10 Things You Need to Know About Chicken

We eat more chicken than any other meat.

from grandcentralbakery

I know the Chic-Fil-A cows are happy….

from reactionface

But seriously, we eat a lot of chicken.

A lot.

I read a stat that said that Americans consume 81 pounds of chicken per person per year.

from jasonmulgrew

WHAT?

Well, since we eat so much chicken, I thought we should go over a few little tidbits about our favorite fowl.

1. To easily remove skin from raw chicken, don’t just grab and pull with bare hands. You need more traction.

from thepioneerwoman

Instead, use a paper towel to grab the skin and pull firmly away from the meat.

2. Thaw frozen chicken in its original packaging on a plate in the refrigerator. 

from snapguide

The plate helps reduce the spread of bacteria, retain moisture, and catch any juices that might sneak through.

3. Use kitchen shears rather than a knife to cut through raw chicken, skin, and bones.

from gastronomydomine

4. To evenly cook chicken breasts in a pan, position the thick parts in the middle with the thin, tapered ends positioned near the pan’s edges.

from dashofsavory

This helps to control for the way the heat is dispersed through the pan.

5. To get really crisp and golden skin on a roasted chicken, forget sliding the butter under the skin. Instead, up mayo all over the exterior of the bird before roasting.

from foxyafterforty

Mayo has a higher burn temp than butter and will cook more evenly.

6. Half of the calories from chicken comes from the skin.

from thehopelesshousewife

I love me some chicken skin, but if you’re trying to cut back, cutting out the skin is an easy way to save a few calories.

7. Kosher chicken, which must meet strict dietary standards applied by Jewish law, must be killed in the most humane way possible and prepared under a Rabbi’s supervision.

from chbadjapan

The koshering process involves a lot of salt, so kosher chicken is saltier than commercially raised or organic chicken.

8. When frying or oven-frying chicken, use a mix of crushed cracker crumbs (like saltines or Wheat Thins) and panko instead of flour to achieve a better crunch and more crispiness.

from yummymummyclub

9. Sometimes you end up with raw, cut up chicken pieces that you need to store for a little bit. To keep them from drying out in the refrigerator, soak a dish towel in cold water, wring it out, and lay it in a baking sheet. Lay out the chicken on the towel and cover with waxed paper.

from mystoryinrecipes

This will keep the chicken from drying out for about a day.

10. To pound chicken breasts or thighs, you don’t need specialized equipment. Just cover a sturdy work surface with plastic wrap, lay the meat out, then spray the meat with cooking oil spray. Cover the meat with another sheet of plastic wrap. The pounder should be flat, not ridged, as chicken is tender and ridges would tear the meat. Use a cast iron skillet, or a mallet, or a river rock and begin pounding on the thickest part of the meat. Pound it outward, so it has a place to move to. Pound hard at first, and ease up on your velocity to even out the thickness.

from cavemanketo

If you’re grilling, you want the chicken to be about 1/2″ thick. If you’re sautéing or wrapping the meat around a filling (such as ham and swiss cheese or feta and spinach), you want meat that’s around 1/4″ thick.

suck it, martha.