This “bad” way of cooking chicken is actually perfect

Don't cook the chicken. I can't tell you how many times I heard this line – first in the cooking school and then in the restaurant kitchen. It was practically a gospel, where “don't put the pan” and “always relax the meat”. And when it came to delicious chicken breasts, it was perfectly right.

But at a certain point of the stew of my stew after the thigh tray and the gentle drummers' tray, I realized something: when it comes to dark meat, this rule not only bends but also breaks. If you only cook your thighs and drums to 165 ° F and you are ready to call you, you miss the best possible.

That's right, sometimes you need to overcome the chicken.

Overwhelming is not a crime – it's a strategy

The chicken breast is slender and delicious. Cook for a while for too long and go from the juicy to a jerk. But the thighs and the drums? They were built differently. Dark meat is filled with connective tissue and fats, which makes it extremely forgiving. Not only can you handle longer cooking times, but you also require them if you want gentle, juicy and tasteful meat.

What you actually do when “overeat” the thighs and drums slowly breaks down your collagen into gelatin, transforming what would be chewing and sinible something succulent and silky. When you pull a perfectly steamed or slow -baked thigh and does it virtually destroy yourself? This is not an accident. This is science, baby.

Key techniques of perfectly “over -cooked” chicken

The USDA tells us that 165 ° F is a safe minimum internal temperature for all poultry. What Don't always follow this advice on white meatwhich is cooked rather than lower (and indisputably the same safe 150 ° F). But this is the minimum for dark meat.

Here's what really happens on key temperature zones:

• 165 ° F: The meat is safe and completely opaque, but it still sticks to the bone. A little chewy, unpleasant slippery texture. It can be used, but not remarkable.
• 175 ° F: Noticeable improvement. More fat is released, coating the meat and results in a more juicy bite. More gentle. Sweet patch if you need time.
• 185-195 ° F: We are talking now. The meat falls off the bone and with saturated fats and gelatin. Rich and deep chicken in the best way, although the risk of dehydration is also there if you do not use the right technique
• 195-200 ° F: Enters the area of ​​the drawn chicken. It's okay to make something like tacos or enchiladas, but be careful – 210 ° F, and the texture turns stringed and dry, no matter how much connection it started.

If the dark meat can be beyond 190 ° F, it requires some delicacy without drying out. The goal is gentle, persistent heat. In the 140 ° F – 190 ° F, the meat wants to be kept for quite some time to melt the connective tissue without injuring the outside and drying the muscle fibers.

Here are the best methods for this:

• Stare. Low and slow stove or baking tape provides moisture, flavor and heating at the same time in stock, wine or tomato sauce. Bonus: Fruit juices are thickened with all gelatins, no roux is required.
• Fry in the oven is low and slow. Forget 425 ° F. Go 300 ° F and let him ride. The skin may not be crisp, but the interior will be unbeatable. In addition, I outlined the following methods to solve the crunchy skin problem.
• Grill with indirect heat. Stir the hay or turn off the burner and cook the chicken on the grid's refrigerator side by closing the cover. This is the secret of the Ultra-tender barbecue drums.
• Sous video. Do you want absolute control? Cook your thighs sous video at 165 ° F -170 ° F for a few hours, then give them a quick SEAR. You get the least juicy meat of your life.

But what about crunchy skin?

Yes, this is true: low and slow cooking does not give crispy golden skin. But that does not mean that we accept the fluffy results. The best step for crispy skin is to finish with a SEAR. The steamed legs can be run quickly under the broiler or stroked in a hot pan to blast the skin. For fried or grilled chicken legs at the end, they blast them with high heat to get this gold crunch.

Use a thermometer. Always.

For years, I have cooked in restaurant cuisine, serving roasted chicken trays and thigh mountains without gluing the thermometer. I didn't have to – I did so many times that I could tell the meat under the pliers that it was drawn to the bone, even with the Sizz and the scent, exactly when it happened. Repetition encourages your instinct.

But unless you cook hundreds (or thousands of) chicken legs, there is zero shame in using the thermometer. At home, this is one of the most useful tools. No fiction, no slicing into the meat to check. Just a quick, accurate reading telling when the chicken is ready.

Glue the thermometer probe to the thickest part of the thigh, avoiding the bone (which drops the measurement) and wait a few seconds. It seeks 185-195 ° F for the Pull-Part Texture we talked about.

The one can be taken

The next time you cook a thigh or drum, do not panic when the temperature rises above 165 ° F. Its purpose, then go on it. Because when he “overcoars” his dark meat in the right way, it really release its entire potential: gentle, juicy and autumn wonderful. It is not over -cooked – it is perfectly cooked.