One of the things I pride myself on is my ability to cook. In fact, I’m a pretty darn good cook if I do say so myself. Where I lack in fashion sensibilities and the ability to decorate a home, I make up for in my cooking abilities.
I make a mean Tortellini with spinach walnut pesto. Just ask me.
There is one MAJORLY GLARING exception to my cooking prowess, however.
I cannot cook chicken to save my life.
Being thrifty, I often buy whole chickens or chicken thighs at the grocery store. (Which, by the way, I miss Meijer so much, it’s physically painful to even think about.) I don’t know why I keep torturing myself, though, because COME ON! I should just spend the extra money to buy the pot roast or pork tenderloin instead of causing myself immense amounts of stress related trauma due to utter inability to cook chicken.
I follow all the recipes I’ve read on the proper ways to cook chicken. I mean, I DO know how to read. NEVER is it done when it’s supposed to be done, though. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever! It’s always that pinkish gray color and when I cut into it to see on the off chance that it’s done, it’s always a bloody. And then I’m so grossed out, I pass out on the kitchen floor and start convulsing.
The first time AND LAST TIME I attempted to cook fried chicken, it was RAW with a lovely, perfectly browned crust. I was so pissed, I almost left on a jet plane to hunt Emeril down, because it was HIS cookbook’s fault that my much toiled over fried chicken was RAW.
Not only do I have trouble with chicken on a bone, I cannot cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts without making them taste like a tire.
Needless to say, this is causing me a lot of undue stress.
Am I the only one who can’t cook chicken? Will I ever learn? Am I doomed to serve RAW chicken for the remainder of my life?
I would have suggested something wrong with the oven, but it sounds like a lifelong disability. Can’t say as I have that problem. Then, again, my husband is the real cook in the family.
patois´s lastest post..Sunday Scribblings: I’m Crazy About Myself
Um, um, um… I am not cheap (not in a bad way
so I buy the flash frozen chicken breasts at Safeway. But you can also get wings and thighs and they are much cheaper! Then I fry them in the frying pan.
I usually let them thaw all the way first though.
And my meat thermometer helps me know when they are done inside. I LOVE it.
Also, I have a recipe for microwave boneless chicken that’s pretty failsafe… would you like it?
(who am I, the recipe queen lately? crazy!)
Krista´s lastest post..Ze Ballet
I’ve had trouble with chicken because of my paranoia about not getting it fully cooked and then basically ruining it by either burning it or making it nasty dry. Then I bought a digital meat thermometer (with an alarm even), and it has helped. Sometimes it is ever so slightly pink, but if I know that it is more than 165F (and every piece full of holes from neurotic testing), I call it good.
Really, though, chicken is such a small food group if you can to that tortelli thing.
Girlfriend, maybe we should get together and do a recipe swap. Cause, the only thing I CAN cook is chicken. I seem to screw up every piece of beef I touch.
I’ve got a fantastic easy way to cook boneless skinless chicken breasts that involves a microwave and no rubbery aftertaste. Email me if you’re interested!
Texan Mama´s lastest post..Gettin Scary Just Before Halloween
I can help. Pick me!
Chicken breasts. Season how you want it. Brown lightly all over in hot frypan (just until it is browned. Don’t worry about cooked through) then into a pyrex dish in the oven at 180C (sorry don’t know the F temp) for 20 mins. Delicious, cooked and moist.
Kelley´s lastest post..Seventeen
The problem with chicken is that we are taught that chicken is the scariest meat out there.
That is the reason that you can bet that any chicken I serve you will be close to the consistency of jerky. Because I would rather gross you out than make you sick from raw chicken.
So sorry, I have no suggestions for you.
Natalie´s lastest post..Just how much do you like me?
I am by no means a fantastic cooker of chicken but the two tricks I have learned are…
1. when working with bone in chicken par boil it for 10 minutes first- it gets the cooking started.
2. I use Newman’s Own Light Italian Dressing as a marinade for boneless chicken breasts- they always come out really juicy- and I tell myself since it is light it can’t be that bad for me, right?
May the chicken force be with you….
Shamalam´s lastest post..Is There Something I’m Not Telling Myself?
The only kind of chicken I make is in the crock pot – and it usually turns out okay.
