Better safe than dead John. Is there time to order take out?

Bummer! Big time bummer! I know how hard you work to make great dinners for your guests. Hope you don't have any ill effects.

I'm with Teresa, at this point I'd order delivery. Your guests might be disappointed but they would understand.

So sorry this happened to you.

Lee

John if it were bad you would have smelled it before you even got to frying it up....
Sour? could that be the marinade?
Best not to serve it to guests if you have doubts....but likely ti was fine and you won't get sick.
Bad chicken or any meat for that matter smells "dead"...
Linda C

Oh, bad, bad bad. So sorry That is crapola.

Oh I am so sorry for your experience. But seriously, any time chicken smells a bit off to me I trash it long before it can find a marinade or taste "sour". Yes, it can be seriously inconvenient, but not making my friends sick is 1st on my list!

Yuck, what an inconvenience, especially when expecting guests. This reminds me of the one and only time I bought chicken from walmart. It was spoiled, but because they were frozen tenders I did not notice the spoilage until we started eating. That experience put both of us off chicken for a long time.

Thanks for all your thoughts. Sorry I did not come back to update the thread.

After I posted, things went from bad to worse.

This was going to be a dim sum dinner, only 10 people including the family, but intended as a dry run for a larger Chinese New Year dinner next weekend. I had about 10 little dishes planned. This sort of dish is mostly prep work - the actual cooking is simple and quick: steam, broil, braise, deep fry, wok. I've become a little cavalier about these dim sum dinners, having done a number of them recently. Bad mistake.

Guests were to arrive at 6:30, so I figured dinner at 7:00-7:30 after a round of my friend's lethal cocktails and the appetizer he was bringing. I went shopping in the morning, did some work (like, day job work) for a couple hours, then started prepping around 3:00. Plenty of time.

Around 4:30 I discovered the sour chicken, and made my quick and frustrated post. Then I started throwing out 4 dishes and re-making them. Still plenty of time.

At 5:00 the doorbell rang and three guests arrived. Wha-? I sat them down, promised SWBMO would be back shortly, and excused myself to the kitchen. Working fast now. Fortunately, my M.O. for this sort of cooking is to mince bowls of ginger, garlic, scallions, onions, etc ahead of time, and to err on the side of too much, so there was enough remaining from the mise to remake my dishes.

At 5:30, the rest of the guests arrived. I'm really confused now. Asked for a stiff G & T and started working faster. No measuring, splashing everything in by eye, throwing steel bowls in the sink, whacking shao mai into shape without bothering to arrange the pleats, gulp some G & T and keep hustling.

At 6:00 SWMBO asks are we ready to sit down? We have a brief whispered conversation. Me (injured): ''what is going on, why the eff did these people show up early?'' Her (aghast): ''dinner is at 6:00, what's wrong with you?'' Me (spitting): ''you told me 6:30 then sit at 7:30!'' Her (indignant): ''I told you 5:00 then 5:30! You never listen to me! J____ and her husband have to leave by 7:30! Blah blah [I stopped listening]''

Now frantic, I have another problem. I'm making sticky rice aka ''sweet rice'' balls stuffed with chicken and Chinese sausage. That morning, I had found this interesting ''black sweet rice''. Looked cool. I'd rinsed it, soaked it for an hour, and am steaming the rice. And steaming. And steaming. Nothing was happening. The sweet rice I usually use would have been done by now. This stuff was still crunchy.

(What is this sort of rice? Someone here - dcarch? - must know.)

I give up waiting, cross the sticky rice balls off the menu taped up on my wall, and try to get dishes out on the table. Drop shrimp balls in the deep fryer, saute beans for 2 minutes, turn the spareribs under the broiler, remove and drain the shrimp balls, drop in more balls, resume saute-ing, etc. Too much multitasking.

The ''plan'' had been to have all the dishes done at once so that I could sit down and eat with everyone. Not happening. I had to bring out dishes as they were done, like a waiter, the menu was all imbalanced, I didn't sit down until dinner was over, and ate maybe three pieces - not that I actually wanted anything but a big glass of wine, and then another. I think there was actually not enough food - Cardinal Sin! - because there was nothing left when I got to the table. Daughter-spawn sweetly said that she'd saved stuff for me, and had helpfully eaten it for me too.

At one point, SWMBO enters the kitchen asking ''are there sauces?'' and starts rummaging in the refrigerator for some awful sweet pink bottled eggroll sauce. I Was Upset. (Remember the scene in Joy Luck Club where the white boyfriend pours soy sauce all over the Chinese mother's carefully crafted dish?)

