Thursday, May 28, 2009

How to Cook 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.

To begin with, handle the chicken with care. Keep this chicken at a certain amount of temperature, between 40C and 600C. This then means that the chicken should be refrigerated. The temperature in the chicken is maintained to prevent the multiplication of the bacteria that is found in the chicken and many other types of meat. The chicken should be placed in salty water, with three tablespoons and four cups of water. It should stay in this water for one hour if it is not frozen and longer if it is frozen.

Close this chicken in different ways to be able to prevent it from drying up. The chicken can be covered by brushing a thick layer of marinade sauce or a thin one of cooking oil. Consequently, a foil bag can be used for covering this chicken so that it may be grilled. To ensure even cooking, pound the breast and thighs of the chicken so that they may be of the same size.

Adjust the heat of cooking in accordance to the type of cooking being undertaken. Roasting, sauting, baking, grilling as well as deep frying are dry heat methods of cooking. These methods need high temperatures to cook well but a little amount of time, like 8 to 10 minutes in grilling chicken breasts. Steaming, parchments baking, slow cooking and poaching are the moist heat types of cooking which require a longer time to be ready like 15 minutes to poach 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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