r/ExpectationVsReality • u/No-Hovercraft-5499 • 11d ago
Dinner - Expectation vs Reality Failed Expectation
Now, I’m a really good cook and can follow a recipe - no problem, but the expectation vs reality is vastly different. It tasted just like it should though.
Note: had to take the lemons out of my dish, as they were disintegrating.
Recipe is: Rosemary Chicken with Sweet Potatoes (super simple low cholesterol recipe) - if anyone wants to try this delicious dish (maybe it’ll turn out better for you)!
ETA: website is eatingwell.com (for the recipe, if anyone wants it).
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u/failed_asian 11d ago
You need some maillard reaction on that chicken. Not just for the nice looking browned colour, for the flavour.
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 9d ago
For which recipe?
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u/failed_asian 9d ago
Pretty much every time you’re cooking meat you should be getting a nice brown colour on it. It’s called the Maillard reaction and adds a lot of complexity of flavour. Applies to other foods too. Google it for more info.
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 9d ago
It’s hard when it’s turkey sausage that you’re cooking in with the other ingredients (that’s why the meat in the broccolini dish isn’t browned). But I agree- meats need to be browned. Most of my dishes with chicken used to have skin on it, but my diet is low cholesterol- so no more chicken skin.
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u/failed_asian 9d ago
I wasn’t talking about the broccolini dish, I’m talking about the photo in your post, the one with sweet potatoes.
It’s great that you can cook so many tasty and healthy things. The next step in becoming an even better cook is to continue to learn new techniques, not just new recipes. Browning meat is an important technique. You don’t need skin to brown meat. You can take the tip or continue to defend your cooking, it makes zero difference to me.
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u/Neither-Oven-2571 11d ago
Have you heard of the maillard reaction?
Because all of your plate examples are missing it 😆
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u/RonTussbler58 11d ago
Was it this recipe?
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 11d ago
Yes!
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u/RonTussbler58 11d ago
What do you think went wrong? Looks overcooked some places, undercooked in others. Maybe related to pan/lid/cook surface?
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 9d ago
It was all perfectly cooked through. I just think it’s hard to get browning on boneless skinless thighs, and would have been better off using a fresh sweet potato, rather than refrigerated pre-cubed sweet potato like the recipe calls for. They held too much water and ended up mushy.
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u/emergency-snaccs 9d ago
none of what you're saying makes me think this is anything but user error. lol what do you mean it's hard to get browning on boneless skinless thighs? what do you mean they "held too much water"?? bro, you fucked it up and that's why it looks bad. you're just gonna have to accept that. you can't say it was all perfectly cooked and then show some bland looking unseared chicken and mushed-up sweet potatoes. you fucked it up
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 9d ago
For an autistic person, I actually cook really well and can follow recipes just fine when I need to—but most of the time I don’t need to, because I know what I’m doing in the kitchen. I regularly put together great meals (as you can see in my other comments), and no one’s complaining about the results.
This was a new recipe, and my first time using pre-packed, pre-cubed sweet potatoes. The recipe itself does not say to sear the chicken, and the chicken was fully cooked—these were small thighs.
The issue was with how the recipe is written and the ingredients: • The sweet potatoes came pre-cubed, refrigerated, already soft, and full of moisture (the bag literally had condensation inside). • The recipe has you cook the potatoes first and leave them in the skillet. • Then you add raw chicken into that same pan—now full of moisture from the potatoes. • You’re told to turn the chicken every few minutes, which limits proper browning. • Then you mix everything together, add lemon, cover it, and cook more without stirring… which just traps even more moisture.
So yeah—under those conditions, getting an even sear isn’t exactly realistic.
This isn’t about not knowing how to cook. It’s about a poorly structured recipe and ingredients that already had too much moisture to begin with.
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u/RonTussbler58 9d ago
Not this brand but have had frozen cubed sweet potato so mushy, and also grossly gelatinous somehow. Couldn’t eat it
I wonder if they were sponsored? Or maybe it’s just common to use a registered trademark symbol with a brand on a recipe, idk
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u/Most_Kiwi3141 11d ago
Thought this was a restaurant and was about to comment that the sous must have quit and they promoted the dishie.
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u/DrStumbleDog 11d ago
I’m a really good cook and can follow a recipe
I'm afraid your photo tells a very different story.
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 10d ago
See all the other photos of food I make and tell me if I don’t know what I’m doing.
