Cooking 101: Baked Chicken Breast

It's very easy to bake a chicken breast. Prepare your breast for cooking. I trim off any fat, skin and bits of bone and then rinse it briefly under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. I generally also marinate my chicken breasts because otherwise they can be a bit flavorless. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. When the oven is ready take a baking dish or pan, hit it with some non-stick cooking spray, put your chicken breast in it and place in the oven on a rack in the middle. Wait 20-30 minutes. To check to see if the breast is done, take out of the oven and cut into the thickest part of the breast. If the juice runs clear the breast is done. If the juice isn't clear, place it back in the oven and give it a little more time.

Because chicken can be a carrier for salmonella I like to be sure the breast is done and use a meat thermometer instead of the juice test. There's some dispute over at what point it's safe to eat a chicken breast but everyone I've read seems to agree that by the time the thickest part of the breast reaches 170 degrees Fahrenheit any bacteria should be dead so that's the target I use.

Cooking 101: Handling Raw Chicken

I don't want to spend a lot of time on this since I assume everyone already knows this but it doesn't hurt repeating. Raw chicken can be a carrier for salmonella which is why it is important to always cook chicken thoroughly before eating. Dry, chewy overcooked chicken is preferable to getting food poisoning. When working with raw chicken always be sure to thoroughly clean everything that has been in contact with the chicken. Don't just limit yourself surfaces that were in direct contact with the chicken but get the surrounding area as well. Be sure to wash your hands as well.

Cooking 101: Marinating Meat

Marinating is a way of flavoring meat as well as helping it stay moist while cooking. Basically you want to submerge the meat in the marinade for 30 minutes or longer. This allows the marinade to soak into the meat adding flavor and moisture. To help the marinade penetrate deeper into the meat, so it's not just on the surface, it's helpful to stab the meat a few times with a fork before placing in the marinade. I find that lightly beating the meat, as though you were massaging it, before marinating also helps. You can marinate in a bowl, add just enough marinade to cover the meat, but I prefer using a Ziploc bag, squeezing as much air out as possible so it's just the meat and the marinade in the bag.

While your grocery store probably has a section dedicated to just marinades, don't limit yourself to just that. Pretty much any liquid can be used as a marinade. For example, I routinely marinate chicken breasts in Briannas Lemon Tarragon or Santa Fe salad dressings.

Cooking 101: An Introduction

Something that has quickly become apparent to me is that if I want to lose weight, I need to take control of the food I eat and the best way to do that is to cook it myself. Unfortunately I've never really learned to cook. Oh, I can follow a recipe as well as the next person but I don't know any basic cooking techniques. That's kind of important since I tend to prefer food that's convenient to prepare. I don't want to spend a lot of time measuring and chopping and otherwise laboring in the kitchen just to eat something. With a knowledge of basic cooking techniques that won't be necessary. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a cookbook on basic techniques. I tried taking a cooking class once but instead of teaching us basic cooking techniques, like she advertised, the woman had us sit there and watch while she cooked various recipes and then let us sample the results. If I wanted that, I could have just stayed home and watched cooking shows on television. Anyway, as I pick up things I'll be posting them here to my blog.