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Basic Cooking I -- Tools and Boiling a TASTEFUL Chicken
Hmm, cooked ticky seemed to be popular, LOL. Anyways, here we go.
First off, I figured I'd detail the bare minimum of utensils/pans required for most of the things I'll be posting. It's really pretty basic.
As far as utensils go, I think that's it. I'll edit this if I think of anything else.
Now then, on to basic recipe #1:
Okay, boiling chicken is the quickest, easiest, and most mess free way to make chicken. There's also very little worry about having it dry out as you cook it, so it means you don't have to worry much about underdone-ness. I do tend to cook things longer because my family has a long long fear of food poisoing (thanks, crazy grandma...for the fear, not that she ever poisoned us). However, if you've ever cooked chicken breasts at any point, you know it's very easy to get a cooked chicken that tastes....blandish and almost coppery. The copper taste coming from small amounts of blood etc in the flesh.
So tip one: to prevent a copper/bloody taste in almost any cooked meat, throw in a at least one stick of chopped celery as you bake/roast/boil. Don't ask me how or why, but the celery seems to absorb or counteract that. Plus, I think cooked celery is yummy.
Tip two, boiled chicken can still taste rather bland. Which can be masked with ketchup/sauces etc. But if you want to impress your parents into thinking you don't eat like a five year old anymore (or somehow develop an allergy to all the sauces you used to bury all foods in like moi), there's a couple of spices you can throw in that will make the chicken very flavorful. First and most important, 1 bay leaf. One is all that's needed as bay leaves are potent stuff. I don't really know if it comes crushed or what, but I recommend buying whole leaves at the spice area of your supermarket. You'll toss the leaf when the food is done anyways. Also, liberally sprinkle in a tad of basil, some oregano, a dash of salt, and pepper. Thyme is also good here. Presto, your chicken will taste very good. If you don't want to buy a lot of spices, buy some poultry seasoning to sprinkle in (this also works well for baking). Or a lot of places will have a bunch of mixed spices like 21 seasoning salute or whatever...these tend to be very overpowering or have one or two spices that some folks don't like, so I'd advise to go w/ the poultry seasoning.
So, start your water boiling (enough to cover the 1-2 chicken breasts you are cooking) in your 2 quart or whatever sauce pan. Add the chicken breasts, add the spices of your choice and the bay leaf. Make sure it's still boiling and that it won't boil over --- if it looks like it's going to boil over a lot, scoop out some water -- it's okay if the breasts aren't totally submerged, this just means you should turn the breasts (or thighs if you swing that way) once during cook).
If you have a meat thermometer, you can pull a breast out periodically to check it until it's done. If you don't want to do that, I'd boil at least thirty minutes before checking that all the pink is gone in the center of the breast -- however, lack of pink in chicken/turkey does not always indicate "doneness" so I'd err on the side of caution and boil 45 minutes-ish. I umm, don't always really check the time, but if the water evaporates away enough such that you only have an inch or so left in the pot and the breasts aren't submerged much at all, they're done. (I bet I'm really inspiring confidence here. However, I've never gotten sick off my own cooking. Just at cafeterias and restaurants).
So there you have it. Two cooked, flavorful chicken breasts ready to be eaten as is or turned into chicken salad or served w/ pasta or whatever. If you really want the easy meal, you can have tater tots or fries as a side here.
If anything there wasn't clear, just ask.
First off, I figured I'd detail the bare minimum of utensils/pans required for most of the things I'll be posting. It's really pretty basic.
- A medium to large sized sauce pan. Basically at least around 2 quarts-ish. If you do one quart, you'll have to watch for boil-overage a lot.
- Not required but very helpful (especially if you like cookies): flat pizza pan or cookie sheet. Beyond sweets and frozen pizzas, these are nice to use to bake/broil meats on (wrap meat in foil and place on cookie pan just so you don't have to worry about the rack in your oven puncturing the foil. Trust me, cleaning ovens SUCKS. This hopefully prevents that
- One skillet -- if you like stir fry, I recommend a 10-incher. If it has a wooden handle instead of plastic, that means you can put it in the oven as well.
- If your pans are non-stick, one large plastic spoon and a plastic spatula....umm you know the ones w/ the flat ends for flipping pancakes. I may be naming it wrong.
