So many things in the kitchen can lead to chaos: a recipe gone wrong, a yeast dough expanding to the size of Wisconsin, or turning on a blender with a lid that hasn’t been put on properly. Not to mention the instances of culinary improv that don’t always turn out to be ‘Master Chef’-like creations.
Whether they’re eyeballing it or following a recipe step by step, quite a few people seem to enjoy—or feel compelled to—cooking at home. According to a survey carried out by Kitchen Infinity, the vast majority of Americans cook at home at least once a week, whether they like it or not; roughly a third do it once or twice, nearly 40%—three to five times a week, and one-in-four of them cook five or more times in the seven day period.
Needless to say, the meals people cook at home differ with each household, but some dishes are clearly more popular than others, with the staples of American cuisine being hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and mashed potatoes.
But when it comes to chaos in the kitchen, making mashed potatoes is probably not enough for all hell to break loose; a big family dinner might be, though.
Take a Thanksgiving dinner, for instance, which might take up to eight hours to prepare, if working on one’s own. The majority of people tend to celebrate the occasion surrounded by five to ten people, based on 2023 data, so, considering the amount of food that is needed to feed so many hungry mouths, it’s understandable that the kitchen might look as if a hurricane has passed through it at the end of the day.
Another food-related endeavor that’s likely to result in chaos in one form or another is dessert making. Unless you’re a professional confectioner or someone very skilled at that or baking, chances are you’ve gone through quite a few unsuccessful tries yourself. (I know I have, as, back in the day, it was how I learned firsthand what happens when you try to bake a pie in a plastic bowl.)
You don’t have to look too far to see what I mean; a quick online search of “cake fails” would result in an abundance of pictures of chaotic desserts. We have covered quite a few of them here at Bored Panda, so if you're up for a good laugh or seeking reasons to feel better about your own dessert, browse the funniest cake fails or view these cases of ‘Expectations Vs Reality’.
Whether it results in something chaotic or not, people seem to be more inclined to cooking and baking during the holiday season.
But one period in time has encouraged them to familiarize themselves with the whisk and other utensils and appliances even more, and that’s the pandemic. Statistics reveal that many people decided to give baking a go during the lockdown, 30% of whom say they have developed new skills.
While baking was seemingly booming a couple years ago during the pandemic, the food-related trends didn’t stop there. Nowadays, ‘Chaos Cooking’ seems to be all the rage; or at least it is on social media. According to the Huffington Post, the hashtag #ChaosCooking has accumulated roughly 1.6 million views on TikTok and thousands more on Instagram.
Referring to combining things that typically wouldn’t go together, chaos cooking is perfect for those who want to let their imagination run wild while cooking, or those who might want to use whatever it is that they have lying around instead of making another trip to the store.
“It’s those few surprise elements that bring the dish to the chaotic level,” Boston-based professional chef Ken Oringer told the Huffington Post.
A chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education, Stephen Chavez, seconded the idea that the element of surprise and going the unexpected way is what chaos cooking is all about. He suggested that choosing a core ingredient or flavor can help set the direction for the dish, but it doesn’t have to stick to the conventional recipes or ingredients typically linked to it.
Even though for some people, chaos cooking is throwing ingredients into a pot, as if it was a perpetual stew, Chavez recommended resisting such an urge and cooking them separately. He pointed out that cooking everything at the same time and in the same pan might result in poor textures and a dish of below average quality. “Almost always the pan is overcrowded, the temperature drops, and you end up with a soft, steamed mess instead of a combination of exciting textures and flavors,” he pointed out for Huffington Post.