Have you ever tried to cook a chicken meal?
It takes lot of patience, skill and many failed attempts before you are able to prepare a perfect chicken meal. Some handy tips from experts can help to reduce the number of attempts you take while getting a delicious and mouth watering success at a chicken dish.
There are plenty of selections in preparing a chicken meal. You can stir-fry, pan-fry, grill, or even bake a chicken. Let’s have a closer look at these chicken cooking techniques, and check out which among these techniques suits you best.
Table of Contents
Stir-Frying
Chicken breasts are most popular for stir-fry cooking. It is a popular Chinese cooking technique where the ingredients, including chickens, are cut mostly into cubes. They have been known as both healthy and appealing because of the vegetables, meats, and other contents making calories kept at a reasonable level.
Pan Frying
Pan-frying is the most convenient cooking method and is known for less usage of cooking oils. This basically is the method where pans are just lubricated with oil and in cases where you are cooking bacon, there is no need to put some oil since fats from the bacon will generate oil itself.
Grilling
Chicken barbeque has become one of the most loved foods by everyone. Chicken breasts have become most popular when it comes to grills and barbecue since it is tasty and juicy.
Baking
A baked chicken has become a popular homemade meal nowadays aside from the roasted ones you see in stores. Although baking chickens require more time cooking, it has been known to have an evenly cooked meal.
Whatever cooking method you want to choose in cooking chickens, you are guaranteed to get more protein since chickens are high in protein. The complexities of cooking chickens vary depending on the parts you are cooking.
How long does it take to bake a chicken?
Before thinking of what method to use in cooking chicken, you need to take an extra mile of care. This is because chickens are known to be prone to salmonella, a foodborne bacterium that has been the cause of most illnesses around the world.
Food experts believe that baking chicken at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes maximum will kill salmonella and make chicken a freshly baked meal. However, depending on the chicken part you are going to cook, roasting it will vary in size and weight.
Chickens are prone to contamination. Don’t just rely on the looks of the chicken, since pink meat doesn’t mean it is undercooked. In a similar way, white meat also doesn’t mean that a bacterium has been killed. Food contamination has become a serious problem for many individuals today. That is why it is very significant to make sure the meat you are cooking is cleaned well.
Baked chickens are not just tasty and delicious; it has been proven and defined as a healthy meal compared to deep frying and stir-frying. However, baking chickens need exact time in cooking otherwise, you will end up having a dry and chewy chicken meal.
What oven temperature is recommended in baking chicken?
As said earlier, food experts recommend baking chickens at 350°F since it is the recommended cooking temperature. However, if you want to achieve a juicy chicken meal, try baking it for 400°F with lesser cooking time.
The baking time of a chicken meal varies depending on which chicken part is being cooked. In fact, there is a standard cooking chart that needs to be followed. Although cooking methods will depend on the chef itself, there is always a rule of the thumb that needs to be followed and most food experts have adapted to it.
The only turning point when it comes to baking any meal is the fact that you need to spare a little time to preheat your oven, otherwise you will end up having a mess in baking your favorite chicken meal.
Whole chicken and chicken parts have different methods of cooking. A baking whole chicken will take much time compared to baking it in parts. Moreover, it is very significant to take note that baking time and temperatures should be considered to have a juicy chicken meal.
What to do when the chicken meal is done cooking or baking?
It has always been the nature of everyone to eat their favorite dishes while it is still hot. However, it is best to know that when chickens are baked, the safest temperature to remove it from the oven is 160°F to 165°F since most oven temperatures rise when resting. If you do not have an oven thermometer, you can still determine it by carefully looking at the juices coming out of the chicken itself.
Chicken juice will flow perfectly when the meat is already done cooking or baking. Whenever you see something red or pinkish, it is one indication that the meat is still undercooked and needs extra time to be perfectly done.
Why is it essential to preheat the oven before baking chickens?
Most bakers are not patient enough when it comes to preheating the oven. Most standard recipes including cakes and other meals require preheating the oven. This is simply because a preheated oven produces a quality meal for some recipes. Although it doesn’t make a difference to other dishes when ovens are not preheated, make it a practice to preheat your oven to have the best result.
If you do not preheat your oven, the temperature will be not enough and the result may be a heavy, undercooked disaster; thus, is just a waste of your hard-earned money.
If you want to achieve good recipes, make sure you follow all the necessary preheating procedures and the exact time before you put in the food to start baking. This is the safest thing you can do to save a lot of money and don’t waste it for a mess.
Read these also –
