A marinade can be very useful in the kitchen, but it requires some planning and time for them to work their magic. And, contrary to what we usually believe, it does nothing to flavor meats such as whole pieces of chicken. Therefore, when I cook thighs, thighs or hindquarters, I save myself that step and I opt for another much more effective and faster technique.
Why is marinating not useful? We have already commented on it several times: a marinade needs many, many hours to penetrate just two or three millimeters into the meat, and the chicken may spoil before any satisfactory result is obtained. Marinades with yogurt do help us modify the textureleaving the meat juicier and more flavorful, and is especially useful with breasts, which are much leaner and blander.
Now, the richest parts of the chicken only need to use a sharp knife to improve substantially. As explained in Milk Streetthe best we can do is practice some deep cuts in raw meat before cooking.
This is a technique that the team at the aforementioned publication and cooking school learned from Andrew Nguyenauthor of ‘Vietnamese Food Any Day‘, who applies it before seasoning the pieces of poultry that are going to be cooked. It is a very simple step that allows any dressing, sauce, marinade or marinade to penetrate the meat much more effectively, impregnating its interior with its flavor, and it also has another non-negligible advantage.
These cuts speed up the cooking time of the chicken since the inside gets very hot. fasterby directly penetrating the heat source and not having to wait for it to pass through the external surface.
The procedure is easy; We just have to make some parallel, firm and straight cuts on the chicken pieces, not too long, trying to reach to the bone. It is important to use a good sharp knife to do not tear the fibers.
With the cuts made, we can simply season or apply spices, herbs, marinades, seasonings, marinades… letting it penetrate inside of those slices. And without having to wait, we will get more flavor by getting straight to cooking, taking into account that it will take less time than usual as more meat is exposed to heat.
Of course, as they also point out in Milk Streetthis technique is only recommended with the parts of the chicken that we have already mentioned, the legs, thighs or thighs, always with skin and with bone, much tastier. The breasts are too lean and tend to dry out; cuts would only exacerbate the problem.
Instead, as we already know, we can make juicy breasts with a brine or cut them into small pieces and marinate them with yogurt or some acid.
3 Claveles Professional chef knife 28079, Forged kitchen knives with hammered stainless steel blade with wooden handle, Brown, 20 cm
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Photos | Towfiqu barbhuiya – Dr Muhammad Amer
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