Welcome to The Kitchn's 200th Open Thread! Thanks for talking, sharing, asking questions, and giving us all good ideas for the last 199. March is Meat/Un-Meat Month, and we're closing it out with poultry this week. Any cooking questions? Discuss here.




i have been making chicken teriyaki recently but i am having the hardest time to get flavor into chicken breast. i have try pan searing and then finishing it in the oven, and I have also tried poaching the meat on top of the sauce (after searing both sides), but nothing seems to work besides slathering on a lot of sauce, as my friends have suggested. So, my question is...how do you get flavor into your chicken breast? Thanks everyone!
view reggiesoang's profile
I recently tried brining a chicken breast. I can't remember if that's been discussed this month, but I'm a convert. I put a breast in with lots of salt and some sugar dissolved in water in a ziplock bag and refrigerated it for about 45 minutes. It made a big difference- the chicken wasn't dry like usual.
view HannahS's profile
Reggie - would you want to maybe poke a few slits in the breast and marinate with the teriyaki sauce? That's the one problem about chicken - Lot of the times, the flavor stays on the skin/surface.
Anyone have a good recipe for a pink sauce? My friend and I will be making homemade pasta on Wed and he suggested a pink sauce with shrimp to go with. I found a recipe below (says it's Marcella Hazan), but there's not much feedback on it.
http://www.recipezaar.com/Pink-Shrimp-Sauce-for-Pasta-224543
view chusmabilly's profile
@reggie - marination is key to getting flavour into meat. I'd recommend filleting the chicken breasts to reduce the overall thickness and letting the meat sit in the sauce overnight. The marinade can then be cooked (perhaps with a little water added) to make the sauce for serving.
@chusmabilly - the linked recipe is almost exactly what I use for a rosée pasta sauce. I add crushed tomatoes instead of tomato paste, but either is fine. I also add a generous splash of red vermouth to the sauce for flavour.
view Michelle of Montreal's profile
reggiesoang - make sure you have good pink free-range chicken, which is more flavorful. then marinate overnight. if you want more chicken flavor and juiciness, cook whole on the bone, more teriyaki flavor in the meat, use boneless breasts, you could even pound or use cutlets for more surface area.
view bebklyn's profile
chusmabilly:
start with sauteing a clove or two of garlic. add two cans of diced tomatos. add to that one package of cream cheese. once melted into the sauce, let it reduce a little bit. add about 12 leaves of roughly chopped basil. garnish with basil, serve with garlic bread. so simple and soooooooo good.
view purdygirl's profile
so un-meat
i just went to the garden market and picked up a container of multi-colored grape tomatoes. There were red, green, yellow, orange and a few that looked just like a watermelon. Does anyone know what this tomato was? It was delicious and I've never seen them before. It had a really intense tomato flavor without an acidic undertone....any ideas?
view brianmac's profile
Brianmac, was it green zebra ?
view bubble's profile
Yes it was...Thanks!
view brianmac's profile