Help me find the missing ingredient?

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I'm not a Nutella fan either. I'm a very freestyle amateur chef who thinks nothing of just changing any part of a recipe if I think my way will work better. Now that I have the idea of a crepe cake I can just go from there and use anything I like.

I like to "invent" my own recipes. Usually I'll find a couple dozen versions on the Internet and make notes of the common ingredients and select the differences and features that I like, and I'll end up with my own composite recipe. I cook it and keep tweaking it until it meets my criteria and is the best that I can make it. Then that's the recipe that I add to my collection.

My granddaughter and daughter are both Nutella fans. My g'daughter's birthday is in January and she said she wants my Pineapple Upside Down Cake for her birthday cake. I just might may both. I would seriously consider making alternate layers of something other than Nutella though. I would also reduce some hazelnuts to a small grind and sprinkle on top.

Alas, once again we have gotten off the subject of this post and request. :angel:
 
Not sumac, not tumeric

This weekend, I made a tumeric drizzle for when I reheated the chicken. That, too, wasn't it. I tried tumeric before saffron because tumeric is so much cheaper.

So, I'm going to have to make chicken again, and then try saffron, and if that's not it, fenugreek.

I could Google "what do I do with the saffron threads..." but who knows what advice I'll get. I'd rather just have you all weigh in. I saw the threads (a tiny packet was $17). How do you use them?

Thanks!
 
I remain convinced that it's the sour lemons that's missing. I'm tempted to buy some and send them to the OP as a gift. We have so many stores in L.A. that we have everything.

Stacy, do you got PayPal?
 
Hello friends!

About 10 years ago, I had a broiled chicken dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Lexington, KY called Aladdin's. The place has since gone out of business. For whatever reason this week, I've been thinking about the chicken.

I'm pretty sure it was called Athenian Broiled Chicken. It didn't seem particularly "Greek" to me though, and the restaurant served all Middle Eastern foods--shish kebabs, falafel, fatoosh...

I seldom order chicken when I eat out because I make it so often at home. My dad ordered the dish the first time we were there. I tasted it and it was amazing! Whenever we went back, I ordered it. It was served with rice and little pieces of pickled vegetables.

This week I tried to re-create the dish, and something's missing. This is where I need your help.

I made the dish with Moroccan spice blend, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. It was close, but something wasn't bitter enough. The lemon juice was right, I think. But there was something else in the spices that I missed. Today, I bought sumac and added it to the chicken when I warmed up a piece. The missing ingredient isn't sumac.

The taste I'm looking for was bitter but zingy. As you ate the chicken and rice, your mouth almost felt like it was drying. I know that sounds unpleasant, but the chicken from Aladdin's was amazing. It was juicy on the inside, crisp on the outside--which I captured. But the spices made it taste like nothing I'd ever had.

The rice had the same dry, bitter spice in it. Or maybe it was the pickled veggies on top of the rice that had dripped the flavor onto the rice.

I'll be honest--I'm more a pastry person. I love to cook and bake, but I don't know much about Middle Eastern food. Hopefully one of you uses the exotic spices that I'm unfamiliar with more often and can help. That chicken makes me think of being young and dinner with my Dad.

Much thanks!

:chef:
I wonder if the missing ingredient is ''Tamarind''. It is sour, bitter, and has a slightly orange- lemon taste. It is used in middle eastern dishes. A-1 sauce among others used it as a flavor component until Kraft bought them out . They now use orange rind because of the expense.
 
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Great news! I posted something on a Lexington, KY forum asking if anyone remembered Aladdin's Restaurant, and the dish, or knew anything about who owned the restaurant.

Someone just replied, saying who the owner was, and that the man owns another restaurant in Lexington now, King Tut's. AND...King Tut's has the Athenian Broiled Chicken on their menu.

I'm planning a road trip to Lexington now. It's about 200 miles from where I live now. I'm hoping I can see and taste the chicken, and make notes. Maybe even sweet talk someone into telling me how they make it.

I'll keep you guys posted on the adventure!
 
Great news! I posted something on a Lexington, KY forum asking if anyone remembered Aladdin's Restaurant, and the dish, or knew anything about who owned the restaurant.

Someone just replied, saying who the owner was, and that the man owns another restaurant in Lexington now, King Tut's. AND...King Tut's has the Athenian Broiled Chicken on their menu.

I'm planning a road trip to Lexington now. It's about 200 miles from where I live now. I'm hoping I can see and taste the chicken, and make notes. Maybe even sweet talk someone into telling me how they make it.

I'll keep you guys posted on the adventure!

