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thefourthvine) wrote2010-02-12 07:10 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2010-02-12 07:10 pm
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Chicken Help Requested!
Dear meat-cooking faction of my friends list,
I would like to make some chicken. I want it to be a mix of white and dark meat, something that I can easily convert into small pieces, and fairly tender (not dry, not very chewy). It does not need much of a sauce, because most of it will go into the freezer for Earthling Chicken Salad. (Chicken pieces + diced fresh tomatoes + olive oil + choice of flavoring.) Ideally, it should keep all the fat it came with.
What do I need to buy? (Keep in mind that I am buying this for Tiny Alice Waters, and thus should probably go for higher-quality chicken, if there is a variation in quality amongst chickens; also, for reasons of personal moral qualms, I am willing to pay more for more humanely-treated chicken, if that exists.) Where should I buy it? What do I need to do? How can I make chicken happen?
Please keep in mind that although I am a good home cook, I have never made meat. I was a vegetarian long before I learned to cook, so meat has always been a total blind spot in my kitchen vision, if that makes sense. If there is a ritual anointing that anyone would know to do? I don't know it. If there's some safe-handling thing that is so insanely obvious that no one ever mentions it? I won't do it unless you tell me to do it. You know those exercises you had to do in school where you had to pretend the teacher was an alien (generally not much of a feat of imagination, there) and explain to her how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Please pretend I am an alien, because I am. I have never visited Planet Meat before. I need a very thorough travel guide.
I have a crockpot, and if a crockpot can produce this kind of food, I would prefer to use it, since mine has three crocks and one can just become the Meat Crock. But if there is an easy, non-crockpot method for producing chicken, I would also enjoy hearing about it. (Please nothing that requires setting fires. I would prefer to emerge from this with all my parts basically intact.)
I would really appreciate your help. (And Tiny Alice Waters would, too.)
<3,
TFV
I would like to make some chicken. I want it to be a mix of white and dark meat, something that I can easily convert into small pieces, and fairly tender (not dry, not very chewy). It does not need much of a sauce, because most of it will go into the freezer for Earthling Chicken Salad. (Chicken pieces + diced fresh tomatoes + olive oil + choice of flavoring.) Ideally, it should keep all the fat it came with.
What do I need to buy? (Keep in mind that I am buying this for Tiny Alice Waters, and thus should probably go for higher-quality chicken, if there is a variation in quality amongst chickens; also, for reasons of personal moral qualms, I am willing to pay more for more humanely-treated chicken, if that exists.) Where should I buy it? What do I need to do? How can I make chicken happen?
Please keep in mind that although I am a good home cook, I have never made meat. I was a vegetarian long before I learned to cook, so meat has always been a total blind spot in my kitchen vision, if that makes sense. If there is a ritual anointing that anyone would know to do? I don't know it. If there's some safe-handling thing that is so insanely obvious that no one ever mentions it? I won't do it unless you tell me to do it. You know those exercises you had to do in school where you had to pretend the teacher was an alien (generally not much of a feat of imagination, there) and explain to her how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Please pretend I am an alien, because I am. I have never visited Planet Meat before. I need a very thorough travel guide.
I have a crockpot, and if a crockpot can produce this kind of food, I would prefer to use it, since mine has three crocks and one can just become the Meat Crock. But if there is an easy, non-crockpot method for producing chicken, I would also enjoy hearing about it. (Please nothing that requires setting fires. I would prefer to emerge from this with all my parts basically intact.)
I would really appreciate your help. (And Tiny Alice Waters would, too.)
<3,
TFV
no subject
Look for chicken breasts and thighs that are bone-in, with their skin. You'll end up pulling the meat off the bones and (possibly) throwing away the skin, but it makes the chicken juicier and tastier to cook it intact. You'll want something that is labeled "free-range" and "organic". Raw chicken requires a little care in handling--wash your hands and any counter surfaces or utensils that the chicken touches after you are done preparing it.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Put the chicken in a single layer on a baking sheet with a rim, or in a shallow baking pan. If there's a lot of moisture on the chicken, pat it off with a paper towel. Rub the skin with a little olive oil and sprinkle on some salt; if the earthling likes pepper, you can use that, too. Put it in the oven.
Depending on your oven, and the size of the chicken pieces, it will take approximately thirty to forty-five minutes to cook. It's a good idea to have an instant-read meat thermometer on hand--stick the point into the thickest part of one of the chicken breasts and one of the thighs, but be sure not to stick it in so far that you touch the bone (it will give you an incorrect reading.) You are looking for a temperature in the neighborhood of 165 degrees--don't let it go much higher than that when you are oven roasting. The thighs may take a bit longer to cook than the breasts--if you are cooking a lot at once, you might find it easier to do it in two separate pans. The juice that runs from the chicken when you poke it should be pale and clear, not pink. Once you do this a few times, you'll get used to judging how done the chicken is, and the thermometer will be more of a back-up. Raw chicken is soft--cooked chicken feels springy to the touch.
When you take the chicken out of the oven, move it to the plate or cutting board that you're going to cut it up on, and cover it with a loose piece of aluminum foil for five or ten minutes. This serves two purposes--the juice of the chicken will retreat back into the meat (if you start cutting into it right away, a lot more of that juice will run out and get wasted, which will result in drier chicken), and the internal temperature will continue to rise a bit, insuring that it's cooked. If you want to cut it up after that, you can, or you can put it in the fridge and let it cool before cutting it.
Its easiest to pull the meat off the bones in large chunks with your fingers and then use a knife to cut the pieces into earthling-sized bites. The skin probably won't be crisp--you might try giving him a piece to see if he likes it, and if he does, you can cut it up with the chicken. If you really want to go the distance, you can pull the skin off and put it back in the oven to get crispier. And if he does like the skin, he might also like some more herbs or lemon juice rubbed/sprinkled onto the skin before cooking--in this cooking process, that kind of thing adds more flavor to the skin than the meat.
I would also suggest that you leave the meat you want to freeze in the larger pieces you pull from the bones, and cut it up after defrosting.
It's an easy thing to cook; bon appetit to the earthling!
(if you want another variation, here's a pretty detailed set of instructions for roasting chicken breasts.)
no subject
Taking your instructions about being an Alien on Meat Planet to heart, I realize that this is not quite clear--I mean that you can put the skin back in the oven, after you've removed it (use the pan you cooked the chicken in) and let it cook a while longer. It will spit and spatter--the skin has a lot of fat.