Masala Fail

I don't mean to sound cocky, but I am almost always successful in the kitchen.

I'm no gourmet, and I have no formal culinary training, but I've cooked enough over the years and picked up a tip or two that I produce crowd-pleasing favorites, at best, or average-but-acceptable fare, at worst.

Tonight, I had an epic fail in the kitchen, I am embarrassed to admit.

A few weeks ago, I bought a couple of cookbooks at Borders, which was going out of business and had everything marked down (Yes! Death to the big box bookstores! Long live independent bookstores!) I picked up a pressure cooker cookbook and a slow-cooker cookbook. I've made several things from the slow-cooker book already: pizza potatoes, orange-honey tilapia (yes, fish in a slow-cooker!) and beefy mac and cheese. All decent. No home runs, but for slow-cooker meals...decent.

After getting back from North Carolina last night, we had today to get ready for school and work. That meant unpacking and unloading our booty from Amazing Savings, Trader Joe's, and Costco. Cristina spent the better part of the day reorganizing our pantry. We made the menu for the week and I shopped for the week's groceries. I figured tonight was a good night to try out something from the pressure cooker book, so I chose chicken masala. It sounded fairly easy, different but not too off-the-wall, and tasty.

Once the lid was sealed, about halfway through the cooking, I detected a faint burning smell. I didn't have the heat that high, and I've never burned anything in the pressure cooker before, so I hoped that the burning smell was coming from Cristina's rice.

It wasn't.

The masala was so burned, it was completely ruined. I tried skimming off the top and not scraping the burned stuff on the bottom, but it was useless. One tiny bite left the aftertaste of smoke thick in your mouth. And it wasn't smoke you could deal with, like Liquid Smoke flavor you put on barbecue. It tasted like an ashtray smells. It was disgusting.

I know defeat when I see it, so I didn't force anyone to "take one for the team." I dumped it all in the trash. One little orange dollop landed on the edge of the trashcan lid. I left it there, a visual reminder of my defeat, for the rest of the evening.

Cristina's rice had not burned, so all was not lost. I quickly fried up some chicken cutlets, just a basic balsamic chicken thing I used to do often, and dinner was fine.

But I hate failing in the kitchen. And now I can't help but have a negative vibe towards that pressure cooker book. I followed the recipe to a tee yet it burned.

I'm not giving up yet. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. You have to read a crappy novel now and then to appreciate the good ones. And sometimes you gotta burn the hell out of your masala to make you step back and reevaluate your kitchen skills. My ingredients were fine. My prep was perfect. I doubt the recipe is to blame. It has to be an equipment issue. Either the stove was too hot, or my pressure cooker has other issues. I do have one suspicion.

I think I need a new gasket for my cooker. My current one seems stretched out, too big, and I think it's not sealing like it should. Once I get a new gasket, I'll try another recipe.

And then I'll make a judgment whether to keep the book or donate it to the Friends of the Library.