When I was four, my mother made Beef Stroganoff with Brussel sprouts. I’m not sure if it was the sprouts or the Stroganoff, but all of us got sick. It’s been thirty years and I have never gotten sick again from anything my mother prepared, but I could not stomach either dish for thirty years.

This summer, my mother-in-law made Brussel sprouts. I was suddenly in a corner – do I refuse to eat them in front of my children and The Man’s family – or do I suck it up and try them again after three decades? I chose to eat them. They were very well made, crisp and sweet without a hint of the stinky-feet bitterness I had come to associate with the dish. I really enjoyed them.

I’m not sure if I’ll be attempting Beef Stroganoff any time soon, but I did learn an important lesson – keep trying to make and eat foods. Even if you got sick eating them, even if you “hate them.” I believe my mother made a (rare) mistake. After she “messed up” that meal, she never made it again. She created a person who “didn’t eat” certain foods. (Though, those foods were very few.) It’s rare to meet someone that doesn’t have extreme food preferences based on what I call The Colossal Food Fail.

I had one of these recently. I spent 4 hours baking a “Mile-High Lemon Meringue Pie” from Cook’s Illustrated’s American Classics. I was meticulous. I followed each instruction closely. I didn’t just measure, I weighed each ingredient. When the time came to make the Italian Meringue (meringue that is cooked by pouring boiling sugar syrup into stiff peak egg whites – the most difficult kind, in my opinion) I even hand washed my electric mixer bowl and balloon whisk. (Twice.)   

I placed the finished pie into the refrigerator just after midnight. It was beautiful.

 

There are no photos of the pie after that one - it was all just too painful. I had made other, less difficult lemon meringue pies before, so I thought after the meringue came out so nicely, I was home-free. So, when I cut into it after dinner the next day, I had my camera in hand. I was ready to get a photo like this:

  

Instead, I pulled the pie server spatula back and water with gobs of what may have once been lemon curd dripped back down into the pool in the bottom of the pan. The meringue (the part that I was so amazed I did right the first time) was perfection. All else was lemon water. I am unashamed to say that I cried.

I could have given up. I could have dumped it in the trash and said, “Oh, lemon curd is HARD. Maybe I put it in the fridge too long. I’ll never try that again. It’s too HARD.” Instead, I fed it to my family anyway. The Man and The Spawn said it was good, even though they had to eat it with a spoon. Then I started talking about it to everyone who would listen. How did this happen? Had this happened to them? My mother said the same thing had happened to her in 1968 and she never made another coconut cream pie. 

After that,  I started on my friends. Finally, I copied the recipe and sent it to my friend Barry. I talked with him about each step and ingredient - then it dawned on me. The curd called for 8 egg yolks and the meringue called for 4 egg whites.  Once I had pulled the 4 egg whites out and put the 4 resulting egg yolks into a bowl for the curd, I had stopped. I forgot to put in the rest of the egg yolks.

If I had allowed my shame at “failing” Lemon Meringue Pie keep me from talking about my mistake, I would have never figured it out. So, the next time you shoot for the moon and crash and burn, talk about it! Never give up!

Soon, I will post my successful pie here. I might even try Beef Stroganoff. If we don't talk about our failures, no one can learn from them. I'll bet you never forget to count your egg whites after this! Never surrender!

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If you enjoyed this article, please visit my foodie blog at http://eatjax.com/blog/?author=6 - where every day is Foodie Tuesday!

Proper Pie: hickerphoto.com
all other photos copyright © 2009 by jodi a. kasten • all rights reserved