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Tried a new experiment, it would have tasted good exept...

Discussion in 'Food & Cooking' started by shadowfang, Dec 19, 2010.

  1. Dec 19, 2010 #1
    shadowfang

    shadowfang

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    Hello all, I'm Sydney, this is my first post here, I'm glad I found this community:)

    Anywho, I was hungry, and I usually experiment with food ALLOT, My latest experiment involved me slicing potatoes about half an inch thick at most and layering them in a square glass baking dish with a drizzle of olive oil, I had some peppers and onion, so I put that in there too, put some taco seasoning on it, then put about 2 hand fulls of mexican cheese on it, I also had 2 chicken legs that I needed to cook, so I put those on top., seasoned them with the taco seasoning, added a little salt and a few dashes of liquid smoke on top of the whole thing., I then cooked it in the oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes...I've cooked cornish game hen for an hour and it was done, so I assumed this was all the cooking time I needed.

    This WOULD have been an excellent dish except for the fact that I don't have a meat thermometer, and I am also colorblind, so I can never check meat for pinkness, I usually check if my meat is done by texture and the "shade" of the juices coming out.

    So when that timer went off, I took it out, and there was blood seeping out of the end of my chicken legs, so I took them off the top, put them on a baking sheet and popped them in for another 10 minutes at 400 degrees, they came out perfectly then, however when I went to eat the rest of my mixture, I found that the peppers and onions were cooked ok, a little overdone, but still good, but my potatoes, some of the slices were almost raw, and some of them were cooked, and the smallest pieces were slightly over cooked

    I went about this all wrong, and now I have to figure out what I should do differently to make this come out with everything cooked evenly, anyone have any suggestions?
     
  3. Dec 19, 2010 #2
    koukouvagia

    koukouvagia

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    Welcome shadowfang.  We've all been there, at least I have and with this exact dish no less!  I didn't use the same seasonings but I make roasted potatoes and chicken legs together all the time, it's a favorite of ours. 

    I find that parboiling the potatoes for 10 minutes not only speeds up the process for this quick weeknight meal, but also makes a fluffier potato.  So parboil the potatoes first and drain.  Then I take a roasting pan, not too deep, 2in deep at most and heat on the stove top with olive oil.  Season your chicken and then sear skin side down for a couple of minutes, and turn over for another minute or so.  Remove from the pan.  Dump the potatoes in the pan and get those seared a bit.  Add more olive oil and seasonings.  You: onions peppers, taco seasonings.  Me: garlic, lemon, garlic, lemon, and oregano.... and a little more lemon for good measure.  Spread the potatoes out evenly, put the chicken legs on top, and stick it in a 375 oven for 30 minutes.  In the last 10 minutes of cooking turn it up to 450.  Crispy, juicy, cooked, and delicious. 
     
  4. Dec 19, 2010 #3
    kyheirloomer

    kyheirloomer

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    Hey, Shadowfang. Welcome to Cheftalk.

    Among other things, in a dish like tha, it's really important that all the potatoes be sliced the same thickness, especially as there's no liquid to speak of. Notice that in Koukouvagia's version she's using lemon juice. That certain helps; as does the precooking she recommends.

    Keep playing with it, would be my recommendation. Potatoes and chicken are a natural match, and you should wind up with a great dish, eventually.
     
  5. Dec 20, 2010 #4
    koukouvagia

    koukouvagia

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    Reminds me of that episode of Top Chef (Hung's season) where they gave them the challenge of cooking with a chicken, potato, and an onion.  The most divine combinations come from these ingredients.

    There is something to be said about cooking potatoes in the oven without parboiling.  In my opinion a fully roasted potato without partboiling is superior.  I find it tastier but KY is right, liquid is important.  My grandmother who has been farming all her life says it beautfully:  A potato needs a lot of water to grow, a lot of water to cook, and a lot of water when it's in the tummy... or so the translation says.
     
  6. Dec 20, 2010 #5
    shadowfang

    shadowfang

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    Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions, I look forward to putting them to good use, given that I have excess amounts of chicken, onion and potatoes, I'm sure this will come sooner rather than later lol