The final indignity was that, because everything was so rushed, I wasn't able to do my usual ''clean as you go''. So I had a huge mess to deal with after dinner.

Final menu: Braised pork spareribs with jellied stock, black bean sauce, star anise. Broiled spareibs with a teriyaki-ish glaze. Deep fried shrimp balls. Deep fried whole fish (pompano). Pork, sausage and mushroom shao mai. Sauteed long beans and deep fried mushrooms (eat long things for long life). Panko coated deep fried chicken strips. Something else that I have forgotten. The cursed black rice, non-balled and non-sticky. And two bottles of pretty good wine, so all was not lost.

Dropped from menu: Simmered mackerel with sweet soy-mirin sauce. Sticky rice balls with chicken filling. Egg rolls with pork and bean sprout filling.

This goes on my personal list of dinner disasters.

The moral of this story is: You should always listen to your wife.

johnliu - I'm so sorry for your problems, but I have to admit your last line made my day! :)

You should always listen to your wife the first time she says it.

would be better. You know, just to avoid "timing" mistakes. Bwaahaaa! At least you got something on the table and, obviously, they liked it or they wouldn't have eaten it all. It was probably "just enough" food. No worries!

:)

John, you are such a good writer. I was right there with you, flipping, draining, chopping, turning, pleating, and running from here to there and into the dining room.

The G+T went down easy and when I looked at the kitchen after everyone went home, I said screw it, there's always tomorrow! Secretly I always hope the cleaning fairy takes pity on me.

Nancy

Oh John. I'm so sorry. But it was a great post!

John, I feel your pain - & it's certainly more interesting to read than to experience! Probably none of the guests even noticed that things went awry(sp?).

Well....at least you didn't get sick....
I've had people show up a day early for a dinner party....due to "couple mis-communication"...could have been worse!
Linda C

Oh John, that's so funny now, it was a great post, but I'll bet there wasn't much humor while it was happening.

And how sweet of your daughter to eat some, just for you. (grin)

Yes, definitely, always listen to your wife. At least you can blame it on her that way.

Annie

Wonderfully written even if it does skirt disaster! LOL! I'm glad it did work out in the end, Thanks for sharing with us.

Alexa

Great post John! hahaha!!!

Oh, John, I'm sorry for the disaster! Don't you just hate feeling that way?
Well written though, I have to agree. :-)

I'd have eaten some of everything and stayed to help clean up!!

Now you know the obstacles for your big dinner!
1. Confirm time.
2. Nothing else matters!! Menus change easily, clocks do NOT!

Got photos???????

DARFC.....
Deanna

Agreed - Great post! Sorry for your problems though. You sure pulled through better than I would have. First taste of sour chicken and I'd have sat back with those G&T's and changed plans to take-out. And having declared the change of plans with pursed lips, my SW(otherwise)MBO would know better than to second guess me, LOL.

Please talk to me about deep fried rice balls. At face value they sound like they'd soak up a lot of oil. Only rice balls I've had have been not-fried, at the linked place across from my office.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oms/b

Great post John, you are a great read!

Just a month or so ago I cooked a lovely dinner for folk who thought our dinner date was for the next night! Now that was a serious bummer!

I have two Chinese nieces, both adopted, and I love to cook a special Chinese New Year meal for them. Dim Sum is a favourite of mine would you care to share your sui mai recipe and I'm also looking for a T&T recipe for whole shrimp cooked in a steamed noodle, maybe a won ton noodle?

''Please talk to me about deep fried rice balls. At face value they sound like they'd soak up a lot of oil.''

I don't make deep fried rice balls, though I have deep fried a ball of rice, just experimentally. I don't recall that it was terribly oily but I didn't pursue the method any further - maybe I will.

The rice balls I wanted to make was with sticky rice (aka sweet rice, glutinous rice), filled with marinated and sauteed chicken, chinese sausage, mushrooms, scallions. At a dim sum place this is all wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed. Called ''lo mai gai'' in Cantonese or ''nuo mi ji'' in Mandarin.

''would you care to share your sui mai recipe and I'm also looking for a T&T recipe for whole shrimp cooked in a steamed noodle, maybe a won ton noodle?''

