I managed to burn my toast this morning. That’s how good a cook I actually am.

I have now started this cooking blog and yet I still screw up things like toast. All I wanted to do was stick the toaster back on for 30 seconds or so to get it nice and “toasty” but of course I forgot about it and it was only the smell of burnt toast that got me running over to turn it off.

If you, like me, burn things when you’re cooking them, you might be interested in my list of foods it’s OK to burn. You’ll notice that I have interpreted the challenge in a number of ways in order to have an interesting list. Bite me. Can you think of any more?

1. Creme Brulée. My first cheat is a food that has “burnt” in its name (albeit in a foreign language)
2. Bones. When you’re making dark stock, one method is to start by throwing the bones into a pan over a reasonably high heat with no oil / butter etc. Shake ‘em around and get them to start caramelising before adding water, seasoning etc.
3. Steak. We all know that there is only one true way of cooking steak, but interesting variations (to get it even rarer) involve blow-torching the outside before cooking. Technically, of course, you don’t want to burn the steak, but anything with a blow-torch has to count, right?
4. Chestnuts. OK, it’s only really the outside that get burnt. But still.
5. Blackened fish. There are loads of recipes called “blackened” when it comes to fish (e.g. blackened tuna). Technically, you are burning the cajun seasoning, but again, I’m going to take it… There’s also a recipe from Jamie Oliver that involves wrapping a fish in newspaper where the newspaper gets burnt
6. Flambé. Brandy, pastis, Christmas puddings, lamb steaks. There are many fun ways of setting your food on fire…
7. BBQ / flame-grill. Think flame-grill, think burgers and steaks, but normal BBQ can involve bits of charcoal too – think the shells on prawns
8. Caramelised onions. I think “caramelised” is really just a euphemism for “burnt” so I’m gonna count it. I have a fun dish that involves basically burning onions and garlic and then frying chicken in the oil. Sounds crazy, and it’s hard to get right, but it’s nice when you get the sweetness just right.

Picture credit: fiskfisk on Flickr