Current Events > i got some raw chicken breast from costco so lets go on an adventure to cook it

(+) Yeah! (+)

I bought this stuff like a week ago, but I instantly froze it cause I got intimidated by all the chicken.

Well start this by putting this section (one of three) in the fridge overnight
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e4890a70.jpg

I wanna actually cook something that tastes good for once, so Ill report back tomorrow morning with updated progress after its dethawed

pray 4 me the last time I tried to cook chicken breast I gave myself food poisoning
(baked at 165 degrees for 20 minutes, misunderstanding that the 165 was actually supposed to be the internal temp not the cooking temp >.>)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9239d5af.jpg
Real photo proof of chicken in fridge

this shit better be dethawed in the morning cause I got PLANS

make chicken katsu

Cook it sous vide, then you can safely cook it to 145, it'll be much more juicy and tender than your typical 165 degree chicken breast.

SomeLikeItHoth posted...

make chicken katsu

Hmmmm thats actually not a bad idea. That looks really good

@AirFresh
Since youre a chef can you tell me if chicken katsu is outside of my skill level considering that last time I made chicken I ate it pretty much raw??

Enclave posted...

Cook it sous vide, then you can safely cook it to 145, it'll be much more juicy and tender than your typical 165 degree chicken breast.

I was gonna boil this chicken and shred it, probably brine it too cause why not; this sous vide stuff is basically the same thing right??

The articles on this topic concern me given my nonexistent cooking skills

No, sous vide isn't the same as boiling. You can get a similar effect from cooking confit but I personally am not a fan of letting my food soak in oil/fat.

Sous vide you put the chicken in a plastic bag, one that is designed for sous vide temperatures and is BPA free. You also want a vacuum in the bag. You get the water to the exact temp you want (in this case 145) and maintain that temperature for the entire cooking time. For a chicken breast 1 hour 15 min is probably enough depending on the thickness.

Of course once it's done you will want to take it out of the bag, dry it off and give it a quick sear in an extremely hot pan.

I always find chicken breasts too dry and meh when cooked by any method other than sous vide. Chicken thighs on the other hand, you can push them even past 165 and they're going to stay juicy and delicious and tender.

Harpie posted...

I was gonna boil this chicken and shred it, probably brine it too cause why not

you should stick to this. don't jump to level 10 when you haven't even passed level 1.

anyway good luck. just remember, overcooking is better than undercooking when you don't know what you're doing.

Good luck. Hopefully it's delicious

GuerrillaSoldier posted...

you should stick to this. don't jump to level 10 when you haven't even passed level 1.

anyway good luck. just remember, overcooking is better than undercooking when you don't know what you're doing.

To be fair, sous vide is easy mode for most things.

Harpie posted...

Hmmmm thats actually not a bad idea. That looks really good

Just buy some panko it's easy

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/72068/chicken-katsu/

Good luck!

27.85 is insane. What denomination is that?

Enclave posted...

To be fair, sous vide is easy mode for most things.

You need a bunch of gear for sous vide to be easy though.

party_animal07 posted...

27.85 is insane. What denomination is that?

As TC said, that is one package of three. 5.99 per pound is still pretty exorbitant, but welcome to 2024.

Don't boil it :( Grab a cheap slow cooker from a thrift store. A very foolproof beginner slow cooker chicken recipe is just chicken + salsa, pull out chicken, shred, then mix with salsa.

good luck harpie please don't die from improperly cooked chicken

$6 per pound is super high for chicken. Around here anyway even the organic stuff is under $4.

I wouldn't use that for shredding personally. Maybe cheaper split breast with the bone slow cooked for shredding since it'll be more juicy. But there's a million things you can do with boneless chicken breast. I usually bake mine at 375 for about 40 minutes depending on thickness then chop it up and put it with pasta or rice with some type of sauce. Or bread it and make chicken parmesan.

Marinate the chicken first, at least 30 minutes, then boil it. Once it is finally cooked you can also quickly fry it in the skillet to give it a crust, shouldn't take more than a couple of seconds.

