How to Cook the perfect Chicken breast from a cheap supermarket cut ?
Since this is the credit crunch and since I am now cooking in a pro kitchen and reading heavyweight books on cooking science I thought I would help you muppets out with a small food blog on budget food.
Chicken breasts for me have always been shit. From childhood I remember my mom oven cooking them for 30 mins and being served a lump of dry white meat that tasted of soggy cardboard.
The only time infact that i ever got served nice tasting chicken is when it was either
a) covered in bacon
b)served in a sauce so tasty i couldn't taste the chicken anyway
or
c)deep fried in breadcrumbs form KFC.
My point is that none of these remotely taste of chicken. Chicken is merely a texture in another flavor sensation much the same as milk and coffee is used in Starbucks. This is all good and well, but where is the chicken flavor ?
Of course you could roast a whole bird which is pretty tasty, but lets face it, it's not quick and you don't want to be cooking an entire chicken every time you want a chicken sandwich.
So what we want is to cook a simple breast. Nothing special, supermarket bought, for it to taste good, and be moist.
First of all we need to know what we want from a chicken and why it is so hard to cook properly.
Chicken is one of the leanest cuts of meat there is. Fat is what contains the odorant and taste molecules in meat so it doesn't take a genius to understand that the less fat we have the less taste we have.
So the first thing we need to understand is that the less fat we lose the more odorant and taste molecules we keep and the better our chicken breast will taste.
The second thing you need to know is that in all meats, no matter what it is, the way we develop the big flavors we associate with that particular meat is though what is called the Mailard reactions. That is the browning of the meat. That doesn't mean burnt meat but the reaction of meat at very high temperatures to create surface browning. Hence why BBQ food always tastes awesome even if its a shitty meat.
The problem we have is that the two points above are directly contradictory to one an other. Hence why cooking meats and chicken in particular is so easily fucked up.
To explain. If we want to cook a breast of chicken using only a high temperature grill or a frying pan, although the meat on the outside will develop the mailard reactions the meat will (if cooked long enough to heat all the way though) loose so much of its water content and fat content that it will turn out dry and tasteless in the middle.
On the flip side if we boil the meat in water, cook it in a steamer or cook it for a long time at a low temperature so as not to loose much moister,the meat will be tender but will not have any of the flavors developed by the mailard reactions which are just as vital, if not more.
So it should seem obvious that what we need is some kind of mixture of the two.
What we need is a cooking method that cooks the meat right the way to the centre, doesn't loose any moisture and also browns the outside.
We could boil it or slow cook it for a long time then grill it or fry it. The problem is that both boiling and slow cooking will still loose some of the moisture so its not perfect.
We could substitute the water for chicken stock or some other tasty liquid and braise the meat first. This would be fine but it doesn't produce what we desire. A pure 'low fat' chicken product.
No for what we want we have to turn to some ultra modern cookery techniques.
Modern kitchens when cooking small l portions of chicken, fish or dark meat use a techniques called "sous vide".
Basically it is cooking in a vacuum bag in water that never goes above 70oC.
The benefit is that cooking under 70oC the meat never becomes tough and although there is a minimum time so the meat cooks right though there really is no way of over cooking it (because the proteins can only develop as far as the temperature allows them to). The use of the vacuum bag holds another advantage in that is never looses an ounce of moisture or fat, no matter how long you cook it.
Of course proper Sues Vide cooking requires expensive equipment but there is a way to do it in your home at minimum cost.
Heres how we do it.
1. Take a pan of cold fresh water and put it on your stove at a medium heat.
2. Use an electric thermometer( about 9 from any catering shop) and heat the water until it hits 69oC.Take it off the heat.
3. Season your chicken breast and take a large roll of cingfilm and tightly wrap it several times and twist the ends. This needs to be water tight and free from bubbles. Bubbles will make it float and we want it to sink.
4. leave it in the water and constantly measure the water so it does not exceed 70oC and does not go far under 60oC. Keep on taking it on and off the heat to achieve this.
5. Keep the chicken in the water for at least 25mins. 30mins is preferable especially for large breasts you may need to add ten minutes or so. (remember you can't over cook you can only under cook)
6. Ten minutes from the end of cooking take a heavy frying pan (iron is preferable but anything will do) and put it on at a high heat with some groundnut or vegetable oil (important because these oils smoke at a much higher temperature meaning you can get the pan much hotter with out smoking your kitchen out and we want it smoking hot)
6. Once it is cooked remove from the water , take of the cling film and pat dry with a kitchen towel.
7. Once the oil starts to smoke fry in your pan on all sides (using a pair of tongs helps) until you have a deep color of brown on all sides (not black, brown)
8. Remove from the heat a rest for a few minuets.(this helps the juices from the middle penetrate the whole breast for a more even flavor.
And you done. Perfect low fat chicken breast.
To get more out of that try marinading your breast first and putting some of the marinade in the clingfillm with the chicken. It is twice as effective as normal because you wont loose any marinade in cooking and it will permeate deeper into the meat.
You can also try grilling it rather than frying it but I find frying it it easier to brown evenly.
