Usually, over cooking a chicken will result in dry chicken breast. This can come down to prep, tempature, and cooking time. That’s if the chicken still had skin and bone. If it’s skinless, like many prefer to prepare today, it’s very easy for anyone to accidently dry chicken breast out. You see, The skin helps the meat retain moisture. On the flip side, it serves as a barrier from direct contact with seasoning, which can leave the actual chicken tasting bland. So, I can understand why some prefer to cook without it.
So What Do I Do?
A salt bath will help chicken breast retain moisture, because it is a muscle. Prior to a salt bath, its firm and easy to cut. So, the salt weakens the muscle fibers, which allows the salt water to seap into chicken breast. While it cooks, the salt water bath will help additional flavors from seasoning to seap in. It’s like the salt and seasoning are redirecting the flavor current to get better results.
Final Thoughts
Salt gets a bad rep for different health reasons, but it is necessary at certain times. Generally, I put the meat into a 1 gallon ziploc bag. Fill it with water and as 1 tablespoon of salt. I occasionally swoosh it around for 30 min. Then I pour out the water and season it to taste. That’s if it is flying. If the chicken is sharing the stage in a stew or casserole, I won’t over do it with post salt bath seasoning. Hope this helps you on your cooking journey.
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