Did I cook it wrong?

Rebecca0224

rheddmobile wrote: »

Very few foodborne illnesses come up in one to two hours. Most take eight hours or more, and some like salmonella take several days to produce symptoms. The likelihood is that something else made you sick much earlier, or even that your nausea was psychosomatic because you were worried.

Regardless, cook chicken until it is no longer pink.

Food borne illness can begin quickly or take weeks to appear

"Signs and symptoms may start within hours after eating the contaminated food, or they may begin days or even weeks later. Sickness caused by food poisoning generally lasts from a few hours to several days"
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes/dxc-20337613

Dnarules

Rebecca0224 wrote: »

rheddmobile wrote: »

Very few foodborne illnesses come up in one to two hours. Most take eight hours or more, and some like salmonella take several days to produce symptoms. The likelihood is that something else made you sick much earlier, or even that your nausea was psychosomatic because you were worried.

Regardless, cook chicken until it is no longer pink.

Food borne illness can begin quickly or take weeks to appear

"Signs and symptoms may start within hours after eating the contaminated food, or they may begin days or even weeks later. Sickness caused by food poisoning generally lasts from a few hours to several days"
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes/dxc-20337613

It depends on the microbe (and dose). For undercooked chicken, I would assume Salmonella (or maybe Campylobacter or E. Coli). These won't cause illness that quickly.

lemurcat12

ritzvin wrote: »

jmkim196 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Are these boneless, skinless breasts or skin-on, bone-in breasts or what?

I don't understand the turning to brownish/blackish -- how long did you microwave them? (I'm not big on microwaving chicken, I normally eat leftovers cold unless it is in a sauce I need to heat up.)

My bad, skinless, boneless. And I put then in a container with some brown rice and Broccoli, then microwaved them together for 2 minutes.

FYI- boneless, skinless chicken breast is about the most finicky P.I.T.A. meat-source to cook. Nearly impossible to not turn into shoe leather without the addition of some type of sauce, especially if you plan to reheat in the microwave. Fattier cuts of chicken and/or cuts with the skin on are much easier to not screw up and cheaper.

Yeah. Two easy ways to cook them (outside of the sauce) are: (1) pound them thin and cook them on top of the stove in a little oil; or (even easier) (2) put them in a slow cooker with some water or chicken broth plus onions and whatever else you want for a little flavor and cook them on low all day. I do this overnight or when at work and then use the chicken (it's basically falling apart) to put on salads and stuff.

Foolproof is bone-in, skin-on breasts. Cook it at about 425 until done (40 min or so, but check on it).

ElvenToad

I used to bake 2lbs of boneless chicken breasts in the oven every week for meal prepping. I had to buy a meat thermometer because the chicken would always come out either under cooked or overcooked. It was a pain but I eventually got it down. It would take about 45 minutes to cook then another 10 to cool, then another 20 for me to cut it all up and store it. I got tired of doing that after awhile and stopped eating chicken lol.

I bought an electric pressure cooker for $50 and now I just throw in one or two breasts, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup of salsa and a little s&p. Set it for 10 minutes and then wait another 10 for the natural pressure release and viola, perfectly cooked fork shredded chicken every single time. I will never go back to the oven

Heather4448

A meat thermometer would be a good purchase.

sarahthes

High temperature, short time produces chicken breasts that are completely cooked through and still moist. I think my husband does them at 450 for 25-30 minutes. Perfect every time...

CattOfTheGarage

The fact is there is no absolute, exact answer to how long it takes to cook a chicken breast and at what temperature. Every chicken breast is different and every oven is different. Hence the thermometer.

I would do them at 180C (350F), for about 30-40 min, but I suspect your chicken breasts were larger than the ones I get here. So start with that, but watch the thermometer.

I would also wrap them in foil or put them in a dish with a lid, to help them not dry out.

As someone else said, a slow cooker can be a good way to cook chicken breasts but don't overdo it. Slow cookers vary so you'll have to experiment for the ideal time without overcooking. In mine, it would be 4-5 hours on Low.

We may never be able to fully explain what went wrong with your chicken breasts this time around, it's very hard to pinpoint a problem without being there. But if you use a thermometer in future you should be able to avoid it happening again, hopefully.

TracieWomble

the pink bits that turned brown/black were blood spots...not really poisonous or harmful, but visually enough to make you nauseous - you eat with your eyes and tummies are very suggestable. if you are unsure, you should look for the texture change, as well as colour, cooked chicken has the grains, like wood grain, running through it and raw or undercooked is still smooth

CattOfTheGarage

Also raw chicken has a sort of jelly texture whereas cooked chicken is firmer and pulls apart along the grain.

It's possible OP's chicken *was* in fact cooked, and the nausea was the result of doubt/worry about food poisoning. That happens. We'll never really know at this stage.

x_stephisaur_x

I like to wrap my chicken in foil for the first 3/4 of the cooking time and uncover it for the rest. This helps the chicken to steam while it is cooking, allowing it to cook more evenly and remain juicy.

Your chicken could have been perfectly cooked, but carrying germs for all we know. I wouldn't personally cook chicken that high either, I'm a 180C for half an hour girl and it's never steered me wrong (that's apparently 356F)

Definitely get yourself a meat thermometer, and maybe an oven thermometer too so you can check that's running at the right temp

cs2thecox

TracieWomble wrote: »

the pink bits that turned brown/black were blood spots...not really poisonous or harmful, but visually enough to make you nauseous - you eat with your eyes and tummies are very suggestable. if you are unsure, you should look for the texture change, as well as colour, cooked chicken has the grains, like wood grain, running through it and raw or undercooked is still smooth

This. I thought it just sounded like a little blood vessel. They do sometimes stay pink if the chicken is only just cooked.
Made sense to me that it might go darker on later microwaving too.

Whenever I cook chicken, I just slice into the biggest piece and check that it's grained all the way through.
If it's not, it all goes back in the pan/oven/whatever for a few more minutes.
No thermometer, no food poisoning ever, just the kind of common sense check that my grandma used to do!

ezekielsherrard205735

Chicken breast

jeanstudies

CMNVA wrote: »

Chicken breasts these days can be GIGANTIC and they often don't cook evenly. Best thing to do is lay them out flat and slide your knife through horizontally so you get two, thinner pieces. You can also pound them down as another poster said but I've not had much luck getting those big ones down to a manageable size.

This. I always broil mine after slicing horizontally and have had excellent results.