There are lots of shao mai recipes (and spellings). You can almost make it up as you go. I usually mince some pork and shrimp in the food processor, leave it chunky, not paste-like. In a large bowl, mix some minced garlic, a little minced ginger, a little rice wine, a little soy sauce, some black vinegar, chopped scallions, chopped mushrooms, some sesame oil, and some source of moistness. I used some pork stock that had enough gelatin to be jello. Cooks Illustrated has a recipe that calls for using unflavoured powdered gelatin, as a substitute for (they claim) the fat and lard used by restaurants. Mix to taste - safe because there's no raw meat in it yet. Then add the meat, mix, and make the shao mai. Use spoon or thumb to lightly compress the filling in the pleated wrapper (firms up the shao mai) and then put something colorful in the open top - finely diced red or orange pepper, etc - just for looks. Steam for about 20 minutes, eat one to check doneness.

I don't have a recipe for whole shrimp in a noodle (? you mean as a filling ?).

Oh by the way I think the sour chicken wasn't actually dangerous - since I feel okay today - but it didn't taste good.

LOL John, I guess I read what I wanted to read. Sticky rice balls and deep-fried shrimp balls melded into one.

FOAS, here is a recipe that you can tinker with to get the flavor you would like. They are not greasy.
A chef from one of the area resturarantts would come in and get some when we had the deli. It wasn't long before he put them on his own menu. He talked to me about it, they were a hit for him.

SHRIMP PUFFS

3 C cooked rice
1 lb uncooked cleaned shrimp, chopped
2 eggs
3/4 C milk
1 Tbsp veg. oil
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 C minced parsley
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
Oil for deep frying

Separate eggs and place whites in a small bowl, beat to soft peaks.

In a large bowl beat egg yolks, milk and oil.
Combine flour with baking powder, onion powder and salt and pepper.
Add to egg yolk mixture.
Stir in rice, shrimp, parsley and hot pepper sauce.
Fold egg whites into shrimp mixture.
Heat oil to 350� in a deep pan. Drop shrimp batter by spoonfuls into oil and fry until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels.

I like to serve with a honey mustard sauce. Just a couple of tabsp of honey mustard mixed into 1 C of mayo.

These are also good made into a larger size for dinner insted of traditional fried shrimp.

Nancy

Maybe she said it, maybe she didn't. Maybe you heard wrong, maybe not. Under the circumstances you are one gracious host. I would have been so frazzled I would have given up and suggested going out for something.

"-----(What is this sort of rice? Someone here - dcarch? - must know.) ----"

John, I have not heard of ''black sweet rice'', but I have tried black rice. It is really black. After cooking, they are not sticky, kind of like wild rice. I am fascinated by dark color foods. They all seem to have extra health benefits. Black rice, black garlic, black squid ink, etc. They also look very dramatic on the plate.

Posted by annie1992 " -------------, but I'll bet there wasn't much humor while it was happening. "

Not humorous? How come Lucille Ball's picture keeps popping up in my head?

dcarch

It looks like this when (finally) cooked:

I don't know the best way to cook it. I rinsed, soaked for an hour, then steamed for well over an hour, and it wasn't done. I finally threw it into a pot, added water to just cover, and simmered for 20 min. It is sticky, black reddish-black, and has a texture a bit like brown rice. When rinsing, the water runs dark at first. I have a bunch left over and will experiment after I get back from my business trip.

I've made that before and had the same experience. It never actually got soft. This is the recipe I used, I never made it again because I was underwhelmed.

Alexa

***********************************************************

Forbidden Rice with Cranberries, Carrots, and Ginger

Prep: 35 minutes Total: 1 hour 15 minutes

Once eaten only by emperors in China, black-grain Forbidden Rice can be found in natural-foods stores. You can be creative with this recipe by adding chopped nuts, such as almonds, pecans, or toasted pine nuts. For more color, garnish with chopped parsley.

Per serving: 388 calories; 8 g protein; 8 g fat; 77 g carbs

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely minced ginger
1 cup diced fresh oyster or shiitake mushroom caps
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup minced onion
2 celery stalks, cut into 1/4-inch dice
Salt and black pepper, to taste
3 cups cooked Forbidden Rice, cooked according to package instructions
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup dried cranberries
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat, swirling pan to coat. Add ginger; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and saute for 1 minute.
2.Add the carrots, onion, celery; season with salt and pepper. Stir-fry until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rice, orange juice, and cranberries. Toss to mix well.
3.Pour the rice mixture into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Cover loosely with foil; bake until heated through and liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes.

I hit enter too quickly.

