TGRWT #20: Pumpkin and Cooked Chicken

OK, I am more than a little embarrassed, but because I didn't fully understand how the Food Pairings Website  worked, I initially chose a combination that I thought was within bounds - pumpkin and lemongrass. While I feel that the two ingredients really do go well together, they are not explicitly listed as such within the specific purposes of this database and therefore can not be the two principle ingredients for this exercise. Please feel free to use lemongrass in your dishes if you so desire, but please also use "cooked" chicken (as opposed to roasted - though roasted is also compatible according to the chart). This post has been edited to reflect the change.

 

I am excited to host the latest round (20) of “They Go Really Well Together” (TGRWT) and am honored to be following a tremendous group of food bloggers in this endeavor.

This food blogging event  was initiated by Martin Lersch in April 2007 to explore flavor pairings suggested by the hypothesis that if two foods have one or more key odorants in common it might very well be that they go well together and perhaps even compliment each other. A list of all previous rounds with links to announcements and round-ups can be found at:http://blog.khymos.org/tgrwt/. I have personally participated in only one pairing so far, but have read through and enjoyed the others. They are great fun and a fine way get past more common ingredient pairings.

Pumpkins are plentiful and quite seasonal at this time of year in the northern hemisphere and useful in so many different types of preparations from soups to appetizers to main courses to desserts. In the U.S., they are probably most often used in the form of a dessert pie, though in recent years the pumpkin's popularity has expanded greatly. I have never really had chicken and pumpkin together before, so this should be interesting.

Participation is easy - just follow these steps:

 1. Prepare a dish that combines pumpkin and cooked chicken. You can either use an existing recipe (if there is any) or come up with your own 

2. Take a picture of the dish and write an entry in your blog by December 8th, 2009  with TGRWT #20 in the title. Readers will be particularily interested in how the flavour pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the taste and aroma and whether you liked it or not.

3. A round-up will be posted here with pictures. Please send an email to john@docsconz.com with the following details: Your name, URL of blog, URL of the TGRWT #20 post and a picture for your entry in the round-up. If you don't have a blog, email me your name, location, recipe and a brief description of how it worked out and I'll be glad to include it in the final round-up.

So get those pumpkins and start carving out some new dishes!

Comments

[Brian]

I have an idea already, great choice of ingredients.

[Stuart]

Cooked as opposed to roasted? What, exactly, does that mean?

[Leanne Opaskar]

My guess would be that it means anything other than roasted. Simmered, poached, sauteed, grilled ...

I have about six different ideas already!

[John Sconzo]

Thats my interpretation as well, Leanne. Roasting gives the bird a somewhat different flavor profile. According to the Food Pairings chart, roasted works with pumpkin too, but is not quite as closely related (i.e. is further away from the pumpkin in the center of the chart). If someone really wanted to use roasted rather than cooked chicken, I wouldnt object.

[Gfron1]

Fun combo. I'm glad it didn't end up with lemongrass since that was a bit too tame for my tastes :)

[sygyzy]

Can you explain how the mistake was made (lemongrass) so I don't do the same? I thought I knew how to read it but now I am doubting myself.

[antonella]

I have checked the pumpkin flavour pairing chart and saw that cooked chicken was very closed and related to it, but when I have looked at the cooked chicken chart I could not find the pumpkin. Isn't this a bit bizarre?

[John Sconzo]

Antonella, that is bizarre. I must admit, I came to the pairing from the point of view of pumpkin and did not look at the converse.

[Tri2Cook]

Nice combo. I missed the last round while getting settled into a new job but I'm going to try to squeeze this one into the schedule.

[John Sconzo]

I am looking forward to it!

[Trig]

Sorry - I really did try, but my parents were over for a week and after that I moved back to Catalunya. I've been staying with various friends since in Barcelona in Girona since and I'll be flying back to London tomorrow night. So it's not looking great for me to make the deadline. I was thinking of a modern spin on the classic Khmer dish Cha Lpoeu Sach Monn.

[Martin]

I'm sorry to miss out on this round... It's been a busy month, and when looking for pumpkin some time ago I actually couldn't find any (it's easy to find in November before Halloween, not so easy in December here in Norway). But I'm looking forward to the round-up anyway!