The quote from the front of the recipe card for 6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken is as true as anything I could write about this recipe:
“Cook chicken legs and thighs the Chinese way, in a sweet-and-sour sauce. This is such a simple way of preparing bargain chicken and the result is just terrific.“
Sweet-and-sour sauce tastes great when you make it fresh, but it’s just as easy to buy the thick, red sauce in a jar and call it good.
I omitted the tender-crisp cabbage mentioned in the recipe, mostly because I’m not a huge fan of cabbage.
The sauce requires lots of ingredients that we usually have on hand including soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, Tabasco, and aji-mirin.
These hotel pans are the perfect size for four thighs of chicken. Looking back, I think the meat is a little crowded, however, it all worked out.
After I smeared the minced garlic on top of the chicken, I poured on the soy sauce, Tabasco, and oil mixture.
It’s time to cook some sweet and sour sauce while the chicken marinates in the soy sauce.
With the handy-dandy whisk, I combined the wine vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch, pineapple juice, garlic and ginger.
I brought the sauce to a boil, filling the apartment with the incredible smell of sweet-and-sour sauce. I added some pan drippings at this stage, draining some from the pan when I pulled the chicken out to baste it.
After 20 minutes in the oven, I grabbed the baster and and covered the chicken with pan drippings.
Another 20 minutes in the oven and the chicken skin came out golden brown and delicious.
I realize now that this final presentation photo of the sweet-and-sour chicken leaves much to be desired, however, the chicken tasted a lot more appealing than my presentation. It would have helped if I cut the chicken thigh at the joint bone before I served the dish. The pieces would have been easier to eat that way.
The sweet-and-sour sauce was delicious, but I omitted the pineapple pieces suggested in the TIPS section, mostly because Jamie isn’t a huge fan of pineapple. I ate the rest of the chicken for lunch over the week.
Normally I’m more aware of cropping items out the background of the final photos, however, in this shot, you can see our cat’s body and tail appear on the left side of the photo. The cats love to beg for pieces of chicken when we make it for dinner and this night was no exception.
GRADE: A-
