According to the recipe the choice of chicken is 'free-range' or 'organic' chicken. Now for a person who often suffers from 'too much to choose from paralysis', choosing between many different types of frozen chicken could have been a daunting task. However, when I stepped into my favourite Asian butcher the choice was quite obvious. Firstly, 'organic' chicken was double the price and I wasn't about to sacrifice a preciously home grown chicken on my cooking experiment. And, there was no way in the world the 'free-range' chicken was going to walk home with me, with its head still attached to its body. Hence, I was glad to take the next chicken in line, 'corn-fed' chicken.The price was right and it did not have its head. The only thing that bothered me was its colour. It was disturbingly yellow. It does make you believe that the poor chicken did live its life only having tasted corn.
'White cut chicken' is officially my first disappointment. First mistake I made was not cooking the chicken long enough in high simmer. The instruction was to keep it in high simmer for 15minutes but I did not take into account that my chicken hadn't quite defrosted. Undercooking the chicken meant that when I had done the steeping (can anyone tell me what 'steeping' means in cooking terms?) and cooling in iced water, the chicken was still red at the core. As I had hungry mouths waiting to be fed, I had to repeat the process without allowing it to steep and cool properly.
The other mistake was replacing peanut oil with some cheap vegetable oil. The dressing tasted like oil used to grease door hinges.Taking on board my sister-in-law's suggestion I cooked the rice in chicken stock. Even the rice did not turn out as I expected. It was too dry and lacking flavour. I think back to watching 'Master chef' last night. Cooking is an emotional affair. It serves me right for laughing at the contestants who were in tears because their pavlovas had collapsed.
Take heart, your disappointment in cooking certainly hasn't rubbed off on your blog writing. I'm not disappointed at all by this post - as usual you struck my funny bone :)
ReplyDeleteIf steeping is what I think it means, it's like putting a teabag in hot water long enough for the flavours to soak and release.
PS, Lenard's sell chickens grown with no hormones and steroids that are well priced (cheaper than Lilydale, which is sold at Coles). This week their chicken breasts are only $9.99 p/kg!
Thanks Lea for your tips. My cooking has better chance of evolving to another level. I will have to try the Lenard's chicken.. ie when I have gotten over having eaten too much chicken for the last couple of weeks. Now that I think about it for the last couple of years since my parents opened up the chicken shop.
ReplyDeleteTina, you are hilarious... seriously, I chuckle as I imagine you doing the very thing you write about~ You are funny, I love it!
ReplyDeleteHigh temperature for 15 minutes sounds more like poaching than steeping... but I might be wrong, I'm sure Neil Perry knows what he is talking about~
I'm gonna have to get you a meat thermometer for your next birthday~
"Internal temp. of chicken must be above 75 degrees!" says the teacher in me :)
welcome on board! I gladly receive any input...and gosh I so need it! including cooking utensils. My hubby got us a cleaver today. I can finally do some serious Chinese chopping.
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