GeminAI ... in the Kitchen

Ever wondered what happens when you let an AI boss you around in the kitchen? Read on...

So the other day I was thinking, "what do I want to make for dinner?" My wife was going to be working aftercare at the preschool, so I figured I'd work on dinner while she worked on getting kids out the door. I knew we had something in the fridge, which turned out to be chicken thighs. I asked Alexa for a chicken thigh marinade, and the one she gave me included Worcestershire sauce. I went in search of the unpronounceable condiment (just kidding, I actually went to Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA for a year... I know how to pronounce it!), and couldn't find it, but ran across a "honey-garlic marinade" bottle in the pantry. Opened it, smelled it, and went with it. I also knew we had an onion on the counter and some green peppers in the fridge, and noticed a can of pineapple rings in the pantry as well, and though they would make a good addition to the chicken thighs that I planned to cook in the oven in a casserole dish. I started the marinating process: stab the thighs a bunch with a fork, put them in Ziplocs (we only had quart-sized, so it took two; I'd hoped for gallon size, but alas, none to be found), and went back to work.

After work, I was thinking about the cooking, and asked Gemini what temp and how long to cook chicken thighs (she suggested 25-30 min at 400), on a baking sheet. Wait, what? A baking sheet? I asked about the casserole dish, and she said, "no, you'd be braising the thighs then instead of roasting them." OK, Gemini, a baking dish. I mentioned the onions, peppers, and pineapple, and she said they would cook perfectly alongside the chicken on the baking sheet, just don't let the pineapple touch the chicken while cooking because it can give a bitter taste. She suggested tossing the veggies in a little oil with salt and pepper (I also added some garlic seasoning), and that it sounds like a good dish that would work well with rice - so I pulled out the rice cooker and got that started, too.

I also asked (toward the beginning) whether I should discard the marinade or pour it on the chicken (when I was thinking casserole dish) - she said we could boil it into a glaze if we wanted, so we did, with the expectation that we'll put it on the chicken thighs after about 15 minutes of roasting.

I asked about side dishes, maybe corn, and she said, no, not corn. And I asked about broccoli or a vegetable medley - she said not the vegetable medley, because that would be a "mushy" side that would conflict with the crisp, roasted vegies and chicken thighs. So we agreed to do broccoli, which she said would cook along w/ the other things - just put them on the outside of the baking sheet to keep them further from the juices as the chicken roasted (so they would stay crisp). Unfortunately, my baking sheet wasn't large enough for the chicken, the original vegies, and the broccoli/cauliflower (I had missed that it was a broccoli/cauliflower mix, not just broccoli), so I asked Gemini if I should just cook that in the microwave.

Some AI-titude!

Gemini immediately replied, in bold: "Please, do not microwave it!" Followed by "You are putting all this effort into glazing the chicken and roasting peppers—microwaving that frozen mix will turn it into a watery, sulfur-smelling pile of mush that will clash with your nice crispy chicken." A little AI-titude, GeminAI? :) We agreed that I would roast the broccoli/cauliflower mix on a separate, smaller baking sheet, tossed in oil, salt, and pepper.

I also added some "Japanese seasoning" to the chicken (don't recall whether I did the original veggies), it was a garlic/ginger/soy (?) seasoning. While that was roasting, I took the leftover marinade, along with a little of the pineapple juice, and boiled it for five to ten minutes in a small saucepan, allowing it to 1) kill any bacteria through the boiling; and 2) thicken up (Gemini had suggested using cornstarch to help thicken it, but I didn't do that; instead, I just boiled it longer, figuring that would help ensure any bacteria was killed off). She did say to watch it carefully, as the honey in the marinade can easily burn (and it may also boil over easily, too). When the fifteen minutes had elapsed, I opened the oven, and wasn't quite sure if the chicken was ready to glaze, so I opened up Gemini in video mode (like they do in the Pixel commercials) and asked her thoughts. She said maybe give it another five minutes, so I did.

After the extra five minutes, we checked again, and it looked good, so we went ahead and brushed the glaze on the thighs, and kept the remainder to add to the final serving (over rice), and cooked it another ten minutes. At that point, it seemed good, and my wife was on her way home (the rice had been done for a bit, in the rice cooker, fluffed and sitting on the "keep warm" setting), so I asked Gemini if I could just turn the oven off and leave the chicken & veggies in there to keep them warm, and she said that was a perfectly acceptable plan.

When my wife arrived, we plated up the chicken thighs and veggies over the rice (well, the broccoli and cauliflower was to the side), and it was... DELICIOUS! Even forgetting to add the extra glaze/sauce over the rice and chicken (I did add that when I got seconds). 

All in all, a very enjoyable meal, and the kitchen still smelled good the next day, too! It was just as enjoyable reheated (not quite as crispy, as I didn't ask Gemini's thoughts and just went with the microwave instead of the air fryer to reheat it). And Gemini was a very helpful assistant chef (maybe kitchen manager?) as we were preparing and cooking dinner. Just gotta watch that AI-titude! haha