Tell Us Your Chicken Cooking Secrets
Hello, and welcome toWhat’s Cooking? , a weekly open thread where you can share all your brilliant thoughts, tips, recipes and opinions on anything edible. This week I want to focus on the workhorse protein (poultry?) Kitchen: the humble chicken.
Chicken is not the most interesting animal to eat. He’s not as rich as a duck. It’s not as decadent as the steak. It’s nowhere near as sexy as mutton. However, it is ubiquitous, inexpensive and, if well prepared, quite tasty. The audience also likes it. Except for vegetarians, I have met exactly one person in my life who did not eat chicken, and that person was my grandmother. (Oddly enough, her entire kitchen and much of the rest of the house is adorned with chicken utensils. I tried counting once and refused somewhere around 150 chickens.)
Anyway. In my opinion, the weaknesses of the chicken are its strengths. Of course, he doesn’t have an assertive personality, but this passivity means that he gets along with almost everyone and can match with tastes from all over the world. It’s cheap, versatile, and pretty easy to make, and I want to talk about how to get you to lick your fingers well. Some topics for discussion:
- How to achieve the perfect roast chicken? Do you put it in cast iron or do you use a brazier? You are crazy? How to make your skin beautiful and crispy? What does your herb blend look like?
- What’s your favorite part of the bird? The correct answer is hips.
- What are you doing with chicken breast? I like to push them, season them, roll them in a little flour and let them fry a little.
- What do you add to chicken broth besides the carcass? I usually keep onions, carrots, garlic and, of course, bay leaves in the freezer. Oh, and I’m cooking this in my instant solution because this thing will get you there quickly.
- Marinades: Do you use them? I have a friend who pickles chicken drumsticks in a margarita mixture. It’s not bad.
- Who cooked the best fried chicken you have ever had? My stepmother owns fried chicken, but there is a gas station in Aberdeen, Mississippi that used to kill her in the fried chicken and jojo section.
- How do you improvise ? Do you grill, fry or bake them? What about the sauce? Most important: blue cheese or ranch?
- What’s your favorite carbohydrate when combined with poultry? Waffles? Cookies? Dumplings? I like all of them.
- How do you like to use leftover fried chicken? I either add minced meat to cold sesame noodles or make chicken salad. Both are great summer lunch options.
Obviously, if you have anything else to share, don’t be a chicken; no tip – too poultry for this discussion.