Here I want to tell you about Chicken Doneness and Safety,
The absolute safety of food can never be assured, and mass production and wide distribution makes under-cooking any food somewhat risky.
But among poultry products is a special case, because sampling estimates that up to 25 percent, maybe even more, of supermarket birds contain the potentially harmful bacteria salmonella.
Salmonella is killed by cooking chicken until it is fully done. You can reliably judge this in two ways: The easiest and surest is to use an instant-read thermometer; poke it into the breast in two or three places (don’t touch the bone), then into the thigh (again, avoiding the bone), and, finally, if you’re cooking a whole bird, into the joint between the thigh and lower leg. I recommend an internal temperature of 165°F in all these places.
An instant-read thermometer for meat is a very usefull tools for cooking, specially for birds and pork.
Here is an example of good quality therm :
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| You can find this item here in My List of Must-Have Utensils & Tool to Cook Your Chicken |
Like all meat, though, chicken continues to cook after you take it off the heat. And from a flavor standpoint, you don’t want to overcook; it’s unusual for overcooked chicken to be anything but dry and chewy. On the other hand, of course you want to make your chicken safe.
So here’s my compromise: To avoid overcooking, I remove chicken when the temperature is below the “safe”level and let the chicken rest for 5 or 10 minutes before serving—basically the time it takes to serve it. And I’ve never had a problem.
So here’s my compromise: To avoid overcooking, I remove chicken when the temperature is below the “safe”level and let the chicken rest for 5 or 10 minutes before serving—basically the time it takes to serve it. And I’ve never had a problem.
If you want chicken that tastes its best, pull it off the heat at 155°F; if you care about chicken that’s absolutely safe, take it off the heat at 165°F. If you want some sort of balance between the two, remove the bird at around 160°F.(This is less of an issue with chicken parts, which cook quickly and almost inevitably to 165°F, than it is with whole chicken, where some parts cook faster than others.)
You can also check for doneness visually by making as mall cut in any section, right down to the bone; a tinge of pink is acceptable (again, because the meat will finish cooking completely by the time you get it to the table),but you should see no red whatsoever. Again, if you want to be really sure, wait until the meat is white at the bone.
When the chicken is done, don’t let it touch marinades or anything else that came into contact with it before cooking (unless, in the case of marinades, you boil them while you’re cooking the chicken).
I hope my tips will help you to enjoy your favourite meat, safely and healthy cooked :)
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