Look at this recipe....

With our temps going into triple digit, this recipe looked great. Throw a nice garden salad together and you have an easy meal. My questions are: How does 6 drumsticks and 2 baking potatoes feed eight people?
Also, the recipe calls for using the marinade to baste the chicken while on the grill? No mention of boiling down the marinade to kill whatever the raw chicken may have left in it.

Does it make you wonder if anyone proof reads anymore?

Grilled Beer Chicken with Potato Slabs
Silvana Nardone
From Every Day with Rachael Ray
June-July 2008

SERVES 8
Prep Time: 10 min (plus marinating)
Cook Time: 30 min

One 12-ounce can or bottle beer, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt, plus more for sprinkling
6 chicken drumsticks (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 baking potatoes
Olive oil, for drizzling
Lime wedges, for serving

1. In a resealable plastic bag, combine the beer, butter, garlic, chili powder, brown sugar and salt. Add the drumsticks, seal the bag and let marinate while you proceed.
2. Preheat a grill or grill pan to high. Microwave the potatoes on high until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Slice the potatoes lengthwise about 1/4-inch thick. Drizzle both sides generously with olive oil.
3. Transfer the chicken and potatoes to the grill. Grill the drumsticks, brushing with the beer marinade and turning occasionally, until the skin is golden and crisp and the juices run clear, 20 to 25 minutes Meanwhile, grill the potatoes until grill marks appear, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with salt. Serve the chicken and potatoes with the lime wedges.

It's obvious--the six carnivores get one drumstick each, and the two vegetarians have the potatoes.

Then they all die of food poisoning from the warm chicken marinade, so you don't have to worry anyway.

-Paul W.

CUTE!

How does 6 drumsticks and 2 baking potatoes feed eight people?

Easy, if one of the guests is Jesus.

Too bad Rachel started teaching cooking before she learned how to cook.

Why the hell would a person even LOOK at something she cooked?

I quite agree that the amounts or the number of servings must be incorrect, but just because a recipe is in her magazine, it doesn't mean she wrote it. The one in question happens to be by the editor, Silvana Nardone. I'm sure someone will call that to their attention.

She did not cook it, it was sent in from a viewer....still no reason for it to be poorly written.

Chef, I have tried many of Rach's recipes. The ones I've tried were excellent. She uses lots of veggies in her dishes for both color and health. Her flavors are bold, which we like. As with any chef/cook's recipes, one has to read them to determine if it is worth trying. Since I 've been cooking for 52 years, I am pretty good at selecting the recipes that will be great. I did make the recipe in question last night and it was very good. The chicken had great flavor and Gene learned how to cook plank potatoes on the grill, which came out perfectly. It really is a great meal for a hot spring day.

[Jenise]

She did not cook it, it was sent in from a viewer....still no reason for it to be poorly written.

Totally agreed; and the magazine has her name on it, so the buck stops there.

Pretty funny recipe, gave me a chuckle. Not much marinating time though--I realize any recipe in a Rachel rag is optimized for time and not neccessarily flavor--but if you followed the instructions exactly, could you taste the beer?

I marinated it all day and no, I could not taste the beer. Yes it is a funny recipe and one I won't make again because I have so many other killer marinades. I just liked the idea of the potato planks. I had never done that on the grill. I was dubious about nuking the potatoes, slicing and cooking on the grill because I thought they would fall apart. Not so, and the grill marks were nice.
Actually Gene does the grilling and because of his purchase a few years ago of a huge stainless steel grill/rotisserie/unit with one burner for pans, I make sure he uses it. I'm introducing new foods and methods for him all the time. He does great!

I marinated it all day and no, I could not taste the beer. Yes it is a funny recipe and one I won't make again because I have so many other killer marinades. I just liked the idea of the potato planks. I had never done that on the grill. I was dubious about nuking the potatoes, slicing and cooking on the grill because I thought they would fall apart. Not so, and the grill marks were nice.
Actually Gene does the grilling and because of his purchase a few years ago of a huge stainless steel grill/rotisserie/unit with one burner for pans, I make sure he uses it. I'm introducing new foods and methods for him all the time. He does great!

Why not reserve a 1/2 cup of the marinade for the basting without exposing it to the raw chicken?

Also, I think that the beer is there for tenderizing and moisturizing purposes rather than flavor. The carbonation should provide both.

rwj

[Jenise]

I marinated it all day and no, I could not taste the beer. Yes it is a funny recipe and one I won't make again because I have so many other killer marinades. I just liked the idea of the potato planks. I had never done that on the grill. I was dubious about nuking the potatoes, slicing and cooking on the grill because I thought they would fall apart. Not so, and the grill marks were nice.
Actually Gene does the grilling and because of his purchase a few years ago of a huge stainless steel grill/rotisserie/unit with one burner for pans, I make sure he uses it. I'm introducing new foods and methods for him all the time. He does great!

Why not reserve a 1/2 cup of the marinade for the basting without exposing it to the raw chicken?

Also, I think that the beer is there for tenderizing and moisturizing purposes rather than flavor. The carbonation should provide both.

rwj

Carbonation is a very effective tenderizer. But since in this recipe the chicken didn't spend much time in the marinade, I figured the flavor was the goal.

