Alton Brown's Sweet and Sour whatever

Recently I decided to play around with one of Alton Brown's recipes. Since seeing the special one-hour "Down and Out in Paradise," I have been interested in the sweet and sour dish AB made. But, as I have stated before, not much of a pork eater. From looking at the recipe, I figured chicken would be a great substitute for the pork in the recipe, so my experiment began.

I followed the method for marinading the meat in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, flour and cornstarch. With my little cubes of chicken tucked away for the evening soak, I awaited my next day delight.

Upon pulling out the bowl of marinated chicken the next day, I saw something nasty looking. The pink raw chicken had soaked up the dark soy sauce turning it a sickly gray. I was worried the meat couldn't be swapped out. It had been awhile since watching the episode and I didn't know if pork would have reacted differently. Oh well, I was in this deep and had planned dinner based on this, so a plowed onward.

Following the rest of directions, the pallid chicken was dredged salt and pepper seasoned flour and fried. Before I went to the vegetation portion of the program, I sampled that chicken. It had been bothering me throughout the fry session. I sampled.

Oh my.

Despite the zombie skin tone to the chicken, the favor was amazing. This fact made me excited to finish.

Next came making the sauce, ketchup, sugar, red wine vinegar, and honey whisked together.

Now to the veggies:

• 1/3 cup diced Vidalia onion
• 1/3 cup diced celery
• 1/3 cup carrots sliced
  
• 1/3 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into 1-inch cubes

I only had red bell pepper, so I used all red instead of red and green... besides it isn't Christmas, now, is it?

Combine the meat, veggies and sauce. I used my big cast iron skillet to simmer everything together. And served with white rice.

Who needs Chinese takeout?

I suppose the pork version is just as fantastic. This chicken version is most definitely in the make again rotation.

AB's Sweet and Sour Pork recipe