Clearly the better cut you buy the better it will taste. The happier the bird the leaner the meat. Tence yourslef up and feel your own muscles then relax and do the same. Thats the difference, and it's huge.
Also this can be used on any meat or fish. It is especially fantastic for fillet steak.
Anyway have fun and stay heathy cunts.
Failsafe Custard for the happy pig.
Here you go.
4 egg yolks to 500ml cream and/or milk or just cream (however you like)
100g sugar
1 or 2 vanila pods
Mix the egg whites and the yolks seperatly in a bowl until smooth. Cook the cream up with the vanila pods (cut in half and scape the inside of the vanila pods into the mix and add the pods aswell ) in a pan to a simmer.
Take the cream of the heat and let it cool for a minute. Remove the vanila pods.
Add a little of the cream mix to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk up.
Then add the rest of the cream and whisk.
Return to the heat and most importantly ( and this is why you get scrambled egg) keep the temperature under 78oC. Any higher and the egg protiens combine and you get scrammbled egg.
If you don't have a thermomiter (which I highly recomend getting) then it is also when the mixture will stick to the back of your spoon when you dip it in. The best way is to dip you spoon in and run your finger though it to make a line on the back. When the line stays put it's done.
Take it off the heat imediatly and if not serving straight away put it in a bowl. Put the bowl in a container and surround it with ice. This stops the custard from cooking any further.
Also if you don't do the last bit and heat it up you have cream anglaise which you can make ice cream with or creme brulee. For ice cream just add what you like to the mixture and freeze or place in a ice cream machine.
For Nicky R (Bacon and spinach soup.)
First of all grill up a big load of bacon until very crispy.
Drop it into some milk or cream or both and leave it covered in the fridge for 24 hours. This will infuse with the bacon and give you bacon flavored milk.
The next day fry up some onions and garlic in frying pan with some butter until soft and lightly caramelized (brown)
Add some peeled and boiled potatoes cut in to chunks and cook for a few minutes.
Add some of the milk and reserve a cupful or so. Bring the milk to a simmer.
Mix in the spinach and cover the pan with a plate until the spinach is soft and reduced. Reserve a good amount of the spinach
Place the whole mixture in a blender with the rest of the spinach and blitz until smooth.
Place in the fridge or return to the heat to serve making sure you add salt and pepper (ass much salt as you can before you taste the salt)
For that extra touch take the remaining bacon milk and bring to a simmer, a leaf of gelatin and mix. when its cooled down to room temperature blitz this with a whisk till it froths up.
Drop in some home made croutons ( squares of bread fried with garlic and olive oil) or a reserve of the crispy bacon and dollop the bacon froth on top.
Sensational.
Since this is the credit crunch and since I am now cooking in a pro kitchen and reading heavyweight books on cooking science I thought I would help you muppets out with a small food blog on budget food.
Chicken breasts for me have always been shit. From childhood I remember my mom oven cooking them for 30 mins and being served a lump of dry white meat that tasted of soggy cardboard.
The only time infact that i ever got served nice tasting chicken is when it was either
a) covered in bacon
b)served in a sauce so tasty i couldn't taste the chicken anyway
or
c)deep fried in breadcrumbs form KFC.
My point is that none of these remotely taste of chicken. Chicken is merely a texture in another flavor sensation much the same as milk and coffee is used in Starbucks. This is all good and well, but where is the chicken flavor ?
Of course you could roast a whole bird which is pretty tasty, but lets face it, it's not quick and you don't want to be cooking an entire chicken every time you want a chicken sandwich.
So what we want is to cook a simple breast. Nothing special, supermarket bought, for it to taste good, and be moist.
First of all we need to know what we want from a chicken and why it is so hard to cook properly.
Chicken is one of the leanest cuts of meat there is. Fat is what contains the odorant and taste molecules in meat so it doesn't take a genius to understand that the less fat we have the less taste we have.
So the first thing we need to understand is that the less fat we lose the more odorant and taste molecules we keep and the better our chicken breast will taste.
The second thing you need to know is that in all meats, no matter what it is, the way we develop the big flavors we associate with that particular meat is though what is called the Mailard reactions. That is the browning of the meat. That doesn't mean burnt meat but the reaction of meat at very high temperatures to create surface browning. Hence why BBQ food always tastes awesome even if its a shitty meat.
The problem we have is that the two points above are directly contradictory to one an other. Hence why cooking meats and chicken in particular is so easily fucked up.
To explain. If we want to cook a breast of chicken using only a high temperature grill or a frying pan, although the meat on the outside will develop the mailard reactions the meat will (if cooked long enough to heat all the way though) loose so much of its water content and fat content that it will turn out dry and tasteless in the middle.
On the flip side if we boil the meat in water, cook it in a steamer or cook it for a long time at a low temperature so as not to loose much moister,the meat will be tender but will not have any of the flavors developed by the mailard reactions which are just as vital, if not more.
So it should seem obvious that what we need is some kind of mixture of the two.
What we need is a cooking method that cooks the meat right the way to the centre, doesn't loose any moisture and also browns the outside.
We could boil it or slow cook it for a long time then grill it or fry it. The problem is that both boiling and slow cooking will still loose some of the moisture so its not perfect.
