Problem: Over salting.
Suggestions/Solution: Simple solution is to dilute the salt with additional water, but maybe you don’t want your dish to be too watery. In that case cut a raw potato (any root vegetable works as well, e.g., sweet potato). If it’s a stew, the potato adds bulk and starch to the dish.

Problem: Lumps/skin on puddings and pie fillings (e.g., pastry creams)
Possible Causes: Lumps generally form when a very hot liquid, such as scalded milk, is introduced to a cooler mixture containing eggs. The eggs become partially cooked from the heat and become lumpy.
Suggestions/Solutions: In order to avoid lumps/skin, you should take some of the cooler egg batter and pre-mix it with the hot liquid before adding the entire hot liquid to the batter ("tempering the eggs"). This allows the egg to become warm enough to accept the liquid without cooking. And, to prevent skin development, simply place a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper snuggly on the surface of the pudding mixture and avoiding a cool down that is too rapid. This prevents skin from forming.

Problem: Runny fudge, goopy brownies, crumbly cookies.
Possible Causes: Undercooked, too much liquid, or not enough liquid in the cookies.
Solutions/Suggestions: Increase cooking time, rotate pan. For crumbly cookies, reduce cooking time and/or add more liquid.
Possible uses for the mistake? Spoon or sprinkle over ice cream.

Problem: Mushy vegetables or leftover vegetables that have lost their "snap".
Possible Causes: Overcooked
Solutions/Suggestions: Better to undercook than overcook. Note: Like pasta, vegetables continue to cook even when removed from heat. Stir frying quickly is a good and healthy method.
Possible uses for the mistake? Puree into an elegant soup that does not require adding cream. Simply add more liquid (e.g., chicken stock) to the desired consistency.

Problem: Your salad is overdressed.
Solutions/Suggestions: Add twice as much lettuce. Or if the lettuce isn't limp yet, drain out what dressing you can, then dump the salad onto paper towels, cover with more paper towels and rub off some of the excess dressing.

Problem: Entree too spicy:
Solutions/Suggestions: Add milk or cream or increase the volume with an unspiced batch. If you’re making an Asian soup, use coconut milk. Adding sugar also cuts hotness.

NOTE: if your mouth is burning due to very hot food, simply place sugar on your tongue, or eat starch (e.g., rice/bread) and roll around your tongue to alleviate the heat.

Problem: Hard day-old bread (e.g., baguettes)
Solutions/Suggestions: Misting (use a bottle mister that you would use for your plants) the bread with water and reheating it in the oven at 325% for a few minutes restores the tender inside and hearty crust outside.

Problem: Cookie (e.g., Osso di morto cookie) or crust is too hard
Possible Causes: The dough has been overworked or overcooked.
Solutions/Suggestions: Try not working the dough too much, and reduce cooking time by 5-10 minutes.

Problem: Dough is not rising
Possible Causes: Yeast is old; yeast was dissolved in too-hot or too-cold water; dough was kneaded too stiff--gluten was overdeveloped; rising location was too cold.
Solutions/Suggestions: Try proofing new yeast and kneading it into the dough; additional flour might be necessary. Also, adding sugar to the yeast mixture will boost the fermentation.

Problem: Dough is bloated and blistering
Possible Causes: Dough has over-risen; rising place is too warm.
Solutions/Suggestions: Punch down, reshape, and let rise again.

Problem: Bread rises and bakes unevenly.
Possible Causes: Dough was shaped unevenly; dough was not scored or scored unevenly; oven heats unevenly.
Solutions/Suggestions: Try rotating the loaf; there is little more you can do at this point.

Problem: Bread browns unevenly on top
Possible Causes: Loaf is or was too close to the oven top; oven heats unevenly.
Solutions/Suggestions: Rotate loaf if browning unevenly; lower the rack on which the bread sits if browning too quickly.

Problem: Bread is too brown on bottom (very typical in high altitude areas)
Possible Causes: Baking stone or oven is too hot.
Solutions/Suggestions: Place a rack or wire cake stand between loaf and stone; check that oven is calibrated correctly.