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Ways To Cook Chicken Breast Meat
By Lynnette Lo | June 10, 2009
When cooking chicken breast meat, it is always a task to ensure the meat ends up tender, soft, succulent, juicy and delicious. Chicken breast meat is probably the toughest part of the chicken and not as tender as the drumstick and yet, it is the healthiest as it has the least fat and is mostly lean meat once you remove the skin. The trick to cooking chicken breast meat is in the marinade and the cooking technique.
Say, you have a family recipe for chicken recipe but you are trying it out for the first time. However, you left it on the stove for too long and your chicken ended up practically dry and stringy. There was nothing wrong with the recipe but the duration of the cooking time. Chicken breast meat must not be overcooked or else it will dry out and neither should it be uncooked or else it’d be too raw for anyone’s taste!
Whether you want to bake the breast meat, roast it, stir fry it or deep fry it, the marinade for the meat is also quite important as it could serve to tenderize it and give it flavours. Many would resort to the commercial bottled tenderizer, most often used for steaks, to rub it on the chicken to soften the meat. However, the more natural way is to use apple juice and marinade the chicken meat overnight in the juice. It will tenderize the chicken and at the same time give it a nice gentle apple flavour.
Now, if you are thinking of deep-frying the chicken for some crunchy chicken fingers, you could also choose to use buttermilk as marinade. Buttermilk is also another natural tenderizer. Next, we talk about how you cook the chicken. When you are grilling it or baking it in the oven, remember to keep the temperature at moderate and set the cooking time to shorter periods. All you need to do is to pop the chicken in and set it at maybe, 15 minutes cooking time and then check on it. If it is cooked by then, remove from the oven. The cooking time varies according to the size and amount of chicken you are cooking.
Now, if you plan to try you hand at stir-fried chicken, it is always best to slice the chicken meat into small, thin pieces so that the meat cooks easily and thoroughly. It will also save you time and spare you from overcooking it. A stir fry chicken recipe I can share with you is ‘Stir-Fried Mushrooms Chicken’. First, you season the chicken with some soy sauce and pepper. Then, you sautee some garlic till fragrant. Add sliced brown mushrooms and stir-fry for about a minute or so. Then you throw in the chicken pieces and stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Make sure the heat is maintained at medium low. Once the juices run clear, the chicken is cooked and you can remove from heat immediately.
Although the chicken breast meat could prove to be a challenge to cook, it is low in fat, packed with proteins and is great for lunch and dinner. It suits those on a diet and those watching their weight very well and that’s not all, it is pretty versatile. Chicken breast meat can be cooked any way you like and as long as it is done correctly, it will be tasty, healthy and best of all, low in fat!
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