This is a story thread, but it is also a survey, because I want to hear your stories too. The best ones are recipes or cooking experiments that went so horribly wrong they became funny. Also good are "mistakes" that turned out tasting delicious, though.

So here is my story, really the first time I've screwed anything up to this extent in the kitchen. Years of helping my mum helped me avoid many of the early pitfalls of learning to cook, but it turns out I'm not immune.

The other day, the boyfriend and I decided we wanted to try making a fancy Russian-style cheesecake. First we scanned the recipe and concluded that we'd need a food processor, but could accomplish the electric mixer steps with some good old hand stirring. We went shopping for all the ingredients (including, but not limited to: six eggs, a stick of butter, a cup of cream, ricotta cheese, and cream cheese), stole the food processor from his place, and returned to my kitchen. I got to work.

Oops one: crust recipe called for "softened" butter, which I typically take to mean "throw it in the microwave until it's liquid; your life will be easier." Not so true for making pie crusts, though. The dough was so fall-apart-y that I had to roll it out on the base of the springform pan itself, then stick the sides back on afterward.

Oops two: So... that bit about a mixer? And the six eggs? Yeah... They were to be separated, and the white parts whipped into something "thick and glossy." It's a funny European-y cookbook, so I don't know what they meant exactly (aren't egg whites always glossy?), but I do know that my arm is still aching from the attempt (and the vigorous frothing of cream into "soft white peaks," and the combining of sugar + three packages of cream cheese + ricotta).

Oops three: After all this work (boy helped with the stirring), we went to put our masterpiece in the oven. After doing so, I turned around and saw a lemon.

"Oh no, we forgot the lemon!" I said, searching the recipe to see when it should have been incorporated.

...In the same step as the flour, as it turns out.

I opened the oven door and observed that my cake was drip, drip, dripping from the springform pan into the bottom of the oven, forming a small, custard-y looking mountain.

Determined to save the project, I took it back out and added the missing components. The boy made a valiant effort to whisk flour clumps into the batter without destroying the fragile crust. We put it back in the oven and watched the custard-y mountain grow.

There was much speculation about how terrible it was going to be, and much apologizing on my part. (I was too tired to cook, really, but had also been too stubborn to admit it.)

A day later, after the cheesecake has been baked, chilled, and sliced...
It tastes completely delicious. The crust holds together and is nutmeg-y and wonderful; the cheesecake itself is creamy and delicious but actually not overly heavy.

Moral of the story: never give up on anything as a "lost cause" until your smoke detectors are literally going off and the fire department has ordered you to cease and desist.