- [Alexis] I'm starting off with some plums--
(record skips)
- The same mistake!
(beep)
- Hey, I'm Alexis, and I'm watching my cooking fails
from Chef Out of Water.
(whoosh)
(upbeat music)
- [Alexis] It's kind of cooking,
baking?
I think I'll do two more minutes
and see what happens.
(microwave keys beep)
- I am trying to microwave crust for lemon bars
and this was like one of the hardest episodes
I've ever filmed.
So I think I was like left in tears afterwards.
I'd never used a microwave to make food,
and microwaves aren't meant to cook crusts.
- Oh no!
(microwave beeps)
It's burnt.
The good news is that there is some color on the crust,
bad news is that--
- There was no good news.
It was all bad news.
It literally smelled terrible.
It smelled so bad, people were coming up
towards the room and being like,
"is everything okay here?"
I mean, it looks like garbage.
Like, that is unusable.
I didn't actually use that version,
but I just remember feeling, after this,
I was like, this is impossible.
What am I doing?
- So, I would usually just roast this
really low and slow for a while,
but let's see what happens if we do--
- I just wanna say that I watched someone do this
and it worked!
So I wasn't totally grasping for straws.
- Put them in the microwave.
I'm gonna try to make polenta.
- Oh my god. And I'm just ignoring the microwave.
- Maybe the milk is a bad idea in this case, but (pouts)
Add in some salt.
I need to wash-- Like, something is fishy here.
Something's wrong.
(snorts)
(dramatic music)
(microwave beeps)
- [Assistant] Had to intervene, sorry!
It's smoking.
Alexis!
- [Alexis] No, no!
(whimpers) - Aw, no.
- [Assistant] Oh, it's like, on fire.
- [Alexis] I don't wanna say this is a disaster quite--
- Okay, the like number one rule with cooking
is don't leave the stove!
Don't leave what you're cooking, and I, like--
Number one rule just like fled the scene!
It was-- oh, my god, so it already smelled bad
from the crust.
But this, like, legitimately caught on fire
and was smoking, and I had to pour water on it
to get it out.
It was, oh, my god, it was awful.
After the garlic catching on fire, I was like,
I don't know how I'm gonna redeem myself.
Like, they edited together the video
to make it look okay, like it all worked out,
but it was just,
I was truly like in tears at the end of the day.
I felt so bad, I felt incompetent, I was like,
this is-- I just made so many rookie mistakes.
I felt like I didn't understand how to use a microwave.
It was rough.
I mean, microwaves are just like on a totally different
power voltage and heat source,
and every microwave is different.
Never cooked with one, but like microwaves
are really not meant for, like,
cooking.
Like, they are great for re-heating food.
You can make things in them.
But I wouldn't recommend it.
(whoosh)
(upbeat music)
- Relying on our appliances and tools,
and it's good to be like, you know,
we can make great food with very little.
Okay.
- This was the second episode of Chef Out of Water,
and I made a three-course meal using a clothing iron.
Which mostly went pretty well.
I'm making mini-crêpes on an iron,
which took like three hours to do,
but I also decided to-- you know, because I couldn't
use other appliances, to hand whip this whipped cream
for the layers of the crêpe cake.
And for some reason also decided to pour an entire
container of heavy cream in there,
when I needed like maybe half a cup.
But decided to pour, like, I don't know,
two cups of cream, so much cream,
so I was like beating it and over and over
and my arms were so tired and I was just like,
what am I doing?
- I mean this whipped cream looks really pretty.
(gasp)
(dramatic music)
Oh no!
It's salt!
- You hear the gasps.
- It's fine.
- (laughs) Oh, my god, it was so awful.
It was so awful.
It was like, it tasted so terrible.
I put like so much salt in there!
And I had just spent 20 minutes beating it by hand,
and I was like, what do I do?
It was
It was awful, it was awful, it was awful.
It was just a rookie move!
I was like going too fast.
I wasn't paying attention, I was like being cocky,
I was like, I've got this beautiful whipped cream,
just gonna add...
It was like licking a salt block.
I should have just
tested that it was sugar.
It's like the easiest thing to do,
and I was just rushing.
(whoosh)
(upbeat music)
- So I've got some eggs here.
I'm gonna pour some water over it
and add a little bit of acid.
- After the first time we used a microwave
and it went so poorly,
all the commenters and my producer was like,
"we have to do it again!"
(laughs)
(inhales gravely)
So we did.
This episode, I was making a three-course breakfast
with a microwave.
- 30 seconds?
Two minutes?
A minute?
A minute, I'm gonna do a minute!
(disapproving grunt)
(timer ticks)
(microwave beeps)
(loud pop)
(gasps) (shrieks)
(gasps in slow motion)
(laughs)
(bleep)
- (whispers) Oh but the--
It's just like inconsistent!
That's why I hate microwaves,
it's like inconsistent.
You don't know what's gonna happen.
- I mean it did kind of poach.
(laughs)
I need to clean this up.
- I mean the egg looks--
I mean, it did kinda poach, but
that is obviously not a poached egg.
And it was like, I just felt so frustrated.
I felt so frustrated.
(whoosh)
(upbeat music)
- Let's light this fire.
- I was really confident about the fire.
This was the finale of Chef Out of Water,
and they surprised me by bringing me to
the Angeles National Forest,
like an hour and a half outside of the city.
We were in, like, hour out of service,
in the middle of woods, and
I was so excited! I was like, finally!
Something I can work with, like a campfire!
This is amazing!
And I felt so happy, and I felt so confident.
Every episode asks what my confidence level is
with this like little graphic, and I was
truly at a 10
like maybe an 11.
- While my fire is going and getting really hot,
getting ready,
I'm gonna start on syrup.
I'm starting off with some plums,
(record skips)
- I just added salt instead of sugar to the plums.
The same mistake!
I seriously don't know what's wrong with me,
it's like the sugar was right there,
why did I put them next to each other?
I had my assistant off to the side,
so we had to like
wash off each plum in a bucket of water
and then like blot it dry
to get like any of the salt out.
(whoosh)
You know, looking back is really exciting!
I mean, I think despite these mistakes,
I feel really proud about the food I made
and, the obstacles of working with
these weird appliances, I like pretty much
overcame them.
Even with the microwave.
(ding) (sounds of fire burning)
It was still like
edible, interesting food.
You know, I think with the mistakes that I've made,
I think the common thread is
going too fast and rushing,
and like not taking my time,
which is, you know, just a common
thing I need to work on in life.
If I had to give myself some advice,
I would say, just like
take your time.
It's okay to go slow.
You don't have to rush.
- [Narrator] Oh yes!
(upbeat music)