How to rescue common dishes if you’ve cooked them wrong
Don't bin it, fix it!
Steak won't brown
There may be a couple of reasons for this problem. Steak needs to be dry before cooking, so pat it with kitchen towel once unwrapped. Or there could be too much liquid in the pan, so remove the steak and start with a clean pan with a little oil. Your pan may not have been hot enough to begin with, so take out the steak and heat the pan to almost smoking.
Overcooked pasta
If you realise your pasta is overcooked, drain it as fast as you can into a colander and run it under cold water. Toss in a little olive oil, then pack it into a frying pan. Mix together beaten eggs, cream and grated cheese. Pour over the pasta, then cook on a medium heat until firm, then invert it on to a plate to flip and cook until browned. You could add some ham or salami too.
Roast potatoes won't crisp
A perfect roast potato should be crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle, right? If yours are looking distinctly soggy, chances are you've overcrowded the roasting tin, so your potatoes are steaming rather than roasting. Divide them between two roasting tins, allowing space around each potato.
Split brownie batter
Brownie batter looking grainy and curdled? You've probably added the ingredients to the melted chocolate while it was too hot. To remedy, add a tablespoon or two of cold milk then whisk with an electric hand whisk, and it should come back together again. Next time, allow the chocolate to cool before adding anything else.
Over-salted stew
If you've been a bit heavy-handed with the salt and your stew is cooked through, remove the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Then add a raw, peeled potato to the sauce and allow it to simmer for about 30 minutes. The potato should absorb much of the excess salt. If it's still a little salty, try adding a tablespoon of tomato purée to add a little sweetness, then return the rest of the ingredients to the pan.
Over-whipped cream
Over-whipping can quickly happen if you've taken your eye off the ball, or if your kitchen is warm. If it hasn't gone too far, add a tablespoon of cold milk and whisk again. It should come back together. If you've gone too far, keep whisking to make butter. The cream will separate into butter and buttermilk. Drain off the liquid, then in a bowl of iced water, keep squeezing the butter until all the buttermilk has been removed. The buttermilk can be used for cakes if you add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Pastry falls apart
Pastry will break up if you roll it when it's too dry or too warm. If it's too dry, put the pastry dough into your food processor and add a further tablespoon or two of iced water. Whizz until it comes together, then rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. If it's too warm, pop it in the freezer for 10–15 minutes, then roll again.
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Split hollandaise sauce
If you see hollandaise sauce is beginning to separate, first try adding a tablespoon of cold water to cool it down. If this doesn't work, take a fresh egg yolk mixed with a tablespoon of lemon juice. Gradually beat the original sauce into it, in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Try our eggs Benedict recipe to make the perfect hollandaise sauce.
Broken sponge cake
It happens – you try to move a sponge from its base on to a plate, then it breaks in half. But fear not! If you're making a sandwich cake, use the broken one as your base, and use the filling of buttercream or cream to stick it back together again. Add your filling on top of the cake, then crown with the unbroken cake. Next time, to avoid breakage, try using two fish slices to transfer it to the plate.
Lumpy gravy
A lumpy gravy is relatively easy to fix. Put it into a blender and whizz until the lumps have disappeared. Return it to the heat, then bring to the boil to thicken. If it's still too thin, mix a teaspoon of cornflour with cold water, then add it to the gravy and simmer until thickened. This technique is known as "slaking".
Burnt edges on a cake
It's likely that if your cake has burnt edges, it's just the outside that has been affected and the rest will be fine. With a serrated knife, carefully cut around the cake, removing the burnt parts. Clean away all the crumbs, then cover the cake, top and sides, with buttercream or icing, using a palette knife for smooth icing. Next time, line your tin with baking parchment which will help to protect it.
Too much chilli
Some kick in your dish can add flavour and depth, but if the heat has gone off the scale, here are a few tips to cool it down. You can either stir in cream, grated cheese or serve with yogurt, which neutralises the heat. A little sweetness may help too. If it's a curry, add some chopped pineapple. Honey would also help tone down the heat.
Dried-out cookie dough
Dry and crumbly cookie dough isn't the end of the world – there are a couple of easy fixes. Firstly, the fridge dries out the dough, so allow it to come to room temperature to check it. If it's still too dry, add a little milk, cream or softened butter to the mixture until you achieve the correct consistency.
Sunken soufflé
Don't despair if your cheese soufflé collapses just as it comes out of the oven. You can transform it into an equally fabulous dish. Tip the soufflés out into a shallow, ovenproof, buttered dish. Then mix together thick cream with grated cheese. Pour it over the soufflés, add an extra sprinkling of cheese, then bake in a hot oven until browned and bubbling.
Cake is stuck to the tin
When you've baked a cake, it's important to allow it to cool completely in the tin before trying to remove it. As it cools, the cake shrinks away from the sides, making it easier to remove. Use a palette knife to gently go around the edge to loosen it. If it's also stuck to the base, again carefully loosen it. Next time, butter the tin well, or better still, line the base and sides with baking parchment.