Have you seen this website? http://www.home-ec101.com/ I bet you could ask over there and find some great answers for cooking chicken!
Cathy´s lastest post..Birth Order
I will tread lightly here, as the mere thought of chicken makes my pregnant digestive tract want to hurl, but no, I tend to suck at chicken. The best way for me to cook it is to season it heavily with salt and pepper, and saute with olive oil. That is the extent of it.
brittany´s lastest post..South Bound
I can cook. What I cannot do, however, is barbecue. FOR SHIT. I will burn or undercook every damned thing. Good thing men like to cook on fire or we’d never have a BBQ.
The one investment I did get that has helped me dramatically in the meat-cooking department has been a wireless meat thermometer. You put the probe into the piece of meet and then you have a little base that you can carry with you and it beeps when your chicken is done – and it presets for all kinds of meat. Kind of idiot proof.
AndreAnna´s lastest post..It’s 12:19 am
We only use chicken breasts so when I’m using the full size breasts, I make sure I am cooking a recipe that involves putting the chicken back into the pan with a sauce and simmering it for @ 20 minutes which fully cooks the bird. Otherwise, I use the chicken tenderloins (which are often less expensive per pound than the full breast) or the thin cutlets which are impossible NOT to cook fully.
Mary Beth (Cats, Books, Life is Good)´s lastest post..Booking Through Thursday – Coupling
You need to get yourself a really good, really accurate digital thermometer. I have a Polder brand digital timer/thermometer/clock that has a probe on it. I can put the probe in the chicken, put the chicken in the oven, and have the thermometer beep when it reaches the right temperature.
I’ve also had trouble with cooked-on-the-outside-pink-on-the-inside baked whole chickens. I believe the solution would be to let the chicken rest for 5 or 10 minutes post-oven, pre-table, maybe in a tent of foil, but I have yet to test this theory.
B.S.C. breasts are easy. Just put them in a frying pan with a little bit of oil/spray/butter (butter tastes best, of course, of course), and cook them over medium-high heat until the outsides are a nice color, then add some liquid (wine, juice, broth, stock, a combination of the above, etc.) and cook them, covered, over medium heat until the probe says 170 degrees at the thickest point.
That’s how I do pork chops too, incidentally.
Also, with Tyson or packaged breasts, you want to flatten them out a bit before you cook them, so that you don’t have one really thick part that gets underdone and one really thin part that gets overdone. If you unfold them and smack them around a little bit, they cook much more evenly.
One of the best and most frugal things I’ve ever done was to learn how to take a whole chicken and cut it up into pieces, and bone it and skin it myself. I’ve saved a fortune. The key is to have a very good, very sharp knife. There are lots of illustrated tutorials online. One of my favorite ways to cook chicken pieces is to grease a 13×9 pan, arrange the pieces in the pan so that the thickness of the whole is fairly uniform (I especially enjoy making the drumsticks “spoon”), sprinkling the crap out of all of it with Old Bay seasoning and garlic salt, and baking it at 350 until the breast is at 170 (I think it takes about an hour… Maybe 45 minutes).
Maybe I need to do a blog series about cooking, a la Pioneer Woman… I do seem to have a lot to say…..
Amy´s lastest post..Ways you can share photos
I have fried chicken one time – about a month after I got married. I got the grease too hot & it splattered all over my face, nearly resulting in a trip to the hospital – but the EMT we knew came over and looked me over. I have not ever tried it again.
I have a few baked recipes you might like to try if you are interested.
Anglophile Football Fanatic´s lastest post..Parental Sexism?
I have never commented here so you know I’m passionate about my chicken. I HATE cooking chicken. I always screw it up. I have one baked chicken recipe I use for drums and thighs. And then it’s anything with boiled chicken: chicken and dumplings, chicken soup, chicken and rice, etc. It’s much less stressful and I have lots of yummy homemade chicken stock. I can also use cheap cuts of meat for that. I buy fried chicken cause forget that mess. Back to lurker status!
Let me just say that I do have a digital thermometer and that it’s performance is….lacking. Perhaps I should invest in a pricey one.
Nonetheless, one of my beefs with chicken is that if the recipe says it’ll take 45 minutes, it will take 1 1/2 hours. By that point, I’ve had to feed the kids PB&J and Tate and I don’t get to eat until after the kids go to bed.
