What Chicken Is and How It Became a Staple in American Kitchens
The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) that lands on your table today has roots that go back between 7,000 and 10,000 years, when the Southeast Asian red jungle fowl was domesticated in Southeast Asia and Oceana. (3) Chickens raised to be sold as meat (rather than to produce eggs) are called broilers. Until the early 1900s in America, chicken production happened in the backyard. In 1923, one woman had a major win: She raised a flock of 500 chicks to be sold as meat in what was deemed the first commercial chicken success. (4) In the decades that followed, the chicken industry grew, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stepped in to grade the meat. Vertical integration (in which one company takes control of all stages of production) allowed the industry to expand to produce more birds. As of 1992, people in the United States were eating more chicken than beef or pork. Calories: 165 Protein: 31 grams (g) Fat: 3.6 g Saturated fat: 1 g Carbohydrate: 0 g Fiber: 0 g Sugar: 0 g The American Heart Association recommends that, along with vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, people give preference to plant proteins and lean proteins like chicken and fish over red meat like beef, pork, and lamb. (11) But that doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. They recommend limiting consumption of lean proteins to between 5 and 7 oz or less per day total. Per the USDA’s MyPlate guidelines, proteins like chicken should make up about a quarter of your meal, but keep your portion to roughly the size of a deck of cards (about 3 ounces). Research does suggest that eating a high-protein diet can help you lose weight, and chicken can certainly play a central role in helping you eat more protein. Researchers suspect that high-protein diets can help you feel fuller, something that will help you eat fewer calories and carbs at the next meal. Ideally, eating 25 to 30 g of protein per meal can decrease appetite, help you maintain a healthy weight, and improve cardiometabolic risk factors (like triglycerides, blood pressure, and waist circumference), according to a study. (9) That said, how you cook the chicken matters. Methods like baking, roasting, or grilling are far more weight-friendly compared with deep frying or eating highly processed chicken products (like chicken nuggets). Chickens are inspected by the USDA or the state you’re in, and should have a seal on the package indicating as much. Sometimes the package will also include a grading. The best, Grade A, means the chicken is plump, meaty, has clean skin, and is free of damage or discoloration, according to the USDA. You’ll also want to read the ingredients. Some chicken has added salt or has been injected with a marinade to improve juiciness. If you have high blood pressure, you’ll want to steer clear of this type of chicken and opt to marinate your chicken by hand so you can control the amount of sodium. Seasoning your own chicken may also help you save money, because grocery stores sell meat by weight. Regardless, any chicken you buy should be well-wrapped and intact (not torn or leaking). As soon as you get home, place it in your refrigerator or freezer. To make defrosting easier, rewrap pieces into smaller packages (in freezer-safe foil or plastic bags). Use whole chicken within one year of freezing (chicken pieces should be used within nine months) for best quality; to ensure you remember when to use it by, label each package with the date it was frozen. (14) Eat soon. Plan your meals so that you cook the chicken breast within two days. Otherwise, wrap the package with freezer-safe plastic wrap and freeze. Thaw it right. It’s smart to store extra chicken in the freezer — it allows you to buy a package of chicken on sale to eat at a future date, and it reduces the likelihood of it going to waste. While thawing, it’s important to keep chicken at a temperature that’s 40 degrees or colder. Any warmer and bacteria can begin to grow. Here are dos and don’ts for thawing, according to the USDA: (16) Don’t thaw food on the counter or in hot water. Don’t leave frozen foods out at room temperature for more than two hours Do take out of your freezer and thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Cook within a day or two. (You can refreeze in this time frame if your plans change, but it may cause the chicken to lose quality.) Do thaw in cold water when you need to thaw your chicken in a pinch. Submerge it in cold tap water, and change out the water every 30 minutes. How long it takes depends on the package, but 1 pound (lb) may take an hour, while a 3-lb package can take a couple of hours. The microwave is safe, too, but you must cook the chicken immediately. Do go ahead and cook chicken frozen. Throw it in the oven, but cook it 50 percent longer. Bake it. If boneless chicken breasts are what’s for dinner tonight, you should put a 4-oz breast in the oven (it will cook down to about 3 oz) for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Bone-in breasts are slightly larger (they’ll weigh 6 to 8 oz with the bone), so they need 30 to 40 minutes of in-oven time at 350 degrees F. Stuffing the breast? Add 15 to 30 minutes to ensure it’s cooked all the way through. Get to the proper temp. Remember that the size of breasts can vary, so rather than pay attention to the exact cook time, the internal temperature is the most important indicator. Chicken should reach a temperature of 165 degrees F. Insert a food thermometer into the biggest part of the breast and do not let it touch any bones.
Chef Calvin’s Fried ChickenChopped Salad With Chicken, Salami, and MozzarellaChicken and White Bean Soup
You can get similar satisfaction from soy-based proteins like tofu or tempeh when you toss them into a stir-fry in lieu of chicken. When rough chopped in a blender and combined with herbs and spices, chickpeas can also stand in for ground meat. (Yes, really.) Seitan, a wheat-based protein (aka wheat gluten), is often used in store-bought meat substitutes, like imitation chicken strips and nuggets, and you can buy a package of it to cook with at home. Plant-based protein products made by the company Beyond Meat are nearly identical to regular meat in taste, texture, and appearance and are made from soy and pea protein. The company sells a product called Beyond Chicken Tenders, found in the frozen-food aisle. (17) To decrease your risk of being saddled with sickness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wrapping raw chicken packages in a disposable bag, washing your hands before and after handling chicken, not washing raw chicken (doing so can splatter chicken juices around), and using a separate cutting board for raw chicken. Don’t forget to defrost and cook the chicken properly, and then store leftovers in the refrigerator within two hours. (16) If you do get sick, call your doctor if you run a fever of more than 102 degrees F, have diarrhea for more than three days or bloody stools, are vomiting so much you can’t keep liquids down, or are dehydrated. Concerned about a recall? Check out a list of the current recalls and alerts from the USDA website, where its Food Safety and Inspection Service releases their latest public health alerts.
Q: How much protein is in a chicken breast?
A: Aside from having less fat (provided you don’t eat the skin), where chicken really stands out is its protein content. Each 3.5-oz cooked breast packs an impressive 31 g of protein, which is more than half the recommended daily intake of protein. (5)
Q: How long should I bake a chicken breast?
A: Bake a 4-oz boneless breast for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. A 6- to 8-oz bone-in breast should be baked for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees F. In either case, check the internal temperature with a food thermometer (insert into the biggest part of the breast being sure not to hit the bone). Chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees F. (19)
Q: What is the best way to defrost a chicken?
A: You can thaw a chicken in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or for 24 hours. To thaw in a bowl of cold water (which should be changed every 30 minutes), plan for the thaw to take 30 minutes for a pound of chicken. If you choose to thaw in the microwave, cook the chicken immediately. (19)
