How to cook chicken

[Zergling]

I'm interested in a way to cook chicken without producing lots of smoke. I live in a pretty small apartment, and when cooking chicken it has often smoked up very badly.

I've so far tried just heating it in a pan, and using olive oil to avoid sticking (My mom suggested this). Both oil and non-oil tend to produce lots of smoke. I'm not sure if putting it in the oven to bake would produce more or less, since some other food I';ve cooked that way have also produced a lot of smoke, though I could see that being the way to go. If boiling in water works, I may also give that a try. However, I'd rather hear something from other people before trying anything.

 

[rhinosaur]

Reduce the heat?

 

[ptgatsby]

Reduce the heat?

Yessss.... And use the right oil - they all have a smoking temperature (you aren't using virgin oil, are you?)... use canola over virgin, and sunflower/peanut/corn oil over olive oil if it's still a problem.

Keep the temperature below 400 regardless if you are frying or similar.

But if you are baking, there is no way it should be smoking. The only way this should happen (and that goes for frying too) is if you are heating something too high... something that shouldn't be heated that high - coatings and oil are the two that are most likely in frying.

 

[cafe]

Oven-frying is a good way to go. The only way it smokes is if you have stuff dripped in the bottom of the oven. Not that I would know anything about that. I like to use "Baking Miracle" to bread it. It's pretty yummy stuff and the box has directions.

 

[Randomnity]

I usually roast mine and it never smokes unless I forget about it and cook it too long and the drippings burn.

I imagine it would help to get leaner meat too...I think it's the fat that causes smoking.

Actually even if you are frying it shouldn't smoke....use a nonstick pan so you don't need to use much oil, keep it on medium heat. I don't think I remember mine smoking noticeably. If you move it often enough so it doesn't stick, you can even get by with just some cooking oil spray, which shouldn't smoke at all.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

As for cooking it in a pan on the stove, these should keep it from smoking:

1. Use a skillet or saute pan with a lid.
2. Use medium high heat. If your stove is a 1-10 scale, use 6 or 7.
3. Use peanut oil or safflower oil. They're healthy and won't smoke.
4. Don't use too much oil. A tablespoon or two should be plenty to cook 8 pieces (a full chicken) in a skillet.

But I recommend roasting. If you have a 3.5-4 lb. chicken, this is what you do. Take a quarter stick of softened butter and mix it with your favorite spices. Salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and rosemary work well. Work that butter mixture inside the skin of the chicken all over the bird. Breasts, legs, everything. Slather the remainder that's on your hands all over the outside of the chicken. Put the chicken on a roasting rack and roast back side up for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. Turn the heat up to 450, turn the chicken breast side up, and roast for about 20 more minutes. It's done when a meat thermometer in the breast comes out at 160 degrees. Most importantly, after you take the chicken out of the oven, do not slice it or even touch it for 10 minutes to let the juices settle. Otherwise you'll get dry chicken.

If your bird is heavier than 4 lbs, leave it in a little longer. The true test of when it's done is the 160 degree reading in the breast.

If this causes your oven to smoke, you have a dirty oven

 

[Geoff]

Here's another option - a smoker bag. Available in most big grocery stores. Put the whole chicken in the sealed bag and bake in the oven. It smokes and is sealed. Nothing comes out of the bag!

Tasty, too.

-geoff

 

[Oberon]

All I can say is, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the chicken.

 

[Sahara]

All I can say is, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the chicken.

I could see how that would cause a burning friction, good advice.

 

[Zergling]

My mom actually suggested some of the same stuff you guys did. (I asked her during a recent call.), so I'll probably just bake or measure the oil carefully if I eat plain chicken again. (Mostly I just use it in soup or curry types of things, or on tacos, where I can cut it into small pieces and it doesn't smoke too much anyway.)

 

[Oberon]

Olive oil smokes at a very low temp; almost any other oil would be a better choice.

 

[prplchknz]

I don't know how to cook chicken except for how everyone else said.

But when I first saw the title I had to do a double take because, I swore it said "How to cook children" Not that I want to cook or eat children I'm just curious how one would cook a child.

 

[whiteraven]

One word:
Slow cooker.
Oops, that is two. Get a slow cooker and put a layer of onions in the bottom so the chicken does not stick. Put it on low while you are gone for the day. Remove the chicken and make gravy...if you want the recipe for slow cooker gravy, I'll look it up. Perfect.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

I don't know how to cook chicken except for how everyone else said.

But when I first saw the title I had to do a double take because, I swore it said "How to cook children" Not that I want to cook or eat children I'm just curious how one would cook a child.

I bet there is an excellent recipe somewhere in the collected works of Edward Gorey.

 

[The Ü™]

I don't know how to cook chicken except for how everyone else said.

But when I first saw the title I had to do a double take because, I swore it said "How to cook children" Not that I want to cook or eat children I'm just curious how one would cook a child.

I swore it said that, too. I learned how to cook chicken when I worked at McDonald's. Children, however, sound quite delicious!

Here is the story of a man who enjoyed Asian food!