Roasting a chicken is easy, but successfully cooking chicken breasts is a trick. Here`s how:
– Keep skin on boned chicken breasts during cooking. Fat from the skin does not permeate the chicken meat; the skin adds flavor and helps prevent overcooking.
– To bone chicken breasts, use a sharp flexible knife and follow the contour of the bones to separate the meat. Freeze bones for soup or stock-making, wrapped airtight in plastic bags.
– To cook chicken breasts, boil 2 cups each of water and chicken broth in 12-inch skillet with a small quartered onion and a slender sliced carrot. Add chicken breasts single layer, skin side down. Gently simmer 7 minutes, covered. Use tongs to turn breasts. Simmer 6-7 minutes longer, covered. Insert the point of a sharp knife into thickest portion of breast; juices will run clear rather than pink when the meat is sufficiently cooked.
– Refrigerate breasts until cool enough to handle, or they can be refrigerated overnight, wrapped airtight. Before dicing or slicing the meat, use your fingers to remove skin and tendon. Trim all visible fat with a knife. – Whole chicken breasts that weight 8 ounces with the skin are an ideal size for tender cooking. Each yields about 1 cup cooked chicken, sliced or diced.
– Pour liquid from cooking chicken through strainer lined with a double thickness of paper towels. Liquid can be frozen up to 3 months. Use for a soup base or for cooking more chicken breasts.
