Perhaps one reason society is more accepting of red and pink hues in steaks is that beef can be safely cooked to varying degrees of doneness. There is no such thing as medium-rare chicken. Nevertheless, too many cooks overcook their chicken for fear of undercooking it. Overcooked chicken is just like overcooked beef: dry, tough, and less flavorful than properly-cooked meat. Regardless of the type of meat being cooked, the higher the doneness temperature, the more juices will be lost and the less tender the results will be.
Properly gauging the internal temperature of meats, including chicken, is the only way to guarantee safe and juicy results every single time. This instant death for foodborne pathogens is recommended for poultry because even the most stubborn salmonella bacteria will be completely pasteurized at this temperature. If so, you might need to read our complete guide to chicken temps to brush up on the nuances of bacterial kill times.
Leg meat needs to be cooked to higher temperatures than the leaner and more delicate breast meat because it contains more connective tissue that needs time at high temps to dissolve properly. This higher temperature will ensure that the dark meat becomes tender and juicy.
Even at this higher temperature, the meat still appeared quite pink. One common but inaccurate method of verifying the doneness of chicken is to cut into the meat and watch to be sure all of the juices are running clear. When probing chicken over the grill or in the oven, we sometimes look for anything pink in the meat as a clear indication that its not yet properly cooked.
The fact of the matter is that depending upon where you probe your chicken, the color of the meat or juices may never be free of pink, red, or even purple tones. The chickens available at grocery stores that we purchase are usually between 6 and 8 weeks of age. The bone marrow inside of chicken bones is purplish and can often permeate through soft, porous chicken bones pictured at right. The liquid contained in the mass of a chicken expands during freezing, including the bone marrow.
Myoglobin is another culprit for the purple and red colors found in poultry. It is a richly pigmented protein that delivers oxygen to cells to muscle fibers. However, due to carry over cooking, if you pull the chicken breast once it reaches an internal temperature of approximately F, the chicken will retain heat and continue to rise in temperature to reach the necessary F without overcooking and drying out the meat.
Chicken thighs and all chicken dark meat tend to taste better when cooked to a higher temperature— to F—due to their higher amounts of connective tissue. Cooking thigh meat to F will yield chewy, rubbery meat, but at to F, it will be tender and juicy as the collagen melts and turns to gelatin.
The following steps for roasting a whole chicken will yield white and dark meat that is tender, succulent, and properly cooked. During the resting period, you'll see the temperature on the digital probe display continue to rise and then fall.
When it completes its rise and eventually dips down to F, it's ready to carve. Because the temperature of a roasted chicken continues to rise for several minutes after taking it out of the oven, if you pull it out when the breast is F and let it rest for 30 minutes, that breast meat will remain above F for more than the required 8.
Likewise with the dark meat, which will eventually peak at around F, which is more than sufficient for the collagen in the meat to break down, ensuring tender, juicy, flavorful dark meat. Bear in mind that the times and temperatures above refer only to roasting a whole chicken. It's the overall mass of the whole chicken that allows it to hold those temperatures during the resting time.
If you tried roasting an individual chicken breast, it wouldn't work the same way. There is one technique that is perfect for cooking individual cuts of chicken to a certain temperature and holding them at that temperature. How long at ? Just start your KK at hot as you can get it before placing the chicken and bringing the temp down.
I tried this and somehow I did something wrong as well I would like to know what to do once the chicken hits I understand leaving the chicken rest at at 8 minutes and let the chicken rest for 10 minutes afterwards.
The question is once the chicken hits , is the chicken taken out? I learned so much from this. I never knew that you could spread contaminated water in your kitchen if you rinse your chicken. Track Your Order. Account Specials Search for: Search Button. Jump to Recipe. Line a sheet pan with heavy-duty foil and place a V-rack or cooling rack on the pan. Suspending the chicken above the pan is important to allow for air circulation around the entire bird.
Comments This is a well written article with great info and supporting links that should satisfy the biggest cooking geek. I am definitely going to give this a try on our next roasted chicken. Can this same procedure be used for roasting turkey? Thanks for your comment, -Kim. Gary, Just start your KK at hot as you can get it before placing the chicken and bringing the temp down. Create a personalised ads profile.
Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Featured Video. Read More.
0コメント