I know this is OT but does the American Road Trip still actually exist? (And if it does, what exactly is it?) For me, any trip on a road, is a nightmare of snarled, congested traffic, delays, getting lost, and general stress until I get to my destination. A "road trip" sounds like it is supposed to be fun. Is it still fun in America to go on a road trip?
 
Perspective

I know this is OT but does the American Road Trip still actually exist? (And if it does, what exactly is it?) For me, any trip on a road, is a nightmare of snarled, congested traffic, delays, getting lost, and general stress until I get to my destination. A "road trip" sounds like it is supposed to be fun. Is it still fun in America to go on a road trip?

I think it's all a matter of perspective. Is it often a PITA to drive somewhere? Yes. Traffic is no fun. Finding parking in a city is no fun. But ultimately, it's just perspective. Did you get where you wanted to go? See what you wanted to see? Enjoy what you wanted to do? Take some cool pics and make some memories? Hopefully! If you can say yes to those, the traffic and the other annoyances are just little blips along the way to what you wanted to do. The end memories and photos are what you'll remember.
 
I think the fun is in the traveling...seeing places I ain't been to, meeting folks, even the prospect of getting lost is kinda fun. What was that line from "The Mountain Men".... "Lost!?? I ain't never been lost....well, fiercesome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!"
 
Great news! I posted something on a Lexington, KY forum asking if anyone remembered Aladdin's Restaurant, and the dish, or knew anything about who owned the restaurant.

Someone just replied, saying who the owner was, and that the man owns another restaurant in Lexington now, King Tut's. AND...King Tut's has the Athenian Broiled Chicken on their menu.

I'm planning a road trip to Lexington now. It's about 200 miles from where I live now. I'm hoping I can see and taste the chicken, and make notes. Maybe even sweet talk someone into telling me how they make it.

I'll keep you guys posted on the adventure!

Stacy, I've found if I ask the owner or chef for a recipe I've fallen in love with, they are usually happy to at least give me an ingredient list. I think if you told the restaurant staff how you've pursued the missing ingredient, and how you drove 200 miles just to find your favorite chicken, they would be very pleased and flattered, and would likely tell you the secret ingredient. It's worth a shot!
 
I think it's all a matter of perspective. Is it often a PITA to drive somewhere? Yes. Traffic is no fun. Finding parking in a city is no fun. But ultimately, it's just perspective. Did you get where you wanted to go? See what you wanted to see? Enjoy what you wanted to do? Take some cool pics and make some memories? Hopefully! If you can say yes to those, the traffic and the other annoyances are just little blips along the way to what you wanted to do. The end memories and photos are what you'll remember.

Now see Stacy, that is exactly how I see flying! A means to getting somewhere despite how unpleasant all the security and uncomfortable the confined conditions! (And I have been to America several times BTW). But it was always worth it to get where I was going. No questions. :)

But the "American Road Trip" is supposed to be a "trip" in and of itself if you know what I mean?
 
I think the fun is in the traveling...seeing places I ain't been to, meeting folks, even the prospect of getting lost is kinda fun. What was that line from "The Mountain Men".... "Lost!?? I ain't never been lost....well, fiercesome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!"


This is what I mean! I think we are about to get kicked off the thread, (and quite rightly), but my friend in Tucson has often said she and I should do a "Thelma and Louise" (without driving off a cliff of course). And I just wondered if driving around the US was fun. :)
 
Now see Stacy, that is exactly how I see flying! A means to getting somewhere despite how unpleasant all the security and uncomfortable the confined conditions! (And I have been to America several times BTW). But it was always worth it to get where I was going. No questions. :)

But the "American Road Trip" is supposed to be a "trip" in and of itself if you know what I mean?
That kind of trip means you are planning on stopping when there is something that seems interesting.

Stirling and I call getting lost an adventure. ;)
 
I recently completed a 3 state, 2 province road trip, solo, and had a blast driving. The scenery changed so much, as did the speed limits and traffic. I'd do it again!
 
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Now see Stacy, that is exactly how I see flying! A means to getting somewhere despite how unpleasant all the security and uncomfortable the confined conditions! (And I have been to America several times BTW). But it was always worth it to get where I was going. No questions. :)

But the "American Road Trip" is supposed to be a "trip" in and of itself if you know what I mean?

When we go on a road trip, we usually have a destination in mind, but we try not to hurry the trip so we can stop in interesting places along the way.

For example, last year we drove to Michigan and back to visit family. On the way home, we got off the Pennsylvania turnpike and drove an old highway. We stopped at the memorial for Flight 93, one of the planes that went down on 9/11. We also passed a bison ranch where we stopped to look at the bison and browse the gift shop. I bought a pound of ground bison meat and a couple of steaks. I would never have known about it otherwise.

Back on topic! Stacy, enjoy your trip!
 

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