my worst and the ugly...


 
Tony R

Tony R

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Here is my problem. My wife will only eat boneless chicken. She wants the bone to be clean and doesnt want any red on it.( Her mom made the worst chicken when she was growing up and made her eat.) A local chicken place here in CALI called pollo loco makes it perfect and I have never seen any red marks on the bones. Here was my experiment and I did achieve the clean bone but it was over cooked and I had to pull and make tacos. Please help if anyone has tips. It was a disaster and got ugly at times....

So I seared the chicken..

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Then got a cast iron dish with a bed of onion and a little chicken broth and a little olive oil

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While I was inside the chicken caught fire :mad:
I had to remove the burnt skin.. I covered with foil and let it be for an hour.

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I got the results my wife wanted but it was overcooked.


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I had no choice but to get a tortilla which I burnt and put a bed of salad and added the pulled chicken(which was good) and croutons and ranch dresssing.

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How can I grill the perfect chicken my wife wants?
 
Hummmm good question ...I have one of those too...El pollo was right around the corner from her house...try boneless chicken thighs...that's been my solution. They are now our favorite and almost impossible to mess up!

If it helps I'd eat all that chicken and look for more..
 
My Wife is the same way. I like to cook thighs and I always cook them to an internal temp of 185*F. They turn out just fine at that temp. With chicken quarters I split them at the joint because that is the hardest part to not have any red.
 
Looks pretty juicy to me (not over cooked).

First no red on the tri tip and now this?!
I suggest a blindfold applied at the dinner table. :p

I'm gonna say a little trial and error. maybe some help from a meat thermometer. Getting a whole bird to cook uniformly can be a bit tough. Even those quarters might do better with another cut separating the leg and the thigh.

It's not your fault!... Show your wife this (from the Chicago tribune):
Q-Recently, I coated some chicken legs with Shake n` Bake and prepared them as the package directed. Inside, the meat was bloody even though the chicken was fully cooked. Obviously, the kids wouldn`t touch it. What causes this?

H. Sanderson, Bensenville

A-Blame it on youth-the chickens` that is. Steve Pretanik, director of science and technology for the National Broiler Council, quickly acknowledged the problem you describe. It is the direct result of younger chickens being sent to market, he said.

Chickens which are sold as broiler/fryers typically are slaughtered between 6 to 8 weeks of age. Outwardly they appear fully mature, but their bones haven`t completely calcified. As a result, the bone mass is very porous. Deeply colored pigment from the bone marrow migrates to the surface and often is visible along the bone and the meat that is immediately attached to the bone.

Home freezing of fresh chickens exacerbates the problem. The marrow expands inside the bones as the chicken freezes and eventually pushes through to the surface. When chickens are frozen commercially, the freezing process is quicker and therefore cuts down on the likelihood of the marrow seeping through the bones.

The meat still is perfectly wholesome, Pretanik said, and the marrow is safe and even nutritious to eat. He noted, however, that the industry is addressing the problem, hoping to solve it through nutrition and genetics.
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Morgan C. said:
Hummmm good question ...I have one of those too...El pollo was right around the corner from her house...try boneless chicken thighs...that's been my solution. They are now our favorite and almost impossible to mess up!

If it helps I'd eat all that chicken and look for more..
Click to expand...

I do the boneless thighs too.. But I get stubborn and want to make it like pollo loco.
 
John Solak said:
My Wife is the same way. I like to cook thighs and I always cook them to an internal temp of 185*F. They turn out just fine at that temp. With chicken quarters I split them at the joint because that is the hardest part to not have any red.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip John.
 
Joe InJersey said:
Looks pretty juicy to me (not over cooked).

First no red on the tri tip and now this?!
I suggest a blindfold applied at the dinner table. :p

I'm gonna say a little trial and error. maybe some help from a meat thermometer. Getting a whole bird to cook uniformly can be a bit tough. Even those quarters might do better with another cut separating the leg and the thigh.

It's not your fault!... Show your wife this (from the Chicago tribune):
Click to expand...

Thanks Joe I will. But I will tell you it will be hard to convince. I get her to come out and see the temps on the food but you know sometimes I can't win and I always satisfy my wife.
 
Making a couple of cuts in the leg and the thigh will allow heat to penetrate easier and should help.
 
John Solak said:
My Wife is the same way. I like to cook thighs and I always cook them to an internal temp of 185*F. They turn out just fine at that temp. With chicken quarters I split them at the joint because that is the hardest part to not have any red.
Click to expand...
I do the same as John and sometimes they creep a little higher than 185. I do this with wings too and no red on the bones at all.
In reality it is me looking for the "blood" instead of my wife, so I cook em where I know it will be gone.
 
Maybe send her this article to try and change her mind?

http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Bloody-chik.html

TL;DR version: Young chickens have bloody bones when already overcooked - Signs of blood are not an indicator of being undercooked, only temperature tells you when chicken is done.

FYI - Chicken cooked to 155F is way, WAY better than 185F.
 
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I always do my butterfled whole birds indirect in the middle with the char baskets on each side and a drip pan in the middle, when the temp in the breast reaches 160 I throw it on the coals for just a minute or so each side, my target grill temp is 350 which is usually right on with 2 full charbaskets, comes out perfect every time.
 
Tony, something that I picked up on here for the leg quarters (which I love) is to grab the leg with one hand and the thigh with the other, and bend/twist until you break the joint between the two. You'll feel it pop. That helps it cook more uniformly, and I haven't had the pink liquid come out of the middle since then. Another thing that helps for me is to cook them on the WSM, lower grate with no water bowl. When they are just about done, I'll take out the middle section and put the top grate and chicken right over the coals to crisp the skin. You get the "well done" look on the outside (which might placate your wife) while still having meat that isn't overcooked.
 
John Solak said:
With chicken quarters I split them at the joint because that is the hardest part to not have any red.
Click to expand...
Jacques Pepin (who probably knows a thing or 2 about cooking) does this as well. He cuts a notch on the inside side of the joint to allow the heat to get in.
 
I cook bone in thighs as normal for my picky wife. I just cut the meat off before I plate hers. No bones to be seen. She is starting to get used to the bones though.
 
I have a similar situation at home and what I've been doing lately is brining boneless skinless breasts for bout 4 hours. Then I sear them right over the coals, both sides, and then cook indirect till 175. Nice and juicy, no bones, no red and they are really good.
 
I have been buying bone-in thighs lately (usually cheap, around 99¢/lb) and deboning them before cooking. I then apply an herbed rub to both sides and roll them up to look like they did before deboning. I put them on the kettle, indirect (no peeking) for about 45 minutes or on the smoker at 350° for about an hour. They get to around 175° and have crispy skin and no blood since the bone has been removed and they taste great. I usually throw the bones in a pot with some water and boil them to make broth to cook rice, quinoa, potatoes, etc. Nothing goes to waste that way.

Mark
 
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