Fried Chicken is Popular Worldwide

It seems like just about everyone loves fried chicken. Many cultures have their own recipe for the tender, crisp taste sensation that we all want. From the Far East to the United States, this delicious meal tempts almost everyone to take a bite.

One of the latest recipes for fried chicken to become popular in the US is Korean fried chicken. They cook their chicken in small pieces with a light, delicate batter. When fully cooked, the chicken is lightly coated with sauce. While it takes some practice to prepare this recipe properly, once you have tasted it you will be amazed. To compensate for the large chickens here in America, cut up some boneless chicken or use wings when you make this delectable treat.

Japanese and Chinese chicken are prepared in a similar fashion, but they use different herbs and spices. Both cuisines prefer to use boneless chicken. For a Chinese flavor, use soy sauce or five-spice powder. For a Japanese flavor, you can use wasabi, sake, or ginger. You can choose to serve these crispy chicken bits plain or with a sauce, which can either be poured over the top or used for dipping. Orange chicken, almond chicken, and lemon chicken all use breaded fried chicken as the basis of the recipe.

If you like Indian food, their fried chicken use spices like fennel, pepper, udad dal, mustard seeds and turmeric. Dip the marinated chicken in beaten egg white, and then roll them in breadcrumbs before frying in hot oil.

As this shows, people all over the world like their fried chicken! Just by changing the ingredients in the marinade or the breading, you can come up with quite a world tour of chicken.

South American recipes feature ingredients like lime juice, corn flour or corn meal, hot sauce and garlic. To make it more Italian, use crushed red pepper, oregano, garlic, chili powder, onion powder, dry mustard and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook it in olive oil.

You can also vary your cooking method to make this dish different. Oven frying is a great way to enjoy fried chicken without all the fat. Oven frying can still give you a crunchy chicken full of moist goodness. If you use skinless chicken, be sure to marinate it in buttermilk to help seal in the moisture. Add a coating of seasoned flour to seal in the flavor and provide a nice crispness to the outer surface. You will be very pleased with this low fat chicken meal that will taste as good cold as it was hot from the oven.

Alternatively, you can try the traditional method of frying in a cast iron skillet. This method can make a simple breading of flour, pepper and salt into an amazing dining experience. Cast iron has the ability to cook the chicken through while creating a thick, crisp crust on the outside. This method was used by many generations of cooks as the preferred method of preparing chicken.

So Many Batters, so Little Time

There are many people who prefer to cook their chicken without a batter, but there are many more who crave that crispy crunch of battered chicken. You can batter whole pieces, wings, or nuggets or breast strips… they all turn out delicious. People all over the world use batter on their chicken in one form or another. There are almost as many different batter recipes as there are chickens!

The World of Batter

Different batters can be made using different flours. Try corn meal, rice flour, wheat flour, or graham flour. Ethnic recipes for chicken often use different flours in the mix. Each area has their own special mixture of herbs and spices that give the chicken a distinctive flavor.

An example would be a batter recipe from India that combines nutmeg, red chili powder, ginger, cloves, and curds with graham flour. This batter is used on boiled chicken meat, which is then fried until crisp. A good taste of Asia can be found by marinating your boneless chicken in soy sauce, five spice powder, onion, and garlic and sesame oil. Batter the chicken in rice flour, salt, water, and baking powder. The result is a distinctive flavor of Asia with a crisp translucent coating.

Someone else may swear by beer batter. The yeasty quality of the beer makes a light batter with a tangy flavor. A different way to get the tangy flavor is to soak your chicken in buttermilk before dredging in seasoned flour. This creates a mixture that turns to a batter on the chicken before frying.

You can also find different ways to get that crunch. Some cooks prefer to use crushed cornflakes; others like seasoned breadcrumbs or crushed crackers. Some people prefer wet batters that fry up crisp on the chicken. Panko breadcrumbs from Japan create a lovely light, crisp coating. For those who want a light batter without the extra crunch, try tempura batter.

