Knowing how to cook well is a skill many people take for granted. I should know, considering that the bulk of my culinary expertise revolves around the utilization of the microwave.
I'm not proud of it, but I know and accept my limits — which is a lot more than you can say about these fine folks. Have a look as people share what cooking crimes their own family members have committed.
"The in-laws would make a huge casserole and keep it in the oven for storage until they finished it...sometimes up to 3 or 4 days. They would reheat the whole thing, eat a bit, let it cool down in the oven, then leave it there at room temperature." - Reddit u/din_valve
Redditor JaeminGlider's grandmother believes that all foods should have an element of color to them. She once put chopped-up prunes into her meatloaf in order to make it look more aesthetically pleasing. As you might have imagined — it tasted awful.
"My mother-in-law likes to put uncooked spaghetti and unseasoned chicken breasts into a casserole dish, top it with barbecue sauce, and bake it until the chicken is completely dried out. The spaghetti always gets stuck to the bottom of the dish." - Reddit u/interstellargangbang
Reddit user R0B7 recalls a time when their aunt attempted to make a birthday cake for their brother's 12th birthday. The recipe called for one cup of brewed coffee, but their aunt got confused and used a cup of ground espresso beans instead.
"My mother microwaves salad," writes Redditor RydNightwish. "Not a meat salad or egg salad or other salad. Salad made up of plants. In the microwave. For 60 seconds."
First of all, you never wash raw chicken — especially with dish soap! Doing so can leave you vulnerable to salmonella poisoning, among other things. Instead, simply put it onto a plate and pat it dry with a piece of paper towel.
Years ago, Redditor LaCece04's mother served the family steaks that were still in their plastic packaging. If you think that's bad, she mistook a can of bug spray for PAM and the whole family had to call poison control.
Redditor nobody_likes_beets says that their mother-in-law has a very unique recipe for cooking burritos. She prefers to use room-temperature tortilla shells and fills them with boiled hotdogs and black beans.
"My significant other's parents will make a pot of fish stew and just leave it in the pot on the counter for DAYS after cooking it. They say it's fine because they 'put a little bit of vinegar in it.'" - Reddit u/fishfishfish
Reddit user foxandsheep explained that their grandmother never learned to properly cook. One time while visiting, the grandmother decided to serve chicken breast that she'd marinated in a white vinegar solution.
"My boyfriend confessed he 'never looks at the temperature dial on the oven' — he just flicks it on because he claims that 'temperature doesn’t actually change much.'" - Reddit u/kazoo13
Reddit user sillysaucy watched their mother-in-law make a pico salad using the exact same knife that she'd just used to cut raw chicken with. To make matters worse, she was also using the same cutting board that the chicken had been sitting on.
Redditor shebreastedbooobily once watched her father-in-law put a chunk of raw meat on top of a bed of rice in the microwave for five minutes. He reasoned that the juices from the meat would cook the rice.
The whole thing caught fire in less than two minutes.
"I don't know if it's a generational thing, but my parents just simply cannot comprehend that some people want to eat beef that isn't well done and the texture of a shoe." - Reddit u/AlkonKomm
"My husband makes spaghetti, sauces it, and sets it aside. He then spreads peanut butter on two pieces of toast, ladles a generous amount of the spaghetti onto one piece of the peanut butter toast, and uses the second slice to make a PB&Spaghetti sandwich." - Reddit u/kepajoy
h/t: Reddit
