you have an emulsified mixture, whisk the broken sauce, little by little, into the better batch, just as you would usually add the oil. The emulsified mayonnaise will help bring the broken stuff together, and you'll have a bigger batch of perfect mayo.

Recipe: Basic Mayonnaise (plus variations)

Steaming is an incredibly healthy way to prepare vegetables and highlight their natural flavors. But it doesn't take long, and if you get distracted for even a minute, it's easy to take veg too far. There are a couple of things you can do to make use of those squishy, too-soft veggies, though. Quickly pop them into a food processor or blender and make a purée — purées have a place on chic restaurant menus all over the country, and you can make yours taste just as gourmet by adding a few simple ingredients. A little butter or olive oil can go a long way, as can a creamy cheese like ricotta, a fresh herb like parsley or mint, spices like ginger or cumin, or a quick squeeze of lemon or dash of vinegar. Add the ingredients during blending and process to your desired consistency. You can take the concept of a purée one step further by turning the tasty mash into a smooth, creamy soup. Once you've blended your veggies, put them back in a pot on the stove along with some stock, broth, wine, milk, or cream (or a combination of those ingredients) and simmer until heated through.

Recipe: Radishes with Pea Purée

A cake that's too crumbly when it's cooked might just be too dry. To prevent this from happening in the future, make sure to thoroughly cream your butter and sugar together at the beginning of the mixing process until the butter has lightened several shades in color and has the texture of a buttercream frosting. Then, mix as little as possible when adding your dry ingredients, so as not to overdevelop the gluten in the flour. To ensure you can get cake layers out of the pan without breaking them, thoroughly butter the pan, cut a disc of parchment paper to fit in the bottom, and butter the parchment as well, which will keep your cake from sticking. Allow layers to cool thoroughly before attempting to dislodge them.

If you have a cake that's already crumbling, don't fret. Usually broken bits or cracks in the cake can be pasted together with frosting, and once the entire outside of the cake is frosted as well, no one will know the difference!

Recipe: German Chocolate Cake

Some fruits, like peaches and plums, will continue to ripen once they've been picked, but berries will not. If you end up with a bunch of unripe and flavorless berries, you can slice them up and sprinkle them with sugar to bring out their natural juices. But aside from plain sugar, there are a lot of other ingredients you can add to your berries to boost their flavor. Balsamic vinegar, booze (like a red wine, a dessert wine, or a sweet liqueur), vanilla extract, lemon or lime, fresh herbs like mint and basil, and sweet spices (like cinnamon and ginger) can all give berries a complex and intense flavor that will really wow.

Recipe: Grilled Angel Food Cake with Strawberries in Balsamic

If you tear pie crust while rolling it out, there's no need to stress. Pie crust can easily be patched together — sometimes adding a sprinkle of water to moisten overly dry dough can do the trick. If you already placed the dough on top of the pie, you can remove tiny cracks altogether by cutting out a cute pattern — try shapes relatively easy to do with a small pairing knife, like hearts or stars. Or, cover up cracks by brushing a crust with water or egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse sugar to disguise imperfections.

If you only notice cracks or tears after baking, plop some freshly whipped cream on top, with a garnish of cinnamon-sugar, grated nutmeg, or grated lemon or lime zest. No one will see the cracks and it will look like you went all out making such a gourmet creation!

Recipe: Blueberry Pie