For those who like southern fried chicken recipes, there are almost as many of those to choose from as there are people who love fried chicken. Some southern batters are as simple as mixing flour, salt, pepper, and milk. Others are more complicated with herbs and spices added to the mix.

The Cooking Controversy

You will find many different opinions on whether you should deep fry your battered chicken, fry it in an oil-filled cast iron pan, or use a pressure cooker. Each method has its own fans that declare their way is best. Those who prefer deep-frying will say the quick cooking time and lack of spatter makes their way superior. The cast iron camp will talk about the perfect crisp to the chicken’s surface and the even heating. Those who prefer pressure cookers will need to brown the chicken first, and then cook it in the pressure cooker. The chicken is done in about 15 minutes in this method, but be sure you do not open the cooker before all the pressure has dissipated.

With all these batter choices, you will be busy for several years trying new recipes. Enjoy the flavors of battered chicken; there are so many different ones to try!

Quick Healthy Meals in Parchment

En papillote, or cooking in parchment packets, is a French technique that is quick and easy. The food is steamed inside the pouch during baking, keeping its moisture intact. The natural sweetness of the foods comes out in this cooking method. If you have never tried it before, you will find it is fun, too. In the oven, the packets fill up like a balloon. Your family and friends will not know what is for dinner until they open their packets, engulfing them in the delicious scents of herbs, sauce, and food.

If you do not have any parchment paper handy, you can try this method out with brown lunch bags. If you do have some parchment, it is easy to use. Fold a large sheet in half. Cut along the fold, making a large Valentine heart. You will need one for each person you are feeding. Open the heart on the counter. Center your food on one half of the heart. Add the seasonings and sauces and top with aromatics like herbs or lemon slices. Seal up the packets by folding the empty half of the heart over the food. Starting at the rounded end, make small folds toward the food. Continue in this manner all around the edge. When you get to the point, refold it several times to complete the seal. Tuck it under the packet. Move the packets onto a baking sheet and cook according to your recipe.

Healthy Benefits

Besides the obvious benefits of easy clean up and the fun of opening up your meal like a present, cooking in parchment packets is also healthy for you. The steaming of the food in the packets is a low fat way to cook. You do not need to add a lot of oil or butter to cook your food. It is also a wonderful way to deal with delicate foods like sole and flounder.

Parchment is easily found at the grocery store with the aluminum foil and waxed paper. If you cannot find parchment, foil will work the same way.

What can be Cooked in Parchment?

Parchment packets are versatile… you can cook almost anything easily. Fish, pork, and chicken all work really well. An entire meal can be made inside a packet. Just layer your meat, vegetables, and sauce in the pouch, close it up and put it in the oven. Pasta even works inside a pouch!

Make a delicious entre of salmon, dill, and lemon, or a vegetarian dish of sweet potatoes seasoned with leeks. Find some easy chicken recipes with a sauce and bake them in parchment. You can even make a tasty Asian pouch with ramen noodles, green onions, fish or chicken and some teriyaki sauce.

Preparation is the key to baking in parchment. Make sure your aromatic vegetables are sliced thinly. Some vegetables that work well include carrots, celery, shallots, mushrooms, and zucchini. Add some herbs.

Use a baking sheet to hold your packets and bake in a 400-degree oven for about ten minutes. Dinner will be ready in a flash!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Easy Chicken Recipes

A lot of people are nervous about cooking chicken recipes and it is true that you need to take care when handling raw chicken. There is nothing to worry about though, as long as you follow basic hygiene rules, such as cleaning all the surfaces touched by raw chicken and washing your hands after handling any raw poultry.

Store raw chicken in the refrigerator in its plastic wrap, preferably on a low shelf so it does not drip on to other foods in there. Chicken must be cooked so it does not have any pink bits inside. As long as you can follow these simple rules, you can cook a delicious chicken recipe!

Chicken is popular because it is inexpensive to buy and easy to cook when you know how. It is a health food and low in fat. Chicken, which is deep-fried, might not be considered as healthy as grilled chicken salad or chicken baked in tomato sauce but it is a versatile ingredient and you can vary your chicken recipes as much as you like.

Simple Chicken Recipes for the Beginner

If you have not done a lot of cooking or you are unfamiliar with chicken, you can begin with an easy boneless chicken dish if you like. These recipes tend to be quite simple. You can slice some chicken breast and vegetables and stir-fry them. Pour over some sauce; warm it through and you have a great meal. You can make a mouthwatering Asian stir fry by frying chicken slices and vegetables. Add some soy sauce and sesame oil and you have made a wonderful dinner. You can also add raisins, nuts, and a pinch of chili powder or anything else you think will complement the dish.

Baked chicken recipes are usually quite straightforward and you can brown a chicken breast, pour some sauce or soup over it, and bake it in the oven. Poached chicken recipes and grilled chicken recipes are easy to do unless you have to make a complicated sauce or side dish to go with it. As long as you cook your chicken, at the right temperature for the right amount of time, you should not go far wrong and your chicken should be tender, juicy, and succulent.

Undercooked chicken, which is pink inside, is dangerous to eat because of the risk of salmonella and overcooked chicken is stringy and dry. The best way to see if your chicken is cooked is to cut into it at the thickest part to see if the meat is white all the way through and the juices are clear. If so, the chicken is ready.

As you become more comfortable with making chicken dishes, you might like to have a go at some trickier chicken recipes. The crockpot chicken recipes you used to find daunting will now be a breeze as you attempt new variations of chicken dishes.

You can also try your hand at making a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings when you have had some experience with easy chicken recipes.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cooking Chicken Soup

To many people, soup is something that comes out of a can or packet but few things beat the wonderfully fresh flavor of homemade soup. Soup is also an excellent example of a food that anybody can make from scratch. If you can boil water and add things to it, you can make soup. It really is that simple. Soup is also very versatile and you can use your favorite ingredients to make your own particular favorite soup variety.

Varieties of Soup

There are many types of soup and way too many to list here. You can get chilled soups and hot soups, thick chowder type soups and thin, watery consomms, fish soup, meat soup and vegetable soup, spicy oriental soup, country style soup and so much more. You have probably tried quite a few different types of soup, such as tomato or chicken noodle soup but what about Chinese egg drop soup or a chilled watermelon soup?

One of the most popular soups has to be chicken soup and most nations have their own version. Chicken is economical to buy and if you have eaten a chicken in some other recipe, you can make a tasty chicken bouillon from the bones and carcass. Chicken soup comes in many varieties. Examples include chicken noodle soup, cream of chicken soup, Chinese chicken soup, chicken rice soup and many more.

Perhaps chicken soup is so popular because it is so versatile. You might like to add potatoes or noodles to it or vegetables. Some people like a thick, hearty soup and others prefer a thin, watery soup.

Cooking Chicken Soup

One of the easiest ways to make a delicious chicken soup recipe is to cover a chicken carcass in water, bring it to the boil, remove the carcass, add herbs and vegetables, and simmer it for an hour. If you are using a chicken carcass and vegetables, which are leftover, you can make a really tasty soup out of ingredients, which would otherwise have been thrown in the trash without a thought. Because of this, the chicken soup will have cost absolutely nothing to make.

When you remove the carcass from the water, you should use a sieve to pour the whole soup mixture into another pot, to ensure you get any bits of floating chicken bone. If you want to, you can pick off any bits of chicken fat or meat with your fingers and add them to the soup mixture to enrich the chicken flavor.

Chicken noodle soup is thought to be beneficial for colds and the flu and whereas this applies to most soups because fluids and steam both help with congestion, sore throats and other symptoms, there is definitely something extra soothing about chicken noodle soup. It just seems to have a magical ability to make you feel better and lift your mood.

