Amanda Freitag Is Begging You To Stop Eating Dry Chicken
"Chopped" judge Amanda Freitag is on a mission to rescue all of us from eating dry chicken. You know what we are talking about. The kind of meat that is so dry you need a gallon of water or wine next to your dish as you try to graciously chew through it. But Freitag says there is no reason anyone should be cooking, let alone, eating dry chicken. That rings especially when you consider how much of this bird we eat in a year. According to Taste Inc., on average, each American gobbles up an eye-popping 201 pounds of chicken on a yearly basis. That is approximately 8 billion chickens.
Well, put aside the gravy and sauces we use to cover up that dry, chewy chicken because Freitag is showing us how to do this bird right. The celebrity chef took to her Twitter account to get her followers' attention, tweeting, "STOP eating dry chicken! Sometimes the simplest things are the most challenging, and that rings true for chicken. Everyone always asks me, "How do you make sure you cook it perfectly?" So, let's walk through it together. It's #EasyAF!" Additionally, Freitag shared a link to a YouTube video in which she demonstrates the ins and outs of cooking juicy chicken while offering her best chef tips.
Meat thermometer is key
On an episode of her online cooking series, "It's Easy AF," Freitag assures viewers learning to cook chicken right will be "life-changing" as she walks them through a little Chicken Cooking 101 to help ensure every bite of your bird is juicy and delicious. Freitag acknowledges cooking chicken comes with a lot of anxiety, but it shouldn't. Her first suggestion is to get your pan hot and set aside a bowl for your seasonings so you don't have to worry about dirty hands handling your salt and seasoning containers. Once you have that, you will want to season both sides of the chicken. Freitag also says you want to drizzle oil onto your chicken not onto the pan.
When you place your chicken into the hot pan, you should hear a sizzle. Patience is a virtue at this point because what you are doing is creating golden sear marks on both sides of your meat that seal in the juices. Once you have those beautiful grill-like marks, the chicken goes into the oven, but this is where Freitag offers the most pro tip of them all. She says you need a meat thermometer to stick into the thickest part of the chicken. If you get a reading of 165 F – the USDA's recommended cooking temperature for poultry – and the juices are running clear, you are ready to slice up your chicken and get to eating.