Unacceptable I say! Unacceptable!
@Alison Thank goodness! Another person who hates cooking chicken!
I agree, I don’t mind boiling chicken for soups and chicken salad. At least it gets done.
And thanks for delurking…even if it’s just once!
Don’t feel bad; I can’t cook chicken either. Or beef. Or pork. Or any meat for that matter. That would be reason #5 that I’m a vegetarian.
Burgh Baby´s lastest post..Every Time I Think I Know What to Expect
Chicken that is uncooked causes the same reaction in me.
I have found that it ALWAYS takes longer than the recipe. I cook that sucker until it’s done.
Angella´s lastest post..Guarding My Heart
Follow these steps for easy and yummy boneless chicken breasts:
Heat grill
Slather Miracle Whip on 4 boneless chicken breasts (all sides)
Sprinkle a seasoning salt (like Lawry’s) on all sides.
Grill at a medium heat for 8 min per side.
Delish.
(You can even do this with frozen chicken breasts, just increase grilling time a bit)
kj @ Where my boys at?´s lastest post..Success, people. Success!
To me any darkmeat always looks underdone…ew…so we only eat boneless skinless breast meat. More expensive but to me it tastes better and I don’t have to guess on done-ness.
My favorite way to cook chicken is to cut it up into chunks and then cover it on BBQ sauce or other marinade…sometimes I make a marinade out of Powdered Ranch (vinegar, oil and a packet or two or the powder) and bake it in a dish for 30-45 minutes (on 350). Being in smaller pieces it doesn’t take as long to cook and the flavor gets in the meat better and I don’t have to take the time to cut it up for Babyhead to eat too.
I don’t make fried chicken, but I do make fried pork chops on occasion…if you decide to try it my way, let me know how it goes!
Sandy´s lastest post..It’s that time of year again!
It took me a long time to even tackle cooking chicken. I’m still a little paranoid that I may accidentally poison my entire family so usually my chicken is a little over cooked. Except for my famous chicken.
All you do is take some chicken legs and chicken thighs (with the skin on) rinse them under water, cover them in salt, pepper, garlic powder and flower. Set them in a roasting pan with a thin layer of water on the bottom. Cover and put in the oven at 325 for 2 hours. The last twenty-thirty minutes turn the oven up to 425 and take the cover off. The skin will get real crispy and brown. It is the best chicken ever and the least messy too. My husband (and kids too) love it so much he says he likes it better than the turkey at Thanksgiving!
Kat´s lastest post..Birthday Blessings
I have this problem with pork, for some reason. When I cook chicken, I try to use marinated, so it’s more moist, and/or a thin piece, like tenderloins or thin sliced breasts. (Thick breasts have to be pounded thinner.) When I do a roaster, I do the kind where the plastic thingie pops up.
I also saute the smaller pieces (even thighs). I’m better in a pan than in the oven.
Sue @ My Party of 6´s lastest post..Rain, rain, go away
Hmmmm, is your cooking oil too hot and that’s why it’s brown on the outside and not done in the middle? Frying is tricky b/c if the oil is too low, you get greasy chicken. If it’s too high, you get raw chicken.
Let’s just get Col. Sanders to cook it!
Heather, Queen of Shake Shake´s lastest post..So I lied. This IS a monarchy
When you fries them, your grease was too hot.
Easy chicken recipe? Make the world’s best chicken tacos. Take frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts and put them in the crock pot. Enough for your family plus one extra. Add a package of taco seasoning. Cook until the chicken shreds. That’s it! I swear to you it will be great and your kids WILL EAT IT! Wrap it in a tortilla, or put it on a baked potato with a little cheddar cheese. Seriously easy and the yummiest thing you can make.
the Mom´s lastest post..We Are in Trouble
We Jews love us some chicken. Not right now, for this one, because it makes me puke if I eat it while I’m pregnant (I can look, but not eat), but I have had many poultry travesties served at many Shabbat meals. But roasting a whole chicken is easy, and a quick road to building your chicken-cooking confidence.
Turn on your oven as hot as it goes or to 500. Take a whole chicken and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Put it in an aluminum pan (one less dish to wash) and cook it for an hour. you will get crispy skin, and fully cooked meat, and if you’re really feeling ambitious, you can make chicken gravy with what’s on the bottom of the pan. yummy.
