Topic: Precooked Chicken Question...

[Harry Bosch]

... why?

I can understand it from a restaurant perspective but if you're cooking at home why can't it be cooked with, or at the same time as the curry? As a newbie, I've no idea - it just seems that re-cooking pre-cooked chicken (for quite a while, it seems) is going to make it less tender than if cooked for just the length of time it takes to cook.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I can understand it from a restaurant perspective but if you're cooking at home why can't it be cooked with, or at the same time as the curry? As a newbie, I've no idea - it just seems that re-cooking pre-cooked chicken (for quite a while, it seems) is going to make it less tender than if cooked for just the length of time it takes to cook.

Well, the first point (to my mind) is that when you pre-cook, you don't pre-cook completely; my defintion of pre-cooking chicken is just to take it to the "just firm" stage and no further.  As it has been pre-cooked in mild spices, they then have some time in which to infuse into the flesh and increase/improve its flavour.  That said, I have now given up pre-cooking as a separate exercise : I pre-cook in oil, base, g/g paste, turmeric and Kashmiri Masala to the "just firm" stage, set aside, make the sauce, then put the chicken straight back in.  Doesn't allow long for the essential oils to infuse, but still seems to work well.

** Phil.

[SteveAUS]

Was wondering the same the other night Harry. CA doesnt use pre-cooked in his chicken vindaloo which I was going to make the other night. Made me wonder why most do use pre-cooked at home. My wife makes the kids a dish with chicken breasts and par-boils it and then uses that in the dish and it stays nice and juicy. From memory the longer you cook chicken breast the tougher it gets? Hence, I guess the reason for a flash cook of only a few mins.
Cheers
Steve

[beachbum]

I don't use chicken breast any more, just chicken thigh fillets which turn out far more tender and are currently a similar price in AUS. They also seem to get more tender the longer you cook them, as opposed to the breasts.

I find that precooking as in the Curry 2 Go Youtubes with marinating overnight in yogurt, spices and GGP then cooking the next day with whole spices, onion and some base gravy gives lovely spicy aromatic chicken pieces.

One of the main benefits I find is that you end up with a good batch of "stock" afterwards that goes well in a lot of other dishes. Especially when I use far more onion than the 1/2 suggested by Curry 2 Go, it's almost like a dopiaza onion sauce.

For example the other night I got home starving at 9pm and boiled up lentils till smooth, then just chucked in dry mix powder, Kashmiri Chilli, a ladle of base gravy (the "shortcut" one posted by Curry 2 go) and some leftover "stock" from precooked chicken with a fair amount of soft onion pieces in.

Didn't bother with the "tarka" thing as the gravies had plenty of oil in, and it turned out a ripper dal and I ate half a litre of it at least. As SWMBO complained later on in the wee small hours 


edit: and she will have revenge, I'm cooking her bacon bone and split pea soup for tonight as it's still winter here.  :

[Malc.]

... why?

There is the dilemma. You could go on to say why bother with any of the other labour intensive processes that are involved in BIR, when traditional cooking produces far better results! But there is something nostalgic (if that is the right word) about cooking the BIR way, at home. Especially if you get better results than your local TA!


I don't precook chicken in the sense of reheating cold cooked meat, though it is cooked in the oven for 20mins, before adding it to the dish. The chicken always turns out succulent. I think I posted the method I played around with in the ABC topic I posted in the pic section. I've also found a better cut of Lamb to use which also doesn't need much cooking.

[Harry Bosch]

... that does make sense - if I'm trying to replicate a BIR flavour, I need to do it as near to the way the BIR does it as I can - and, therefore, if they use pre-cooked chicken - and it impacts positively on the flavour, so should I.

Thanks for the feedback folks!

Harry

[SteveAUS]

Thats what makes me nervous Harry. Australian vindaloos use chicken thighs that has been cooking for a long time and falls apart in your mouth. Because of this ive been cooking thighs in traditional indian dishes which are quite happy to sit simmering away for an hour or so. So....do I go exactly as per the CA vindaloo recipe and make a BIR dish that I havent had for 20 years (and can hardly remember) or go with a slow simmer vindaloo (using the same ingredients) and chicken thighs a la AIR? 

Edit: Or.....have the thighs being pre-cooked and added to a quick dish to make me think they have been sitting simmering for a long time! 

[Peripatetic Phil]

So....do I go exactly as per the CA vindaloo recipe and make a BIR dish that I havent had for 20 years (and can hardly remember) or go with a slow simmer vindaloo (using the same ingredients) and chicken thighs a la AIR? 

That's what hoi polloi   would call a "no-brainer", Steve : make CA's Chicken Vindaloo exactly to spec., remind yourself how wonderful curries used to be when you still lived in Old Mother England, and save yourself a fortune on AIR cuisine for the remainder of your life.  It could have even more benefits : you might discover that you are such a gifted BIR chef that you open Australia's first BIR restaurant, work hard to establish it for three years, then hand it over to your sons and retire a very rich man

** Phil.

[Harry Bosch]

... I suppose it depends on whether you're a breast or a thigh man .

The bottom line has got to be what you enjoy eating the most - and I like chicken as tender as can be and I know that overcooking chicken breast makes it less tender but, like you say, cooking chicken thighs is the opposite.

[Peripatetic Phil]

... I suppose it depends on whether you're a breast or a thigh man .

Personally I prefer something in-between