Perhaps you remember being given homemade chicken soup as a child. Now you know how simple it is to make your own soup, perhaps you would like to have a go at making some soothing, satisfying chicken soup for your own family.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Healthy Fast Food

Perhaps you are surprised to see the word healthy next to the words fast food but if you are a fast food fan, the good news is that it is possible to include this kind of food and still eat healthily.

Stuffing yourself with fast food on a daily basis is going to do your waistline any favors but having fast food occasionally is not bad for you, whether you prefer Taco Bell, McDonald’s, or KFC. There are new stories every week about healthy eating and health food and fast food restaurants are jumping on the bandwagon too, offering healthier choices in addition to their standard deep fried fare.

Be Careful What You Order

One in four Americans will eat fast food every day and many fast food options give you enough fat, sodium, and calories to make up your entire daily requirement. Also, a lot of people are fairly unknowledgeable about nutrition and do not choose their meal well. You might think that a salad is a healthy option but some salads contain fried meat, deep-fried croutons, and a creamy, high fat dressing which makes it comparable in calories to a cheeseburger.

There is only one way to control exactly what you eat and that is to make your own recipes at home. You might not have a lot of cooking experience or expertise but there are plenty of easy recipes out there, many of which you can make in under twenty minutes.

How to Make Healthy Fried Chicken

Fried chicken, for example, is a food that many people love. If you have some chicken pieces, flour, batter, oil and a deep fat fryer you can make your own in minutes. You can also make the right amount of fried chicken. In a fast food restaurant, you often get a large portion by default and feel like you have to finish every last morsel, to avoid wasting food.

If you make fried chicken at home, you can satisfy your fast food cravings without visiting a fast food restaurant to order a huge portion of food, which comes with fries and a large thick shake.

If you are really watching your calorie or fat intake, you will be pleased to hear that there is an answer to the deep frying problem and that is called oven fried chicken. Oven fried chicken is literally baked chicken in a crispy batter which tastes like deep fried chicken, except with less fat and fewer calories.

Whether you want to indulge your fried chicken craving once a week or make a healthy oven fried chicken recipe, you can eat fried chicken whilst on a healthy diet as long as you eat plenty of grains, fruit and vegetables too.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying the occasional treat of fried chicken if your diet is balanced overall. Serving homemade fried chicken with mashed potatoes; corn on the cob and a big helping of green beans is a balanced, nutritious meal and will taste every bit as delicious as it looks.

Cooking Fried Chicken for Novice Cooks

Fried chicken, also known as southern fried chicken, is a very popular food. There are many different recipes for fried chicken and you can cook it in various ways too. Deep frying is a common way to make fried chicken but you can also shallow fry it or even oven fry it, which is baking the chicken so it tastes like fried chicken but without the extra calories.

Tips for Great Fried Chicken

Do not worry if you have never made fried chicken before. There is a first time for everybody and frying chicken is not difficult. You have to be careful when handling raw chicken. Using hot soapy water to wash everything the raw chicken has come into contact with is important. In order to make a fried chicken recipe, you need to dip your chicken into a batter and fry it until it is golden brown on the outside and cooked all the way through.

One of the easiest ways to coat the chicken pieces is to put the dry ingredients into a Ziploc bag and shake the chicken pieces in this mixture, a few at a time. Then you can dip them into batter and fry them. This method also prevents mess!

For really crispy fried chicken, you can dredge your chicken pieces in flour, then into a milk and egg yolk mixture and then into breadcrumbs, rather than mixing the flour and breadcrumbs together.

It is important to take care when using hot oil. Do not put your face too close to the oil and never leave it unattended. Use tongs to put the chicken in the oil and to remove it from the oil to prevent spattering.

Not all chicken pieces cook at the same rate so if you are using legs, wings, thighs and breasts, you will need to add different pieces at different times. The legs and thighs need to go in first and these cook at 165 degrees F. Next, turn the heat down to 160 degrees F., and add the breasts. Finally, add the wings because these cook more quickly than the other parts.

If your chicken is done but the rest of the meal is not, do not worry. Simply put some water in an oven dish and roll some tin foil into balls. Lay a large piece of tin foil over the balls, place the chicken on top, and cover everything with a lid. Put in a 175 degree F oven. The foil balls and foil layer work as a steamer to keep your chicken tender and moist until everything else is done.

Fried Chicken Side Dishes

There are different side dishes that you can serve with your southern fried chicken recipe. Perhaps you want to make French fries and corn on the cob. Or how about mashed potatoes and green beans?

If you are making party food, fried chicken is always a popular dish. Estimating how much food for a party is the right amount can be hard but make too much rather than too little because it is nice cold the following day. Serve mayonnaise, catsup, and other dips on the buffet table so people have something to dip their fried chicken into if they choose too.

How to Cook the Perfect Chicken Curry

Chicken curry, also known as curry chicken, is an especially popular dish and its popularity reaches all over the world. Making chicken curry is a great way to use boneless chicken. There are many different types of chicken curry recipes including Chinese style curry, Thai style curry, Indian style curry and many more. It can be fun to experiment with boneless chicken curry recipes or other similar recipes and you can alter the spices, add nuts or fruit, or try different fish or meats in the curry recipe.

Types of Curries

In India, a curry is a meal with a soup-like consistency. It is made with spices, chickpea flour, clarified butter, and yogurt. The word curry, when used in Thailand, means vegetables, fish, or meat cooked in a spiced sauce.

Different regions have different main curry ingredients. Malaysian curry for example usually has coconut milk as well as bay leaves. Punjabi curry involves wheat instead of rice and includes plenty of cream and butter. Tamil curry is a combination of shallow fried meat and vegetables cooked with dry spices.

Some curry powder mixtures have turmeric in them and it is this which gives curry its distinctive yellow coloring. Ginger, tamarind, coriander, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, garlic, cumin, nutmeg, and chilies are also used a lot in curry recipes. Curries frequently come in red, green, or yellow variations. A red curry is made from red chilies, a green curry is made from green chilies, and a yellow curry is made mainly with cumin and turmeric but might also have pepper flakes or hot pepper in it.

Some chicken curries can be described as fruity, others might spicy, and some are hot enough to almost blow the top of your head off! Nevertheless, how do you go about transforming some boneless chicken, vegetables and spices into the perfect curry?

Cooking Chicken Curry Tips

You should always try to use authentic curry spices rather than a readymade paste or powder. It is easy to find chicken curry ingredients in Asian grocery stores or large general stores.

Feel free to experiment with curries. Curry has been experimented with throughout history and it is a good idea to become familiar with spices so you can make your own tasty curry recipes. In addition, if you run out of a spice, you will know which other spice is similar in aroma and flavor.

Curry is usually served with rice but you can serve it with Indian bread such as roti or naan or with Indian spiced potatoes if you want a change. You can also make a dry curry coating for a boneless chicken recipe rather than a curry sauce. Then you can eat the curried chicken cold the next day or use it for a packed lunch or picnic. No wonder curry is loved all over the world. Its great flavor and versatility make curry a surefire winner.

Organic Health Food – Is it Better for You

Organic food is a common sight in supermarkets these days and it is a bit more expensive than the non-organic ranges. Nevertheless, what is organic health food exactly? Is organic boneless chicken better for you than conventional boneless chicken? Does it taste better?

What is Organic Health Food?

Organic produce is grown and processed differently. It will not have been exposed to conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, food additives, industrial waste, human waste, or ionizing radiation.

Organic livestock, such as chickens, are reared without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics and they are fed a healthy diet. They are not genetically modified. An organic chicken will have been fed organic grains grown on a farm which has free of chemicals and pesticides for a minimum of three years.

An organic chicken will have been raised humanely in an environment without stress. It will have had daily exercise in the fresh air and sun with plenty of room to move about. Free-range chickens can also wander about but they might be exposed to dirty conditions, be fed poor quality food and they might be given drugs or antibiotics.

