Hey guys, welcome back to Basics with Babish. Where this week we're going to take the first of many looks at chicken. We're gonna take a whole bird and break it down into its core components. And then we're gonna take a look at one of the most perplexing pieces of poultry for a new chef in the kitchen: the chicken breast. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "This is dry, this is stringy, this is flavorless." We're gonna solve all those today with a juicy, tender, flavorful, crispy chicken breast with a rich lemony pan sauce. Let's get down to basics. *Basics with Babish intro* Episode Five: Chicken Breast So first things first we're gonna learn how to break down a whole bird. We've got a few key parts to focus on here. We got the wings ,the breasts, the thighs, and the drumsticks. Let's start by removing the wings, we're going to spread the wing wide. Make an incision along the wide flat flap of skin down to the joint. Once we get down to the joint, we're going to break it open like so, so we can see the separation between the two bones. Run our knife between them and separate the wing from the chicken. Easy as that, now it's time to remove the spine using a pair of sharp kitchen shears. Make cuts along each side of the spine staying, as close to the center of the chicken as you can. You don't want to cut Into the thigh, that is going to make the meat separate from the bone. Now, once we've removed the spine, hang on to it because that's gonna be good for sauce or stock-making, but that's another show. For now, we're gonna make a small incision down the center of the breastbone so we can crack it open and voila! We have a spatchcock chicken. This is great for roasting whole, but again, that's another show. For now, we're breaking down this chicken You're gonna find that it's very easy to separate the thigh and drumstick from the breasts. There are no joints or sinew, And it should be very easy to run your knife along the side of the breast Separating the thigh from the body of the chicken. Now to separate the breasts into two We're simply going to press our knife hard down the center of the breast bone, cutting it into two airline chicken breasts. This is what we'll be cooking today, but we're not quite done yet We're going to separate the drumstick from the thigh by cutting down between the two down to the joint, breaking it open exposing the space between the bones running our knife in between them and Separating. It really is just as easy as that. In a few simple steps you have converted a whole chicken into pieces for deep frying, grilling, or in this case, pan roasting. Chicken breasts tend to confound home cooks. They often end up dry or tough or sporting a nice stringy layer on the outside But bone-in skin-on chicken breasts like these have protection from those dastardly detriments. We're going to place the chicken skin-side down in the hot oiled skillet. The goal here is to get our skin nice and crispy brown so we can flip and place in a 400 degree fahrenheit oven to finish. It's almost like how we reverse sear our steaks, but in reverse. Attempting to cook these chicken breasts to completion solely on the stovetop would decimate them. This way, we are crisping up the skin and Gently coaxing the meat up to a hundred and sixty degrees Fahrenheit And as you can see we are forming some beautiful fond in the bottom of our pot, so we're gonna start, much like the one we did for steak, but this time with shallots, sherry, chicken stock, and some freshly chopped herbs I'm going with thyme and sage. Cook this down as usual until it reaches an almost syrupy consistency I want the liquid almost entirely evaporated at which point, you guessed it, we're gonna add a whole bunch of butter. And to cut through all the richness of the wine and the butter, a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice Continue to cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and the sauce is thick Just like that and now it's time to carve and serve our chicken I like to cut right underneath the breast between the bone and the meat this is going to serve as our sort of miniature serving platter. Slice the chicken on the bias into nice little medallions, making sure to maintain that lovely crisp skin, and plate up right back on top of the bone for easy eating. And of course, topped with our unctuous pan sauce. This is one of those dishes that kind of reminds you how good chicken can be. Sometimes you go to a restaurant and you're blown away because you got the chicken, because you're trying to be healthy, and it turned out to be one of the best things you've ever eaten. Now, it's time to try to make it at home. Enjoy I'll see you guys next week when we can make this together over at twitch.tv/bingingwithbabish on Thursday, December 14th
He buried the lede a bit in this video. It's there, but not enough emphasis is made.
The reason most people's chicken breast is dry is they overcook it. They pull it at 165F, which is already overcooked but people do it because of poorly conveyed regulatory guidelines and a misunderstanding of pasteurization. They're often taking temp with shitty bimetal thermometers that are already reading low. Then carryover cooking takes it up even further. Or worse, they cut into it to check visually.
Using a fast-read digital thermometer like a Thermapen and trying to keep your chicken around 160F final temp is what makes chicken breast awesome.
How long do you put in the 400 degree oven for?
It looks like he cut the wings too short, they should be "N" shaped, not "V" shaped. If you're going to cut off a bit it should be the pointy end part.
u/OliverBabish do you ever brine the chicken before cooking? Is that something you'd recommend?
"But that's another show."
OBVIOUSLY hinting that Alton Brown will be dropping by for next week's live stream or the stock episode.
As usual a great video.
However, I've never seen chicken breast with bone/skin in any store I shop at here in Belgium & buying an entire chicken just for the 2 breasts for 1 meal seems like a waste of money.
I've tried to make this a few times since the video came out. The chicken is cooking great, but I can't seem to get a thick sauce without ending up with a tiny volume of thick, caramel-y sauce in a pool of oil.
I'm not using a great pan and used skinless breast, so I'm not getting a ton of fond. I also wonder if Babish is using a stock with more collagen than I am.
In general, I'm getting a lot of use out of this (changed my diet and was looking for more ways to cook chicken), but am struggling to figure out the consistency on the sauce. Not sure how much is because of my substitutions or because of technique.
Babbish, what about us nerds who don’t have the time or availability to carve a whole chicken and only have boneless, skinless chicken boobs to work with?
Is he using a 3qt or 5qt All Clad skillet?