A culinary failure can ruin not only your dinner, but also your reputation.
The guests smile, but they themselves dream of escaping from the oversalted soup or rubbery meat.
Stop stepping on the same rake and figure out what mistakes in the kitchen are turning you into a dinner party outcast.
Raw vegetables in a stew are a classic. Five minutes in a frying pan seems like enough, but the crunchy carrots give away the rush.
Too much garlic is also not a good thing. The aroma should tease, not drive guests out of the house.
What about the burnt bottom of the pie?
Stoking on high in the hopes of saving time is a sure way to get a charcoal surprise.
Meat that is dry as a shoe sole is another problem. Long frying without marinade kills the juiciness.
Inability to cut also lets you down.
The uneven pieces of potatoes cook unevenly, and half the dish turns into mashed potatoes and the other half remains rock hard.
Forgetting spices means depriving food of its soul, and throwing them in by the handful turns dinner into an ordeal.
And of course, dirty dishes on the table. No one wants to eat in chaos.
The solution is simple: taste the food, keep an eye on the time, and don’t be afraid to learn. Guests will return when the kitchen becomes your ally, not your enemy.