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Are you one of those people who has the bad luck of having your gourmet dishes failing on you just when the appetizers have already been served and the guests are waiting for the main course with their wine glasses in hand? In fact, it often happens to the best of cooks that our lovingly prepared meal ditches us in the middle and dinner turns to disaster as you discover that your vegetables have turned soggy and you have added too much salt to the gravy. If you are faced with a similar situation the next time you cook dinner, despair not, because our quick fix solutions to fixing common cooking disasters will help you make the best out of such situations.

Too Much Salt in Gravy: It has often happened to me that as guests pour into the kitchen to exchange pleasantries and small talk, I end up sprinkling too much salt into whatever I am cooking. The quick fix to too much salt in a gravy is to quickly slice a potato and put the slices in the over salted gravy while it simmers. Take out the slices before you serve.  If your gravy can take a couple of tomatoes, then chop some up and add to the gravy. This generally ends up making gravy tastier, zingier and there are no traces of excess salt left in the dish.

Cake Sinks In The Middle: You take out your nicely baked cake to cool on the rack and after fifteen minutes, you find that your cooked lump of dough has a big dent in the middle. Definitely un-servable to dinner guests as is! However, you can still put it to a number of good uses to make lovely dessert. If you have some canned or fresh fruits ready, pierce the cake all over the top with a knife, soak with fresh fruit juice or syrup from the can, put all the fruits on the top to make an even top and pour on whipped cream or some fruit sauce for a fruity cake desert. You can also cut up the cake and serve in separate bowls as a trifle after topping with ice cream, fruits and flavored sauces.

Lumps in the Sauce: You might follow instructions to a T when making white sauce, but it can still turn out to be lumpy. While stirring it and breaking down lumps by a spoon might solve the problem in some cases, the best things to do is to either put it in the blender and give it a whiz or to pass it through a thick sieve. Your sauce will instantly get back the smooth and creamy consistency that you wanted in the first place.

Overcooked Vegetables: Mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables often have a tendency of turning into mush, especially when you have invited guests over. The best way of using the veggies to your advantage as a main course is to mash the over done vegetables properly, add fresh bread crumbs, some corn flour and salt to taste. Fashion this mix into patties or cutlets, dip into a beaten egg, cover with bread crumbs and fry to make crisp vegetable cutlets for your main course. Just make sure you add enough bread crumbs so that the mixture becomes solid enough to hold shape.