Why doesn't my chicken taste as good as restaurant chicken?

iloseityes wrote: »

queenliz99 wrote: »

I have done wet brining but it is such a hassle. While googling to find different ways to wet brine I discovered dry brining. I think this way is so much easier. You need to try this method if you like wet brining.

Yes, I will I should google it properly, but is dry brining just salting the food for a period of time, before removing the salt & cooking it ?

I don't find wet brining such a hassle myself by the way, but then I'm not overly fussy, and just grab a pot, fill with water and dissolve a decent bit of salt into that water with a whisk, and just leave what I want to brine in there for a few hours. I usually just brine smaller portions of chicken (and turkey), but have done whole chickens in the past, just with a bigger pot, and for longer, lol

Some recipes rinse salt off chicken and some don't. I didn't rinse and didn't notice any saltiness in the meat. The hassle was trying to make room in refrigerator for wet brining.

ana3067 wrote: »

NRSPAM wrote: »

Not sure, exactly. I guess a little dry sometimes, but the taste is not as good, and mine seems tougher. I usually buy chicken breast tenders or regular breast.

I'd guess you've over-cooking them. Lower the heat and/or cover the meat while you cook it. Mine are never tough but I'm lazy and dont' season so they are boring. I do need to figure out my preferred chicken seasoning.

This. If it's dry and tough it's overcooked.

I make a very nice tenderized chicken by the German method...pound the life out of it. It seems a very German solution to the problem. Mechanical and direct.
http://www.marthastewart.com/317937/chicken-schnitzel

jgnatca wrote: »

I make a very nice tenderized chicken by the German method...pound the life out of it. It seems a very German solution to the problem. Mechanical and direct.
http://www.marthastewart.com/317937/chicken-schnitzel

I have found that pounding the boneless, skinless breasts to a uniform thickness helps too. As others have said, you have to be careful not to overcook. My preferred method is grilling (either outside or on my Geo Forman) and it does not take very long. I use only fresh (not frozen-I prefer to control the amount of sodium) chicken breasts and have a variety of spices that we use.

snowflake930 wrote: »

jgnatca wrote: »

I make a very nice tenderized chicken by the German method...pound the life out of it. It seems a very German solution to the problem. Mechanical and direct.
http://www.marthastewart.com/317937/chicken-schnitzel

I have found that pounding the boneless, skinless breasts to a uniform thickness helps too. As others have said, you have to be careful not to overcook. My preferred method is grilling (either outside or on my Geo Forman) and it does not take very long. I use only fresh (not frozen-I prefer to control the amount of sodium) chicken breasts and have a variety of spices that we use.

Yes! Pounding to uniform thickness helps TONS, and especially when grilling. The difficulty with grilling I found was that by the time I could get the inside cooked through, the outside was dry and overcooked. Pounding them evenly helps a great deal with this.

I did catering with a chef who had no problem giving his recipes out. When asked why, he said that people always change the recipe at home, so it will never taste the same. He put so much butter, cream, and salt in his dishes that they would never work for everyday eating.

BrettPGH_ wrote: »

Also restaurants get better quality food then regular people can purchase in grocery stores.

I believe that depends on the restaurant - OP still hasn't specified.

I do agree that the chicken you buy can make a huge difference. Make sure you're not buying chicken that's been injected with anything or tenderized with anything. Avoid Butterball and similar like the plague. The texture of the meat is weird and has a funny taste. To me, anyway.

Personally, I like Bell and Evans chicken, but there are plenty of other sources that have a good product.

I wasn't good at baking chicken until my mom told me to use a heavy cast iron dutch oven instead of a CorningWare casserole. The trick is to keep the moisture in, the cast iron lid is heavy enough to keep the moisture in; the glass CorningWare lid doesn't create a tight enough seal.

I season my whole chicken or chicken breasts in the dutch oven, let it sit overnight in the fridge to "marinate", then bring to room temp, then in the oven @ 350degrees for about 45min. I use a meat thermometer to ensure the meat is properly cooked.

This content has been removed.

I lightly bread and sauté boneless skinless cutlets in a tiny bit of oil just til brown but not cooked thru. Then I add about 3/4 cup low sodium fat free chicken broth to the pan. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. The chicken is moist and juicy. You can then add lemon to the sauce and maybe a pat of butter. (I don't)
Serve over polenta or rice. If you like them, capers are nice but I don't use them.

52cardpickup wrote: »

BrettPGH_ wrote: »

Also restaurants get better quality food then regular people can purchase in grocery stores.

Not entirely sure where you're getting this information from, or what kind of restaurant you're speaking about specifically... For most "every day" restaurants this is certainly not the case.

Agreed.

I've worked in the food industry and the stuff we cooked wasn't what i could buy in the grocery store. A lot of it was, packaged, instant, frozen, heat and eat.... Even when i worked in a small restaurant that i had to do daily fresh food shopping for, there was still a lot of items we purchased through a food service. The fresh food came from the same grocery store i shop at.

Try cooking your chicken with the "sous vide" method, then quickly sear it to give it a nice outer texture. It stays extremely moist that way. More and more restaurants (especially large ones) are cooking this way because it produces very good and reliable results.

If you don't have a special sous vide circulator (which are getting cheaper but still around $200), you can still try it out:

https://snapguide.com/guides/make-sous-vide-chicken-at-home/

Most good/great foods I've hit on lately all tend to be the small mom and pop diner style places. But I rarely eat out much anymore.

My chicken comes out better then restaurants. Try using a up-rite roaster or beer can, Season the outside and inside, 2 outside burners on hot and middle one off, Just about an hour on the grill, Using an digital temp Gage add some smoke for a different taste!

Well I don't know how you are preparing it. If you're cooking white meat Breast in particular, Crockpot the breast. to make them a little tender and juicy add a tablespoon or 2 of vinegar> The main seasonings we use is Garlic, onion, black pepper..., always. since I like it spicy I add Cayenne pepper. Do not cook dark meat and white meat at the same time. White meat cooks faster, especially if it's skinless w\o bone. The flavors of food is subjective be adventurest. Look on allrecipes.com and type in a recipe for the food you want to eat and go for it.