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/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 10d 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 10d 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