The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 720

add flavor) Alternatively, add grated lemon zest to any chopped herb mix or spice blend SHOULD I MARINATE MY CHICKEN? W hen I was in college, I remember receiving a mass e-mail from a housemate that said, “I’m leaving for the weekend, but there’s a chicken in the fridge that’s been marinating in Italian dressing for three days Somebody should cook it—it’ll be supertender and juicy!” I snapped up the chicken, planning to use it as a surefire way to finally seduce the girl who lived down the hall She’d be so impressed by its moistness and flavor that she’d instantly fall in love, we’d get married (and serve chicken at the reception, of course), have fourteen kids, and live happily ever after That I’m now happily married to an entirely different girl tells you something about how that worked out Turns out that you can overmarinate chicken, particularly if using an acidic marinade (such as Italian dressing) The acid in the marinade will cause the proteins to denature, the same way that cooking them does Given enough time, the denatured proteins will squeeze out moisture, and the chicken will take on a dry, chalky texture Just as with steak (see here), there’s no need to marinate poultry for any more than half a day or so Actually, far more effective use of a marinade for chicken and other poultry is to apply some of it to the roasting bird 10 minutes or so before you take it out of the oven and save most of it to apply after resting and carving, when it can really coat every surface and deliver flavor with each bite HOW TO REMOVE THE WISHBONE FROM A CHICKEN OR A TURKEY R emoving the wishbone before roasting the bird makes carving it much easier It’s optional for a roast chicken but highly recommended when roasting a turkey  ... using an acidic marinade (such as Italian dressing) The acid in the marinade will cause the proteins to denature, the same way that cooking them does Given enough time, the denatured proteins will... time, the denatured proteins will squeeze out moisture, and the chicken will take on a dry, chalky texture Just as with steak (see here), there’s no need to marinate poultry for any more than half a day or so... effective use of a marinade for chicken and other poultry is to apply some of it to the roasting bird 10 minutes or so before you take it out of the oven and save most of it to apply after resting