If you can get these ingredients you have to make this. Its so damn good.

https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/hot-thai-chicken/

Chicken breast is not for inexperienced cooks imo

Harpie get chicken thighs instead theyre cheaper and theres way less risk of overcooking them

I make homemade curry with mine

Just cut it into ~one inch cubes and saute it with a little oil and spices for a few minutes, and eat it with whatever appropriate sides you have. Just cut a piece in half to make sure it's not pink in the middle. You can throw whatever veggies you want in the pan too. That's how I cook breast most of the time. You can make stir fry, tacos, pasta, whatever.

BuzzKilljoy posted...

You need a bunch of gear for sous vide to be easy though.

You can get by with a Ziploc bag and a thermometer that you can clip on to a pot, it's really not a big deal for something with a cook time around an hour.

If you want to not have to do any monitoring then buying a sous vide wand is a good purchase and also opens you up to longer cook times and honestly will pay for itself if you cook stuff like roasts since you can buy cheap roasts but still make them super tender by doing a 24 hour cook time.

If you have an instant pot then I recommend cooking it with that. Plus you can use the water from the cooking process as a delicious soup base.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/052a74d8.jpg
WHAT
Its been 8 hours WHY is this still frozen solid? Is this normal? I thought itd have dethawed by hour 4 for sure

Should I put it in a bowl of water or something cause I was really hoping to brine this for a few hours today >.>

Yeah stick it in some water and it should be thawed out in a couple hours. In the fridge it can take like 3 days for poultry to thaw.

Thanks everyone for all the recommendations on how to cook some of you seem to vastly overestimate my skills and the tools I own but I appreciate you regardless

Either Ill do a Panko breading OR follow this recipe below. Boiling it seems lame, cause I actually want this to taste good and have flavor

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/baked-chicken-breast/

I do have 2 more sections of this breast though, maybe if you guys care to read these I can try to learn some other methods to cook each section (about 3-4 breasts each)

Harpie Learns How To Be An Adult And Fucking Cook Series

Harpie posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/052a74d8.jpg
WHAT
Its been 8 hours WHY is this still frozen solid? Is this normal? I thought itd have dethawed by hour 4 for sure

Should I put it in a bowl of water or something cause I was really hoping to brine this for a few hours today >.>

Put it in a bowl, fill bowl with cold water, have a small trickle of water continue to flow into the bowl. It'll thaw in no time.

Have you never cooked before?

Harpie posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/052a74d8.jpg
WHAT
Its been 8 hours WHY is this still frozen solid? Is this normal? I thought itd have dethawed by hour 4 for sure

Should I put it in a bowl of water or something cause I was really hoping to brine this for a few hours today >.>

Run cold water from the sink on it for a few minutes. Do not just put it in a bowl of water lol

Also buy a thermometer. Use thermometers people! Especially if you're barely starting out.

Harpie posted...

Either Ill do a Panko breading OR follow this recipe below. Boiling it seems lame, cause I actually want this to taste good and have flavor

Panko and frying it? I wouldn't suggest that. dredging is a lot more work than it looks and makes a huge mess if you are inexperienced. I still barely fry stuff because it's such a pain in the ass. Just baking it like that recipe you posted is super easy.

LeoRavus posted...

Yeah stick it in some water and it should be thawed out in a couple hours. In the fridge it can take like 3 days for poultry to thaw.

Enclave posted...

Put it in a bowl, fill bowl with cold water, have a small trickle of water continue to flow into the bowl. It'll thaw in no time.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/64fb0091.jpg
Okay I put it in a bowl of water in my sink are you proud of me yet

MarcoRubio posted...

Have you never cooked before?

I can make pasta and bake things like veggies, fish and other meats. As far as cooking things on top of the stove, no I dont have a ton of experience

Smashingpmkns posted...

Run cold water from the sink on it for a few minutes. Do not just put it in a bowl of water lol

Also buy a thermometer. Use thermometers people! Especially if you're barely starting out.

