My number one piece of advice: please do not follow my recipes.
I bought a 12-pound pack of air-chilled chicken thighs from Costco for $20. Then I decided to cook five different Asian dishes at the same time. I used ChatGPT for all the recipes and a few pre-packaged sauces. I started at 5:00 PM and finished at 9:00 PM.
Here is a breakdown of the chaos, ranked from least to most successful.
The Setup
Let me paint a picture of my kitchen at 5:30 PM. Five different stations: one pot for simmering, one pan for frying, a pressure cooker on the back burner, and two cutting boards going at once. ChatGPT had given me five different instruction lists, all of which I had printed out and arranged on the counter in what I thought was an organized system.
It was not organized.
The biggest lesson from the whole day was that every single recipe assumed I was making it and only it. None of them accounted for the fact that I would be flipping teriyaki chicken while simultaneously trying to figure out whether the Adobo sauce was supposed to taste that sour before it was finished. Managing five different techniques, timelines, and flavor profiles at once is a completely different skill than making one dish well, and I absolutely did not have that skill going into this.
Four hours. Twelve pounds of chicken. Here is how it all went down.
5. Chinese Scallion Ginger Chicken
The most confusing dish of the day.
ChatGPT told me to steam or poach the chicken for 15-20 minutes, heat oil until nearly smoking, then pour it over ginger and green onions to create a fragrant topping. I had so many questions. Do I shred the chicken first? How much oil? I also forgot to add salt entirely. I ended up pouring extra soy sauce over the top to recover it.
Vincent's rating: "Not bad. 5 or 6 out of 10."
Why This Works (when done correctly): The technique here is actually a classic Chinese method called "hot oil finish." The extremely hot oil poured over fresh aromatics instantly releases their fragrance and creates a sizzling, fragrant topping that is genuinely delicious on poached chicken. The issue was that I was doing this while simultaneously monitoring four other pans, which meant I did not let the oil get nearly hot enough and I poured it on too timidly. A proper version of this dish done with full attention is much more impressive than what I produced.
Tips if you try this:
- Let the oil get genuinely hot. It should shimmer and almost smoke before you pour.
- Salt the poaching water generously, as if you are salting pasta water. The chicken absorbs the seasoning during cooking.
- Shred or slice the chicken before the oil pour, not after. The surface area matters.
4. Filipino Chicken Adobo
I used a pre-packaged Mama Sita's powder mix. Dissolved it in water, marinated the chicken, pan-fried it, then poured the sauce over.
When I tasted the sauce in the pan, I panicked. It was extremely sour and very salty. Nothing like the Adobo we eat at restaurants. Once it was plated and eaten with the chicken together, it balanced out much better. I should have added more water, but ChatGPT did not mention that.
Why This Works (when you trust the process): Adobo sauce is genuinely supposed to taste aggressively sour and salty in the pan. The acidity of the vinegar and the saltiness of the soy sauce are the whole flavor base of the dish. What I did not know at the time was that the sauce is meant to reduce and concentrate, and it balances out completely once it clings to the chicken and you eat it with plain white rice. Rice is not optional with Adobo. It is the equilibrium.
Tips if you try this:
- Do not taste the sauce in isolation and adjust. Taste a bite of chicken with a spoonful of rice together. That is the only meaningful way to evaluate the seasoning.
- If you use the Mama Sita's mix, add water at the lower end of the recommended range first, then adjust. You can always add more liquid.
- Let the chicken cook long enough that the sauce reduces down to a thick, glossy coat. The longer it cooks, the better it gets.
3. Japanese Chicken Teriyaki
I made the sauce from scratch: soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, ginger, garlic, and sugar.
This one became a debate. Vincent wanted to cut the chicken into small pieces before cooking. I followed the AI instructions and cooked the large thighs whole.
His smaller pieces cooked more evenly. Mine had more flavor because I quietly added extra soy sauce and Korean sweet syrup to my pan partway through. This is what I am calling my "magic touch" method.
Why This Works: Teriyaki sauce is a reduction, which means the flavor only gets better the longer it has contact with the chicken. Large thighs develop a much more lacquered, deep exterior glaze than small pieces do because they spend more time in the pan. The tradeoff is that they need to be finished in the oven or covered for a few minutes to cook through. Small pieces cook faster and more evenly but lose some of the caramelized exterior.
Tips if you try this:
- Add a splash of mirin at the very end and let it caramelize for 30 seconds before plating. That final step is what gives the sauce its glossy finish.
- Do not crowd the pan. Teriyaki thighs need contact with the surface to develop that lacquered crust.
- The Korean sweet syrup (oligodang or corn syrup) that I added mid-way is a genuine trick. It gives the sauce a stickier texture that clings to the chicken better than sugar alone.
2. Malaysian Chicken Curry
Vincent suggested this one. We used a packet of Tean's Gourmet paste.
The instructions told me to add anywhere from 250ml to 500ml of water, which is an extremely unhelpful range. When it came time to taste, Vincent bit into a piece that was still raw in the middle. Back in the pan it went. After a bit more time, it came out juicy and genuinely delicious.
Why This Works: Malaysian curry paste is incredibly flavorful on its own because it contains lemongrass, galangal, chilies, and a long list of aromatics that are already cooked and concentrated into the paste. You genuinely cannot mess up the flavor if you start with a good quality paste. The only thing you are managing is the liquid ratio and cooking time.
Tips if you try this:
- Always add the water on the lower end first. You want the curry to be thick and coating, not brothy. Add more liquid only if it starts to dry out.
- Cover the pan while the chicken cooks to trap heat and ensure the thickest pieces cook all the way through. Lift the lid and reduce uncovered for the last 5 minutes to thicken the sauce.
- Tean's Gourmet is genuinely good and widely available at Asian grocery stores. Worth keeping a few packets on hand for nights when you want a complex-tasting meal with minimal effort.
1. Korean Jjimdak
If I had ruined my own cultural food, there would have been a serious problem.
I was the most confident going in. I put the chicken, soy sauce base, onions, and carrots into my pressure cooker and skipped the traditional glass noodles this time. It came out perfectly. Tender meat, rich sauce, excellent with white rice.
This is the one I would make again without hesitation.
Why This Works: Jjimdak (Korean braised chicken) is a pressure cooker's best friend. The braising liquid, which is soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and sesame oil at its base, penetrates the chicken deeply under pressure and produces a fall-apart tender result in a fraction of the time it would take on the stovetop. The vegetables absorb the sauce and become equally flavorful. Everything comes together into one unified, deeply savory dish.
Tips if you try this:
- Glass noodles (dangmyeon) can be added after pressure cooking. Soak them in cold water first, then stir them into the finished sauce and let them absorb everything for a few minutes off the heat.
- Potatoes and carrots hold up well under pressure. Zucchini and mushrooms are better added after, since they will turn to mush under high pressure.
- For a spicier version, add one or two dried Korean chilies (gochugaru or whole dried peppers) to the braising liquid before cooking.
What I Learned
Do not trust ChatGPT to teach you how to cook five meals simultaneously.
Each of these dishes deserves its own focused session: a night dedicated entirely to perfecting the Adobo, another for the Teriyaki. When I was splitting my attention five ways, every single dish suffered at least a little, even the Jjimdak (which I am honestly just good at making).
The Costco chicken pack was an excellent investment regardless. Twelve pounds of air-chilled thighs for $20 means I had enough chicken to make every one of these again with improved focus and no additional grocery run required.
You are welcome to try recreating this, but I strongly recommend finding an actual recipe video. Let me know in the comments what I should attempt to cook next.
