Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tuesday Edition: Kitchen Tip


"Poached Chicken in Ginger and Galangal Stock" uploaded to Flickr by avlxyz 
 The Husband has a friend who used to eat "poached" chicken every night of the week.  This friend would "poach" the week's worth of chicken on Sunday night and then store it in plastic containers until the next dinnertime arrived.

I say "poach" because he essentially boiled the chicken and ate it. 

Gross.

I have never poached chicken before.  I imagine that it may be good in some recipes.  I imagine that it could save fat and calories if you are concerned with those things (which the Husband's friend was).  But I could NOT imagine eating poached (or boiled) chicken seven nights a week.  That is just too much.

If I were to poach chicken, I would probably use it in a recipe that calls for shredded chicken.  And, I would not follow the Husband's friend's recipe of chucking chicken into a boiling pot of water.  Instead, I would follow the tips from Cooking Light magazine, which I now share with you!  (This tip comes from their "Enlightened Cook" feature in the May 2011 issue, which was just after the recipe for this.)

1.  Tightly roll each chicken breast in plastic wrap.  Twist the ends in opposite directions.  This creates a mini steam bath.

2.  Simmer chicken for about 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 165F.  Turn the chicken at least once for even cooking.  The chicken can be simmered in water or broth.

3.  Allow chicken to sit, wrapped, for at least 5 minutes. Then shred.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the idea! I do boil chicken when I'm in a hurry--usually for shredding, but I often leave it on too long and overcook it. Extra chewy! Bleh.

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  2. I poached chicken once... it tasted oddly like eggs. In a bad way. Even after I turned it into chicken salad. LOL!

    Maybe I should try this way...

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