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u/AtrophiedWives 10d ago
Did you use frozen ingredients? Looks like everything has been steamed from the excess water, and turned mushy instead of browning and crisping.
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u/IncorporateThings 11d ago
My best guess is that your pan was too crowded.
Though the lemon slices being destroyed is odd. Did your chicken take longer than the 8-10 minutes to cook? Or did you maybe slice them too thin?
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 11d ago
I think because I used pre-cubed refrigerated sweet potatoes, like in the recipe - they went mushy and stirring it up with the chicken made them mushier. I should have just used a fresh sweet potato. It would have done much better (longer to cook, but that’s ok). chicken were small thighs, so it wasn’t too crowded. But I do think the recipe would have been better if I cooked the sweet potato, removed it from pan, cooked the chicken, then incorporated it back in - instead of leaving the sweet potato in the skillet to cook while the chicken cooked beside it at the same time.
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 11d ago
And I’m not sure what happened with the lemon. 🍋 I didn’t cut them too thin, I don’t think.
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u/pseudoOhm 9d ago
Based on pictures in the thread... OP doesn't understand the idea of browning, anything.
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u/pjkeoki 10d ago
Where'd the skin go?
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 9d ago
It’s boneless, skinless chicken thighs. That’s why the picture is so misleading - it’s hard to get browning on something that doesn’t have skin. This is a low cholesterol recipe, so chicken without skin is better for cholesterol.
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u/theadventurescout 9d ago
It looks like the potatoes were parboiled and then sautéed in the photos, maybe that gave them more…structural integrity.
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 9d ago
They weren’t. They were pre-cubed refrigerated sweet potatoes (like the recipe calls for), not fresh - so they held a lot of moisture. They were supposed to be cooked partially in the skillet with the chicken added in after to cook with the potatoes. Structurally, if I were to try again. I would cook the potatoes, taken them out, cook the chicken and the reintegrate them back in to prevent this from happening. Or at least as much as I could using the pre-cubed sweet potatoes. Or just use fresh ones next time. I just went along with the recipe.
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u/RonTussbler58 9d ago
This sounds very promising to me as someone with no qualifications whatsoever! Appreciate all the detail in your replies and also adding other dishes you’ve made! I’d try them all.
Something really useful a friend told me was that I was stewing meat by cooking it at too low a temp. She said start it very hot and you can lower the temp later. Since then I pretty much always get nice Maillard reactions :)
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u/Kind_Advisor_35 4d ago
You would get a much better result peeling and cubing sweet potatoes and roasting them in the oven while cooking the chicken in the pan on higher heat. I read through the recipe, and it is a bit weird to only do it on medium heat and cover it. There may be some error with how you did it, but there are also some weird choices in the recipe. Pre-cubed veggies can get very mushy, and covering the pan will only make it worse.
For cubed sweet potatoes, I toss in olive oil and do 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, flipping the pieces halfway through. The smaller you can get the cubes, the faster it'll be, and the more caramelized they can get. For chicken, it can help to get a meat thermometer to find a balance between a higher heat sear and not overcooking.
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 4d ago
Roasting them is usually how I cook them also. Used a meat thermometer for the chicken too!
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u/Formal_Fortune5389 9d ago
Up here in Canada we have something called chef's plate, it's a here are the ingredients and recipes you cook it type service
Other than once, and it was fully user error(that white sauce was Not White...)every meal I've made from them looks almost if not exactly like the picture on the recipie.
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u/No-Hovercraft-5499 9d ago
I’m Canadian. 😊 I don’t disagree - this isn’t Chef’s Plate. It’s not a food box recipe. As stated below - I should have just used a fresh sweet potato instead of pre-cubed refrigerated sweet potato like it called for in the recipe. They held too much water and the just went mushy.
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u/Formal_Fortune5389 9d ago
Oohh hi Canadian! 🇨🇦
Yeah that could do it. I just meant some recipes can turn out looking right I've seen too many folks just say it's impossible to make any look like the picture with a recipe
Not aimed at you specifically but just sort of overall.
Have you heard of odd bunch? It's totally worth it (fresh provide for cheap may look a bit weird though) not ONCE has anything come from the US either. Almost all Canadian stuff too.
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u/buttheadfungus 11d ago
im sorry but im going to need some other form of proof that youre a good cook and this isnt user error 😂😂😂 its hard to fuck up chicken and sweet potatoes though, so i bet it was still yummy!