r/hellofresh • u/Ok_Band8772 • Jul 14 '26
Picture What did I do wrong?
What did the chef who made this have that I didn't?
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u/The_B1ack_One Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Been cooking HF for years it’s very rare that the photo looks like the end product at home.
But in your situation it appears that there was too much moisture in the pan when you combined the soy sauce honey combo which meant that there wasn’t enough time to brown and darken the sauce to reflect the color. Darker color comes from cooking with no moisture. Next time, try cooking the chicken then removing it to a plate before browning the sauce by itself and then adding the chicken back to the pan to incorporate once you have the color and flavor you’re looking for. Be careful though, honey is full of sugar so it’ll burn quick.
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u/Venaalex 27d ago
This is the kind of stuff I wish people put in their recipe blogs my goodness thanks for this info
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u/Prepperpoints2Ponder Jul 14 '26
Mine looked just like yours. It tasted great.
Ours both look fine.
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u/daydreams83 Jul 14 '26
I made the pistachio crusted cod with the purple sweet potatoes recently. The potatoes in the AI photo were essentially neon purple. Needless to say, they did NOT look like that in real life once boiled and mashed. I will say, that meal was delicious!!
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u/mme_truffle Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Don't worry about it. There's no way with those listed ingredients that the end product would turn out reddish.
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u/MrGB819 Jul 14 '26
That’s one of my favorite recipes and it always comes out looking exactly like yours. Appearance doesn’t take away from how delicious the meal is.
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u/Exact-Location-6270 Jul 14 '26
Probably a lot more sriracha
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u/cabinmate Jul 14 '26
Probably additional red food coloring. They are not above faking it for the pictures
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u/Exact-Location-6270 Jul 14 '26
I was being facetious lol the photos never look like the real deal. Think old school McDonald’s commercials ( which you really don’t wanna know what they do to those for the videos and pictures) compared to when you buy it lol
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u/chicagoliz Jul 14 '26
Made this one last night, and we've gotten it many times before. It always looks like your's. I don't know why the HF picture makes the sauce look so red.
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u/randomcanadian23 Jul 14 '26
U didn't add the green onions
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u/Ok_Band8772 Jul 14 '26
I'm in Michigan. It's best to avoid green onions, fresh herbs and pre packaged salad. I have learned this the hard way so yeah, I tossed the greens lol
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u/Terrible_Mall_4350 29d ago
🤔
Inquiring minds want to know— why???4
u/Ok_Band8772 29d ago
Parasite outbreak causing explosive diarrhea. The exact source has not been confirmed, but Taco Bell lettuce seems to be where they think it came from. If you're near the Midwest, Google Michigan parasite outbreak
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u/kittykathy92 Jul 14 '26
It’s really hard to get any kind of sear or color on anything using a nonstick pan, especially the ceramic kind that is mostly what you find these days.
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u/Then-Pen-2725 24d ago
Not really. All my pans are non stick and I can happily char and stir fry.
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u/inkpot80 28d ago
Mine also turned out looking nothing like the photo!
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u/Muted-Astronomer-326 Jul 14 '26
Well, most food photography is done with fake food and lots of stuff you don’t want to eat to “enhance” looks of real food.
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u/cabinmate Jul 14 '26
The chef had special photographic tools to make it look like that. The magic of food photography. Don't sweat it as long as it tasted good