All of this talk of cooking and I still have one problem I can't seem to figure out. Any time I marinate in a dark sauce (soy sauce or balsamic vinegar) then frying it in a saute pan I end up burning it. Maybe it's the small amount of sugar in the marinade, I'm not sure. I'm talking about this recipe for Balsamic Chicken. I got the pan onto medium heat (my dial goes lo, then 2 through 6, then hi and I put it between 3 and 4) even though the recipe said medium high. I put in the chicken breasts and thought I'd just wait it out and see if, like Mario Batali says, I'm one of those home cooks who's afraid of something getting a deep brown (cuz that's where the flavor is). I flipped it after 6 minutes and waited the 7 minutes on the other side and when I looked at it the bottom of the pan was black. I moved the breasts over to another pan, poured in the marinade, and finished cooking it. It turned out delicious.
I know chicken should be cooked at high heat to get a good browning on the outside before the inside goes dry, but maybe my stove's medium is still too high? Any suggestions?
On the flip side, I made a roast chicken yesterday with quinoa on the side. It was delicious. The stock I made from it even made it into the fridge and maybe I'll get around to making a soup tomorrow. Doubtful with the plans I've got but it's good to have ideas.
2 comments:
I never listen to the instructions for those kinds of recipes, I go with my gut, and I tend to sear quickly and then cook on low.
Do you set the chicken out on the counter for a bit to warm up before you cook it? That helps. When the chicken isn't so cold, it takes less time to cook and doesn't overbrown as much.
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