Brits’ ‘top 5’ date night cooking faux pas revealed ahead of Valentine’s Day

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, new research from Samsung Electronics UK Ltd reveals Brits’ ‘top 5’ awkward and embarrassing kitchen mishaps when cooking a romantic meal for their partner.

Overcooking or undercooking food topped the list as the most common cooking ‘faux pas’ (20%), closely followed by messing up timings of when to cook everything (19%) and burning the food (18%). Despite being in a relationship, some Brits surprisingly admitted to cooking a dish their partner doesn’t like (15%) or forgetting their loved-one is allergic to an ingredient they have used (15%).

The study by Samsung, to support their innovative Dual Cook Flex™ ovens, also revealed that fillet steak is likely to feature on many dinner tables this Valentine’s Day, with one in five Brits (20%) saying it’s their all-time favourite dinner date dish. However, Gen Zs did not agree, with a veggie curry topping the list (13%) for their age group.

The research highlighted the growing demand for ‘dine in for two’ style packages, with nearly one in five (17%) Brits planning to purchase one of the packages to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.

When it came to date night turn offs, talking about ex partners topped the list (33%), followed by work chat (33%), poor table manners (32%) and cheesy music (19%).

To help couples this Valentine’s Day, Samsung enlisted the help of leading dating expert, Sarah Louise Ryan, to provide her top tips on how to have a memorable Valentine’s Day dinner at home, including how to avoid common mishaps and ensure there are no kitchen or oven cooking dramas.

Dress to impress – after a couple of years in our favourite jogging bottoms, Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to pull out all the stops to feel good on the inside and look good on the outside. Dress to impress if you really want to set the date night scene.

Plan food ahead – you don’t want to have any last-minute hiccups with a missing ingredient or two, so plan what you’re both making ahead of time to make cooking hassle free.

You may want to make different dishes – why don’t you both mix it up by cooking a dish each? So your partner could take the starter and dessert, whilst you tackle the main course?

Work as a dream team as you’re working to dish up the romance – it may be the case that one of you is a dab-hand in the kitchen and the other one hasn’t the foggiest clue what to do. Practice lots of patience with one another to keep the flame of the evening firing away, and if needs be, maybe allocate a Chef and a Sous Chef.

Keep all work chat off the table – so many couples use date night as a time to plan and catch up on life admin and the seemingly mundane. Challenge yourself and each other to keep chit chat to strictly all things romance and about you two as a couple.

Topics to talk about – look at planning a holiday, your next weekend trip together or your weekly/monthly date nights. Think about things you’d want to do spontaneously or whilst planning ahead.

Keeping date night exciting – create a date jar where each of you writes down many things on multiple pieces of paper that you would like to do on your date nights – scrunch them up and pull them out one at a time on each date night alternately.

Dishing up dessert – why not rustle up a trio of desserts for you to share as you finish off your at home Valentine’s Day dining experience?

Keeping the night going – think about watching a movie together or playing a game or two for you competitive few. If you’ve been a dream team in the kitchen perhaps you want to set each other to task with competitive spirit. Or for those of you that are ready to wind down, simply relax on the sofa.

Make sure you have fun – Valentine’s Day Date night needn’t be a pressure cooker event. Do it the way you and your partner want to do it, keep it light and fun and playful and exciting. You both deserve to let your hair down and laugh, and who better to do that with than your significant other?

Samsung’s innovative Dual Cook Flex™ ovens are the perfect appliance to have in your kitchen for everyday use and special occasions such as this Valentine’s Day. With a flexible door and the ability to cook efficiently at two different temperatures and settings within a single cavity, the oven provides endless cooking combinations and ensures you can say goodbye to mealtime dramas.