Chicken

[lippy]

It's been said many times that chicken is great if one is dieting and/or looking for protein. I'm a complete moron when it comes to food prep and even screw up cooking a chicken breast on my Foreman (not cooking it all the way through). Lets hear how you guys cook chicken.

Here are some questions you could answer, or just add whatever;

What are the best ways of preparing it?
How does one boil a chicken breast and still have something that isn't disgusting to consume?
What are your favorite marinade recipies + preparation?
What is the best way of cooking/storing a few breasts of chicken to eat over the course of a week?
What is the best way to defrost and cook a frozen chicken breast?

I think this thread should strive to give easy answers.

[kyleb]

I love chicken.

What are the best ways of preparing it?

Grilled (I use my George Foreman often) is great, sauteed with some light olive oil or non-stick spray is good too. Fried of course is delicious, but not so good for you.

What are your favorite marinade recipies + preparation?

Small pieces with italian dressing + salt/pepper left to marinade overnight with some small red potatoes and carrot sticks thrown in there as well. Grill for dinner next day.

What is the best way of cooking/storing a few breasts of chicken to eat over the course of a week?

The above recipe is not bad if you do a lot of it, then throw it in the fridge with in sealed Tupperware.

What is the best way to defrost and cook a frozen chicken breast?

Let it sit in the fridge until it thaws, then cook it. Not very fast, but it is the most safe. Otherwise, I guess you could use the nuke.

[LuckOfTheDraw]

I love chicken. I prefer boneless skinless chicken breasts. They can be expensive, but boning and skinning chicken breasts on your own isn't so bad with a little practice if you can't find a good deal. I recommend using latex gloves, if you're like me, and hate the feeling of chicken fat on your fingers.

Easiest way for me to cook chicken is to pan cook it with a little olive oil. Use medium high heat and keep it covered. All you really need to season is salt and pepper, but I often use a spice rub. I don't know the exact proportions, but it contains: paprika, Gebhardt's chili powder, serano chili flakes, cayenne pepper powder, garlic powder, onion powder, dried cilantro leaves, dried mexican oregano, salt, and pepper. You can mix around with your own stuff until yo ufind something you like. As a matter of fact, the next time I make up a batch, I'm going to keep track of exactly how much of each I put into the rub, so I can fine tune it. I usually mix up about a half cup at a time, and it lasts a while. The rub tastes excellent on BBQ chicken as well.

Defrosting chicken is quick under cold running water.

[theblackkeys]

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What are your favorite marinade recipies + preparation?
Honey, EV Olive Oil, Crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Just look on the internet.

Cut it up beforehand so it cooks more evenly. BTW raw chicken is disgusting, make sure none of that raw juice gets on anything you eat.

What is the best way to defrost and cook a frozen chicken breast?
Running it under COLD water works pretty well.


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[chisness]

I'm in college and get a rotisserie or two for the week. Without real cooking options aside from a microwave, this is a good deal. I really really love the Jewel lightly seasoned flavor. This is really the fastest and easiest way to eat chicken, but of course not very exciting or flavorful.

[Assani Fisher]

easy meal:

Buy the healthiest cooking oil you can, some brown rice, chicken breast, and a good sauce(teriyaki or general sao or anything else you like).

Make rice, Cook chicken on stove top, mix together with sauce.

You can even make it early in the day and snack on it througout.

[Rick Nebiolo]

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How does one boil a chicken breast and still have something that isn't disgusting to consume?

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I live more or less alone and eat most of my food at the LA card clubs where I can choose healthy, tasty comped meals in most venues. But I still need occasional meals at home and try to avoid the fast food phalanx right outside my home. I also go on periods of very low carb when I need to lose weight and generally stay away from excess refined carbs to maintain weight.

For the last few months I've been buying fresh, boneless, skinless, chicken breasts on sale for about $2 a pound. I can saute but the best thing I've done is learn to make decent chicken soup using about ten pounds of white meat! Throwing $20 of white meat chicken into soup may sound nuts (or at least counter-intuitive) but its about the best tasting, healthy, good "bang for the buck" and low hassle cooking I've ever done.

You end up with countless bowls of soup with veggies, clean broth, and half a pound or so of white meat chicken per serving. I eat some right after cooking. I immediately freeze two to four half gallon or so containers. I refrigerate some for eating over the next few days. It's essentially a complete very low carb, low fat, high protein meal.

