Monday, June 15, 2009

Methods of Making Chicken

By Arf Ahmed

Chicken can be cooked in many ways because it is incredibly versatile. Every method of cooking chicken assists in bringing out all the individual flavors found in chicken. One may find that out that there are thousands of recipes that are devoted to the preparation and cooking of the humble chicken. Not all of them can be mentioned and there may be others that are not so conventional. This type of food item is easy to prepare because of it being low in fat.

Keep the chicken refrigerated to maintain its temperature in the range of 40C and 600C. It is kept cool because the bacteria in meat replicates faster in high temperatures. Put the chicken in water that has salt in the ratio of 3 tablespoons for four glasses of water. The chicken should remain in the water for about an hour and longer if it happens to be frozen. In this way, the chicken will be tender and juicy and will be able to cook faster.

This chicken should be enclosed in several ways. The first option is to cover it with a foil bag to grill it with marinade or brushing the surface of the chicken with either light coat of cooking oil or thick marinade sauce. This covering of the chicken is to stop the meal from drying up. Pound this chicken especially the thighs as well as the breast to achieve the same thickness. Cooking of the chicken will be even in this manner.

The heat should then be adjusted according to the method of cooking. If one is using the dry heat method, this include the roasting, baking, deep frying, sauting, and grilling, high heat should be used and the cooking should take very little time, e.g. 8-10 minutes grilling chicken breasts. The moist heat methods, steaming, poaching, slow cooking, and baking in parchment, should use low heat and should be cooked for a long period of time, e.g. 15 minutes for poaching chicken breasts.

Checking the chicken to establish that it is completely cooked is very important. Chicken differs from steak which may be prepared either rare or medium rare and should be cooked completely. To establish that it is done, pierce the thick part in the chicken to know if it is around 73.80C. It should not also be overcooked as it will then be dry. This chicken should be left to rest for the redistribution of juices. Before it is well done, it should be left for about 5 to 10 minutes for the juice redistribution process to finalize.

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