Soaking meat. How to make a "diet" chicken

You come from the market, unfold a bundle carefully packed by a butcher, or take out a chicken fillet from a bag, and the thought immediately comes to mind: shouldn't you rinse the purchased product under running water before cooking? It seems that this hygiene procedure is as necessary as washing your hands before dinner. Suddenly the butcher is unscrupulous, and the market is full of flies. But washing the meat not only does not help get rid of possible bacteria, but it spreads them throughout the kitchen.

So should meat be washed? We will explain why freshly purchased meat should never be subjected to such a test! No matter how your hands itch, you shouldn't.

Meat processing

Every housewife knows that all products must be thoroughly washed before cooking. Fruits, vegetables, eggs - all unconditionally in the sink. And how great is the temptation to do the same with the meat brought from the market. It’s not clear where it was lying, it’s not clear who touched it and what flies were sitting on it! But culinary experts unanimously assert that no matter what meat you buy, it is categorically impossible to wash it.

In vain attempts to wash away harmful bacteria from meat, you only exacerbate the situation. Imagine how all these microscopic bacteria, together with water molecules, are sent straight into your mouth, deposited on the skin, around the sink, on other products and even on clothes.

Considering that you are going to cook meat, and not eat it raw, there is no point in washing it - all bacteria will safely die when exposed to heat. The same cannot be said about the bacteria that have settled on kitchen utensils, and so densely that it will take more than one painstaking cleaning to destroy them. It is these contaminated kitchen utensils that can subsequently serve as a source of serious food poisoning.

This is especially true of chicken meat, because it is it that most often becomes the cause of salmonella infection. When washing chicken meat, water droplets containing harmful bacteria are scattered up to 1 meter. If you are still in doubt, take a look at the cooking style of eminent chefs who never wash meat, but be sure to wash their hands after contact with it.

There is one more argument that will convince you not to wash the meat in the future: with a jet of water, especially hot, you break the molecular composition on the surface of the meat, thereby destroying its taste. In other words, such meat will not brown at all, it will lose its taste and aroma. That is, the meat will simply be stewed, and until all the moisture evaporates, the juicy steak will completely lose all the juices.

For some unknown time, the chicken has taken a firm place in the household and food habits of our citizens. She carries eggs (sometimes dietary), and her meat is easily digestible, and feathers, and down, and, in general, decorates the estate. And sings something like (this is already a male) awakening! Let's prepare, perhaps, something tasty and dietary from chicken meat at the same time.

In the biography of every Russian citizen, there is sure to be a page with some overseas, accompanied by high fever and subsequent weekly disgust for any food and a complete lack of appetite. And the first food that the exhausted body took will be chicken broth cooked by caring relatives.

Indeed, it is not for nothing that chicken is considered a dietary product. Its meat is very well digested, and the chicken broth, which contains all the nutrients, has truly healing properties. But such a broth needs to be cooked correctly, especially from modern chicken, which was grown in no one knows where and fed with no one knows what.

First, it is advisable to purchase soup chicken for the broth. Its meat is tougher and requires a long cooking time, but it is then that the broth will acquire its taste, aroma and the desired benefits. In the forgotten Soviet times, it was possible to buy a thin "running" chicken for soup, then cook it for a long time, but the broth turned out to be healing. Today, if you try very hard, you can also find chicken soup breed, grown free-range on grass and worms.

Secondly, be sure to before cooking soak the chicken, at least for a couple of hours. First, cut it into large pieces, defrost the frozen carcass. It is best to soak the chicken for several hours in water, changing the water every hour.

Thirdly, once again rinse the chicken meat well in running water and cook in a saucepan, half with water. Leave the white meat (breast), other parts of the carcass are preferable for the broth, and we use the breast for diet cutlets. As soon as it boils, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat, drain the first broth, rinse the meat in running cold water, wash the pan from scale. Place the meat in a saucepan and cover with water again. When it boils (scale will no longer form), add spices, salt, put peeled carrots and onion onions (with skin), reduce heat and cook until tender. After cooking, discard the onion, and rub the carrots on a coarse grater and return back to the pan. The resulting broth will, for sure, be devoid of unwanted impurities, and will keep its dietary properties intact.

