Wet Chicken - Help?????

[RUSTYSMOM]

I cannot figure out what could cause this. Last night I was sauting chicken stips in olive oil for a pasta with chicken and brocolli dish. The pan was suddenly filled (not really filled - about 1/2c) with chicken juice?? What would cause this? This is not the first time this has happeneed. The recipe calls to brown the chicken and mine is practically steamed??

It tasted fine - but I think this is odd. I welcome your insights!

TIA.

[Don]

Well, two things could have happened. The pan may not have been hot enough, in which case the juices ran out of the chicken before the outside was seared. Or, you got a piece of chicken where the processing plant added way too much water. One of the biggest complaints that I hear from foreign friends is that American meat processors inject their meats with broth or water to increase the weight. As a result, when you get a piece of meat with excess moisture, you inevitably end up steaming the meat. I've done it many times myself. Unfortunately, I haven't heard how to fix the problem.

[This message has been edited by Don (edited 01-28-2001).]

[Luiza]

As Don said, this particular piece of chicken had too much water it it. I don't know if the meat is injected with water per se, but I know that most fresh chicken meat is transported in cold water to the grocery stores because it is cheaper that way. A side effect is, of course, that the chicken weighs more and you end up paying more.

As for the solution, I usually buy chicken that is transported air-chilled; it is a bit more expensive but worth it. Look for brand names of packaged chicken, some specifically say "no water added". And it is true that meat here tastes differently. Over the holidays, I cooked Kashmiri Chicken in Romania, and you could taste the chicken very strongly underneath the ton of indian spices. I was very surprised, and for the longest time I kept trying to figure out what I did wrong, while everybody was praising the chicken http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif

Luiza


[This message has been edited by Luiza (edited 01-28-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Luiza (edited 01-28-2001).]

[TamiK]

Another possibility (although not nearly as interesting as picturing chicken doing the "breast-stroke" on the way to the store http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif) is that the pan was just overcrowded. When browning meat, if you get too much in the pan at once, it does steam instead of brown. You might try browning in two batches and see if that does the trick.