History Main / CordonBleughChef

* Has happened quite a few times on Creator/GordonRamsay's ''Series/KitchenNightmares''. For instance, a couple of the many interesting dishes Ramsay encountered at La Para de Burianna were prawns in chocolate sauce, and chicken with ''banana filling''. Then there was the grilled Caesar salad at Park's Edge. Grilled as in ''they put the '''lettuce''' on the grill''. Ramsay needed several minutes to comprehend it.

* ''WebVideo/MythicalKitchen'': [[SupremeChef Mythical Chef Josh]] is responsible for many of the insanely creative and tasty dishes Rhett and Link get to enjoy on [[WebVideo/RhettAndLink Good Mythical Morning]]. [[CordonBleughChef Josh]] is also responsible for many of the awful, nightmarish dishes Rhett and Link often end up vomiting up such as Bile Cheesecake, Roadkill Corndog, and Blood Eggnog.

* An accidental example on ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Because the pages of an English cookbook were stuck together Rachel ended up combining a trifle and a shepherd's pie. All her friends felt obliged to eat it anyway (except Phoebe who got out because she's a vegetarian); when out of her earshot, Ross commented, "ItTastesLikeFeet!" [[CloudCuckooLander Joey]] ended up liking it anyway. "Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Meat? ''Good''."

* While her successor, May, is a full-on LethalChef, Misty from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' is better classified in this department. When Brock gets sick in one episode she takes over cooking duties and ''tries'' to follow a recipe out of a book, but confuses salt for sugar, then overcorrects and eventually just tosses in anything she can think of. The only person able to eat the result is [[ExtremeOmnivore Jessie]]. Conversely, Misty did pretty well in brewing up a cure for stun spore during the Orange Islands, a trading card issued during the that time had her cooking stew, and it is also implied that during the 13 days that Misty and Ash were stuck in Viridian Forest (according to "Showdown at Pewter City") that Misty did the cooking before Brock joined. (They were stranded for thirteen days in Viridian Forest, with no stores nearby, and given how Ash's very first day as a trainer went (one disaster after another), it's highly unlikely he would have known how to cook, and the only person travelling with him prior to Brock joining is Misty, so... yeah. And she'd have to be decent enough of a cook to last through the 13 days stuck in Viridian Forest). It could well be that she panicked in the face of cooking solo at an unexpected time.

** Some of the contestant's signature dishes fall into this (Seth's ratatouille with honey), but one of the worst was "Matt's Exotic Tartare". Scallops, raw venison, capers, caviar and ''white chocolate''. The dish was apparently so disgusting that it made Gordon Ramsay vomit into a bin for the first time in the series.

* On Ramsay's ''Series/KitchenNightmares'', a couple of the many interesting dishes Ramsey encountered at one failing restaurant were chocolate covered prawns, and chicken with ''banana filling''. Then there was the grilled Caesar salad at Park's Edge. Grilled as in ''they put the '''lettuce''' on the grill''. Ramsey needed several minutes to comprehend it.

* In ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', we have the Shinowataris, a father and [[DudeLooksLikeALady son]] [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender pretending to be a girl]] who tried to attract customers to their [[IncompetenceInc beach cafe built on a deserted island 4 miles offshore]] by creating a custom variant of kakigori, a sweet dessert made from sweet bean syrup and shaved ice. Their choice? Kakigori mixed with ''sea urchin''. They [[DetrimentalDetermination ate themselves to death]] trying to find an edible recipe for this idea, then came back as ghosts.

* In ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' comic, The Bash Street Kids' cook, Olive, is notorious for having terrible cooking, including custard so thick you have to cut it with a knife.

* This ended up happening to a group of travelling chefs in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' after they got a recipe for a meat and rice bowl from [[spoiler:Princess Zelda]] which is fairly straightforward with meat, rice and rock salt. However, one of them had the bright idea to use ''monster'' meat instead, leading to all of them passed out and trying not to puke after downing what was likely Dubious Food, with them warning Link to always follow the recipe like the footnote specifically told them to.

The Cordon Bleugh Chef is a "chef" who does know how to cook but seems to be willing to [[BizarreTasteInFood combine foods that should never be used in the same dish or, in the worst cases, even in the same universe]]. If the resulting dish doesn't cause an ''[[ScrewballSerum urge to purge]]'' with just the taste, [[IAteWHAT finding out what was in it surely will]]. At the very least, many of those eating will comment that it [[ItTastesLikeFeet tastes like something the dish has no right to be tasting like given its ingredients]].

