This isn't so much a recipe (although I included mine down below) as a tip.I have so much trouble finding high quality meat (especially boneless) that comes out nice and tender. My solution is to boil a whole chicken, use the meat for a variety of purposes, and use the broth to make soup. It's economical, convenient, and the kitchen smells wonderful while it's cooking! The meat turns out tender and flavorful every time.
Some dishes requiring cooked chicken:
-pizza topping/calzone filling
-pot-pie
-hot or cold sandwiches
-chicken salad
-quesadillas, enchiladas, and other "Mexican" dishes
-chicken fried rice
-casseroles
-etc.!
Ingredients for boiled chicken:
-whole chicken, rinsed and placed in a large pot in cold water
-chopped onions, celery, carrots
-salt and pepper to taste, herbs as desired
Directions:
1) Place chicken, vegetables, and spices in cold water and heat on high.
2) Heat until bubbles are just starting to form; cover and reduce heat to low.
3) Simmer until starting to fall off the bone (about 90 min).
4) Remove chicken from pot and let cool until hot enough to handle; remove meat and use bones to make soup, if desired.
5) Decide how much of the meat you are going to use and put the rest in the freezer.
6) Broth can also be frozen.
Ooh! This is good to know, as my roommate and I only ever buy chicken breasts and thaw as needed. Plus, I can have chicken broth for making pot pie! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited - you started a cooking blog! yay! Mine is sadly being neglected except for every few weeks.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading!
No problem, Jessica! I've been "fed up" with chicken breasts recently and this was a welcome alternative.
ReplyDeleteAbbie, I'm doing "no frills" for now to keep it less time-consuming, but I REALLY like the design of yours. I hope you will keep updating.
I haven't done this in forever and was inspired to cook a whole chicken, thanks for the reminder. I did get the advice from my pregnancy tips that rinsing raw meat or poultry isn't that helpful, it won't rinse off all the bacteria and it just spreads it around your sink and counter.
ReplyDeleteFor me it's more of a "debris" reducer than something that helps with microbes. If I am going to use the broth later I try to make sure there aren't any stray feathers or anything, as they don't always do a good job cleaning them at the store. But for boneless meat and such it probably isn't necessary.
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