- a frying pan and a baking dish
- tongs
- a meat thermometer or a metal fork
- salt and pepper
- Cajun spice mix (optional)
- olive oil
- a bone-in, skin-on chicken breast
Recipe-Free Cooking
From the store to the kitchen to the table: We outline the steps that get you from something raw to something cooked using simple ingredients, free of measurements and complicated techniques. A method that you can have in your back pocket and whip out whenever you like. We call it recipe-free cooking.
Illustrations by Bill Russell
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Though I've been hot-oven roasting whole chickens for a long time, I never considered using a similar technique for breasts. Thanks, Chow, for giving me a new way to prepare an old standby. Keep these recipe-free instructions coming, please.
Now that's a weeknight meal. I like to cook baby carrots glazed in chicken stock, butter, salt, and pepper as a quick and easy side dish to pan fried or baked chicken breasts. It takes about 20 minutes for the chicken stock to reduce to a glaze -- about the same time it takes for the chicken breast to cook -- and is a quick and elegant side.
I like the idea for these non-recipes; they'll give fledgling cooks more confidence to just get on with it and cook.
However, the layout and graphics are illl-suited to the concept. If it's so uncomplicated, why do I have to click& scroll 6 itmes just to see how easy it is? That's just counter-intuitive. Poor idea.
To Toodie Jane: All you have to do is click on that little line that says "view all steps at once"...or print pdf. See, it all makes sense..it's YOU that's making it complicated!
sorry, but the 'view all steps' should be the default, not a choice.
This is great technique that may be used for any kind of meat or fish. The trick is to use an oven-proof pan so you get a good sear on the second side when it's in the oven.
I use it to cook filet mignon and salmon. All the filet needs is a sprinkle of salt and crushed pepper corns, but for the salmon, I use a mixture of salt/paprika/cumin. Or you could just sprinkle salt on the salmon and serve with a lemon/butter/white wine/caper sauce.
Experiment!
Isn't this concept the same as a recipe? I don't get it.
I agree. Should have all the steps in one window. I do like the PDF printout tho!
clicking once isn't such a hardship. some people like seeing one step at a time. this is set up that it can be done however you prefer
testing my blog
How do you "make a sauce by deglazing the pan"?
yeah, i would like a quick idea for a nice finishing sauce since there would be some brown bits from the pan, no?
would you recommend a cast-iron skillet for this cooking method?
I found all steps on 1 page but is there any way to adjust this to making 4-6 chicken breasts (ok I am lazy and don't want to do the math, plus one is not enough for me!)
I found all steps on 1 page but is there any way to adjust this to making 4-6 chicken breasts? (ok I am lazy and don't want to do the math, plus one is not enough for me!)
Click on "bonus sauce." 4-6 breasts cook exactly the same as 1. You just might need a larger oven proof pan. I'm fixing this tonight and looking forward to it. Also emailed it to an 84 y.o. friend who's trying to keep it simple these days.
sugarsnapp, the first time I tried this (last week) I couldn't find bone-in breasts at the grocery store. So I bought a whole, cut-up chicken, I froze half of the chicken and cooked the rest. I used one breast, one thigh, one drumstick and one wing. It all fit in my cast iron skillet. The wing cooked much quicker than the rest, so that was a little snack for me before dinner.
The sauce was really easy to make. I usually grill chicken (and pretty much everything else), but this was a nice alternative to grilling - simple to make and very tasty.
This is one of the simplest and best bone-in breast recipes ever. I loved it. I used my ovenproof saute pan but that would only hold two breasts (they were really large). I also want to do 4-6 in the future. The original recipe says you can use a baking dish. I suppose I could do 2-3 pieces in non-ovenproof saute pans and then put them into a preheated baking dish. Have others tried that?