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Open Thread 200

2009_03_24-Open.jpgWelcome 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.

 
 

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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!

posted by reggiesoang on March 24th 2009 at 10:31am
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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.

posted by HannahS on March 24th 2009 at 11:22am
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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

posted by chusmabilly on March 24th 2009 at 12:05pm
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@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.

posted by Michelle of Montreal on March 24th 2009 at 12:40pm
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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.

posted by bebklyn on March 24th 2009 at 6:45pm
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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.

posted by purdygirl on March 25th 2009 at 10:17am
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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?

posted by brianmac on March 27th 2009 at 7:17pm
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Brianmac, was it green zebra ?

posted by bubble on March 28th 2009 at 2:09am
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Yes it was...Thanks!

posted by brianmac on March 29th 2009 at 8:35pm
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