I admit it. I *am* a terrible cook. Or, failed 'Chicken Cacciatore'

soupy mess

We ate at Holiday Inn a few weeks ago and I enjoyed a dish so much I decided to look it up. It's called Chicken Cacciatore, which is tender chicken in tomato sauce. I found a recipe with good reviews at allrecipes, and considered myself good to go.

What I appreciated about the dish is that the ingredients were all easily available. The only ingredient new to me was the white wine. Mushrooms and a can of tomatoes were easy to find in the supermarket.

I was quite excited to make this dish. I read through the recipe and followed instructions as best as I could. I had trouble with browning the chicken. I don't know if it was my stainless steel soup pan (I used that since I thought my regular skillet was too small) or the electric range or both, but the chicken refused to brown properly. I even made sure to fry in two batches but it didn't do the trick. I gave up when I thought the chicken skins were burning, not browning.

Later, I put in the whole 14.5 oz can of tomato in. Uh-oh. That was a big mistake. The tomatoes were actually enough for about 4 times the amount of chicken I was cooking. I ended up with a SOUP. What makes chicken cacciatore tasty is the SAUCE. Major FAIL :(

My confidence has gone up the previous weeks since I find myself to be a fair novice baker and the torta I made last week was good enough, but it has reached rock bottom once again. I'm trying to analyze what happened. I am quite successful as a baker since I follow recipes as strictly as I could (but always with some modifications), I read a lot about baking so I have extensive theoretical knowledge that help me come up with modifications successfully. I have read extensively about the techniques (how to cream butter and sugar, how to mix batter, what pans to use, the ingredient proportions to use....) so I know how they work and how to apply them.

In hindsight, I may have been too adventurous my despite my extremely limited knowledge of cooking. I always read that unlike baking, cooking is not an exact science so one is free to improvise. However, someone like me does not have the required knowledge, experience, or technique to make suitable improvisations. I realize now that my biggest downfall in cooking is that I have no regard for ingredient proportions. My mother and grandmother never measure anything, so I thought I could get away with it, too. However, this is only possible if you have had prior experience and an idea of how the ingredients will work together - I don't.

I still like blaming my electric range which I think heats up too much even on the lowest setting, but it is only half of the story. If I actually knew how to compensate for that (like what I do with my baking pans), I may still get a decent dish.

I always end up with crowded or soupy dishes, and that's because living alone, the amount I require is usually much less than the 6-8 servings usually seen in recipes. Now if only I followed the ratios more closely and didn't pour in the whole can, I might have been able to come up with something halfway decent.

I hope that next time, this blog will bring a success culinary story.