G'day mates,

I've mentioned before that women often leave out a key ingredient or
method in their most popular recipe when giving the details to a close
friend or relative. (Others need not apply. :-)

Then there's the issue of "tabloid recipes" which are often posted in
a special section of the paper on a weekly or monthly basis. These
drew some public criticism here in Oz not long ago because, as with
the aforementioned "secret recipes", they were often incomplete. (But
in that case I suspect incompetence rather than conspiracy.)

Finally, we have the recipe books (both hard copy and online) which
also drew some criticism here because it seemed unlikely many of the
recipes had ever been tested by the author -- in fact in some cases
they quite simply couldn't work as published.

Below is an example from an online recipe I found when looking for
something to do with half a chook I won the other night at the weekly
pub goose-club draws. (Actually, I won a whole chook, but I had to
share it with a mate as part of our cooperative gambling strategy.

Here's the challenge: Spot the defect. No prizes are offered apart
from an innate sense of your superior intellect as a result of public
demonstration of your analytic powers and attention to detail. ;-)
[In fact, there are at least two defects but only one really matters.]

Of course, the really interesting contribution you *could* make would
be to suggest improvements to the recipe for the benefit of all here!

CHICKEN CACCIATORE
Recipe from COOKS.COM
<http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1639,154179-230197,00.html>

<quoting>
Cacciatore means hunter in Italian and indicates the chicken is
simmered in a well seasoned tomato sauce or "hunters style". 2 cloves
of garlic, minced 2 tbsp. cooking oil 1 (2 1/2 to 3 lb.) broiler-fryer
chicken, cut up 1 (16 oz.) can tomatoes, cut up 1 (8 oz.) can tomato
sauce 1 med. green pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 (2 1/2 oz.) jar
sliced mushrooms, drained 1 or 2 bay leaves 2 tsp. dried oregano or
basil, crushed 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed 1/4 c. dry white wine
Pasta (hot & cooked)

In a large skillet cook onions and garlic in oil over medium heat
until onions are tender. Remove onions and set aside. Add more cooking
oil to skillet, if needed. In same skillet brown chicken pieces over
medium heat about 15 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Return onions
to skillet.

Combine undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, green pepper, mushrooms, bay
leaves, oregano or basil, rosemary, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon
pepper. Pour over chicken in skillet. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Stir in wine and cook uncovered over low heat for about 15 minutes
longer or until chicken is tender, turning occasionally. Skin off fat
and discard bay leaves. Transfer chicken and sauce to serving dish.
Serve with hot cooked pasta. Makes 4 servings.
</quoting>

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID