Cooking Class Day 5: Chicken & Poultry

Today's lesson was all about poultry which includes chicken, quail, turkey and other winged birds. Apparently chicken is now the most popular animal protein in American beating out beef in 2012. That's good news for health.

My take away from today's lesson is that a chicken is cooked when it reaches 165 degrees F. 

Chicken is one of those foods that can be cooked right out of the package, with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. I liked to add spices ranging from spicy chili, to lemon and herbs, and sometimes even marinade it in different sauces.

Just a couple days before this lesson I decided to slow cook an entire chicken. Wow! Super delicious, easy and no fuss. I just spread butter all over the chicken, stuffed it with chopped onions, and sprinkled dried thyme, salt and pepper all over. I then squeezed an entire lemon over it, covered it and let it cook for five hours. Once, done I just let it sit in the slow cooker until the rest of the meal was ready. I cut it up and served it with mashed potatoes and gravy. Oh, and I used the juices from the chicken to make the gravy with some butter, flour, salt and pepper. Yum. The chicken was so tender it was falling right off the bone and it was perfectly delicious, and healthy.

Take a look at the lesson. They included a recipe for roasting a chicken which is very similar to my slow cooker method, just throw it in the oven and cook for an hour. You can use your chicken in salads, quesadillas, tacos, tostadas, etc.

I'm really enjoying The Kitchn's Cooking School and really feel that I learn something daily I can put to use immediately. Have you checked it out?

Good cooking!
Sonia