Today, poultry meat is available to almost all segments of the population. What could be easier than boiling chicken? But this, unfortunately, does not work for every housewife.
In the article, we will consider how to cook chicken, how long it takes, find out possible cooking methods so that the dish is not only tasty, but also healthy.
Product preparation
Chickens are delivered chilled to store shelves or markets. As a rule, unpacked carcasses are placed in boxes that are placed in storage rooms.
Therefore, before you cook the chicken, it must be pre-processed. Below is an example algorithm.
At the first stage, the bird is thawed. This is best done in the refrigerator at a temperature not exceeding 6 degrees. If the carcass is poorly cleaned of feathers, you can resort to tweezers or simply scorch the surface.
- In the latter case, the carcass must be wiped dry with a paper towel. Then stretch it over the gas burner, taking on one side the legs, and on the other by the head or neck. It is necessary to singe very quickly so that subcutaneous fat does not begin to melt.
- At the next stage, the carcass is gutted. For this, a heart, lungs and other offal are taken out of it, which will be useful in further preparation. Pull the goiter through a hole in the neck. The intestines and goiter are thrown out. The gall bladder, which is located near the liver, needs to be taken out very carefully. If it bursts, the taste of meat will be hopelessly spoiled. The heart must be carefully freed from blood clots. To do this, rinse it under running water. Cut the ventricle into halves and turn inside out in order to maximize the cleaning of food debris. Rinse and remove the inner thick shell, which even after processing remains very stiff.
- Next, we trim the lower parts of the legs, the wings are shortened to the first joint. Then the carcass is well washed under running water, especially from the inside. To dry it, it is necessary to send it to the oven for a short time.
- In the case of cooking the whole carcass, it must be folded compactly. To do this, we refuel the legs in a “pocket” made on the abdomen with a knife.
If you don’t need a whole chicken to make soup, then it’s better to cut it and send a part to the freezer.
Mistakes that mistresses make when preparing poultry
Before you cook the chicken, it must be properly prepared, otherwise it will turn out a tasteless dish. Let's figure out why.
Many women, in order not to wait until the carcass defrosts in the refrigerator, try to speed up this process using water or a microwave. Neither method can be called suitable.
- In the case of water, meat is saturated with liquid and will lose its inherent aroma.
- If you defrost a chicken in a microwave, then the protein may curl. This will lead to the fact that even after prolonged cooking, chicken meat remains stiff.
Many make the second mistake during evisceration by slopping out the liver. Thus, the gallbladder may burst right in the carcass, which will make the meat very bitter.
When using an old bird, do not cook it whole. This will take many times, in addition, it is not always possible to get rid of its inherent rigidity. The carcass of an old bird is better to cut into pieces.
Butchering methods
In order to cook the chicken until cooked, especially when it comes to the old carcass, it is advisable to competently chop it.
How to do this most quickly, consider below.
- First you need to separate the legs. Turn the prepared carcass onto your back and stretch your legs in different directions. Gently cut the skin while continuing to cut until the knife abuts the bone. Set it aside and turn your paw to the other side with your hands. Scroll until the limb is disconnected from the body.
- Next, use a knife to separate the thigh from the lower leg.
- In the same way, separate the wings along the shoulder joint.
- Now you need to detach the back from the breast. This can be done with an ordinary knife or culinary scissors. In the second case, the manipulation will turn out to be especially successful.
- On the ridge, cut the carcass into four parts, each of which is washed under running water.
- Wrap pieces of poultry that are not used immediately in cooking paper and send them to the freezer.
How to cook chicken
Often housewives argue in which water the chicken should be lowered during the cooking process. Some argue that in the cold, others prefer boiling water. Oddly enough, both sides are right.
The fact is that you can cook in the two listed ways, the main thing is to understand for what purpose this is done.
- If you decide to cook a rich fragrant chicken broth, then, of course, it is better to lower the meat into cold water.
- In the case of a salad with boiled chicken or a savory snack with poultry, the meat is dipped in hot water. In this case, it will retain the maximum amount of nutrients.
Cook the whole bird
To boil a whole chicken, fill the legs in the pocket and fill the bird with cold water.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Water does not need to boil, otherwise all the dirt will go down. Remove the foam with a slotted spoon until the water is completely clear.
Peel the carrots and onions. Cut in half and send to the pan. Salt and pepper. For flavor add a few leaves of dried laurel and 5 peas of black pepper.
How much to cook the chicken depends on which carcass you use.
If it's a chicken, 20 minutes is enough. The carcass of a young bird requires 60 minutes of cooking, and in the case of an old chicken, it will take at least 3 hours.
To check if the meat is cooked, pierce it with a fork in the thick part of the skin.
Uzbek style chicken
To do this, use chopped chicken. The algorithm is as follows:
- Add salt and pepper to the meat.
- Peel the onion, finely chop it and put it on the bottom of the container. Then we send black pepper with peas.
- Pour 3 liters of water and bring to a boil.
- When the water boils, drop the pieces of chicken. Bring to a boil again, remove the foam and reduce the heat.
- At the end of cooking, add finely chopped fresh herbs and bay leaves.
How much to cook the chicken depends on what size pieces are used. Half an hour is enough for a chicken, about one and a half for an adult chicken.
The readiness of the product is checked with a fork. After that you can get the bird, cool and serve.
How to cook chicken for broth
We cut the prepared carcass into parts and send it to the pan. It is necessary to fill the bird with cold water.
Important! The pot should not be set on fire immediately - it is better to send it to a cool place for at least half an hour. This is necessary in order for the meat to secrete juice.
- Then set it on fire and bring to a boil. A lid is not required.
- When the water boils, remove the foam, reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and cook the meat for an hour to two.
- In this case, the answer to the question of how much to cook the chicken until cooked depends on the age of the bird. Therefore, you should check this moment in the cooking process.
- Peel the onions, carrots and parsley root, cut into several pieces and add to the pan after half an hour.
- Salt and black pepper are added at the end.
- When the broth is ready, strain it through cheesecloth.
- Sprinkle with freshly chopped greens before serving.
Poultry cooking time
And yet, how long does it take to cook chicken? It depends not only on the age of the carcass, but also on the purpose of the preparation.
An hour and a half is enough to cook chicken soup. The whole carcass in the multicooker on the "Extinguishing" mode can be boiled in one hour. Cut into pieces, it will be ready in half an hour.
If you cook chicken for jellied meat, the minimum cooking time is 4 hours.
How much to cook chicken for soup? As mentioned above, this will take as much time as is necessary to prepare the poultry broth.
Useful tips for housewives
- If you do not know how to determine the age of the bird, pay attention to the breast. In the old specimen, it will be solid, in the young one, it looks like a cartilage.
- It is not difficult to distinguish a rooster from a chicken. In males, the skin is thin, bluish in color. The chicken skin is light and much thicker.
- When cooking a well-fed carcass, it should never be washed, since water will significantly impair the taste of the bird. Use a paper towel to clean the surface, but it’s best to preheat the oven and send the carcass for a few minutes.
- In order to make the chicken as tasty as possible, during cooking it is taken out of the broth, salted and returned to the pan.
- To prepare the broth, water must initially be poured in the required volume. You can’t add water in the process - this will ruin the taste of the broth. It is also not recommended to salt the broth in several stages.
- Specialists advise putting all spices at the end of cooking.
- To make the broth light, it should be boiled over low heat, periodically removing the foam. If this is not done, the liquid will turn cloudy.