OK, so this is about chicken breasts...but they don't show up nearly as well as tits in search engines 
So I am watching this show the other day on PBS called Test Kitchen. If you have never seen this show, they test things..how to cook certain foods, certain types of things that you cook with, gadgets, etc. So this show they were looking to cook up the perfect chicken breast. So they do the testing of trying to keep it moist yet cooked. Looked good to me, so I tried it! I used my own sauce (I am sure I have talked about that in another post), but this chicken breast turned out great and tasty and moist and wonderful. OK, here is the recipe for the perfect chicken breast.
Start by putting the defrosted chicken breasts in a brine. This is basicly salt water. Leave it for a half hour. (I have seen cooking shows where they leave this for hours or even overnight, but 30 minutes seems to do the trick.)
After the half hour, turn the oven to 375. Wash the chicken to remove the salt water. THIS IS IMPORTANT..the chicken must be dried and it must be BONE dry!! You don't want to create steam, you want to cook.
In a hot skillet (that will allow the chicken not to touch each other AND is oven safe), you use VERY little oil...less than a tablespoon...just to lubricate the pan. Then put in your dried chicken, skin side..or what would be the skin side, down. Leave it for awhile to create the browning that you want and the "fond" in the pan. Turn once and let cook on the other side.
When both sides are brown and looking great...the inside is still not cooked and it will turn to leather if you try to cook it through in the pan..thus, the oven. Turn the chicken over again so it is again skin side down and place in your oven for 15 minutes.
After the 15 min, you remove the chicken and put it into some foil. Wrap it up and leave it for 5-10 minutes. This lets the meat "rest". In the meantime, you can use the fond in the pan for a sauce if you like..just deglaze with some stock or wine...but after your rest time, you can take the chicken and serve!!
Wonderful stuff! I was really happy with the way this turned out!
Now if only I can get that elusive teriyaki chicken....
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