How to cook chicken

In addition to computers and technology, another interest of mine is cooking. I really enjoy cooking, probably because I really enjoy eating. So I thought I could blog tips and tricks I've learned over the years for others to enjoy.

There's nothing more repulsive than under cooked chicken. So when I cook chicken I have a tendency to over cook the chicken which unfortunately leaves the chicken a little dry and tough... but that's better than underdone. Well it turns out there's a simple way to thoroughly cook the chicken without drying it out... it's called a brine. A brine is basically a salty liquid which you will soak the chicken in. The ratio is 1 cup broth or stock, 1 cup water, and 1 tbsp salt (you may need to heat it slightly to get the salt to dissolve). Make enough of this brine to submerge the chicken in. You can also add additional flavorings to the brine such as whole peppercorns, rosemary, garlic, honey, etc. Soak your chicken in the brine for at least several hours, or up to 3 or 4 days. I find it's best if you soak it for 1 to 2 days. I place the chicken and the brine into a container and place it into the fridge. What happens is the salt promotes osmosis which allows the water (and the flavorings) to go into the chicken. But here's the magic, the chicken does not come out salty like you would expect. All the salt stays in the brine; because there is already natural salt in the chicken and the osmostic action will not allow more salt to enter the chicken so long as the brine is less salty than the chicken is naturally (so don't add more salt than the recipe calls for). Because of all this extra water that was added to the chicken, you can thoroughly cook the chicken and it won't be dry and tough. Cool huh! I use a brine anytime I cook chicken or turkey.

I'll quickly share one more tip for cooking chicken. If you're going to BBQ the chicken, right before you place the chicken on the BBQ brush the outside of the chicken with olive oil. You can also occasionally brush the outside with olive oil during cooking. I can't really explain how this works except it makes the chicken taste really good. If you've ever been to a function that was catered, and that caterer BBQ'ed chicken which tasted really good - I'll bet you he brushed the outside with olive oil. I picked this tip up from a caterer.

There you go, two of my tips for cooking incredible chicken.