Everyone Makes Mistakes

As you could probably tell from some of my prior blog entries, I like cooking and trying out new recipes. Over the last few months, Sunday night has become my favorite night for experimenting. I usually have the afternoon to plan, or even get started if the recipe takes a few hours to complete.

Yesterday’s challenge was baby back ribs. I had yet to decide on dinner when I stopped at my parents’ house Sunday morning, so I “borrowed” a nice-looking pack of ribs from my dad’s freezer and figured I’d give it a go. I pulled a recipe from one of my favorite Food Network shows (Alton Brown’s”Good Eats”), that seemed simple enough.

So while the ribs thawed out, I mixed together the spice rub, created a so-called braising liquid, and laid out the slabs of ribs on big sheets of foil. I slapped on plenty of the rub (the recipe said “apply generously”), wrapped up the ribs, added the liquid, and let them cook low and slow for a few hours in the oven. Once they were done, I followed the recipe and drained all the liquid from the packets into a pot. Once that reduced, I basted it onto the ribs, cut them up, and took them to the table. Everything looked and smelled great.

Then my wife and I took a taste. It was almost inedible.

The meat seemed to be well-cooked, but the sauce and ribs were VERY salty. They were so salty that my wife, who is usually kind enough to at least pretend to like my cooking, barely picked at a few pieces. We even decided it was too salty for the dog. I’m not sure if I used too much of the spice rub, reduced the sauce too much, or what. But since the sauce was a product of the cooking process for the ribs, too much of the spice rub definitely could have made the sauce too salty.

And just to add to the overall failure, the avacado included in the tomato salad sidedish (which I have made before to rave reviews) was not at all ripe, making that nearly inedible, too. Now, by no means am I a professional chef. But usually, I know how to follow a recipe, or at least add a few of my own touches. Some meals are better than others, but this was the first time we considered calling for take-out.

It just goes to prove that nobody’s perfect (especially me in the kitchen). But we all learn from our mistakes, and try not to repeat them. I will definitely try this recipe again sometime soon (the countless positive reviews online make me think I did something wrong), and while I was frustrated last night, I’ll definitely try something new next Sunday.

Here at DDA, we like to brag about our services and capabilities, but we don’t pretend to be perfect. Of course we make mistakes here at DDA, whether it’s a typo on a website, a broken piece of code in a custom application, or a slightly inaccurate medical animation. But we try to prevent those kinds of mistakes with an extensive proofing and double-checking process, lengthy CC lists on emails to keep open lines of communication, and plenty of smart people working under one roof. From graphic designers, programmers, and videographers, to copywriters, search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, and animators, everyone at DDA not onl specializes in their specific area, but also understands that nobody’s perfect. We do everything we can to fulfill our clients’ needs, and our long list of unsolicited testimonials proves that.

So if you choose DDA for your marketing or advertising needs, we won’t promise perfection. What we will promise is hard work, open communication, and a finished product that you can be proud of.

Entry by: Steve