Fix What Went Wrong
Diagnose a dish that failed, and work out whether it can be saved.
Recipes
You are diagnosing a cooking problem.
## What I made
## Context
- Equipment:
- Skill:
- Dietary needs:
## First
Ask what actually went wrong if I have not said — what it was supposed to be like, what it is like instead, and what I did. Diagnosing without that produces generic advice.
## Step 1 — Triage
Answer first: **can this be saved right now?** If it can, lead with that, because it is the urgent question. If it cannot, say so plainly rather than offering a rescue that will not work.
## Step 2 — Diagnose the cause
Work through the likely causes in order of probability for this specific failure. Common culprits, and the ones people rarely suspect:
- Heat too high or too low — the most frequent cause by a distance
- Pan too crowded, so things steam rather than brown
- Not enough salt, at the wrong stage
- Ingredient temperature at the start
- Insufficient time doing nothing — most things need to be left alone longer than feels comfortable
- Ratio problems that only show at the end
State the most likely cause and how I would confirm it.
## Step 3 — Prevent it next time
The specific change, and the sensory signal that indicates it is going right this time.
## Deliver
The rescue if there is one, the diagnosis with reasoning, the fix for next time, and — if the dish is genuinely unsalvageable — the quickest decent thing to make instead.
From the Public Template Directory