Even on Letterman’s show, after dealing with a malfunctioning stovetop, Child creatively turned her failed attempts to make a hamburger into a beef tartare meal by using a blowtorch. On her own television program, Child spoke to American’s fear of failure, encouraging at-home chefs who might be reluctant to approach specific dishes due to particular ingredients like sugar syrup or caramel to welcome feelings of impending disaster. “If you’re gonna have a sense of fear of failure you’re just never going to learn how to cook,” she explained. “Cooking is, well, lots of it, it’s one failure after another, and that’s how you finally learn.” 

Child wasn’t afraid to demonstrate this exact approach, casually remarking, “Oh, well, that didn’t go very well,” when struggling to neatly flip ingredients or causing a mess in the kitchen. Even on television, Child continued cooking while looking for ways to course-correct and make a meal that could be confidently served and eaten, offering a helpful example for the rest of us attempting to put a decent dinner on the table.