Rabbi’s Wife´s lastest post..Can’t you just get a Rabbi to bless this?
I am esp worried about cooking whole chickens! But I found a real simple recipe on epicurious that has you turn the oven real high, like 450, and when the bird’s done, it’s crispy good on the outside and done on the inside. I should do that again now that I think about it…..
A whole chicken I can do. Super easy. Just put the whole thing in the crock pot. Stuff it w/ some veggies if you’re feeling adventurous. Leave it all day. The meat is cooked and tastes great. THEN I take the cooked meat and make all sorts of things, enchiladas, casseroles, etc.
Chicken breasts don’t usually come out for me, unless I pound them down so they’re thin and even. Then I usually just make chicken parm w/ them.
Lori´s lastest post..Making a Great First Impression
Two words, Babe: Crock Pot.
Or is it one word? Crockpot?
Anyway, get yourself on of these, throw the raw chicken in there (it can even be frozen) with some spices you like (I am fond of garlic, white wine, and lemon slices.) and cook it all day. Set it up after breakfast and it will be done when it is time for dinner. It will be delicious and moist and you will have cooked chicken.
Misty´s lastest post..Camp Idontwanna
That’s funny, cause chicken is the ONLY thing I CAN cook!
Anyway, the key to chicken is to not cook it too fast. It’s better to keep the over at a lower temp for longer.
Better yet, try chicken in the crockpot. I usually dump in some seasonings, boneless chicken (either breasts or thighs) some chicken broth and a bag or frozen stew veggies. Then walk away.
In 6 hours or so it’s done!
My mom goes the other way with chicken…she can’t avoid burning it to save her life. When she cooks it, it’s rubber. She has an aversion to any meats with remote pink flesh, so she compensates by turning them into bricks. It’s a good family joke.
Here’s the ass-vice though (not that you asked for it, but then that’s the definition of ass-vice isn’t it?)
We cook mainly with chicken breasts unless it’s a whole chicken. They seem to be more forgiving, and I’m too lazy to deal with bones. Try pounding the snot out of a raw chicken breast, so it’s super thin. It will cook faster. Also, when the chicken comes out of the oven (or pan) and you cut it to make sure it’s not raw, cover it with foil, and let it rest. This will lock in the jucies and help avoid my mom’s rubber chicken.
Ass-vice end.
Angel´s lastest post..Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
Frying whole chicken breasts is much, much harder than anyone lets on, Emeril included. Tried and true: pound the boneless breasts flat, lightly flour, saute in equal parts oil and butter. Always works for me.
Laurin of Laurin and Kelly Talk´s lastest post..Walk this way
I’m pretty good at chicken. I like to marinade my breasts in olive oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar. You can do it for as little as an hour. Then season with salt and pepper and grill.
You have to try this recipe…it is awesome AND easy.I promise!
http://talesfromthefridge.blogspot.com/2008/04/broiled-chicken-and-artichokes.html
Connie @ Young & Relentless´s lastest post..Christmas in October
c-r-o-c-k-p-o-t. If you don’t already have one (assuming not), go buy one. Go now.
I happen to have been blessed by the chicken cooking gods…but, a crockpot is seriously a no-fail method of cooking chicken. 3 easy recipes I swear by…all are cooked on low, for 8 hours (get a crockpot with a warming feature, so when the cook time is done, the food will stay warm until you’re ready for dinner):
1. Chicken breasts (fresh or frozen, both work just fine–as many as you need for your family), 2 cans cream of chicken soup (or mix it up with another cream soup you like), 1 packet of dried onion soup mix. Dump in crockpot. OPTIONAL: 1 hour before it’s finished, dump in 1 cup of sour cream. Either way, the chicken will be moist and delicious! (I serve with broccoli & brown rice, yum!)
2. Chicken breasts again (fresh or frozen, yes)–1/3 cup of water, 1 packet of Italian dressing mix. Seriously, that’s it! Very yummy with that wild & brown rice medley Trader Joe’s has…and actually, very nice with a dollop of hummus, as well! Also, for leftovers (I make enough of this sometimes for the week, then get creative), verrryy tasty with the chicken, hummus & rice–in a pita (or flatbread), with 1/2 an avocado!
