Why dont they have a recipe screw up guide ?!
Answers: Like if you put too much salt in the soup is there a way to fix that ? Or your cookies are too dry , or too thin .
Oh but there is one! Food chemist Shirley Corriher has written a wonderful book called Cookwise, the Secrets of Cooking Revealed. It demystifies recipes, with lots of explanations about why things go wrong and what to do about it when they do. Every cook should have it.
That's a good idea, I don't think anyone could ever cover all of the handed down remedies or adjustments we make on the fly though.
If you poke around the Internet you are bound to find fixes for the most common mistakes(link below) but a lot of time it's trial and error or asking around that gets the solution.
all those things are learned from experience as far as the salt add a raw potato and it will absorbe the salt...cookies for soft cookies cool on foil instead of a rack...to thin add more flour to dry add another egg....Ive made some boo boo's over the years but my Mom said don't get discouraged just dump out the mess and start all over adjusting recipe as you go and that's how I learned to cook
That's an excellent idea! I usually just make more of whatever it is (double the soup ingredients, leave out salt, for example). If cookies are too dry or thin, using margarine w/too high an oil content could be the problem. Sometimes w/baking, humidity in the air or altitude is also a problem.