In the summer, in the heat, in chicken broth(instead of kvass) satisfying dietary okroshka... Boil potatoes, carrots, eggs, add chicken, green onions and radishes. Chop everything finely, mix and cover with cold chicken broth. Pre-cool the broth in the refrigerator, and carefully remove the frozen fat from it, with which it is not tasty and not useful to eat cold okroshka. Add sour cream, and okroshechka will be super! If you add boiled beets grated on a coarse grater to okroshka and dilute the broth with yogurt (1: 1), then it is completely impossible to tear yourself away from such a dietary dish.

And now let's surrender diet cutlets... Blot the left chicken breast with a napkin and turn the meat through a meat grinder. Also, twist the previously soaked and squeezed crump of white stale bread and onions (2-3 pieces). Add 1-2 eggs, finely chop a bunch of dill and mix everything. Minced meat can turn out to be watery due to onion juice, so you can add a little wheat flour. Do not be lazy in advance to thinly cut white bread into strips, after cutting off the crusts. Salt and dry the straws in the oven. Blind the patties and roll them in croutons or bread crumbs. And fry in sunflower oil over medium heat.

The diet lunch is ready! Eat with gusto and be healthy!

Often the meat turns out to be tough, the housewives blame the seller and their unfortunate choice for everything. However, in reality the situation is different. The steak can turn out to be soft and juicy, if you first carry out certain manipulations. Culinary experts advise you to look at products that will make meat juicy without additional difficulties.

Method number 1. Tenderness of meat with alcohol

1. Skewers based on pork, lamb or beef are often treated with alcoholic beverages before roasting. We recommend giving preference to beer or wine.
2. In this simple way, you will make the meat not only appetizing and soft, but also juicy. This is what all people expect from barbecue.
3. Don't worry about alcohol ruining your meal. During the roasting process, it will soak, you can safely get behind the wheel or go on important business.
4. To soften the meat and make it juicier, prepare a saucepan or plastic bag. Chop the pork into pieces, soak in beer, leave to marinate for 1-1.5 hours. Do not rinse, skewer immediately.

Method number 2. Tenderness of meat with mustard

1. Mustard is often used as a main ingredient in meat dishes. It gives the pork a specific flavor and flavor. However, not all people are aware of the fact that mustard is a good softener.
2. For such purposes, we recommend using the composition in a different way than you are used to. Take table mustard, chop the meat into pieces and brush with seasoning. Send in a plastic bag and wait 45 minutes.
3. Before cooking pork, rinse the meat with purified water and dry. In addition to the fact that the steak will turn out to be tasty and soft, it will also acquire the desired juiciness.
4. Very often, mustard is used in the preparation of chops. In this case, you first need to chop the pork into slices, then beat off, coat and insist. It is not necessary to wash the meat before frying.

Method number 3. Tension of meat with onions

1. Onions are often added to barbecue marinade, and this is not surprising. The juicy vegetable softens pork or beef without any problem.
2. If you are unsure how to add the juiciness you want, chop the onions into slices. Onion juice works in a similar way. It can be obtained with a combine, grater or blender, then wrap in cheesecloth and squeeze.
3. For manipulations, wash and dry the meat in advance, rid it of veins and all parts that are not useful in cooking. Place in a saucepan, add juice or onion rings here, wait 1.5 hours.

Method number 4. Tenderness of meat with lemon juice

1. Many people mistakenly marinate kebabs in vinegar, as a result of which it loses all the juice and becomes tough. If you are still using this method, discard it.
2. Replace the vinegar solution with a cheaper and more effective natural analogue - lemon juice. Mix it with mineral carbonated water (for 1 liter of mineral water there are 100 ml of fresh citrus).
3. Soak pieces of meat in this mass for several hours. It is not necessary to rinse the food before cooking. Tomato juice from fresh tomatoes works in a similar way.

