I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
-Thomas Alva Edison
We can’t always have perfect meals all of the time. Not everything turns out spectacular, and so I figure that I shouldn’t hide my “not so great” meals from you all.
My latest creation was certainly edible, but it didn’t turn out as delicious and “crack” like as the dish normally does. I decided to doctor the recipe for Brown Sugar Chicken (a.k.a. Candy Chicken), from Crockpot365, by adding some vegetables to the slow cooker. I added in orange sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions. I figured that all of those vegetables taste quite delicious with brown sugar, so they should taste delicious with the liquid coating the chicken. But, the whole thing turned out a lot more watery than usual, and I was wishing I’d cut the chicken into individual portions before it was put into the crock as it was difficult to do once everything was cooked.
Thankfully the rice I served it with helped to soak up the excess moisture, but the chicken didn’t have the sweet, dry, sticky coating it usually does. There was also a bit of a tanginess to the whole dish, but it wasn’t disgusting. I’m not quite sure where all I went wrong, but I just know that it doesn’t work well.
I also had another discovery of what doesn’t work. Last week when I tried to make egg rolls I was using rice wrappers, and I had deep oil to fry them in, but the egg rolls floated and didn’t cook on one side. They just wouldn’t roll over. Some of them broke open in the oil and dispersed their contents throughout the oil. I had to skim out the stuffing, and keep trying. I had about 12 rolls, and the first two turned out the best.
I’m thinking that I should shallow fry the rolls in the future, and I need to keep a better eye on the heat of the oil as I continue to cook. I do believe that the gluten containing egg roll wrappers would work out better, but rice wrappers are used to make spring rolls which are also fried and turn out well at restaurants (don’t take my word for every restaurant, so ask your server to be sure).
I have not failed. I have found 2 recipes that don’t work.
