Welcome Back!
This is the first ever episode and blog post for the "Caity Tries" series. This video series is for me to humble myself in the realm of the cooking world. It is also largely to admit that I haven't tried everything. There are plenty of cuisines, dishes and cultures that I have yet to encounter but I can and will, one Caity Tries at a time.
On this particular episode, if you haven't seen the Title, we made Korean Fried Chicken. The recipe and video that I used are linked below.
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Special thanks to Joshua for posting his recipes with specific measurements and instructions. I am a big fan of Joshua and I own his cook book. One pot, one mission is definitely something that many people live by without even knowing. The slogan may not be the same but the idea is that we are here to encourage people to get back into their kitchens. You can watch the full video of me try this recipe on my YouTube channel.
Caity Tries Scale
I will rate each recipe on the following.
Difficulty 1 to 10 (1 easiest, 10 hardest)
Taste 1 to 10 (1 nasty, 10 delectable)
Replay Value 1 to 10 (1 never again, 10 run that byke)
Total Score
Should be between 3 to 30
I will also include additional recipe notes and what I would try or tweak.
Here are my photos before my notes...
I paired this recipe with some Corn Cheese, another Korean tasty side dish, and some steamed Edamame. You can get the recipe to both of those in my What I Eat in a Day blog post or watch that video for a look on how it went.
Notes & Questions
Difficulty? Score is a 3.
This was not as hard as it seemed. I do have a tad bit experience in frying chicken of all kinds. I haven't tried this specific method or dredging BUT I have definitely put things in hot oil before. So this was a no brainer. I do feel like I could've done a better job sourcing ingredients and I will speak about the taste a little better but overall it wasn't that bad.. The hardest part was just making the sauce.
For example, I missed the palm sugar. I also would've preferred that my chicken be fried with potato starch. But for the most part I was able to find everything else or I had it in my possession already (I make bentos every now and then, so I keep these type of ingredients at all times).
Taste? Score is a 6.5
I have to be honest. I followed this recipe exactly. The taste was very good but I wasn't a fan of a few things. My score is based off these reasons:
One - I don't like drumsticks/chicken legs. I prefer wings, thighs (boneless or bone in) or tenderloins. So that definitely effected my opinion about this particular dish. Dark meat is wonderfully juicy and full of flavor but I have just never got back into eating chicken legs since childhood. I will be making this using party wings the next time.
Two - Ketchup. In this recipe, you use over 100 grams of ketchup and because I really don't care for ketchup when its not on potatoes, this is something I would reduce significantly. It could also be the vinegar content is just too high for my taste with mirin, ketchup and rice vinegar. I will play with the levels or just increase the sugar being that I used brown sugar in place of palm.
If I am able to use the protein I really love and increase the sugar while decreasing the acid, I think this will be a hit.
Replay Value? Score is a 10
With all of my notes taken into consideration, I would definitely make this apart of my weekly/monthly meals. I focus heavily on authentic Asian cuisine as well as dishes inspired by those flavors. The balance and harmony of acid, spice, savory (umami) and sweet are top tier. So, this is right up my alley. I am very glad I gave it a try.
That brings our overall score to *drum roll* …. 19.5 out of 30.
This scale won't always mean that the higher it is, the better. Some recipes may be difficult but do not taste the best. Some may be easy and taste amazing. Definitely love Joshua Weissman either way and I will continue to follow and support his content and recipes.
That is all for today! What I love about Caity Tries is that its mostly just cooking, bloopers and eating. Less work on my end but more learning for me. It evens out very nicely.
Comment, DM, email or shoot me a text of what you want to see on the next episode of "Caity Tries"... I would love to get a leaderboard going of the highest and lowest scoring dishes in my 3 categories. But until next time, take care of yourselves and try something new this week! - Caity
That looks soooooo good, I have to try this recipe!! I love drumstick lol