3. 1 whole chicken (make sure it will fit in your crockpot, obv!)–add 1/3 cup of water, and EITHER: mix dried sage & softened butter together, spread over chicken & under the skin –OR– just sprinkle generously with herbs de provence. OPTIONAL WITH BOTH: add slits to the chicken with a sharp knife, and slide garlic cloves in–I usually do 8-10 cloves. Baste at least once (about an hour before it’s done), and VOILA–a tasty roasted chicken your whole family will enjoy–and that will probably yield leftovers for at least one more meal!
Enjoy!
I’ll make your chicken, and you make my beef, and we’ll call it a night. Because I do NOT know how to cook MEAT.
I suggest a book called All About Braising. Braising is the only way I cook bone in chicken. A bit of broth, some flavor enhancement and a long slow cook time. very hard to undercook, impossible to dry out.
Stacey´s lastest post..A nice weekend
You are so damn cute. (I have issues with cookies and pie dough. Sigh)
Go to the store. Buy a good MEAT THERMOMETER.
Look up the safe temp for chicken.
You’ll never undercook again AND you won’t have to slice open bloody chicken.
It’s a life saver.
Loralee´s lastest post..I need another television show to watch like a hole in the head and yet, I just can’t help myself.
Ok so I should have read the comments. Heh.
Go buy a GOOD one. My first two sucked but I went and got a great one and it was night and day difference.
Loralee´s lastest post..I need another television show to watch like a hole in the head and yet, I just can’t help myself.
I just learned how to make fantastic skillet chicken….and it ends up being super moist. Chicken stock is my new best friend….I use it to make the best gravy to cook your chicken in!
I went to Meijer today. They send their love and kisses.
Shelly´s lastest post..Scenes from the past week
Huh – I think chicken is the one thing I *can* cook!
Colleen – Mommy Always Wins´s lastest post..These are a few of my favorite things GIVEAWAY!
I think you should stick to cooking with Tequila… The good stuff. Let the chicken go cluck it’s self.
Heidi´s lastest post..Is it cold down there?
@Heidi
“Let the chicken go cluck it’s self”
THIS is why we’re friends in real life!
HA!
I stopped buying chicken breasts because it’s always so dry. I now only use chicken thighs. They cook in less time than breasts do, but they are delicious.
Try using a temp. probe to check the heat of your chicken as it cooks in the oven. That’ll help you from over cooking it!
HAHAHA!!!!! I was just reading all the great recipes when I reread mine. I wrote flower instead of flour. HAHAHA!!!
What a goober.
Kat´s lastest post..Birthday Blessings
Sorry, can’t help. Half of my family is vegetarian, so I don’t have to cook too much chicken, and I’m bad at it, too. They do eat a lot of tofu, so if you ever need a recipe for baked tofu sticks, I’m your gal.
Donna´s lastest post..Shay’s Soccer Tournament
I agree with the first commenters I read regarding an electronic meat thermometer. I insert the probe (heehee) and set the temp I want and it beeps when it’s reached. It’s saved many a meal in my kitchen.
all things BD´s lastest post..Musings From the Road
Try putting thawed chicken breasts, or preboiled chicken breast in a covered dish with golden mushroom soup, can of button mushrooms and cut onions then cook at 350 intil done-45 minutes or so.
I have best luck with frozen bags of chick breasts from wal-mart. Great price, best pieces-from what I have found. Good luck!!
Raw chicked totally grosses me out, so I never cook it. My family is destined to die of heart disease because all they ever eat is red meat!
Jenny Henny´s lastest post..Guru For Hire
I have been known to serve raw meat to my husband so I’m of no help to you.
p.s. I’m totally checking out that spinach walnut pesto recipe! YUM!
Jamie´s lastest post..Treats For My Peeps
Here’s a standby in the Slacker house:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Dijon-Chicken-Breasts-143
You poach the chicken, which makes it harder to dry it out. Also, it’s pretty healthy to boot!
Also, I bought these “thermometers” at Target a while ago…there’s one for chicken, one for fish, one for steak, etc. You stick it in your meat and pull it out. If the tip is red, you know it’s done.
It’s been such a lifesaver knowing that I don’t have to cut open something to check for doneness and it’s much faster than a regular thermometer.
Slacker Mama´s lastest post..weekend of festivities