In this recipe in minute 7:00 the cook separates the chicken skin from the breast to put butter between the skin and the breast for basting. When I tried that (very slowly) it always felt like I was about to rip the skin. When I finished a sizable part of the breast was left exposed because some of the skin ripped.
Chicken – How to separate whole chicken skin from the breast (for basting) without ripping it
chickenmeatroasting
Related Solutions
The chicken fat layer in the skin is flammable. As it melts, it drips out and down. If there is something extremely hot underneath it (like hot charcoal), it will ignite causing a flareup. Heat rises, so the heat and flame go back upwards to heat the chicken more, causing more fat to melt and drip. It is a self-reinforcing cycle.
To prevent the cycle from beginning:
- lower the heat level
- put a drip pan between heat and the chicken
- move the chicken so it isn't directly above the heat
- start with the side of the chicken with skin facing down, finish with it facing up
If you actually get the skin hot enough to catch fire while on the chicken, you're REALLY using too much heat.
With thin cuts of meat (like chicken breast or a steak), you want to make sure you put the thermometer in to the thin side of the meat so that the whole thermometer goes in to the meat, rather than putting it in through the "top" so that only a little of the thermometer is in the meat. If you're putting it in the top, you can get wildly inaccurate temperatures. Also make sure that the thermometer isn't touching a pan, exposed to air, or touching a bone. Any of those can have a negative effect.
Also, you only need to cook chicken to 74C / 165F. That may be part of the problem in your case.
You may also want to check that your thermometer is accurate. You can stick it in boiling water to check that it reads 100C / 212F (assuming of course it goes up that high).
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Best Answer
I'd say experience ?
You need to try it a few times to get the feel of the skin and the meat and how much pressure is needed to separate the skin from the meat.
Try putting more pressure on the meat itself and not on the skin (hard to describe).
The quality of the chicken is also important, most supermarket chicken have crappy skin and will break easily.
If you try on a good free-range chicken, the skin will be sturdier (personal experience, here).