[Sca-cooks] Mishaps with Margaret

[Cat Dancer]

On Fri, 3 Nov 2006, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Margaret FitzWilliam mentioned:
> -----
> >  Cat Dancer <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com> wrote:
> >> Yes, cooked pumpkin freezes wonderfully well. Just make
> >> sure it's an airtight seal so it doesn't dry out.
>
> The drying out is personal experience. Not quite worth of Mishaps with
> Margaret, but definitely worth a caution.
> -----
>
> Ummm. So, what IS worthy of a "Mishaps with Margaret" ribbon?  Are
> you as inventive and wildly imaginative with your mishaps as Drakey
> is with his?
>
> Inquiring minds would like to know.
>
> Stefan

Well, *anybody* could have the drying-out-in-the-freezer thing happen. 
Also, it just isn't very funny. I think the definitive characteristics of 
a Mishap are that it be just me, that it be a unique incident, and that 
it's at least amusing if not outright hilarious.

Like the twice-cooked "cajun-blackened" lemon-pepper salmon, which would 
qualify as a Mishap except that I am not the one that set the salmon on 
fire, for instance. Knocking the myrrh into the stove? Mishap. Not sealing 
the pumpkin goo well enough so that it gets freezer-burn? Not mishap. 
Losing a bag of marinating sauerbraten in the fridge until weeks later, 
all the while wondering why the fridge still smelled like sauerbraten 
marinade? Mishap.

I think I may have forgotten to post the Mishap from back in February, so, 
without further ado:

When you're covering a large (15" dia hex) cake with white chocolate 
ganache, it's a really good idea to wait to move it until the ganache has 
all set properly. And when you move it before the ganache has set 
properly, it's a really good idea to not tilt it towards you when it's 
about the level of the top of the baker's apron.

YIS,

Margaret FitzWilliam