How am I cooking chicken wrong?

L1011

I'm cooking chicken wrong. Somehow. And I haven't figured it out.

No matter what way I prep or cook chicken (breast meat) for something it either comes out stringy or generally tasting quite horrible.

I've tried frying or baking fillets whole to cut/tear up to throw in to something. I've tried sealing off and adding later to curries. I've tried dry marinades, wet marinades, yogurt marinades for curries/stirfrys. All pretty nasty.

The only thing that I've managed to make work is a basic attempt at velveting; or breadcrumbing (normal or panko) and frying extremely hot.

I'd like to be able to get chicken vaguely like what you'd get in a restaurant/deli for pasta dishes, and curries of any and every description. How do I do this?

Water John

It may be down to the quality of the chicken breast you are buying.
Look for Irish fillets from a butcher.

listermint

I boil my fillets to keep them moist and cooked throughout. Found the best way if you are just looking for the pure chicken.

Surreptitious

Use a decent oil, hot pan and cook it properly. Use a professional knife so the chicken is cut right and not stringy.

dollyk

if i fry they end up nasty, and I found buying from a butchers is better.
I just make all my stirfry up, sauce veg etc, then add raw cut into cubes
chicken and cook on high stirring them simmer , perfect.

nkav86

If you're really having a disaster, a thermometer would help you tell when it's fully cooked before its over

Water John

You could also beat the meat flat in a bag with a rolling pin or your fist, chicken schiznel style. Might tenderise the meat.

I have come across, stringy chicken recently in a, prepared for oven, dish. Not pleasant.

L1011

Water John wrote: »

It may be down to the quality of the chicken breast you are buying.
Look for Irish fillets from a butcher.

They are Irish from a butcher; and an actual butcher not an outlet with staff in whites and hats selling prepack like many "butchers" - but no harm in trying a different option!

Rather than quoting every reply (and thanks for the replies - wasn't expecting that many that fast)

Main knife is a mid range Victorinox that I sharpen properly. Need to get a faster read thermometer as the one I have, while accurate (at 0c and 100c anyway) takes an age to settle.

I've tried cut raw and thrown in to curries when simmering; but that has come out possibly the worst of all.

Haven't really tried flattening except for a chicken parmesan which, come to think of it, turned out well. Will give that a go. Did the boiling with spices as per the famous cooking club curry and wasn't too happy with the results but worth trying with different sourced meat.

huskerdu

How ling are you cooking the chicken for ?
Raw chunks of chicken breast cook quickly, Its easy to overcook them.

dudara

Personally I'm not a fan of that velveted texture. It can feel a little "slimy". And to be honest, chicken breast isn't an exciting meat, so I wouldn't have great expectations of flavour from it.

Dropping raw strips into curries is the gentlest way to cook the meat in my experience. Main thing is to cut against the grain of the muscle.

spottybananas

Is it possible you're expecting it to taste like chicken that is roasted whole and then used in curries etc? I've cooked chicken breasts every way you've mentioned and they are always fine, but they do taste different to fillets roasted on the whole chicken.

Surreptitious

Have you tried steaming the trimmed breasts in parcels in the oven? I think that could be the tenderest I ever got chicken to be. Just fold them tightly in the tin foil and make sure no air escapes. Use a bit of oil and seasoning plus herbs/spices. The list is endless what you can add to them plus it's very healthy. It's easy too and very tasty

exaisle

Try flattening the breast as mentioned above but then press it in a 50/50 mix of polenta and cajun spices. The spice and polenta mix will stick easily to the chicken. Fry for a couple of minutes each side or until cooked through..but no longer than that. Enjoy!

El_Duderino 09

L1011 wrote:

I'd like to be able to get chicken vaguely like what you'd get in a restaurant/deli for pasta dishes, and curries of any and every description. How do I do this?

I suppose you'd need to say what you like about the chicken in a restaurant/deli.

I think most delis use pre cooked chicken that has been pressure cooked and is pumped with water and flavours so that's different from restaurant chicken.

Restaurants could do it any number of ways so you'd need to be specific. Fried, roast, cooked in stock for additional flavours. Chicken breast is a fairly bland and dry meat. Do you want breast specifically?

Yanu

Use a thermometer, times of dry chicken for me are over!!! It doesn't cost much, a tenner on amazon

Zelda247

Surreptitious wrote: »

Have you tried steaming the trimmed breasts in parcels in the oven? I think that could be the tenderest I ever got chicken to be. Just fold them tightly in the tin foil and make sure no air escapes. Use a bit of oil and seasoning plus herbs/spices. The list is endless what you can add to them plus it's very healthy. It's easy too and very tasty

How long do you cook for and at what temp please, also what spices/herbs work well for you?

