To-DIE-for Thai Chile Chicken

Have I ever had the chance of actually dying from doing a school project?  Thankfully the answer is  "no," no matter how stressed I've gotten, or if I've been heard claiming that I might. However, the risk was real in this final cooking project, where I made chicken spiced with Thai flavors. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything has taught me a lot throughout this quarter, but nothing has been more valuable than the book's information on food safety.

Thawing in water (there was
originally more water in the
container than this)

As silly as it sounds, I had never worked with raw meat before this chicken dish. Since I'd purchased chicken breasts in advance, I put them in the freezer. The problem was that I forgot to thaw them in the refrigerator over the course of a few days before cooking. By the time I started, I was in a hurry and actually considered just thawing them in room temperature to speed things up (yikes!). My cookbook may have saved my life with this information: "you definitely don't want to cook still-frozen meat. Ideally, you'll thaw it . . . in the fridge. Second best is to put the wrapped meat in a large container of cool water and change the water every thirty minutes or so. I don't recommend defrosting meat in the microwave, because it semicooks, or on the countertop, because harmful bacteria can grow" (Bittman 717). It's unnerving to think that I could've gotten food poisoning or sick with e.coli without my cookbook! Instead, I learned how best to thaw meat in a jiffy without sacrificing safety by using the cool-water method suggested. I also avoided double-cooking my chicken and making it tough.  I placed my chicken into a large zip-top bag submerged in cold water, and changed the water periodically until I was ready to cook.

Plastic wrap in position

The first step of my recipe was to toss the chicken of even thickness with coconut milk and peanut butter, and sprinkle minced Thai chilies over it. Since I would be broiling the chicken, it made sense that I needed the breasts to be the same width to cook evenly. However, I had no prior experience using a meat mallet. My cookbook author offered some food-safety advice on this too. He wrote that a piece of plastic wrap can be placed on top of the meat, between the mallet head and meat surface, as a precaution against contamination (Bittman 702). At this point I had learned to be worried about meat and bacteria, so I applied this tip, and found it to be an easy step for insurance. Plus, it made my cleanup a lot easier because the plastic wrap kept the meat from sliding around. I completed the procedure for this step and then moved on to put the pan of seasoned chicken under the broiler.

While it was cooking, I went ahead to prepare the recipe's side of bean thread noodles and garnish of sautéed bell peppers. My lazy and unknowing self might've sliced the bell peppers on the same, unwashed cutting board as the chicken if not for my book. Once again, it protected me from bacteria; this time with a sidebar that warned to wash any and all surfaces that come in contact with raw meat before using them with other foods (Bittman 701). I carefully washed my cutting board after reading this, and sliced my bell peppers on a clean, safe surface. Finally, I cooked them on the stove, took my chicken out of the oven, and assembled the dish.

Thai-Chile Chicken

Thai-Chile Chicken was one of the most educational recipes I made using How to Cook Everything. Through it I learned not only how to cook simple-but-flavorful, most-but-cooked-through chicken breast, but also how to cook safely. I'm sad to see Quarter 2 end, because I've had so much fun in the kitchen! The good news is that I will definitely be able to take away cooking techniques, baking methods, and food safety from this project, and apply them in my cooking endeavors from hereon out. I might also try reading another nonfiction book, because I've now seen how helpful they can be. What have you learned through this IRP that you'll be able to use later on? If you cooked for it, did you ever come across food safety issues? What were your main complications? Leave a comment below!