It has been an while since I fucked up cooking this badly.
I was steaming sweet potatoes in the instant pot, which I have done many times and is very easy: two cups of water, steamer basket, peeled and chunked sweet potato, 30 minutes on the Steam setting.
Instead I, in an early morning addled state, pushed Saute. Which still wouldn't have been an issue because Steam is just Sautee on the medium setting, but I'd had it set on high from the last time I made soup, and it steamed off the water too fast, leaving behind the sugar-heavy sweet potato drippings. Which caramelized and then began to burn.
I did smell it before disaster struck and was able to rescue the sweet potato and steamer basket (shout out to GoodCooks brand, the plastic basket was totally fine). And I got to the burned bottom early enough that almost all of it came up easily after a quick soak, so no lasting harm done. But I think the last time I screwed up a recipe I've made a million times like this was five or six years ago when I accidentally fell asleep while my buttermilk biscuits were baking and was woken by the smoke alarm.
Today I am going on an IKEA ADVENTUR and then this afternoon I'm going to make sweet potato soup, two pasta sauces, refried beans, and falafel. The reason for most of this is so funny it'll get its own post later.