???
Few MINUTES? This is a brick of solid chicken I dont think thatll work. Also whats wrong with a bowl of water

I got myself a meat thermometer a few days ago to prepare for this moment, so Im wayyy ahead of you

Harpie posted...

???
Few MINUTES? This is a brick of solid chicken I dont think thatll work. Also whats wrong with a bowl of water

There's nothing wrong with leaving it in a bowl of water. It's just slower than using running water. It's also generally not recommended to leave thawing chicken sitting out. You don't want it to reach room temperature for long. So for food safety, you'd put the bowl of water in the fridge. It will still take a few hours to thaw like that though.

Harpie posted...

Few MINUTES? This is a brick of solid chicken I dont think thatll work. Also whats wrong with a bowl of water

The temperature of a bowl of water drops quickly depending on the environment, creating a prime environment for bacteria. Running water keeps the temperature consistent.

If you are just going to use the bowl don't forget to replace the water over time. Running water is just easier, leads to more consistent thawing and it's way quicker.

Smashingpmkns posted...

The temperature of a bowl of water drops quickly depending on the environment, creating a prime environment for bacteria. Running water keeps the temperature consistent.

If you are just going to use the bowl don't forget to replace the water over time. Running water is just easier, leads to more consistent thawing and it's way quicker.

This is why I specified TC that you need a trickle of water going into the bowl.

Honestly, it's on me for not explaining the why of it considering TC is very clearly a novice in the kitchen. Good on you TC by the way for learning to cook, more people need to take that step.

I've been thawing meat in a bowl or pot of water in the fridge for years. Even on the counter for a few hours. As long as the meat itself isn't at room temperature for hours it'll be fine.

If in a super hurry defrost in the microwave, but take it out of the wrapper first or the ends will cook.

I've yet to find a meat thermometer in the shops here. I've specifically been looking for one

Are those Rana alfredo sauce good? I kinda wanna try them

Garlic salt or lemon salt next time.

The nice thing about the instant pot is that you can cook the chicken breast from frozen. This post and my previous one is just me saying in a couple different ways that an instant pot is well worth it and can be had for I think $80 (I got mine for $60 before the pandemic).

1337toothbrush posted...

The nice thing about the instant pot is that you can cook the chicken breast from frozen. This post and my previous one is just me saying in a couple different ways that an instant pot is well worth it and can be had for I think $80 (I got mine for $60 before the pandemic).

Instant Pot is basically a cheat code for cooking. Just dump some shit in there and let it do its thing. It's straight up idiot proof. It is a great way to start cooking for yourself.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


very similar to a slow cooker chicken taco recipe i used to use when i ate meat. add all of the ingredients, turn on crock pot, wait, shred chicken with forks, make tacos.

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/crockpot-chicken-tacos/

Harpie posted...

I can make pasta and bake things like veggies, fish and other meats. As far as cooking things on top of the stove, no I dont have a ton of experience

I was the opposite. Basically everything I grew up eating was cooked on the stove top.

When recipes ask me to put things in the oven I got scared because it means I'm not actively touching it and I've lost control of everything.

I was working when you sent this. Chicken is one of the easiest things to cook so lemme know any updates and I can help you

https://youtu.be/NTBRThwL-2c?si=zqwKJ562IVRdzWCT

how is chicken breast difficult to cook for anybody? you cut it in half then place it in the pan for 8 minutes. Then flip and leave it for 8 minutes.

Thats it.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/321b4373.jpg
ALERT
CHICKEN IS DETHAWED

Okay so now Im brining it, since every resource online says that if I dont brine my chicken its gonna be saharan desert levels of dry. 1/4 cup salt + 4 cups water is gonna be the mixture

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/62d83b46.jpg
This feels like way too much salt Im afraid tbh

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/bbdffafc.jpg
Now its covered up in the fridge. Imma let this marinate for a few hours, then the real cookin shenanigans will begin