We could substitute the water for chicken stock or some other tasty liquid and braise the meat first. This would be fine but it doesn't produce what we desire. A pure 'low fat' chicken product.
No for what we want we have to turn to some ultra modern cookery techniques.
Modern kitchens when cooking small l portions of chicken, fish or dark meat use a techniques called "sous vide".
Basically it is cooking in a vacuum bag in water that never goes above 70oC.
The benefit is that cooking under 70oC the meat never becomes tough and although there is a minimum time so the meat cooks right though there really is no way of over cooking it (because the proteins can only develop as far as the temperature allows them to). The use of the vacuum bag holds another advantage in that is never looses an ounce of moisture or fat, no matter how long you cook it.
Of course proper Sues Vide cooking requires expensive equipment but there is a way to do it in your home at minimum cost.
Heres how we do it.
1. Take a pan of cold fresh water and put it on your stove at a medium heat.
2. Use an electric thermometer( about 9 from any catering shop) and heat the water until it hits 69oC.Take it off the heat.
3. Season your chicken breast and take a large roll of cingfilm and tightly wrap it several times and twist the ends. This needs to be water tight and free from bubbles. Bubbles will make it float and we want it to sink.
4. leave it in the water and constantly measure the water so it does not exceed 70oC and does not go far under 60oC. Keep on taking it on and off the heat to achieve this.
5. Keep the chicken in the water for at least 25mins. 30mins is preferable especially for large breasts you may need to add ten minutes or so. (remember you can't over cook you can only under cook)
6. Ten minutes from the end of cooking take a heavy frying pan (iron is preferable but anything will do) and put it on at a high heat with some groundnut or vegetable oil (important because these oils smoke at a much higher temperature meaning you can get the pan much hotter with out smoking your kitchen out and we want it smoking hot)
6. Once it is cooked remove from the water , take of the cling film and pat dry with a kitchen towel.
7. Once the oil starts to smoke fry in your pan on all sides (using a pair of tongs helps) until you have a deep color of brown on all sides (not black, brown)
8. Remove from the heat a rest for a few minuets.(this helps the juices from the middle penetrate the whole breast for a more even flavor.
And you done. Perfect low fat chicken breast.
To get more out of that try marinading your breast first and putting some of the marinade in the clingfillm with the chicken. It is twice as effective as normal because you wont loose any marinade in cooking and it will permeate deeper into the meat.
You can also try grilling it rather than frying it but I find frying it it easier to brown evenly.
Clearly the better cut you buy the better it will taste. The happier the bird the leaner the meat. Tence yourslef up and feel your own muscles then relax and do the same. Thats the difference, and it's huge.
Also this can be used on any meat or fish. It is especially fantastic for fillet steak.
Anyway have fun and stay heathy cunts.
Failsafe Custard for the happy pig.
Here you go.
4 egg yolks to 500ml cream and/or milk or just cream (however you like)
100g sugar
1 or 2 vanila pods
Mix the egg whites and the yolks seperatly in a bowl until smooth. Cook the cream up with the vanila pods (cut in half and scape the inside of the vanila pods into the mix and add the pods aswell ) in a pan to a simmer.
Take the cream of the heat and let it cool for a minute. Remove the vanila pods.
Add a little of the cream mix to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk up.
Then add the rest of the cream and whisk.
Return to the heat and most importantly ( and this is why you get scrambled egg) keep the temperature under 78oC. Any higher and the egg protiens combine and you get scrammbled egg.
If you don't have a thermomiter (which I highly recomend getting) then it is also when the mixture will stick to the back of your spoon when you dip it in. The best way is to dip you spoon in and run your finger though it to make a line on the back. When the line stays put it's done.
Take it off the heat imediatly and if not serving straight away put it in a bowl. Put the bowl in a container and surround it with ice. This stops the custard from cooking any further.
Also if you don't do the last bit and heat it up you have cream anglaise which you can make ice cream with or creme brulee. For ice cream just add what you like to the mixture and freeze or place in a ice cream machine.
For Nicky R (Bacon and spinach soup.)
First of all grill up a big load of bacon until very crispy.
Drop it into some milk or cream or both and leave it covered in the fridge for 24 hours. This will infuse with the bacon and give you bacon flavored milk.
The next day fry up some onions and garlic in frying pan with some butter until soft and lightly caramelized (brown)
Add some peeled and boiled potatoes cut in to chunks and cook for a few minutes.
Add some of the milk and reserve a cupful or so. Bring the milk to a simmer.
Mix in the spinach and cover the pan with a plate until the spinach is soft and reduced. Reserve a good amount of the spinach
Place the whole mixture in a blender with the rest of the spinach and blitz until smooth.
Place in the fridge or return to the heat to serve making sure you add salt and pepper (ass much salt as you can before you taste the salt)
For that extra touch take the remaining bacon milk and bring to a simmer, a leaf of gelatin and mix. when its cooled down to room temperature blitz this with a whisk till it froths up.
Drop in some home made croutons ( squares of bread fried with garlic and olive oil) or a reserve of the crispy bacon and dollop the bacon froth on top.
Sensational.
VIEW 25 of 30 COMMENTS
I smell victory!