Everything You Need To Know About Cooking Chicken

Cooking really tasty and juicy chicken is easier than you think, the main thing is to know a few rules. How to choose fresh chicken, what to look for and what spices are best to use?

Cooking really tasty and juicy chicken is easier than you think, the main thing is to know a few rules. How to choose fresh chicken, what to look for and what spices are best to use? About this and much more - in our "chicken" selection of life hacks, tips and rules.

1. Choose and Store Your Chicken Properly

 

When buying a chicken in a store, pay attention to its appearance, namely: smell, color, elasticity, the presence of ice crystals in the package. Based on the above criteria, you can conclude whether the chicken is fresh and stored correctly.

The chicken should be firm. If, by pressing on the meat, the hole quickly levels out, this indicates its freshness. If it levels out for a long time or does not level out at all, then this means that the chicken has been thawed many times or it is not fresh. The color of the meat should be pale pink, and the skin white. But there is a small exception, sometimes small farmers fatten the chicken with special feed, based on this, the color of the meat is more like orange, but the skin is still white. The smell should be neutral, give only raw meat. No odor or other repulsive or suspicious odors should be present. If you notice traces of ice or a thin layer of ice crystals, it is better not to buy such a chicken, it may have been re-frozen. If you bought a chicken and want to cook it soon, then you can leave the chicken in the refrigerator for no longer than 6 hours. Otherwise, remove the package of chicken and store in a clean bag in the freezer.

 

2. Everything you need to know before you start cooking chicken

 

You need to defrost the chicken gradually, naturally. First transfer from the freezer to the refrigerator, and later on the table. So she thaws correctly. It is not necessary to wash the chicken. All bacteria present on the skin will die during heat treatment. Think about what part of the chicken is right for your dish. The driest part of the chicken is the breast. It is better to stew the breast, bake in sauce, broth. If you want more juicy meat, use chicken drumsticks or just buy broiler chicken. An adult chicken with thick, oily skin is ideal for broth, so your broth will turn out rich.

 

3. Spices and marinade perfect for chicken

 

From dry spices for chicken, smoked paprika, curry, Provence salt, thyme, rosemary, fresh and dry garlic are ideal. Do you want a sweet and spicy crust? A marinade of soy sauce, honey, garlic and red pepper will perfectly reveal the taste of the chicken. A marinade of sparkling water, thyme, soy sauce and chili perfectly softens the chicken fibers and penetrates the meat.

 

4. The perfect side dish for chicken

 

For chicken, absolutely any side dish is suitable, but there are some interesting combinations that you will definitely like.

Cook chicken with prunes and honey, and serve mashed potatoes as a side dish. Sweet with sourness.

Recipe: Grate 2 chicken legs with spices and honey, leave for 10 minutes. Then fry the chicken in vegetable oil until golden brown. While the legs are fried, finely chop 1 onion and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown, put the legs on the onion pillow and pour in 1 glass of water. Simmer until the water evaporates, then add 5-6 prunes and simmer for another 15 minutes. Pour half a cup of water into the pan, bring to a boil and pass the sauce through a sieve to remove the onion. After that, add a couple of pinches of starch, simmer for another 7 minutes. Your chicken is ready! Serve with mashed potatoes as a side dish.

Cook curry chicken with red pepper, and use rice with corn and green peas for a side dish. This dish gives off Indian notes.

For cooking you need: cut 2 chicken breasts into medium-sized pieces, pour over the juice of half a lemon and leave to marinate. Also cut 1 zucchini and fry in a pan over high heat for 2-3 minutes. In the same way, fry 1 carrot with a pinch of coriander and, in another pan, half a bell pepper and 10 cherry tomatoes. Then fry the chicken in a pan until golden brown, put it in a saucepan, pour 150 milliliters of coconut milk, add salt, pepper, curry and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Serve cooked chicken with rice, corn and green peas and sauteed vegetables.

Marinate chicken in Coca-Cola and honey, add garlic croutons and roasted vegetables. This combination is ideal for men.

You need: boil 0.5 kilograms of chicken legs with the addition of black peppercorns, salt and bay leaf. Then drain the water, instead pour in 1 liter of Coca-Cola, 2 tablespoons of honey and cook for another 20-30 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 0.5 tablespoon of salt to the pan, sweat for another 5 minutes. Chicken legs are ready! If desired, you can evaporate the sauce and pour it over the chicken legs on a platter. Serve with garlic croutons and roasted vegetables.

5. Tips for Crispy and Juicy Chicken

 

Use starch. Add some starch to the marinade and it forms the perfect crust on top of the chicken. Caramelize the chicken. This can be done using a marinade based on honey, sugar, or you can directly grease the chicken with a mixture of soy sauce, garlic and honey during cooking. If you are frying chicken in a pan, the golden rule is the words "Do not touch!". Just heat the pan and put the meat in, do not touch or turn over, let the crust set and the skin fry. If you cook meat in the oven, set the temperature to medium. This will help the meat to heat up slowly and gradually, and avoid dryness inside.