The key when cooking is to fill the pot about 1/3 of the way up with cold water and add a couple cans of chicken broth (boneless skinless white meat won't make broth on its own). The Trader Joe's soft packaged broth works well if you can get it. Rinse the chicken, cut away any visible fat and add it to the cold water (according to an online cookbook starting with cold water is important to keep it tender). Now turn on the heat.

Chop your vegetables. Big chunks (less work) is probably best for soup. Right now I'm simply using onions, celery and carrots (unless I'm on super low carb, then I ditch the carrots). I'll be experimenting with some other veggies in the future (Asian veggies, maybe cabbage).

Before the water comes to a boil add the vegetables. Now watch the pot a bit and turn down the heat just as it reaches a boil leaving it at a very slow rolling boil. A full boil will toughen the meat. Add spices (I simply use mixed Italian seasoning and pepper). Generally it will take about 35 minutes to cook but test a large piece first. You don't have to overcook chicken as it will cook a bit more after you turn off the heat.

After it cools down a bit I remove the chicken breasts with tongs and cut them into big chunks. There's something about chicken soup with big chucks of white meat and veggies I like. Making it this way blows away anything you will find in a can.

The big thing is that it stores and reheats very well so all the work covers many meals. Keep in mind this is in beta; a good cook could refine the recipe.

The breakthrough was the idea of putting ten pounds of boneless breast chicken meat into a pot even though I'm cooking mostly for myself. Once I get it down better I'll probably buy an even bigger pot and more Tupperware.

Hope this helps.

~ Rick

PS Keep in mind I'm elderly for 2+2 (53) so chicken soup is the direction I'm headed. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Rootabager]

To make it ultra tender I think my mom boils it before she grills it or something like that. It makes it so tender and taste so good.

[Rick Nebiolo]

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To make it ultra tender I think my mom boils it before she grills it or something like that. It makes it so tender and taste so good.

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Like I said my giant chicken soup is in beta. If you get a chance ask her if I'm correct about starting in cold water and leaving it at a very slow rolling boil.

I also heard that frozen breasts aren't good for soup. But since you need fresh veggies anyway starting with fresh meat is the way to go.

~ Rick

[Rootabager]

I think that is right. Ill call her when she gets off work. But I am pretty sure that's what it is.

[Mrs. Utah]

Tiger Sauce is really good on chicken and really easy, just baste it on as you are grilling. If you are sauteeing or baking, add some sauce toward the end of your cooking. It has a pretty good bite and is good with rice.

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5833/20040210tigersauce1ih5.jpg



Its moderately spicy a cayenne pepper base. With a touch of sweet and sour.

Nutrition Facts


Serving Size: 1 Tsp (6g)

Calories 10
Total Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 140mg
Total Carb. 2g
Sugars 2g
Protein 0g


One more thing, I think that brown rice can be boring and bland but is much tastier if cooked in chicken stock vs water. The stock gives it more flavor.

[Huh?]

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I think that is right. Ill call her when she gets off work. But I am pretty sure that's what it is.

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get yr mom's recipe for us...it sounds good.

[lippy]

How did this thread die? It is superbly important to this particlar forum.

How about Crock Pots... what are your guy's favorite recipes?

[GooseHinson]

I've always just liked my chicken breasts seasoned with steak spice, grilled and doused in BBQ sauce. Simple and not too messy.

[guids]

BBQ chicken, tommorow Im smoking a whole chicken on a beer can, some chicken breasts w/ skin, and maybe wings. I usually bbq either sat/sundays, enough to last me a whole week so all I gotta do is dump a can of spinach in a tupperware, microwave it, and pull out a chicken breast. the bbq thread in ElD's forum has a bunch of good recipes' and as long as you dont go nuts with tbe bbq sauce, you dont chance the nutritional value much.

[Thremp]

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Btommorow Im smoking a whole chicken on a beer can

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Explain

[guids]

[ QUOTE ]
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Btommorow Im smoking a whole chicken on a beer can

[/ QUOTE ]

Explain

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weber smoky mountain smoker - my new favorite thing in the world.


get a beer can and a whole chicken put a dry rub on teh chicken, drink half the beer, put a bunch of spices in the can, shove the can into the chicken cavity, smoke at 225 for 3 to 4 hours, dump a little honey while cooking on the chicken, crisp on the gas grill so the skin is crispy. Carve up/rip apart.

best thing abotu the smoker is once you know how to control the temp, it takes about 20 minutes of actual work to cook a weeks worth of beef and chicken that you look forward to eating.