Gravy on rice is excellent, too. Excellent [/Mr. Burns]
The other night I either didn’t put in enough water or didn’t cook it long enough because it was slightly crunchy. Bleh. No idea what happened; rice is so foolproof I didn’t think I could actually be a fool when it comes to cooking it. 
I prefer rice cooked with salt for most Western style dishes, like the chicken cacciatori-ish dish this was. For Americanized Chinese (I’ve never had Chinese Chinese), Thai and Indian, I agree that unsalted rice is better. And of course, for sushi, the vinegar in the rice serves the functional purpose of salt: creating an ionized environment on the tongue to make the taste buds more perceptive.
My dad has a funny story of his first encounter with dried oregano. The chili recipe called for dried oregano “to taste”. He thought this meant to add dried oregano to the pot he’d just dumped canned tomatoes and cool water into, stir the oregano in and see if you could taste it. If not, add more. Dried oregano, of course, has one of those flavors that “blooms” as it heats, so his “oregano to taste” dish ended up being inedibly oregano heavy when it was done!
My mom once made donuts with salt instead of sugar. They were hard as rocks. Her dad took out his golf clubs and started putting them around the living room. And her first cherry pie is legendary in the family; she didn’t know she was supposed to pit the cherries first!
I can’t recall a specific “oops” like that, but back when I was just starting to create my own dishes instead of following a recipe, I did have a couple of monstrous dishes that kept growing and growing and growing…I’d taste it, not be happy with it, and add something else. And something else. And another thing. Eventually I’d have quarts and quarts of still inedible glop, and I’d finally throw it out and order pizza.
(Despite these tales, we really are generally decent cooks!)
Reminds me of a moment from the animated series Home Movies. The action starts mid-scene with Brendan having dinner with his mother, Paula:
Paula: Wait, what did you just say?
Brendan: “This meatloaf is dry.”
Paula: No, before that.
Brendan: “This is meatloaf?”
Paula: No, before that.
Brendan: “This fish is dry.”
Unless they’re using a rice cooker, you’d be surprised at how many people find cooking rice to be beyond their ken. It’s not quite as foolproof as you think. (The only truly foolproof method I know is boiling it pasta style.)
IMO rice is as foolproof as I think. it is not as problematic as others think.
Well, I certainly think it’s easy, but that doesn’t seem to be the experience of a lot of people I know.
My mother made chocolate chip cookies once. I think she used a mix, but forgot part of it, because the cookies came out totally flat except for the chips, which were huge bumps, and the cookies themselves were almost transparent and hard as rocks.
Still tasted good though.
ok… did anyone else read the title post and think “These Pretzels are making me thirsty!”
just me ?
ok, I’ll go away now.
I have 3 stories, 2 salt, 1 rice
Salt #1 - The wife decides to make biscuts using a premade baking mix. Since the mix is “intended” for drop biscuts, she thinks it needs some more leavening, let’s add some more baking powder. I think my words after the first bite should have been “Boy, you can really taste the baking powder!”
Salt #2 - My MIL decides to treat us all to Argentinian Grilled Beef. Or something that apparently requires a heavy salt crust on the beef then cooked at a high heat. Only she didn’t have a grill that was hot enough, so the beef just kind of stewed in it’s brine. I soldiered on while others rinsed their beef in the sink.
Rice #1 - Again at my MIL’s house, a Korean friend of the family regaled her with tales of his prowess in cooking up the bestest rice ever. Real gourmet stuff. Fast forward to dinner at her house, he’s getting ready to impress us all with a Korean feast and asks “Where is your rice cooker?” When the answer to that was “What rice cooker?” the poor guy was stumped. I do recall the meal being rather good, despite the fact that we had to cook the rice for him.
I once forgot to add flour when making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It was decent trail mix
StG