Baking chicken in the oven would seem like a snap. Meanwhile, if you do not adhere to some rules, the chicken may not be very tasty cooked. A few tips for choosing and cooking chicken in the oven will help any housewife not only bake delicious chicken, but also teach her pets.
How not to be mistaken in choosing chicken for baking in the oven
- For baking, it is better to choose not frozen, but chilled medium-sized chicken. Chicken that is too large may not cook well and may not have tender or tender meat.
- Do not choose lean chickens in the market - they have tasteless meat. The chicken's muscle tissue should be well developed, it should be "plump". The chicken breast should be round, without a protruding bone.
- The chicken skin should be pinkish-yellow in color, even. Meat and fat should be the same even, without spots. Openly yellow fat in chicken is undesirable, it should be milky white, with a slight shade of yellow.
- If the skin color of the chicken is grayish, and the muscle fibers are uneven, with spots, the chicken will not be tasty.
- When buying chicken, smell it. Quality chicken meat has a raw, pleasant sweetish smell.
- Before placing the chicken in the oven, you need to prepare it: ossify it over the fire, wash it, dip it with a napkin, rub it with spices and salt, and let it sit for 20-30 minutes.
How to choose the right baking dish
- Cast iron or ceramic dishes with high sides are great for baking chicken. It warms up evenly, so the chicken will not burn, but will be baked evenly.
- Glass or metal containers are suitable for baking: a baking sheet or stewpan. Cooking in them, of course, is not as convenient as in ceramic and cast-iron containers, so. pay attention to the temperature regime so that the chicken does not burn, it is baked evenly.
- Those who want to do without the hassle of baking chicken at all should pay attention to special baking devices: for example, a deep container with a cone in the middle, or - a metal stand for vertical baking.
- Chicken can be baked on a wire rack, but then you cannot cook it with baked vegetables, potatoes. There will be significantly fewer cooking options.
- Another way is a chicken on a can. To do this, you need a pallet (it can be a regular baking sheet). Fill a narrow tapering jar with water and place the chicken on top. The chicken will cook and the steam from the can will make the meat tender.
How much to cook chicken and at what temperature
- According to the "classic", chicken baked in the oven is considered ready when the temperature inside its carcass reaches 85 degrees. But, since most chefs do not have special thermometers, the readiness of the chicken is determined by external signs, which will be discussed below. The main thing is to follow the rules that will lead to the desired result.
- Before putting the chicken in the oven, preheat the oven well to 180-200 degrees, at this temperature, 1 kg of chicken is baked in 40 minutes.
- How cooked the chicken is can be determined by poking it with a fork or toothpick in the breast area. If there is blood or turbidity in the released liquid, take it out of the oven early, but if a clear liquid is released from the hole, the chicken is ready.
- It is impossible to overexpose the chicken in a preheated oven, as its meat will acquire an unpleasant smell of burnt fat and an unpleasant aftertaste. It will become too dry, lose its tenderness and juiciness.
