Top 10s Come Dine With Me disasters

Date Published:

26/08/2008

Come Dine With Me contestants certainly know how to create heat in the kitchen, if only they knew how to cook. 4Food looks back at the 10 best of the worst concoctions cooked up in those amateur kitchens – breakfast curry, anyone?

Oh dear, the 1980s have called and they want their starter back. Carolyn Trycer from Come Dine With Me Cambridge, swept her guests back to a time of big hair and bigger servings with this culinary gem.

As if the sickly sweet combo of prawns and pineapple wasn't enough, Carolyn went way overboard when it came to portion size - half a pineapple each plus half an avocado, peel and all - it's a tropical overload. And a word to the wise Carolyn: cutting a fruit in half does not make it a boat.

English, breakfast and curry - now those are three words not often put together. But that didn't deter Come Dine With Me Leed's Stuart Moss from a little gastronomic gambling. Stuart served up not one but three multicultural medleys at his dinner party combining the great and the good from Britain's greasy spoons with culinary creations found south of the Ganges.

Mindful of his guests' inevitable reluctance at such untested cultural mixing, Stuart softened the blow with the inclusion of offal. Nice thinking, Stuart. Who wouldn't be overjoyed at a dinner party line up featuring bacon and egg korma, sausage and mushroom satay and tomato and kidney vindaloo. Delicious.

Well at least this one's honest. Resembling some sort of cross between broken cement and pastry road kill, Linda Shanson from Come Dine With Me London, came up with the title all on her own.

Strange thing surprisingly consists of the compatible ingredients: courgettes, garlic and cheese, so shouldn't taste too bad. In fact, it's a testament to Linda's skill that just a few hours in a kitchen can make such cooking staples look quite this bad.

Few dishes startle diners more than a plate full of pig's feet on the table. While piggy pinkies may be back on the menu at a host of high-end restaurants, Forbes Robertson, from Come Dine With Me Ayr struggled to keep his guests sweet with these tasty trotters roasted in honey.

It takes an awful lot of bees to brighten up most boars' bunions and this little piggy was no exception. Come on Forbes, the war is over. Throw away the ration book and buy some pork chops.

Come Dine With Me contestants love lumping together unorthodox ingredients and James Gammie from Edinburgh was no exception. If you're thinking avocado, mango and blue cheese make for a heady mix, try throwing some raspberry vinaigrette into the equation. Mmm, raspberry and vinegar, just feel that mouthful repeat on you.

Not only did the dish taste unique but it looked pretty special too. The mix of thick raspberry sauce spurted across an avocado background with blue cheese and mango adornments, was a masterpiece Kandinsky would have been proud of. Whether he'd have wanted to eat it is another matter.