11.357
27 (Sun) December 2020
Sous Vide Chicken Breast Steak with Cream Risotto
2.5
by me
at home
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
with the Family
Cookit is a new line of meal prep kits by Korean food producer CJ (Cheil Jedang). With illustrated instructions, each kit comes with a complete set of ingredients for a given dish. Currently 22 items in the line, about half comprising Korean dishes, the rest a mix of other cuisines. Prices range from 15,800 won (Woo Samgyeop Sundubu Jjigae) to 48,800 won (Spicy Boiling Lobster & Shrimp), most somewhere between 20,000 to 25,000 won.
W’s friend works at CJ and sent us a couple of items to try.
I started with the Sous Vide Chicken Breast Steak with Cream Risotto.
- High quality ingredients, properly packaged
- Convenient, all necessary ingredients are self-contained and measured, including cooking oil and salt
- Nutritionally well-balanced, with meat, veg, rice, dairy
- Lowish in calories, except for the butter and cream and cheese
- Looks nice on the plate
- Tasty, enough
CONS:
- Difficult for novice cooks to pull off smoothly, so many steps to complete (10) in rapid succession (1m 30s + 1m + 1m + 2m + 3m + 1m + 2m + 2m + 1m + 50s + 50s) within such a short period (total 15m 10s)
- Odd textures, such as the clumpy risotto, soft-but-dry chicken, and tough asparagus stems (cut too close to the base, some pieces too fibrous to eat)
- Not all that tasty
- Pricy at 26,800 won, supposedly for 2 portions
Not sure who comprises the target audience. Seems like it would appeal only to a very specific someone that (a) can cook (b) but doesn’t have ingredients on hand (c) and/or can’t be bothered to buy them directly; (d) likes fancy sounding/looking food (e) though doesn’t really care how good/authentic it actually is; (f) has money to burn.
At some point down the road, if I’m ever really bored, I’d be interested in trying to recreate this dish from scratch. I could probably do so at less than 10,000 won for ingredients.
(For more details re foods, see WHAT)
(For more details re venues, see WHERE IN KOREA)