Burnt Toast and Other Disasters: A Book of Heroic Hacks, Fabulous Fixes, and Secret Sauces – A Witty Cookbook for Transforming Kitchen Disasters and Lackluster Ingredients

by Cal Peternell

A gifty, funny, and practical guide to coming back from even the worst kitchen mistakes, making bad food good and making good food even better, from the author of the New York Times bestselling and IACP Award–winning Twelve Recipes. 

Mistakes were made. Maybe they were first-time kitchen faux-pas; maybe the stove was left unattended for just a second too long; maybe the on-sale meat at the supermarket isn’t looking quite worth the savings anymore. Do you waste food and time trying to start from scratch? No, you face up to the facts, step up your game, and transform that cooking conundrum into a delicious meal. The best way to do that? Follow the guidance of Cal Peternell, a chef coming out of the restaurant kitchen to meet cooks where they are with this funny, practical manual for making Bad Food Good. 

Though many pro chefs may be able to get their sustainably sourced, locally grown, 100 percent grass-fed, organic ingredients and gently guide them through careful preparation to a simply sublime dish, most of us don’t achieve perfection in every step (or even most steps) of the process. From mistakes due to a lack of know-how to the limits of supermarket-level quality food, many home cooks start at a disadvantage. With his signature dry wit and years of experience cooking for everyone from high-end restaurant patrons to his hungry family, Cal Peternell is here to level the playing field with this bag of tricks for turning standard (or substandard) fare into a meal to be proud of, troubleshooting such situations as: 

Making the best of burned food (Burned your toast? Time to make Cheesy Onion Bread Pudding!) 

Hacking packaged food (including 5 variations on “Hackaroni and Cheese”) 

Things restaurants often do wrong and you can do better (including pesto, queso, bean dip, ranch, and more) 

Spicing up lackluster vegetables (Brocco Tacos dazzle both in name and in flavor) 

Snazzing up dishes with “special sauces for the boring” (including vegetable purees and an infinite variety of savory butter sauces) 

Cal also includes a series of hilarious Old Man cocktails, ranging from the Bitter Old Man (one part bitter, one part brandy) to the Wise Old Man (8 ounces water and a good night’s sleep). 

Up your cooking game every night by learning how to bounce back from (almost) any mistake with Bad Food Good. 

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 21, 2021

Reviews

[Larry H · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his newest book, Burnt Toast and Other Disasters , renowned chef and cookbook author Cal Peternell shares advice on how to weather common cooking mistakes and what to do when the food you've cooked or have at your disposal isn’t quite what you’d hoped.

Some of you may know that I went to culinary school about 16-17 years ago and worked as a personal chef for a while, so needless to say, I love cooking. But no matter how much I’ve cooked through the years, and for how many people, I’ve had disasters, and there also have been times where things just didn’t work the way they were supposed to.

What I love so much about this new book Peternell gives great advice on what to do when your meat is too dried out, your bread is too burnt, your vegetables are too boring or too mushy. He shares tips, advice, and great recipes to either transform your mishap into something else or rescue it.

The subtitle of this book, A Book of Heroic Hacks, Fabulous Fixes, and Secret Sauces , really lives up to its name. There are so many recipes in here I’m going to try, from sauces to ideas on how to jazz up store-bought mac and cheese or cans of beans. I often say one of the greatest things I learned in culinary school was how to make a meal using stuff in my refrigerator; with this book in hand, you’ll feel just as empowered.

Many thanks to William Morrow Books for the complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually, this is a cook book wrapped in a structure where the author classes recipes according to some theme. He also intersperses a lot of personal anecdotes I had no interest in, like how he and his son were riding horses outside of Tucson and their experience at the ranch's salad bar or the restaurant employee who dealt drugs on the side.
I picked up a few interesting-sounding recipes, but many were oriented to hot types of dishes with ingredients like chili or curry, which I do not eat, so they were of limited appeal.
As for the burnt toast of the title his suggestions did not sound very useful---making something to serve on top of it is not likely to disguise either the appearance or the off-taste, although drowning it in chili might help a bit.
Some people would probably enjoy the book, but I am glad it was a library book.