Btw, I use marinades as finishing sauces all the time, but I bring them to a boil to sterilize them before further use or reduction.

Too bad Rachel started teaching cooking before she learned how to cook.

Why the hell would a person even LOOK at something she cooked?

Chef, if she did her show naked, I would watch it, otherwise I "AIN'T!

Too bad Rachel started teaching cooking before she learned how to cook.

Why the hell would a person even LOOK at something she cooked?

Well, she must have something going for her, given the amount of time she has been popular, her morning TV show is very successful , as are her cookbooks.

Not every chef/cook is the sophisticated, suave, sensitive person you are Chef. She appeals to a different age and sector of the population. Also, she lays no claim to being a chef. She is proud of the fact that she learned to cook next to her mom and grandpa, much like so many of us did.

I've never tried a Rachel Ray recipe. The first three times I saw her I thought she was cute. But, she quickly got on my nerve with that stacking trick she did. And, later I realized it was a collection of little things that got on my nerve. I could never understand why Olive Oil got shortened to EVOO (it doesn't take any less time to say it), and how a sandwich got shortened to a sammie (she has a penchant for being nick-namy). Then it hit me that what was most bothersome about her is that her whole show (at that time it was only 30 minute meals) sounded as if she was teaching a bunch of grade schoolers how to cook; and she was giggly like a middle schooler. Since then, I really don't pay her much attention. I simply believe I, and all the people I care enough about to cook for, are worthy of more than 30 minutes of time in the kitchen.

I could never understand why Olive Oil got shortened to EVOO (it doesn't take any less time to say it), and how a sandwich got shortened to a sammie (she has a penchant for being nick-namy).

You'll know the answer to this when Rachel's line of frozen microwave-ready "Sammies" becomes available at a convenience store near you.

I've never tried a Rachel Ray recipe. The first three times I saw her I thought she was cute. But, she quickly got on my nerve with that stacking trick she did. And, later I realized it was a collection of little things that got on my nerve. I could never understand why Olive Oil got shortened to EVOO (it doesn't take any less time to say it), and how a sandwich got shortened to a sammie (she has a penchant for being nick-namy). Then it hit me that what was most bothersome about her is that her whole show (at that time it was only 30 minute meals) sounded as if she was teaching a bunch of grade schoolers how to cook; and she was giggly like a middle schooler. Since then, I really don't pay her much attention. I simply believe I, and all the people I care enough about to cook for, are worthy of more than 30 minutes of time in the kitchen.

Good on you Jo Ann! Her cooking just does not lite my fire. Now Chef Joesph wrote a whole book about the stuff....fire that is.

Too bad Rachel started teaching cooking before she learned how to cook.

Why the hell would a person even LOOK at something she cooked?

Well, she must have something going for her, given the amount of time she has been popular, her morning TV show is very successful , as are her cookbooks.

Not every chef/cook is the sophisticated, suave, sensitive person you are Chef. She appeals to a different age and sector of the population. Also, she lays no claim to being a chef. She is proud of the fact that she learned to cook next to her mom and grandpa, much like so many of us did.

I hardly know what to say. She has some of the same things going for her that many of the folks who make a living on television have. She is not ugly. She is bubbly. She never challenges anyone or anything. And , by god people like her.

She has a shtick - the 30-minute meal thing. That's it.

I wish everybody had in fact been brought up hanging out in the kitchen with their grandmothers and grandfathers teaching them how to cook. Many of them really could cook.

Then people would not sucker for this typical American television pap and smarm.

I'd rather be in the kitchen with Dinah strummin' on the old banjo.

In the immortal words of Alexander King, I'd also rather "...be lashed to a cot with a belching, gonorrheal, Eskimo prostitute who has been eating walrus blintzes," than watch her.

I think she is just about the worst thing that could happen to people who want to learn how to cook.

I'm sorry if I seemed to mince words here.

(Edited to remove an excremental "s" from the italicized "like.")

Chef,

I am not a RR fan, but would you be willing to admit that maybe she has motivated someone that would otherwise have gone to McDonald’s for dinner to instead go to the grocery store and then make dinner at home? That seems like a step in the right direction to me.

Dave, I was looking for a way to say the same thing. Well said.

Maybe.

Oh, and I left out cutesy. I don't do cutesy very well.

I don't dislike RR, I just find some of her schtick a little annoying. Personally, I believe that once you're old enough to get botox (you can tell by the exaggerated high arch to the eyebrows and the shiny forehead that is no longer expressive -- I'm pretty sure Rachel has it), it's probably time to show a little more sophistication in your language and everything else that goes along with laught lines and drooping utters. Sammies! Come on, now. We have enough problems with our kids talking and writing in text speak. Let's try to be part of the solution.

I find Rachel Ray somewhat entertaining, at least more interesting than a lot of the other shows of Food Network. Doing a complete meal in 30 minutes can be a challenge and she does it in a variety of ways. Here's a link to the only recipe of hers I ever actually used and I was very pleased with it: http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?t=5244

I could never understand why Olive Oil got shortened to EVOO (it doesn't take any less time to say it),

EVOO has been a restaurant slang abbreviation for as long as I can remember. And that is MUCH longer than RR has been around.

rwj