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Chicken and Poultry
Buying poultry
You can buy poultry in any form you want.
Chicken can be bought whole, cut into halves or quarters, boneless, sliced
(breasts or thighs) or cubed. You can buy chicken from the poultry shop or
from the supermarket. Whole or cut chicken brought from the poultry shop
should be cleaned and all inner parts removed. You can also ask the
poultry man to remove its bones, or cut it into any form you want. If you
buy chicken from the supermarket, make sure that there is no liquid at the
bottom of the package plate. Also avoid packages that are torn, not well
frozen, or have an off smell. Turkey, pigeons, and duck are usually sold
whole. Rabbit is usually cut into pieces but if you need it for stuffing
or roasting, let the poultry man leave it as a whole.
Storing poultry
You can keep poultry in the fridge (cooked or uncooked) for maximum 2
days. Make sure it is well wrapped and closed tightly.
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Washing and cleaning poultry
Whole: Whole chicken should be bought cleaned with all the inner parts removed. If there are any parts left, remove them. Soak for 10-15 minutes in cold water with salt and/or vinegar. Mix a cup of flour with some salt and rub chicken well from inside and outside with it using your hands. Rinse well under running water. Repeat until chicken is cleaned. If it still smells, rub the inside with a lemon half. With a sharp knife remove any excess fat or small bones that you will not use.
Rabbit and pigeon are washed in the same way. Whole turkey is washed in the same way, but make sure it is very well cleaned when buying it. It will need more flour for washing. In case of duck, rub it with more salt and make sure the skin is smooth and doesn’t contain the roots of any feathers.
Boneless chicken: Wash well under running water. You may rub it with little flour if you want. Don’t wash chicken or soak it in hot water. This changes its color and makes the blood clot inside the meat.
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Freezing and defrosting poultry
In case of whole poultry, rinse with water and remove any parts that you don’t use. Leave to drain well in a colander. In other cases, don’t wash. Put on foam plates covered with plastic wrap or in plastic bags. Remove excess air, close well and place in the freezer. Freeze up to 3-5 months. Cooked poultry can stay frozen up to 1 month.
To defrost, get out of the freezer and leave it in the fridge overnight. Put it in a dish or another plastic bag to contain the liquid that it pours. You can also soak it, wrapped, in cold water. Don’t run hot water over it or soak it in it. This changes its color and makes the blood clot inside the meat.
Tip:
Frozen poultry takes less time in boiling and cooking than fresh poultry.
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Boiling Poultry
Chicken: Whole chicken are the ones usually used for boiling, it is not the perfect cooking method for boneless or skinless chicken. Fill 2/3 a deep large pan with water. Add one large onion; make two perpendicular vertical shallow cuts on the onion so that it remains in one piece. Add 2-3 medium carrots (optional); quartered or any large-cut shape. Add 2-3 Arabic gums, 2 bay leaves, and 3-4 cardamoms (or ¼ tsp ground cardamom). Cover and bring to boil over medium-high heat then add the chicken. You can prick its body with a fork on different parts (especially thighs) before adding to the boiling water. Reduce heat and leave chicken to boil for 30 minutes to 1 hour (baladi chicken take up to 2 hours in boiling). Just before chicken is done, add salt and if you like, add pepper. While chicken is being boiled, occasionally skim off the layer of foam that rises on top of the boiling water.
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Duck, rabbit (cut into pieces), and turkey are boiled in the same way as chicken except that they are pan-fried first in a tbsp of margarine from all sides (you can do this with chicken too). Don’t over fry. Then follow the same process of boiling chicken. Leave duck to boil for 4 hours, rabbit for 45 minutes to 1 hour, and turkey for 2-3 hours depending on its size.
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Making poultry broth
Follow the same steps in boiling poultry, then strain and reserve the resulting broth and place it in the fridge for a few hours. Remove the fat that forms a solid layer on top of the broth with a slotted large spoon. You can leave that fat layer if you wish to use it. You can use the broth in that form or you can freeze it.
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Making chicken stock
The main use of any kind of stock is in making sauces. You add it to the recipe instead of the flour and water mixture that adds texture to the sauce. Chicken stock is particularly added to a lot of recipes to give flavor. Most people mix up stock and broth. Stock is thicker in consistency, darker in color and milder in flavor than the broth. While bones are optional in making broth, they are a necessity in making stock. In making stock, you may use parts of the chicken that are not commonly used for your cooking (e.g. neck and wings). Follow the same steps in boiling chicken and reserving broth but instead, simmer chicken over low heat for about 2 hours adding more water when necessary. Also add 4-6 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp black peppercorns instead of pepper to the boiling water. If you will use whole chicken, it is better to remove the chicken when it’s done so that it is not over cooked. Then detach the bones and return them to the boiling liquid for the rest of the required time. You can also use leftover cooked chicken.
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