[Libraryassistant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this! Lots of stories— many funny, a few poignant-ish— accompany a really great approach to eating well even with challenges, lol.
Some are riffable techniques like bean MUFU (mash up fry up), some really are about saving overcooked items. Embracing the caramelization, grin...Definitely full of uncheffy things I want to try!

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun anecdotes and delightful illustrations. Maybe a bit light on the ‘fixes’ part that the title would indicate, but still nice read.

[Velma Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

many very good backs to fix food.

[Sandi Leska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars is more of an impression than a fair rating since I perused all the pages rather than read it cover to cover. This is a book I should buy or put on my wish list to get gifted so I can access it repeatedly in the kitchen scribbling notes in the page borders and adding bookmarks as I work the material. This seems to me a good filling cookbook to stretch my culinary muscles.

[Danielle Robbins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute cookbook! I really enjoyed the photos. However, it’s a cookbook for when you make errors cooking. If I make an error and overcook something, usually I am too tired and frustrated to start doing a new recipe to salvage it. So I don’t know if I would use those. But I did find a nice fried chicken recipe.

[Margery Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

the rice pancakes are the recipe i'm most likely to try out. i guess i'm old and had too many years as a starving student but I totally think I know how to use leftovers and salvage questionable cooking ;-) Plus life as the child of depression era parents taught me a lot about using stuff he doesn't even mention like slightly off meats and fish or over ripe fruits and vegs so I kind of think the authors use of 'disasters' in the title is over doing it.

[Asta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did. I really wanted to know what to do with burnt toast, other than make breadcrumbs.
Crumbs
I don't think I've ever burnt more than two slices at any one time so the Cheesy Onion Bread Pudding will have to involve a deliberate act of burning for me to ever make it. As if.
I think this collection would suit someone just learning to cook, or just looking for quick and easy dorm-kitchen dishes.
The illustrations are terrific and the Coda is amusing.

[Kirsti · Rating 3 out of 5]

A chef tries to help the rest of us make better and more flavorful food—a great idea for a cookbook. The book design is gorgeous (the author is also a trained painter), and the writing is friendly and witty. But there's not a single recipe in this book that appeals to me. Your mileage may vary, of course. Also, I could have done without the name-dropping (Alice Waters! Mira Nair!), the place-dropping (France! the Bay area!) and the off-topic information about excursions to Wal-Mart and prison.

[Erin Pacitti]

This book was all over the place. I think it was purposeful, but as a cookbook, I'm just not sure how to use it. The writing was uneven and sometimes a little raunchy for no reason, and the photography and design left something to be desired. The concept is fun but I think the execution could have been better.

[Maggie]

I haven't yet cooked anything from this, but I bookmarked a handful of intriguing sounding dishes, mostly with vegetables (cabbage, celery, peppers, scallions). And a meatloaf because it included diced pickles.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A professional chef gives you tips and ideas on how to turn an oops, into a great tasting dish. He also gives recipes for stuff from the freezer and canned goods. He shares information on herbs and spices as well and general hints to improve all sorts of cooking mistakes.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m pretty sure this cookbook is not necessary. It starts with some recipes for overcooked bread and vegetables and rice and then morphs into some canned beans recipes and then adds some other recipes and then some drinks.

[Kiki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clever approach to a cookbook, but not quite what I want out of one.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, creative cooking method book.

[Kady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skimmed this one and was happy to learn how to fix stuff even though most of the time he just tells you to make soup out of it.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cal is the master of 'whipping something up' with a quick wit to boot.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ll make a single recipe from this book, but it was interesting read.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was cute and practical, with moments of brilliant, poignant writing, like the instant soup love story. Now I'm going to make a quick dinner with canned beans MUFU.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Handy book!

[Bridgette Guerzon Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this cookbook and the illustrations. I haven't tried anything yet and might not get a chance before returning the book to the library. The New England clam chowder soup looked good and doable.

[Carrie Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a different kind of cookbook. I don't think my crew would like most of the recipes.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ideas for real-life cooking & eating.

[Katrina Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love his books, because they aren’t really just a bunch of recipes, but blueprints to guide you through making great food.

[AJ Stoner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the writing was fun but I was disappointed that not much in here actually surprised me.

[Donna Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the recipes I would not use. However, some good advice on how to reinvent disasters and taste. Helpful and imaginative.