The great
thing about cooking chicken is that it's just so versatile. There are so many
different ways to cook this delicious poultry meat regardless of where in the
world you may be. The Caribbean people love to
cook a Jerk Chicken which makes chicken crispy, often barbecued and marinated
seasonings of thyme, ginger, berries and hot peppers. In the Indian
sub-continent you'll find chicken cooked as a hot spicy Tandoori recipe with
most restaurants double cooking the meat to give it that extra bit of succulent
flavouring.
But how do
you really cook chicken so that it tastes just the way it should? Cooking
chicken is easy because it does not require much in the way of time to roast,
fry, grill or barbecue. It will certainly be cooked long before your red meats
like a leg of lamb, thick steaks or beef joints. Better still chicken has great
nutritional value such as the high amounts of proteins (particularly in the
breast) and generally a lot lower in fat than most other meats.
Chicken
must never be eaten rare or raw and the cutting board you should use must be
thoroughly washed and cleaned before placing your chicken on it ready for
preparing. Preferably you should buy your chicken from a butchers or a farmers'
market where you'll find out if the chicken was able to roam free rather cooped
up in a small battery cubicle. Don't forget the better the welfare and standard
of life that chicken had, the better it will taste.
Chicken
should be removed from the fridge at least 45 minutes before cooking and once
in the oven it must be loosely covered in tin foil. The tray you use must be
deep enough to contain any juices that will inevitably flow out of the chicken
during cooking. A chicken tastes best when roasted in the oven at gas mark 6
(200c). Check the weight of your chicken and cook for 30 minutes for every half
a kilo (500g) then add an extra 20 minutes to your cooking time. So a huge 2kg
bird will take two hours and 20 minutes.
If you are
cooking wings, drumsticks and thighs then barbecue or grill these instead. If
you are cooking diced chicken then put it in the frying pan and stir-fry while
adding some marinade and olive oil. Before serving always check there is no
pink and that a knife glides easily through the meat.
Also check out http://chickenprepare.com/ for more info on How To Cook Chicken