Sauce with a fat layer on top
The technique for removing excess surface fat applies to sauces, casseroles and soups. You should be able to skim off most of it with a spoon, especially if you allow it to cool first. To get it all, once cool, pop it in the freezer for an hour or in the fridge for a couple of hours. The fat will solidify and you can spoon it off easily.
Overcooked rice
If your rice is overcooked, get it out of the hot pan as fast as you can and remove it to a sieve. Run the rice under cold water to cool down completely, then transfer to a bowl. Mix in a teaspoon or two of sunflower oil, then using your hands, separate the grains. Leave the rice to get cold, then put it into the fridge for an hour or two to dry it out. It'll be perfect for fried rice dishes.
Curdled cake batter
It's helpful to know the reasons why curdled cake batter can happen. Your eggs or milk could have been too cold – always ensure ingredients are at room temperature. You may have added the eggs or milk too quickly, rather than incorporating them slowly, adding a spoon of flour between each addition. To rescue it, add a further tablespoon or so of flour. It may make your cake a little more dense, but it's better than wasting it.
Curdled mayonnaise
Making your own mayonnaise isn't hard, but sometimes cooks add the oil too quickly and the mixture curdles or splits. There are a few ways you can fix it. Firstly, add a tablespoon of cold water, lemon juice or mustard, then whisk again. If it still doesn't come together, put a new egg yolk into a bowl with a teaspoon of mustard, then slowly whisk in the curdled mixture. Try our recipe for ginger mayo, great with roast chicken.
Over-cooked vegetables
Just a couple of minutes extra cooking can be make-or-break with green veg. If vegetables are over, drain them into a colander as fast as you can, then submerge them in a bowl of iced water to stop them cooking. You could use them in a soup or purée them as a base for a pasta sauce. Or add them to a Spanish-style tortilla, using our recipe as a guide.
Gluey mashed potato
Gluey mash often means you've over-cooked the potatoes, or tried to mash them in a food processor. Either way, you've released too much starch. If you've over-cooked them and not yet mashed them, run them under cold water. Otherwise, the only solution is to make aligot, a decadent French puréed mash with cream, butter and masses of grated cheese, around half the weight of cheese to potato. Rich, but amazing.
Over-cooked, dry cake
There's no need to ditch a dry, heavy cake. You can transform it into cake pops. Crumble the sponge into fine crumbs (by hand or in a food processor), then mix with buttercream, roll into balls and dip into chocolate or icing. You can decorate as you wish, and they are great fun to make with kids.
Over-beaten egg whites
Fixing this problem depends on how far you have over-whipped the egg whites. If they are just a little clumpy, try adding a fresh egg white to the mixture and whisking briefly. If they have become watery as the proteins have broken down, there's no fix, sadly. Try our recipe for meringues to get it right every time.
Rescue a thin stew
Salvaging a thin stew is a relatively easy process. First off – does it still taste great? If so, just thicken with two teaspoons of cornflour mixed with cold water. Is it a bit tasteless? Remove the other ingredients with a slotted spoon, then reduce the sauce until it's thicker, checking for seasoning. Depending on the recipe, you could add some white or black beans to help thicken it, plenty of fresh herbs or a squeeze of lemon to add flavour.
Split and curdled chocolate ganache
Chocolate ganache is a glaze, icing, sauce or filling, based on dark chocolate and cream. If it splits in the making, looking grainy and lumpy, it's because the chocolate has been over-heated. To rescue it, add one to two tablespoons of cold cream, then beat vigorously with an electric whisk, and it will come back together. Add a little more cream if you need to, then try our divine chocolate tart for ganache perfection.
Over-salted meat
Curdled custard
Custard curdles when it's overheated. Have a bowl of iced water to hand and if you see it beginning to curdle, get the base of the pan in the water and keep beating. If it's still a bit lumpy, use a stick blender to remove the lumps and it will be fine. Next time, mix two teaspoons of cornflour into the raw egg yolks which will make it more stable.
Cracked and broken chocolate log
It takes a bit of practice to roll a chocolate log, especially if it's a rich sponge. But you can still use it if it cracks and breaks. Make mini Black Forest trifles by layering up the broken sponge with cream, cherry jam and fresh, canned or frozen cherries.
Cake is raw in the middle, cooked on the outside
You should always test the centre of your cake with a skewer, which should come out clean once the sponge is cooked. If it's still raw yet cooked on the outside, cover it with foil (to prevent the top burning) and cook for longer. Have a check of your oven with an oven thermometer too. It may be hotter than it shows on the dial, so you'll need to adapt recipes accordingly by turning down your oven.
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Overcooked meat
You'll need to add moisture to dry, overcooked meat. Make a chipotle mayo and shred the meat, then mix and use in tacos. Or you could add it to laksa, Malaysian noodle soup. Use our recipe below, substituting whichever meat you have for the turkey. With rich creamy flavours of coconut, it will make the meat taste much less dry.
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