Oven baked soft pork pieces

• pork pulp - 1 kg.
• onions - 3 pcs.
• mustard - 30 gr.
• garlic - 3 prongs
• pepper, favorite spices and salt - taste

1. Cut the pork into large pieces. Prepare as described above to obtain the desired tenderness and juiciness of the meat. Make cuts with a knife.
2. Chop the garlic, and chop the onion into rings or half rings. Spread mustard over the meat in combination with spices, salt and seasonings. You can add mayonnaise to this mixture (optional).
3. Leave the pork in a marinating bowl for 3.5 hours. After this period, line the baking sheet with foil, lay out the pieces, cover on top. Send to oven for baking until tender.

Roast in sweet and sour sauce

• pork tenderloin - 500 gr.
• canned pineapple - 0.3 kg.
• chicken egg yolk - 1 pc.
• clean water - 50 ml.
• potato starch - 35 gr.
• bell pepper - 100 gr.
• soy sauce - 35 ml.
• ketchup - 60 ml.
• vinegar - 25 ml.
• granulated sugar - 65 gr.

1. Prepare a pickling bowl. Send pork meat into it, chopped into pieces. Pour in soy sauce, add raw yolk, water, starch. Salt, mix everything and wait 3.5 hours.
2. Chop the pepper into sticks, chop the canned pineapple. Pour oil into a frying pan, heat it, send the pickled pork inside. Fry until crusty, transfer to a clean dish.
3. Fry the peppers in the same way, add pineapple pieces after 3 minutes. Simmer the ingredients under the lid for 5 minutes. Go ahead and make some extra sauce.
4. To do this, mix ketchup with sugar and vinegar, add this mixture to pepper and pineapple. Simmer under the lid until the sand dissolves, then add the pork and simmer until tender.

• low-fat kefir - 500 ml.
• garlic - 6 teeth
• pork pulp - 950 gr.
• onion - 1 pc.
• spices to taste

1. To achieve the desired result, you must first marinate the meat. As a result, you will get a juicy and soft steak. Take a container of a suitable size, pour kefir into it, place pieces of pork meat in a fermented milk product.
2. At the same time, peel and chop the garlic and onions in half rings. Send the vegetable to a common pot, season the meat with spices and salt to taste. Keep in mind that in order to achieve maximum softness and juiciness from the steak, it must first be beaten off.
3. Place prepared food in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours. After the allotted time, heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan, put the pieces of meat in a bowl. Fry the pork on both sides until golden brown. The procedure is best done over medium heat.
4. After you have achieved a crust, reduce the flame to a minimum, finish cooking the dish. A fried piece of meat will be able to retain its juiciness and softness. Serve the steak with garnish and garlic sauce. Don't forget about fresh herbs and vegetables.

Soft pork with apples

• onion - 1 pc.
• flour - 45 gr.
• fat - 55 gr.
• cumin - 5 gr.
• pork - 670 gr.
• apples - 2 pcs.
• salt to taste

1. Before you start cooking meat, it must be thoroughly rinsed with running water. Salt pork, roll in spices and flour. Preheat a frying pan, heat vegetable fat in it.
2. Place the whole piece of meat in a fireproof container. Sear the pork on all sides until golden brown. Then transfer the steak and fat to the roaster. After that, add caraway seeds to the bowl and pour in hot water about 3/4 of the container.
3. Place the rooster on the stove, turn on a slow flame. Simmer pork, top up with water if necessary. Peel and chop the apples in parallel. Add fruit before finishing cooking the meat.
4. Once the pork is done, remove it from the duck. Add flour diluted with water to the remaining broth. Cook the applesauce for about 8 minutes over medium heat. After the meat has cooled, cut it into slices. Pour the prepared sauce, sprinkle with fresh herbs.

