Chef critique
Grilled Chile-Lime Chicken Tacos
A vibrant, seasonally appropriate taco recipe with excellent flavor combinations, but it suffers from significantly underseasoned components and a sequential grilling workflow that adds unnecessary time and could leave the chicken cold.
Score: 7/10
Suggested fixes
- Increase the total kosher salt in the ingredient list from 1 teaspoon to 2 teaspoons.
- In step 3, increase the kosher salt used on the chicken from 3/4 teaspoon to 1 1/4 teaspoons.
- In step 2, increase the kosher salt used in the salsa from 1/4 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon.
- Revise step 4 to instruct the cook to place the corn on the grill at the same time as the chicken, allowing them to cook concurrently.
Issues
- high / flavor: The chicken is underseasoned. 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt for 1 pound (453g) of chicken yields around 0.5% to 0.8% salinity by weight (depending on the brand of salt). This should be increased to around 1.25% (roughly 1.25 to 1.5 teaspoons of kosher salt).
- high / flavor: The salsa is underseasoned. 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt is insufficient for 8 ounces of tomatoes, half a jalapeño, 1/4 red onion, and 2 ears of corn (well over 400g of vegetables combined). The salsa needs closer to 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt to reach the 1% vegetable baseline.
- medium / timing: The instructions imply grilling the corn after the chicken finishes ('Grill for 8 to 10 minutes... while the grilled chicken rests'). If the corn takes 10 minutes to grill, then requires cooling, cutting, and folding into the salsa before grilling the tortillas, the chicken will likely over-rest and get cold. Corn and chicken should be grilled simultaneously.
Strengths
- Perfect matching of ingredient list quantities to in-text usage.
- Appealing flavor profile that balances smoke, acid, and heat.
- Good use of seasonal produce with a descriptive and engaging introduction.