Another America’s Test Kitchen liveblogging. 26 April 2008 2:26 pm
Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen, cooking, geekery , trackbackHey, if I’m gonna watch it, I might as well write about it.
2 PM: Skillet chicken and potatoes, with a microwave trick; kitchen thermometers, parmesan-crusted chicken cutlets with Sandra? Who’s Sandra? Excitement!
2:01 PM: I doubt I’ll ever cook any of these things, but the thermometer thing could be useful.
2:01 PM: Chris gives an intro: roast chicken and potatoes takes an hour and a half, how do we do it in half an hour?
2:02 PM: Go Julia! And they’re working with chicken breasts, not a whole chicken… poo, although obviously that’ll speed things up considerably.
2:04 PM: Julia mentions that their stove is nice and powerful… I don’t know if I’ve ever noticed what kind it is, not that I have super-awesome stove envy or anything. On to the potatoes: red-skinned potatoes, started off in the microwave for pre-cooking? Hmmmm. 5 to 10 minutes is a lot of microwaving, too. Eeek.
2:05 PM: Chicken goes to a hot oven to finish roasting, and potatoes are half-done, given a shake and put back in to nuke some more.
2:07 PM: I love how Julia just bangs the tongs on the table to pop off the lock. Also, Chris Kimball saying “schmaltz” makes me happy. Oy. And mmm, taters.
2:08 PM: Kitchen thermometers with Adam in the equipment corner. They’re looking for cheap, but I do totally covet the Thermapen.
2:09 PM: Four tests: boiling water, ice water slurry, deep frying oil temperature, and testing pork chops for doneness.
2:10 PM: Six seconds to done: the CDN ProAccurate Quick Tip is the winner.
2:11 PM: Back to Julia. The chicken breasts are “he” to her. Cute, but I want taters more, much more.
2:12 PM: Tell me about sauce, Julia. Mmm, sauce. Olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, garlic, and fresh thyme. Of course that’ll make it flavorful. Y’know what else will make it flavorful? Eating something besides bland-ass chicken breasts.
2:13 PM: Peter and I are in agreement: yay potatoes, boo chicken. If something’s gonna die for my dinner, we’re willing to spend some fricken time on it.
2:14 PM: Parmesan chicken is not chicken parmesan: it’s very thin chicken barely breaded, only with parmesan cheese.
2:15 PM: Introducing Sandra Wu — she’s so nervous! Not a lot of eye contact, either with Chris but definitely not with the camera.
2:16 PM: They’re a little rushed, too. But a mix of fine and coarsely grated Parmesan, that’s actually pretty clever, as is adding a little starch to the cheese for crispiness… and hey, egg whites only, huh? We’re always at a loss for what to do with extra egg whites; there’s only so many merengues and macaroons I can stand, and getting up to the full dozen for angel food cake… hey, I should be paying attention to the show, huh?
2:18 PM: That there is some seriously pounded chicken.
2:19 PM: It looks pretty close to the eggplant parmesan technique, which has yielded some seriously delicious results for me in the past… hmm. I happen to have some eggplant in the house… hmmm. I’m not gonna pound it, but I could try thin slices…
2:20 PM: Chicken in the pan!
2:21 PM: Letters to the editor. Be afraid! I can’t believe somebody asked why to use low-sodium chicken broth. It’s easy to add salt, but taking it out is a mess. What did I just miss? Like four more letters. That was pretty obviously a little time-filler, but that’s okay.
2:23 PM: And the chicken’s done, with just a squeeze of lemon on it. Cute. But I’m thinking eggplant instead, because dude. I do not believe in boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I want me some tasteless protein, I’m'a use fricken tofu. But Chris seems pretty into his food, which is cute. Sandra, I think we’ll be seeing more of you in the future. (I like reading you in the magazine!)
And that’s it. Sort of a disappointing episode, mostly for reasons of “I’m not gonna eat that, let alone cook it.” But maybe I’ll try making parmesan-crusted tofu, like the ginormous hippie I am.
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