Juicy pork in French

• cheese - 240 gr.
• onion - 1 pc.
• oil - in fact
• mayonnaise - 220 gr.
• pork - 530 gr.
• salt to taste

1. Prepare the pork properly, cut the meat into small pieces. Beat the meat thoroughly, treat with salt and pepper on both sides. Next, grate the cheese on a fine grater. Peel and chop the onion into rings.
2. Choose a suitable fireproof dish, grease it with vegetable oil. Place the pieces of pork on the bottom of the container. Put prepared onions on top of the meat, pour the products with mayonnaise. Sprinkle cheese over the dish.
3. Send the meat to a preheated oven to bake. Simmer the pork until cooked through. Before serving, it is recommended to decorate the dish with olives and fresh herbs. Eat hot meat.

To cook juicy and tender pork, you need to take an animal tenderloin. This type of meat is the softest. If cooked correctly, the dish will literally melt in your mouth. It is also important to marinate the pork correctly, it should be infused in the sauce for a while. For the marinade, mineral water with gas, a mustard mixture, lemon juice or onions will do.

Video: how to tenderize meat

"... Who has not heard this? Yes, everyone heard. Among the many "horror stories" for the modern consumer, this one is the most unprovable (research roads, almost all information is closed) and invincible. You still want to eat ... so you have to buy what is on the shelves of shops and markets

Play hormone

And yet, let's try to figure it out: is there really a "bouquet" of chemical additives in a piece of meat from an ordinary supermarket, or is it just another journalistic "duck" to attract attention?

I read the documents of Rospotrebnadzor, went to numerous official and industry sites, until I came across the statement of the beloved chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation Gennady Onishchenko. Discussing the intricacies of WTO requirements with Chief Directorate General Paola Koggi, our defender in the face of epidemics said: “The problem is that manufacturers all over the world are using antibiotics to keep their livestock numbers under control, thereby offsetting the costs of sanitation.” As a result, he said, when eating meat, antibiotics enter the body, and a person develops resistance to these drugs.

“In the long-term concept, everyone understands that we need to end this: with antibiotics and hormones,” Onishchenko said, noting that on the issue of growth hormones in raising livestock, Russia supports the EU's position on the need for stricter requirements. So they are less tough now?

And here is an excerpt from the speech of the chief veterinary inspector of the Russian Federation Nikolai Vlasov, who recently took part in the transmission of the federal First Channel: “... Up to 60% of the products circulating on the market do not meet the requirements of the Russian Federation. Domestic products ... When analyzing one of the chicken carcasses, four full human doses of antibiotics were found. If done day in and day out, immunity to most medications will appear. It seems that this chicken broke into the veterinary pharmacy and ate everything that was there with hunger. No doctor in his right mind would ever prescribe such a dose to a chicken. "

I think the issue has been clarified, as they say, at the highest level. Yes, manufacturers use antibiotics and growth hormones and other hormones. Yes, all this chemistry is present in meat, where to go. And yes, we get this chemistry in full - we also have nowhere to go.

What to do?

So, it is known that livestock and poultry are treated, like people, with antibiotics. Moreover, the animals are given hormonal injections during the period of rapid growth and then they are given drugs with feed and vitamin complexes as a prophylaxis against diseases. But it is also known that antibiotics are not heavy metals, they do not accumulate in the body. For them to leave the body, it is enough not to take them for 7-10 days. It remains to be seen whether the producers, large complexes and private farmers, can stand these few days.

Suppose not quite. Suppose we bought meat with "medicines". What to do?

For clarification and advice, I turned to a specialist whom I trust - Svetlana Sheveleva, MD, head of the laboratory of sanitary and food microbiology and microecology, Research Institute of Nutrition, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. Here is what Svetlana Anatolyevna said:

Yes, there is a problem with the presence of antibiotics, especially the tetracycline group, and various stimulating hormones in meat. Several years ago we (Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences - ed.) Conducted a study on the most popular drugs in Russian agriculture. It turned out that it is the antibiotics of the tetracycline group - ten times more than the others - that are used the most. What is the reason for this? Of course, with the desire of the producer to get more meat and faster, with maximum savings in feed, energy, time. And how can this be achieved in livestock complexes where animals are kept crowded, and the slightest infection threatens the entire livestock at once? So the medicines are used. And, of course, they remain in the meat, which we then buy.

