The things we got wrong
This page is a log of corrections. Every recipe site makes mistakes—wrong measurements, steps that don’t work, or instructions that sound right until they don’t. The difference is whether we admit it.
Here, we list the ones we caught, the ones that slipped through, and what we did to fix them. It’s not a story about how we got better; it’s proof that we’re still trying.
You’ll find three failures here, in order of how much damage they did. Each one is signed by the person who fixed it, which is the only way to introduce the people behind this site. No one publishes their own corrections unless they keep them.
If you spot something missing or wrong, the contact page is where to tell us.
Three we had to fix
The first two were in our hands for months. The third went live before we realised it was broken. None of them were grand failures—just the kind that happen when you’re testing recipes in a real kitchen, not a controlled lab.
What matters is that we found them, fixed them, and won’t let them happen again.
The three mistakes that shaped this site
- 1The brine calculator failed
The first version of our brine calculator gave salt measurements that were off by 20%—not enough to ruin a batch, but enough to leave chicken bland or overly salty. We recalibrated it against USDA standards and added a note about testing with a refractometer. Vince Alvarado fixed it.
- 2The smoked chicken guide was wrong
Our guide to smoking chicken recommended a target internal temp of 150°F (65°C) for ‘juicy’ results, which is the safe minimum—but it left the meat dry and tough. A tester who works in a professional kitchen flagged it during a blind review. We updated the temp to 165°F (74°C) and added a rest-time step. Vince Alvarado caught this one too, after burning through three test batches.
- 3The ‘easy’ dumplings recipe went live broken
The dumpling dough we published for six months had too much flour, making them dense instead of light. The photos looked perfect, but the texture was wrong. A reader emailed to say their batch fell apart when dropped into the pot. We rewrote the recipe from scratch, tested it with three different flours, and added a troubleshooting section. Vince Alvarado was the one who had to eat the first bad batch.
What those three changed
These weren’t just fixes—they became rules. The first taught us to test every tool we publish, not just the recipes. The second made us demand proof from testers before we trust a method. The third forced us to stop assuming ‘looks right’ means ‘works right.’
Rules that came from mistakes
- 1. Tools get tested too – Every calculator, chart, or guide must be verified against a real kitchen. (From *The brine calculator failed*)
- 2. No ‘trust me’ steps – If a method isn’t backed by a tester’s notes or a cited source, it doesn’t go live. (From *The smoked chicken guide was wrong*)
- 3. Photos lie – A recipe is only as good as the first batch someone makes. If the texture or taste doesn’t match the photo, it’s not ready. (From *The ‘easy’ dumplings recipe went live broken*)
The people behind this
Vince Alvarado is the founder and editor of *Chicken Recipes Tin*. He’s the one who signs every correction here—not because he’s perfect, but because he’s the only one who’s ever had to eat the mistakes.
This site exists because his grandmother’s chicken and dumplings taught him two things: recipes are supposed to work, and the only way to know is to break them first.
Keeping a log like this isn’t easy. It means admitting when a recipe fails, even if it’s one you’ve written a dozen times.
It means looking at a page you published and thinking, *That should never have gone out.* And it means doing it anyway, because the alternative is pretending you don’t make mistakes—which is the real lie.
There’s a small mistake Vince won’t admit to here: the first time he tried to make a perfect fried chicken skin, he used the wrong oil. It stuck to the pan like glue, and he had to scrape it off with a spatula.
The skin was fine, but the lesson stuck. That’s the kind of thing you don’t put in a log—because it’s not about the failure, it’s about the person who made it.
If you find something wrong here, the contact page is where to tell us. No email, no form—just the words. And if it’s a mistake, we’ll fix it, sign it, and add it to the next log.
There will be a next one
This list isn’t finished. The next correction might be a typo in a measurement, a step that doesn’t work in a high-altitude kitchen, or a recipe that sounded great until someone tried it. We’ll find it, fix it, and put it here.
If you’re the one who finds it, you’ll be in the log too—because the best way to judge a recipe site isn’t by what it gets right, but by what it admits it got wrong.
The recipes are grouped by category: Appetizers, Beverages, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Main Courses and Salads.