The Popularity of Organic Health Food

You used to only be able to get organic produce in small stores and farmer’s markets because organic farms were small and family run. Organic food production has increased about 20% a year since the early 1990s and this applies to both developed and developing nations.

$9 billion worth of organic health food was sold in 2002 in the United States and in the same year, the Department of Agriculture released the National Organic Standards. This was a list of guidelines to follow in order for farmers to be able to put the “organic” label on their produce. Organic foods have accounted for between 1 and 2% of worldwide food sales since April 2008. The British are great lovers of organic health food and lots of their organic produce has to be imported because British farmers cannot keep up with the high demand.

Does it Taste Different?

The difference in flavor between an organic chicken and a free-range chicken is slight but the difference between an organic chicken and a battery chicken is very obvious.

Organic chickens can roam freely so they have used muscles, not wasted muscles. They have a better life, eat better food, and can grow at a natural rate, meaning they will taste richer and better. Organic food is more expensive because this method of farming is more labor intensive and the feed for the livestock costs more.

What about making a juicy chicken recipe with rich, tasty organic boneless chicken, succulent organic vegetables and an organic tomato based sauce? Everybody should taste organic vegetables because they are so fragrant and rich in flavor. If you are concerned about the health of your family, why not try making a delicious recipe such as this one, full of natural goodness as well as flavor? Making your own recipes from scratch is more economical than using pre-packaged food, so if you save money on the ingredients, spending a few more cents on organic produce will not matter so much.

A Blackberry and a Raspberry Walk Into A Bar

So, what is it that you get when you cross a blackberry and a raspberry? Stemming from Scotland, we now have the tayberry. This beautiful deep reddish purple colored berry is very large and long in length.

The tayberry was first developed in Invergowrie (right by the Tay River, thus the name) by David Jennings and David Mason, botanists at the Scottish Crops Institute. This raspberry-blackberry cross produces its fruit in July and August; and the berries are wonderful eaten fresh or cooked into a variety of foods.

The Tayberry looks at first glance like a blackberry, but all it takes is one taste to know this is no ordinary blackberry. The tayberry has a tart bite thanks to its raspberry heritage, which sets it apart. This is a surprising but deliciously welcome newcomer to the fruits in your local market.

A tayberry makes a great pie, which is a wonderful change of pace and is welcome at any late summer picnic. You can make tayberries into a deliciously tart-sweet jam, which makes a great sandwich or toast topping.

Try adding tayberries to a bowl of yogurt or ice cream, or incorporate them into fruit salads and smoothies for something a little different. In fact, you can use tayberries anywhere you would ordinarily use blackberries or raspberries. Tayberries are an exciting addition to your morning cereal, baked goods and of course, they are wonderful just eaten as they are – there’s no wrong answer to the question of how to enjoy these fruits.

You may want to bring along a nice bottle of tayberry wine to your wonderful evening dinner. It is called tayberry because they were developed near the Valley of the Tay River. This wine is delicious and very vibrant red in color. It is a tart, yet sweet wine. You can enjoy it with a beef stew, roast, and other meats such as steak and wild game, such as duck. You can also enjoy it with hors d’oeuvres and a strong cheddar cheese. It is a fairly priced bottle of wine running about $15.

Besides it’s one of a kind flavor, the tayberry also contains a lot of nutritional value. Tayberries are a good source of vitamin C, bioflavonoids, folate, and fiber. The tayberry fruit and leaves are also employed as a home remedy for diarrhea.

There is another old home remedy and that is to chew on the leaves to help cure bleeding gums. They say that they have faithfully adopted this in Scotland over 2000 years ago. It is still common today as well.

Tayberries are a fruit with a large number of uses – food, wine and home remedies. This fruit is a little bit different, making it an exciting addition to your recipes. The tayberry is a real treat and the uses you can find for this delicious little fruit are limited only by the bounds of your imagination.

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