Hey, in the print media business, you're gonna have your typos and mistakes. It happens. More than once from this reporter, in fact. (Remember when I said Van Morrison was from Scotland? Oof!)

But, jeez, did you see this item from ABC news last week?

The Swedish food magazine Matmagasinet recalled 10,000 copies of their latest issue after a mistake in a cake recipe made four people ill. The proper ingredients called for two pinches of nutmeg, but what was printed instead was “20 nutmeg nuts” — highly increasing the likelihood of nutmeg poisoning. (I know, I know ... you'd have to be a real culinary buffoon to not at least raise your eyebrows and ask, “20 stinking nutmeg nuts? That's a lot.”)

In the same report was an allusion to when chef Antony Worrall Thompson, during an interview, suggested henbane as a possible addition to salads. What he meant was fat hen — a nontoxic weed — because “henbane” is a deadly poison more commonly known as nightshade, the herb that killed Hamlet's father.

Damn!

It's one thing to add triple cheese to your burger and ratchet up the chance for a heart attack. It's quite another to include lethal substances in your recipes.

In the interest of safety, I checked through several of our food magazines and recipe books, just to make sure they listed the correct ingredients and instructions — and, boy, am I glad I did!

Here are three potentially fatal mistakes I found.

Look carefully:

Here's part of a recipe for Lobster and Shrimp Cioppino — which is an Italian stew. Check the third ingredient listed.

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped fresh fennel bulb

1/2 cup glass shards from broken bottle

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice.

Wow!

Read carefully from the following instructions for Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Collard Stuffed Crepes:

“Whisk herbs de Provence and next 3 ingredients in small bowl. Mix in garlic and ginger. Rub mixture over duck leg-thigh pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and chill overnight. Serves six. Take garden shears and shove blades up through the bottom of your throat.”

Did you see it? The part about the garden shears? That's really dangerous.

And one more that seems suspicious:

“Using a 60-quart pot, fill with water half full, add black pepper, Cayenne pepper and salt and bring to boil. Add potatoes and garlic and sausage chunks. Wait until water returns to full boil, then grab your own hair at the crown of your skull and violently thrust forward until you immerse your entire head in the scalding liquid.”

The lesson is to be skeptical in the kitchen and make certain nothing looks suspicious when you're cooking.

Bon appetit!

Article UID=6bd96572-c9ab-41b8-9283-5c5d2444a104