The brand I bought was Lotus Foods, there is a recipe on their web site that also says to simmer for 30 minutes. I wonder if it is intended to be crunchy/starchy when served? I found the texture unpleasant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lotus Foods Black Rice

I like the color so much that I'm going to experiment. For me, the rice did finally get soft and sticky after a ridiculous amount of cooking. Suggests a pressure cooker path, a risotto, or simply a whole lot more patience than I had time for.

There is some potential here for a meal built around rice tasting. Vinegary white sushi rice, fragrant yellow saffron rice, black sticky rice, fried crispy red rice - now if I can just find blue or green or chartreuse rice, it'll be a dinner.

^^Green rice is very easy to produce: put in container, shove into back of fridge, forget about it for a while, and voila, green rice. :o)

Thanks John, that's pretty much how I do mine too always looking to change it up!

The Shrimp Dim Sum I'm looking for looks something like this.

Here is a link that might be useful: shrimp dim sum

You certainly are one gracious host!

I am so glad you suffered no ill effects
from your sampling of the chicken.

And I agree, you were right to toss it.

I also hope you are saving this post,
(and many others you have written).
And/or keeping a diary.

There will come a day when your kids
(and grandkids)
Will treasure having them to read.
You turn even a tragedy into an almost comic opera!

And who knows?
There may even come a day in the future
When you and SWMBO will also read,
and treasure,
the memories.

Rusty

Wow, what a story. I can tell you right now that there is no way I would have gone through what you went through. I woulda simplified the menu completely once I discovered the bad chicken. Realizing that eveyrone would be expecting one thing and getting something else, I'd probalby just issue a rain check for the ditched menu. I think that friends would understand! But then again, I'm not known for being the nicest person around LOL. You are WAY nicer than me, that's obvious!!

I congratulate you on going through with as much as you humanly could. Next time, rather than depend on your masculine ability (or inability?) to hear what the wife said the first time have her write it down and tack it on the fridge with a magnet. It's not that I don't have faith in your good intentions, it's just that I know how men are, I'm married to one. And it's not that they don't try, sometimes they do! But sometimes they just can't help it.

That was not male bashing, by the way. Just that it's best to be realistic and figure out workarounds instead of hoping for miracles. And I mean that in the nicest possible way, as I know my own shortcomings and have learned to NOT plan for me to overcome them, but instead plan for how to work around them! LOL

Aawwwww. I give you Much Credit John, for planning such an intricate dinner. I feel for you too! I knew there was a reason I met my friends at a favorite Chinese restaurant for the Chinese New Year, instead of trying to cook for them. I hope your efforts were appreciated, even if the dinner didn't turn out like you planned.

May, I like what you said about knowing your shortcomings and not planning to overcome them, but work around them instead! That's smart, and much less frustrating too.

You know, I've bought funky chicken before, which has put me off cooking it as much as I used to. When it's bad, it's very bad and no way would I have served it either. When in doubt, Don't!

That shrimp dim sum is chunks of shrimp and a small amount of other flavor stuff, wrapped in a dough of tapioca starch and wheat or rice starch. I dont think the wrappers are sold ready made, you have to make them. The dough gives the translucent effect.

That black sticky rice at least makes a good risotto. Seems to have a cooking time close to, but not quite, that of brown rice. Had that tonight, along with oxtail, sugar-caramelized carrots, and vinegared beets. Someone told me they've had a good paella made with it too, so that's something else to try when the weather is better.

Thanks John, I'll go looking for a dough recipe.

''dough''? (I'm unclear).

Anyway, fyi, I did the ''black sweet rice'' risotto as follows: 1.2 cups rice, sauteed in butter & oil w/ some diced onion, then 4 cups stock, pressure cook on high 15 min, quick release. There was considerable excess liquid, I ladled off 1-2 cups' worth. The full 15 minutes wasn't necessary, I think 12 might have been better. Then add salt (my butter is unsalted), simmer w/ more butter and stir until achieve risotto texture, top w/ mushrooms that were separately browned.

SWMBO is quite enthusiastic about the black rice, I think it is promising and interesting-looking, but my technique still needs a lot of work.

One problem is, the black rice risotto and the oxtails in dark sauce were almost the same color, visually kind of blah. I think it may be better to combine the black risotto with a light-colored meat - chicken, pork, veal - or otherwise find some way to make it more attractive.

In response to my shrimp dim sum question you replied......

"That shrimp dim sum is chunks of shrimp and a small amount of other flavor stuff, wrapped in a dough of tapioca starch and wheat or rice starch. I dont think the wrappers are sold ready made, you have to make them. The dough gives the translucent effect."

So I'm off to find a dough recipe.....