Moreover, the problem of antibiotic abuse concerns not only large complexes. The same thing happens on farms. At the moment, it is impossible to effectively deal with this. But it is possible, knowing about the problem, to try to protect yourself.

I haven't bought pork for years. In it, you can most often find drugs and hormones that we do not need. I buy lamb (these animals always grow on free grazing) and beef. I almost never buy kidneys and liver - traces of antibiotics are concentrated in these parts. Having bought the meat, I boil it slightly and pour out the broth. Then, if necessary, I cook the broth further, or any other dish with meat.

If we are talking about chicken, then neither I nor my family have been using chicken broth for a long time - after boiling the chicken carcass, I pour out the broth. Very carefully you need to process the chicken before cooking: carefully remove the kidneys (especially along the spine) and liver. I also make sure to remove the chicken tail and skin, for the same reason - harmful substances accumulate there.

Alas, today it is very rare to feast on pate, only when you are absolutely sure of the manufacturer.

5 simple rules to help preserve health

1. Choose lamb or beef, refrain from pork

2. Boil the meat for 20-30 minutes, drain the broth

3. Soak the meat in salted water (or with the addition of lemon juice) for several hours

4. Avoid offal (kidney, liver) in both meat and poultry

5. Do not use chicken skin, cook broth only from poultry

Folk recipe

It would be naive to assume that the consumer will not seek and find their own ways of cleaning meat from unwanted additives. However, the arsenal is small: it practically helps (there is no research, so no one knows how much) the method of soaking meat in salted water, mineral water or in a weak solution with lemon juice.

By the way, this is a very common culinary technique, not necessarily associated with cleansing from antibiotics and other nasty things.

And finally, the last question. What can be cooked from such a semi-finished product as boiled or soaked meat? Almost everything! I decided to experiment and make satsivi using the recommendations of Svetlana Sheveleva.

Satsivi (bazhi) in Georgian

Would need: chicken - 2 kg, peeled walnuts - 0.5 kg, garlic - 7 cloves, real spicy adjika (without tomatoes, without starch and other litter) - 3 teaspoons with a slide, seasoning for satsivi (or ground coriander + utskho -suneli one to one) - 2 teaspoons, Imeretian saffron (in grated, powder form) - 1 teaspoon, salt to taste.

Preparation:

Let's start by choosing the nuts. They must be impeccable - ripe, peeled, light in color.

We process the chicken, cut out unnecessary parts, remove the skin, cook for 20 minutes, drain the broth. Then we cut it into portions and send it to brown in the oven. In the meantime, we make nut butter. To do this, grind the nuts in a blender or meat grinder until a homogeneous consistency without large pieces. Now we are making peanut butter. Take 3 tablespoons. with a heap of ground nuts, whole garlic, 1 tsp. adjika and twist three times (!!!) in a meat grinder or blender. We squeeze the resulting mass into a separate bowl. Scroll again and squeeze again. Let's collect the oil from the meat grinder. Put the remaining lump of mass on the ground nuts.

We use the resulting oil later, but for now we need to dilute the nut mass in water. To do this, we need cool boiling water - 0.5 cups, in which we dilute the cake that remains after squeezing out the oil. Add ground nuts and pour boiling water again - 3 more glasses. As a result, we get a homogeneous sauce of the thickness of liquid sour cream.

Now the seasonings. Stir all the remaining dry seasonings and adjika in a few tablespoons of boiling water in a separate bowl. Now pour them into the peanut sauce and add salt.

While we were fiddling with the sauce, the chicken was browning. We send it to a bowl with sauce and let it brew for at least 4 hours without a refrigerator. Sprinkle with nut butter before serving.