- If you want to bake from scratch (or box mixes), one mixing spatula
- At least one sharp knife for cutting vegetables, meats, etc. I don't really worry about cutting boards, I just use a regular ceramic plate. (remember, meats and plastic cutting surfaces somewhat bad as bacteria can get into the knife grooves. so if you like cutting boards, have one for meats and another one for veggies)
- a 9x9 oven pan. Good for lining with foil to broil or bake meats/veggies etc, but also essential for brownies or cakes
- at the very least, your spice cabinet should have salt, pepper, and baking soda. Salt and pepper for flavor. Baking soda for ice box smells (pour some in a paper cup and stick in your fridge) and possible grease fires, if not for baking from scratch
- If you ever intend to bake, a set of measuring cups and measuring spoons. if you want to be techincal, measuring cups are for dry ingredients only really -- they'll measure out slightly less liquid than you need, so you should also get a liquid measuring cup, ie the plastic or pyrex ones with handle that have the notched pouring edge
- if you do plan on baking from scratch, baking powder will be essential. As will vanilla extract.
As far as utensils go, I think that's it. I'll edit this if I think of anything else.
Now then, on to basic recipe #1:
Okay, boiling chicken is the quickest, easiest, and most mess free way to make chicken. There's also very little worry about having it dry out as you cook it, so it means you don't have to worry much about underdone-ness. I do tend to cook things longer because my family has a long long fear of food poisoing (thanks, crazy grandma...for the fear, not that she ever poisoned us). However, if you've ever cooked chicken breasts at any point, you know it's very easy to get a cooked chicken that tastes....blandish and almost coppery. The copper taste coming from small amounts of blood etc in the flesh.
So tip one: to prevent a copper/bloody taste in almost any cooked meat, throw in a at least one stick of chopped celery as you bake/roast/boil. Don't ask me how or why, but the celery seems to absorb or counteract that. Plus, I think cooked celery is yummy.
Tip two, boiled chicken can still taste rather bland. Which can be masked with ketchup/sauces etc. But if you want to impress your parents into thinking you don't eat like a five year old anymore (or somehow develop an allergy to all the sauces you used to bury all foods in like moi), there's a couple of spices you can throw in that will make the chicken very flavorful. First and most important, 1 bay leaf. One is all that's needed as bay leaves are potent stuff. I don't really know if it comes crushed or what, but I recommend buying whole leaves at the spice area of your supermarket. You'll toss the leaf when the food is done anyways. Also, liberally sprinkle in a tad of basil, some oregano, a dash of salt, and pepper. Thyme is also good here. Presto, your chicken will taste very good. If you don't want to buy a lot of spices, buy some poultry seasoning to sprinkle in (this also works well for baking). Or a lot of places will have a bunch of mixed spices like 21 seasoning salute or whatever...these tend to be very overpowering or have one or two spices that some folks don't like, so I'd advise to go w/ the poultry seasoning.
So, start your water boiling (enough to cover the 1-2 chicken breasts you are cooking) in your 2 quart or whatever sauce pan. Add the chicken breasts, add the spices of your choice and the bay leaf. Make sure it's still boiling and that it won't boil over --- if it looks like it's going to boil over a lot, scoop out some water -- it's okay if the breasts aren't totally submerged, this just means you should turn the breasts (or thighs if you swing that way) once during cook).
If you have a meat thermometer, you can pull a breast out periodically to check it until it's done. If you don't want to do that, I'd boil at least thirty minutes before checking that all the pink is gone in the center of the breast -- however, lack of pink in chicken/turkey does not always indicate "doneness" so I'd err on the side of caution and boil 45 minutes-ish. I umm, don't always really check the time, but if the water evaporates away enough such that you only have an inch or so left in the pot and the breasts aren't submerged much at all, they're done. (I bet I'm really inspiring confidence here. However, I've never gotten sick off my own cooking. Just at cafeterias and restaurants).
So there you have it. Two cooked, flavorful chicken breasts ready to be eaten as is or turned into chicken salad or served w/ pasta or whatever. If you really want the easy meal, you can have tater tots or fries as a side here.
If anything there wasn't clear, just ask.