** Arthur's father David is actually fairly good at cooking, and he even runs a successful catering business, but he tries experimenting at home so much that we mostly hear of the gross stuff. Arthur and D.W. are often grossed out by his more experimental dishes, and there's a song devoted to his culinary abominations in the MusicalEpisode. When he makes something ''good'' it becomes the centerpiece of an entire episode.

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' Bella's mother is apparently this. To quote, "My mother was an imaginative cook, but her experiments weren't always edible."

* Possibly Professor E. Gadd from ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''. After Luigi captures Bogmire, the second boss, he offers to make dinner, saying he'll make his "old family recipe", pickled dandelions with barnacles in a diesel marinade. (Of course, we never see it or Luigi's reaction... ''Maybe'' it tastes better than it sounds...)

* In ''Anime/Clannad'', this is the general impression of Sanae Furukawa and her attempts at baking bread.

* The "Teenage Caveman" episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' featured a host segment called "rainy day ipecacs". These included such delectable combinations as chocolate milk and pickle juice.

* ''Anime/IsThisAZombie'''s Maelstrom's lunches look pretty good. [[OhCrap And then the condiments come out...]], an inversion would be Haruna's cooking, that even if it looks burned and inedible, in the case of egg cuisine, everything tastes delicious.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':
** Dennis, the Chief Chef of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Russian Sushi]], sees to it that his restaurant delivers a rather...''unique'' menu. While he's entirely capable of making normal, edible sushi, sometimes customers have to contend with strange concoctions.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "What Will the Neighbors Think?", Tory Beth Walters makes cookies using baking soda toothpaste instead of baking soda so that people can clean their teeth while they eat them.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Time Squared", Riker invites a few officers over to his quarters for hand-made omelets, having taken up cooking as a hobby to pass the time. The results are (politely) declared inedible by all present... except for Worf, who shovels it down with gusto. Riker then proceeds to blame the ingredients. It's left to the viewer to decide whether he has a point or not, although it's noted the eggs were of alien origin.

** Partially subverted, Lynn Loud Sr. is usually an excellent chef, to the point that he's got his own restaurant. But sometimes, he makes dishes that are so bad they send his wife and kids running to the bathroom. Examples include his cabbage casserole from "House of Lies" and liverwurst, shrimp, and mayo casserole from "Pets Peeved". Thus it's usually down to some of his overly-experimental ideas rather than his skills as a chef.

** In another, he made Garfield wienie gelatin. After Garfield ate it, he said his mouth liked it, but his stomach was still trying to make up its mind.

** In the spin-off video game ''Girlfriend of Steel'' Rei, the stoic, heroic death seeker, isn't game enough to try it until she's seen that it's okay. Tasting it results in a PastelChalkedFreezeFrame played for laughs. The only exception is PenPen who instantly passes out upon sampling it. The reason is implied to be a combination of Misato's HardDrinkingPartyGirl nature, her general slobbishness, and, most of all, her reliance on buying only the cheapest instant food she can get and mixing it together in an imitation of finer cuisine. How well she cooks when she actually uses fresh ingredients is never shown.

** Her least favorite candy is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_5qYM-qs1I Scandinavian candies made with aluminum salts]][[note]]Check her reaction to Turkisch Pfeffer at about 12:10 in the video[[/note]].

** Some of the contestant's signature dishes fall into this (Seth's ratatouille with honey), but one of the worst was "Matt's Exotic Tartare". Scallops, raw venison, capers, caviar and ''white chocolate''. The dish was apparently so disgusting that it made Gordon Ramsay vomit into a bin. [[DeadpanSnarker Not a good start, Matt.]]

** In the spin-off video game ''Girlfriend of Steel'' Rei, the stoic, heroic death seeker, isn't game enough to try it until she's seen that it's okay. Tasting it results in a PastelChalkedFreezeFrame played for laughs. The only exception is [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins PenPen]] who instantly passes out upon sampling it. The reason is implied to be a combination of Misato's HardDrinkingPartyGirl nature, her general slobbishness, and, most of all, her reliance on buying only the cheapest instant food she can get and mixing it together in an imitation of finer cuisine. How well she cooks when she actually uses fresh ingredients is never shown.

* Even reasonably competent cooks can do this by accident if they make substitutions in recipes without understanding how the ingredients combine. People making substitutions in online recipes and then [[NeverMyFault blaming the recipe]] when leaving one-star reviews is a common joke among cooks.

** Lynn Loud Sr. is usually an excellent chef, to the point that he's got his own restaurant. But sometimes, he makes dishes that are so bad they send his wife and kids running to the bathroom. Examples include his cabbage casserole from "House of Lies" and liverwurst, shrimp, and mayo casserole from "Pets Peeved".
** His dad, Leonard, makes s'mores with ''fish'' in them, as shown in "Bummer Camp". The kids are understandably disgusted.