Today I propose to talk about brine. No, not the brine with which you improved your health after the New Year's feast, but the other - the brine in which the products are kept just before they are sent to the pan or oven. This technique is quite well known in the West, where it is called brining: it is rather difficult to translate it into Russian in one word, because we rarely use this technique.

And completely in vain.

Keeping chicken or pork in brine for a short time makes the meat much more juicy and tender, which, given the popularity of these products in our Palestinians, gives ample scope for creativity in any kitchen.

What?

Keeping food in brine is similar to pickling, but the chemical processes that take place are fundamentally different. By and large, the magic of the pickle is based on three whales (now there will be a small excursion into physics with chemistry, so if someone hates them, it is better to jump down immediately):

Firstly, diffusion: as you probably remember from school, this term is called the process of mutual penetration of molecules of one substance between the molecules of another, leading to spontaneous equalization of their concentrations over the entire occupied volume- in this case, salt molecules, of which there are much more in the brine, penetrate into the cells of an abstract chicken, where there are fewer of these molecules.

Illustration from the site www.patiodaddiobbq.com

Secondly, osmosis, which is actually a special case of one-sided diffusion, in which solvent molecules penetrate through a semi-permeable membrane towards a higher concentration of a solute... In our case, the role of a solvent is played by water, and although the concentration of salt in the brine is much higher than in the cells of the same chicken, the concentration of other solutes in these cells contributes to their additional saturation with water: on average, meat aged in brine weighs 6 -8 percent more than before brine immersion.

Finally, the third whale is protein denaturation: under the influence of a saline solution, proteins, which are initially in a curled state, unwind and form a matrix that holds water molecules inside the cells, preventing moisture from flowing out of a piece of chicken kept in solution during heat treatment. True, if you overcook the chicken to the state of the sole, no denaturation will save it: the proteins that are linked to each other will shrink, and most of the water they hold will somehow leak out. The denaturation process also occurs when heated - that is why salted foods are cooked faster, because they have already done part of the work that comes from heat.

How?

So we come to the question that worries everyone: how to use the brine correctly so that the meat turns out juicy and tender, and not oversalted and overdried?

As a matter of fact, the simplest brine is made from water and table salt, although sugar can be added to them if desired (it also promotes diffusion, although to a lesser extent than salt) and spices (although the effect of their use will not be as noticeable as in the case of classic pickling). Salt is added to cold water, stirred until dissolved, after which the product is completely immersed in it and put into the refrigerator. The universal brine formula is as follows:

1 liter of water + 1/4 tbsp. table salt + 1/2 tbsp. sugar (optional)

Soak the food, immersing it completely in the brine, for 1 hour for every pound of food weight, but not less than 30 minutes and no more than 8 hours. When salting small pieces of meat, be guided by the weight of each of them: for example, if you dipped 6 chicken drumsticks weighing 250 g each into the brine, you need to get them out of the brine in half an hour. If you are pickling a whole chicken, it is better to put it in a tight plastic bag and fill it with brine, which will significantly reduce its amount. And do not forget to wash off the salt that has settled on the surface of the food - in this case, the meat will be juicy, but in no case salty.

Now - about what kind of products can and should be tested with brine before cooking. These include:

• white meat- chicken, turkey, lean pork cuts, in a word, everything that needs to be cooked for a long time and is easy to dry out.
• a fish- absolutely any, especially the one that you are going to cook at high temperature (for example, on the grill) or smoke.
• seafood- especially shrimp, and in general everything that is usually grilled.

On the other hand, foods such as beef, lamb, duck, game, and so on do not benefit from brine aging. There are several explanations for this. Firstly, they are usually not cooked to a deep roast than medium, so the internal temperature of the finished beef will be lower than that of the cooked chicken, which means there will be much less moisture loss during cooking. Secondly, this meat itself is more fatty, and it will turn out juicy in a completely natural way. 0