Quick, how to make a chicken breast, a.k.a. one of the most common staples in quick and easy weeknight cooking, better? "Add a little butter if you're feeling sassy," says Jesse Griffiths, the chef and owner of Dai Due in Austin Texas (and one of our Hot 10 Best New Restaurants 2015). But there are a few other secrets for cooking up a juicy, crispy-skinned bird. Here's the intel.
Cooking bone-in bird keeps it moist. Griffiths butchers the chicken so that it still contains the small arm bone at the top of the breast. As a bonus to this cut, you get more meat!
Never sear the exposed meat of the chicken directly in a hot pan. Yep, that means you need to keep the skin on. (No boneless, skinless chicken breasts here.) Get the skillet hot, and place the breast, skin-side down in the pan with a little fat (Griffiths likes oil). And important: Don't touch it or move it for a few minutes, until the skin releases easily from the pan.
Once you've turned the breast over, add a couple ladles of liquid—stock is preferable—to keep the meat moist, and help it steam. Combat dryness by removing the breast when it's just cooked through, to account for carry-over cooking time.
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