From Mexico to China, people have been serving up chicken dishes for centuries – and each country has come up with their own distinctive ways of cooking it. Though it is an exceptionally easy meat to cook, there are a couple of pointers that make chicken dishes a lot better. Here are some essential tips for cooking your chicken.
One of the best and most tasty ways to prepare chicken is a method known as pan-searing. This involves cooking the chicken at a high temperature, with the intention of getting a nice golden-brown crust on it. Though this method of cooking chicken is a pretty good one all on its own, there are a few things that you can do to take it to the next level. For example, before the chicken goes into the pan, you can rub it down with a combination of salt, spices and herbs. This will give the crust that you are trying to obtain a very rich flavour, and will also provide the chicken with a bit of extra colour.
So what spices should you use when cooking chicken? Well, the most obvious one is rosemary. This spice only goes with certain types of meat, like poultry and fish. You can also add paprika, which is a sort of dried, ground-up bell pepper powder. This will give the chicken a great taste as well as distinguishable colour. Also, do not go easy on the salt. Though you do have to be careful to overdo it, salt is probably the most important ingredient when cooking chicken, or indeed anything else. A little black pepper usually complements chicken in a rather nice way, too.
When cooking chicken, it is always worth making sure that you do not undercook it. Raw chicken is extremely dangerous, so make sure it has been cooked all the way through. To find out if it is fully-cooked, poke into the thickest part of the meat and if the juices run clear then it’s cooked. If not, it will still need a bit of extra cooking. Alternatively, cut into your meat and you will be able to see if it’s cooked or not. But be careful, over-cooking can lead to dry meat.