Recipe Critical Points #1: Lemon & Parsley Chicken

Okay… now that we’ve released a lot of lessons in the Rouxbe Cooking School, it’s time to start applying what you’ve learned to troubleshoot recipes (without even cooking them). If you follow this series, we promise you that it will soon become so obvious to you why recipes just don’t work for everyone (even the very best of recipes, from the very best chefs).

The following recipe comes from a very popular unnamed book. It’s probably a super recipe, but there are a number of inherent trouble spots that might slip up the less experienced home cook. And to all you Rouxbe Cooking School students, as you now know, it’s all about technique.

Have a look at the recipe and method below and tell me where one might have some troubles. By talking about this, you’ll start learning how to avoid simple common mistakes that could greatly impact your final recipes.

Lemon & Parsley Chicken

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 chicken breast fillets, halved lengthwise
Cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra oil for sauce
2 tablespoons capers
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the chicken with the pepper and add to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes each side or until browned. Add the extra oil, capers, chili, lemon rind and garlic, cook for 1 minute, then add the lemon juice and parsley. Serve with a rocket (arugula) salad.
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The goal of this series is to help you break-free from following the “do this.. do this.. do this…” kind or recipe instruction that we’ve been programmed to follow for a very long time.

Let’s see how sharp you are. For bragging rights… :-)…

Related Article: Millions in the Dark.

NOTE TO READERS:

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