My first time doing a braise, I ruined a weekend’s worth of octopus.
I was a young, over-confident line cook who—until this particular catastrophe—was convinced I was allergic to mistakes. So, when I placed two trays of wine-bathing octopus into a 400°F oven for four hours, I felt great. I closed that oven door and thought, “Wow, it’s going to be hard for the chef not to promote me after this.”