Water John

Generally chicken is cooked in oven at 170 C, not too hot. Anywhere between 30/40 mins for breasts. Whole chicken 60 mins at least.

L1011

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I suppose you'd need to say what you like about the chicken in a restaurant/deli.

I think most delis use pre cooked chicken that has been pressure cooked and is pumped with water and flavours so that's different from restaurant chicken.

Restaurants could do it any number of ways so you'd need to be specific. Fried, roast, cooked in stock for additional flavours. Chicken breast is a fairly bland and dry meat. Do you want breast specifically?

Not the reprocessed newsagent hot deli chicken but more like what you'd get in posher prepacked stuff. Realistically I basically want it it to not really taste of anything, that classic "tastes like chicken" neutrality.

Roasted two whole (bone in, skin still present) breasts checking for temperature to take them out as soon as done through and they were significantly better than what I'd normally get roasting. May end up using that method more often. Siginficantly dearer than buying normal fillets but there's more meat there so its a trade off on that as well as taste.

B0jangles

L1011 wrote: »

Not the reprocessed newsagent hot deli chicken but more like what you'd get in posher prepacked stuff. Realistically I basically want it it to not really taste of anything, that classic "tastes like chicken" neutrality.

Roasted two whole (bone in, skin still present) breasts checking for temperature to take them out as soon as done through and they were significantly better than what I'd normally get roasting. May end up using that method more often. Siginficantly dearer than buying normal fillets but there's more meat there so its a trade off on that as well as taste.

Get thee to a Supervalu! - they are selling packs of bone-in, skin-on breasts for 3.49 - I think there's three to a pack but I'm not 100% sure

Water John

Funny, most meats on the bone, come out better,

El_Duderino 09

L1011 wrote:

Not the reprocessed newsagent hot deli chicken but more like what you'd get in posher prepacked stuff. Realistically I basically want it it to not really taste of anything, that classic "tastes like chicken" neutrality.

If it's per cooked I'd say it's the flavour enhancers and additional flavours that give it that classic chicken taste. Chicken breast is fairy bland on its own. Salt will help. Anything pre packaged provably has plenty of preservatives and salt.

jsd1004

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

If it's per cooked I'd say it's the flavour enhancers and additional flavours that give it that classic chicken taste. Chicken breast is fairy bland on its own. Salt will help. Anything pre packaged provably has plenty of preservatives and salt.

Try organic chicken. Completely different product. More like duck. Its expensive but expensive for a reason. Organic chicken is both free range and organic. Regular chicken is pumped full of food and killed at 3 weeks i think. Organic have to be at least double that so a much more meaty mature meat and much more flavoursome.

RasTa

Butterfly the breasts and season the **** out of them. Hot pan and cook 2mins each side. Similar to a steak.

Most important part I find is the seasoning

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

Spanish Eyes

Fillets of any meat have little or no fat so quick cooking is the thing, but we can't do that with chicken fillets can we, so much risk of awful things happening!

I steam, or lightly poach them. If done in the oven it can be a dry stringy disaster alright.

Zelda247

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Fillets of any meat have little or no fat so quick cooking is the thing, but we can't do that with chicken fillets can we, so much risk of awful things happening!

I steam, or lightly poach them. If done in the oven it can be a dry stringy disaster alright.

How do you lightly poach?

gerrybbadd

2 tips for you.

Wash the fillets. I know there's all this furore over spreading of bacteria etc, but if you're careful, and don't splash water anywhere, this is fine. Get's rid of all that saline pumped into chicken. The results are fantastic, really moist and melt in the mouth chicken. Been doing this for years, always perfect.

On the other end of the scale, soak the breasts in a a light brine solution for a couple of hours before frying. This works especially good if you are BBQing the breasts.

The Hill Billy

I don't quite understand how applying water to the surface of the chicken will remove salt from the interior.

Also, brining the chicken is just adding a minute amount of the 'saline' that you want to wash away in the first tip.

Or am I missing something?

El_Duderino 09

gerrybbadd wrote:

Wash the fillets. I know there's all this furore over spreading of bacteria etc, but if you're careful, and don't splash water anywhere, this is fine. Get's rid of all that saline pumped into chicken. The results are fantastic, really moist and melt in the mouth chicken. Been doing this for years, always perfect.

In either case you need to dry the outside of the meat before fryin.pat it fry with paper towels. That way it's dry meat on hot oil which gives he lovely brown caramelized outside. If it's wet. It's water on hot oil which creates steam and disrupts the caramelisation.

I don't get the point if washing them but patting them dry before frying is important