Keep your breasts at their best with Gordon Ramsay's handy tips for cooking chicken
Chicken is one of the most popular meats in Britain, so it's worth knowing how to cook it properly. Chicken breasts in particular can be tricky as they are off the bone and don't have much fat. If you're not careful they can lack flavour and dry out when cooked. Here Gordon shows us his guaranteed method to keep the meat flavourful and succulent.
First prepare your fillets. They need to be the same weight and size so you can be sure they'll cook at the same rate.
Check that the skin is on - in a chicken breast this is the one place you can get a little fat and therefore more flavour.
Season all over with a generous amount of salt and pepper. You want to season right from the start - it doesn't have the same effect if you add it later.
Heat some olive oil in a hot pan. Make sure it's up to temperature before you add the chicken - you don't want a cool pan or you won't be able to sear the chicken quickly enough.
Brown the chicken on both sides - no colour, no flavour! This is our chance to get colour on there as we're going to finish the chicken in liquid.
Deglaze with alcohol, in this case we're using marsala but depending on the recipe you could use white wine, vermouth etc. Deglazing catches up all the flavour in the bottom of the pan and provides the perfect base for a sauce.
Allow the alcohol to evaporate before pouring in the stock.
The hot liquid will help to finish cooking the chicken. By braising it in stock we're not only intensifying the flavour, we're also preventing the chicken from drying out.
Once the stock has reduced and your chicken is cooked, remove from the heat and allow to rest before serving.
