Dinner fail, so very fail.

[thistlechaser]

While I now have two ways I can make my chicken breast dinner, I know I need more, so I tried a new way out tonight. I had a recipe using greek yogurt, lemon juice, and lemon zest to marinade it in. (Boy did the yogurt and lemon smell good! I could have eaten it with a spoon instead of using it for the chicken.)

I never know if I'm supposed to cover chicken when I bake it, but when in doubt I generally do since I figure that would keep it moister. But tonight it did something odd. The chicken shrunk to maybe a quarter of the original size and was nearly covered in what looked like water.

They were a really icky color (white) and the texture was odd. The first bite had okay flavor (lemon, nothing else), but that got old really quick. I didn't even come close to finishing it. (TV dinner to the rescue!)

Google tells me I probably poached my chicken. I really can't recommend doing that. I didn't use much lemon juice (a tablespoon or so), though maybe that was enough acid to partially cook it on its own? Whatever the cause, it didn't work at all.

Comments

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

I think maybe you got a chicken breast that was injected with water? Sometimes supermarkets do that to make the breasts plumper, the excuse being that it cooks up juicier. Also, did you start with a frozen piece of chicken?
Could there have been a coating of ice around it?

A tablespoon of lemon juice should not be enough liquid to poach it. Very odd...your kitchen adventures are more exciting and dangerous that the WOW campaigns!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

They were fresh, package claimed never frozen. I have a ton of them, the rest have been frozen. I'll be curious to see how the rest of them behave!

Very odd...your kitchen adventures are more exciting and dangerous that the WOW campaigns!

Ha ha, for sure!