Hi Kitten and all,
I'm going to ask for help with salvage of last night's overdone chicken.
My dear husband usually does not like chicken breast. "might as well eat shoe leather" etc. (I admit I am challenged in cooking and especially lately.)
Notable exception: Kitten all recipes of yours have been delicious.
But yesterday I had some (bone in) and no thighs and thought if I tried Alton Brown's recipe for 40 cloves of garlic and a chicken we might both be happy.
I'm not happy. He would not be happy if I had served it. Instead we had some leftovers for dinner.
Any suggestions for salvage...it is dry with all the juices in the bottom of the pan.
Also with all that garlic you might think it would taste garlicy, but no, it tastes like thyme! (2 tsp of dried instead of 10 sprigs of fresh.)
Do you have suggestions for salvage and big picture----how to cook chicken breasts that are moist and tasty?
First time here...asking for help
Moderator: Admin-RZ
Re: First time here...asking for help
There are tons of things to do with cooked chicken.
Enchiladas, soups, chowder, chicken and dumplings, chicken and noodles, the list goes on.
For the best chicken you should use an instant read thermometer stuck into the deepest part of the meat. For chicken, cook it to about 160F and pull it out and let the temp rise another 5 degrees to 165. If doing a visual, the juices should run clear. But the problem with that is that if you cut in to see the juice, the heat will drive off the juices.
Instant read thermometers are quite cheap and really a godsend when it comes to checking roasts and chicken.
Enchiladas, soups, chowder, chicken and dumplings, chicken and noodles, the list goes on.
For the best chicken you should use an instant read thermometer stuck into the deepest part of the meat. For chicken, cook it to about 160F and pull it out and let the temp rise another 5 degrees to 165. If doing a visual, the juices should run clear. But the problem with that is that if you cut in to see the juice, the heat will drive off the juices.
Instant read thermometers are quite cheap and really a godsend when it comes to checking roasts and chicken.
Re: First time here...asking for help
As for "salvage" of the dried out chicken you already have.....I can think of only two things. Shred it and serve with some type of sauce, i.e., BBQ, or another thick sauce. You could also shred it and use it in soup. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options left once chicken has dried out.grammipo wrote:Hi Kitten and all,
I'm not happy. He would not be happy if I had served it. Instead we had some leftovers for dinner.
Any suggestions for salvage...it is dry with all the juices in the bottom of the pan.
Kitten is around from time to time, but she is generally kind of absorbed in a lot of administrative type stuff. I'm sure she'll be glad to hear from you.
The price one pays for being famous ;)
Re: First time here...asking for help
I feel your pain, grammipo. The lost time to shop, prepare, and cook absolutely anything is more than aggravating when the end result is a meal nobody wants to eat. 
To keep it simple, just coat two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts in a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper them, and roast on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch the melted chicken fat and juices). Try a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes and then check that newly purchased instant read thermometer. If it reads 160 degrees, you can take them out and let them rest while the temperature rises 5-10 degrees. (Alton's recipe starts the chicken by browning it before cooking it for another hour and a half. No wonder it was dry.)
Since some breasts are small and others are large, that thermometer is really important while you are learning what works in your oven. Eat them right from the oven, or cool, bone, and remove the skin for a simple chicken salad or other recipe that calls for cooked or poached chicken.
To salvage your Alton Brown chicken, you might heat a jar of Alfredo sauce with sliced zucchini (or another green vegetable) until it is tender, then add small pieces of chicken to warm them up (you surely don't want to cook them any more) and serve over rice or pasta with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
And welcome to Zazz!
To keep it simple, just coat two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts in a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper them, and roast on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch the melted chicken fat and juices). Try a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes and then check that newly purchased instant read thermometer. If it reads 160 degrees, you can take them out and let them rest while the temperature rises 5-10 degrees. (Alton's recipe starts the chicken by browning it before cooking it for another hour and a half. No wonder it was dry.)
Since some breasts are small and others are large, that thermometer is really important while you are learning what works in your oven. Eat them right from the oven, or cool, bone, and remove the skin for a simple chicken salad or other recipe that calls for cooked or poached chicken.
To salvage your Alton Brown chicken, you might heat a jar of Alfredo sauce with sliced zucchini (or another green vegetable) until it is tender, then add small pieces of chicken to warm them up (you surely don't want to cook them any more) and serve over rice or pasta with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
And welcome to Zazz!
