Feb 26, 2009
Eat to live
Breast meat juiced up
Brining the meat before cooking adds moisture and flavour to unexciting chicken breast, says SYLVIA TAN
Chicken breast is a great and healthy cut of meat, but it has few fans because it is often dry and flavourless after cooking.
Well, I have found a foolproof way to make even lean meats such as chicken breast and pork loin moist and flavourful. You brine the meats before cooking.
The method is not really new - it came into prominence a few years ago when people started to brine turkeys before roasting them, in order to improve the taste of the unpopular though healthy meat.
The problem with trying it out here is that our turkeys come frozen and already brined (or at least injected with butter) and few of us have refrigerators large enough to accommodate a whole turkey for a couple of days, which is the length of time it takes to brine a big bird.
However, a chicken breast is manageable. So I tried it out with a simple solution of salt, sugar and water and roasted the breast afterwards.
The results were amazing. The meat was moist and flavourful and did not really need the dressing that I had also prepared for the chicken.
I served the meat with some roasted artichokes, which you can get bottled from gourmet supermarkets. I do love artichokes but the salad was a knockout because of the moist chicken and without one of those hateful creamy dressings associated with chicken salads found in many cafes.
It also solves my problem of finding daily recipes to satisfy my family's penchant these days for low carbohydrate meals that are filling and satisfying to the palate.
What brining does is that it delivers moisture and flavour right into the centre of the meat. According to Russ Parsons, who has written a fascinating book on the chemistry of cooking called How To Read A French Fry, the salt in the brine swells the meat fibres allowing the water to penetrate and be retained during cooking. Salt also seasons the meat not just on the surface, but right through.
It is easy enough to attempt. All you need to do is to begin the preparation earlier. I brined the chicken breast for a couple of hours, but you can do it overnight or even days before. However, be warned that the longer you brine, the saltier the meat will be.
As for the artichokes, you could roast them yourself if you can find the small fresh ones on sale, but the bottled ones are delicious and convenient. The oil in which they are bottled also makes a very flavourful dressing for the salad, so all told it is better in this case to buy than to make it from scratch. Added to the salad, they will help to win back fans for chicken breast.
Sylvia Tan is a freelance writer
Dashi recipe a fortnight ago:
The correct recipe for dashi should be 10g kombu (kelp), 60g dried bonito flakes to 1000ml of water. I apologise for this error and thank the readers who pointed this out.
RECIPE
ROASTED CHICKEN AND ARTICHOKE SALAD (For 3-4)
Brine:
2 cups water
1 tbs salt
1 tsp sugar
2 chicken breasts, bone-in
Dressing:
1 cup artichoke olive oil
1 tbs white wine vinegar
Pinch of salt and sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Salad:
Bottled roasted artichokes, available from gourmet supermarkets
1 head butter lettuce
A handful of rocket leaves
2 tomatoes, quartered
Spring onions, chopped
Method:
Make the brine. Stir till sugar and salt dissolves. Put the chicken breast into the solution, cover and leave in the fridge for at least two hours, if not overnight.
Heat oven to 200 deg C. Remove chicken from the brine and pat dry. Make the dressing.
Coat chicken breasts with the dressing and place in a dry frying pan to sear for about 10mins. Do not move it around as you want a crust to form.
Remove and place in a baking tray and continue to cook in the oven for another 15 to 20mins. Check by piercing meat to see if juices run clear. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5mins.
Make the salad with butter lettuce and rocket leaves. Slice the chicken meat and halve the artichokes. Place the chicken and artichokes on the bed of salad leaves and garnish with tomatoes and spring onion.
Drizzle the remaining salad dressing over and serve.
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