breasts Rule Numero Uno for great chicken is to start by buying skin-on, bone-in chicken Leaving the skin on the chicken not only prevents the breast meat from overcooking at the surface, it also allows you to let the chicken cook for a longer time on one side without the danger of uneven cooking you’d get with steaks or chops Its because chicken skin, with its abundance of fat, is a natural insulator Think about it: fat, through millions of years of evolution, has been designed to help regulate temperature Its purpose is to even out abrupt changes in temperature so that animals can move relatively freely between cold and hot environments without dying of shock Perhaps it was never intended to see a situation as extreme as the refrigerator to the skillet, but it performs its role admirably nevertheless With a layer of skin on one side and an insulating bone on the other, it becomes exponentially easier to cook chicken evenly All you’ve got to is cook it skin side down first, in a hot skillet (don’t try and move it until it releases itself freely), then flip it over and toss it into a moderately hot oven to finish So long as you’re careful about monitoring its temperature and allow it to rest, never again will you have to deal with anything other than moist, juicy, tender meat And, just like with pork chops, brining your chicken before cooking can help it to become even juicier, though it’s a largely unnecessary step, provided you’re careful with your thermometer, and it has the same drawback as when brining pork—the chicken flavor gets diluted with water I see it more as a safeguard against overcooking BRINING MEAT: THE BIG TRADE-OFF C old, hard fact time: all meat dries out and toughens as it cooks, particularly in the very hot zones on its exterior Yet we want the center to cook through How does one heat the center without cooking the exterior to dry oblivion? Enter brining, the process in which a lean cut of meat (like turkey, chicken breast, or pork) is soaked in a saltwater solution to help it retain moisture during cooking Sure, sure—this is nothing new The Scandinavians and Chinese have been extolling the virtues of brining for millennia, but is it worth it? What are the trade-offs? Before we jump on the bandwagon, consider a few simple queries: namely, what does it do, how does it work, and should I bother? Why Brine? Let’s start with what brining actually accomplishes Time to break out the science I started with a dozen nearly identical chicken breasts Three of them were cooked as is Three were soaked overnight in a 6-percent solution of saltwater (about ½ cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or ¼ cup table salt, per quart of water) before cooking Three were ... through How does one heat the center without cooking the exterior to dry oblivion? Enter brining, the process in which a lean cut of meat (like turkey, chicken breast, or pork) is soaked in a saltwater... cooking Sure, sure—this is nothing new The Scandinavians and Chinese have been extolling the virtues of brining for millennia, but is it worth it? What are the trade-offs? Before we jump on the. ..BRINING MEAT: THE BIG TRADE-OFF C old, hard fact time: all meat dries out and toughens as it cooks, particularly in the very hot zones on its exterior Yet we want the center to cook through How