Thanks to coronavirus, a local restaurant supply company is offering home delivery, and I ordered a ten pound bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts. There were eight of them in there…EIGHT! For an average weight of 20 oz each!
I have kids who like their food white. My usual method for BSCBs of a reasonable size is a quick brine and bake, pound them a bit and steam in a covered skillet, or just boil 'em (I know, it's sad). Will these monsters turn out okay if I treat them this way?
Secondarily, if I were going to cook something with actual flavors, what would you recommend?
Best Answer
It really depends on what types of meals you plan to make with them.
If you would typically serve people a whole breast, then I'd cut each one down into more reasonable sizes (slice vaguely across the grain ... I usually start at the more bulbous end and slice diagonally through it so I end up with a chunk that's mostly from the thin end)
For the size you're starting with, you might want to cut each one into 4 to 6 pieces. If you're planning on pounding them, I might even go with 8 to 10 pieces.
Once they're a more reasonable size, you can then brine and bake them or pound them out, them like you normally would.
As you mention boiling them ... I would recommended poaching them instead. If you cut them up first, go with my original recommendation of an hour. If they went in whole, I might give it two hours. The technique that I mention is more like a slow cooker -- it's more forgiving and doesn't tend to overcook the outside before the middle is done (although, it can get fall-apart tender, and start breaking up as you try to fish them out with tongs.