Baked Chicken Recipes
While there are numerous baked chicken recipes out there, the more important topic concerning this bird is keeping that chicken moist.
Far too many home chefs cook a piece of chicken until it is bone dry. Not only will this produce a lack of interest in the meal you are making, but it will also ensure that your family does not request this dish again. Rather than overcook your chicken, consider a few top secret techniques that some of the best chefs on the planet use nearly every day. Once you have tried these tips, you will never have a problem creating moist baked chicken recipes again.
Let’s face it, cooking chicken does not require mathematical precision. What it does require is a bit of knowledge about the bird itself. Do you want to know the secret behind all of those moist chicken meals? It’s called brining. Brine your chicken prior to cooking it and you will never produce a dry bird. To create brine, mix ½ cup of kosher salt with one gallon of water, then add ½ cup of sugar. Allow your chicken to soak in the brine for three hours. If you like, you can also add spices to this mixture, but be very careful regarding the amount of salt that you use.
Why brine? As the chicken sits inside of the brining liquid, it will absorb the moisture from the salt and water. When you go to cook the meat, the moisture will stay inside of the chicken preventing it from drying out. This method can be used with turkey as well (remember all of those dry Thanksgiving meals? Well, it will never happen again!). Now that you know how to retain moisture, you can begin to make some of those great baked chicken recipes. For the most part, slow roasting a whole bird is the best way to keep all of that taste intact.
Now, let’s talk temperature for a moment. The USDA wants all home chefs to cook their chicken until that thermometer reads 170 F. However, most cooks tend to pull their birds out of the oven around 160 degrees keeping in mind that the bird will continue to cook when it is removed from the oven. You can expect your meat to climb another fifteen degrees once it has been removed, so keep this in mind.
You can make all of the baked chicken recipes on the planet, but none of them will turn out moist unless you remember to brine ahead of time.