Rubber chicken

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fieldgrade

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I just grilled two very large chicken breasts from Harris Teeter. It was cold and windy out, so the grill temp was up and down when I’d open it, and I was in and out of the grill a lot because I was cooking french green beans and Brussels sprouts for the missus.

I don’t *think* I over cooked the chicken because it was very juicy when I first cut into it, but about 1/2 the first breast was rubbery as heck. I mean REALLY rubbery. The second breast doesn’t look to be cooked quite as much if the skin is any indication, and it’s waiting on the missus to get home, so I don’t know how it is.

Did I just over cook it? It wasn’t dry.

And when I say these were big breasts, I mean Adrienne Barbeau big.
 
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Shady Grady said:
I prefer thighs on the .... everywhere...

Something with fat is much easier to grill or smoke.
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I normally cook wings, the big packs of them when the is family here, but the boys aren’t here nearly is much due to life keepin’ ‘em busy and the wife doesn’t eat much. I would have been happy with just a cut up fryer, but there were only ginormous packs of wings, then big packs of thighs, then drum sticks. I really didn’t want the two Chikasarus Rex breast.

I’l avoid them next time.
 
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Ive had a few here and there over the last two or three months that were just kinda off, too.
Some super tough, some rubbery...and I know I didnt over cook them. They were the only thing on the grill and were temp probed.
You might've just got a funky piece of bird.
 
Did you temp check them Ash? I used to guess. Searing them well will hold in the juices but overcooking would make them tough. Once I bought a thermometer, and started checking everything, my meat got lots better, just ask @Lil D
 
Burt Gummer said:
Did you temp check them Ash? I used to guess. Searing them well will hold in the juices but overcooking would make them tough. Once I bought a thermometer, and started checking everything, my meat got lots better, just ask @Lil D
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I don’t have a temp probe, or a torque wrench. I wing it on everything.
 
fieldgrade said:
I don’t have a temp probe, or a torque wrench. I wing it on everything.
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Here. This is what I use. You’ve spent $10 on worse things.


DOQAUS Digital Meat Thermometer, Instant Read Food Thermometer for Cooking, Kitchen Thermometer Probe with Backlit & Reversible Display, Cooking Thermometer Temperature for Turkey Grill Candy Liquid Amazon product ASIN B08RWPPD8J
 
Temperature matters of course, but one thing I do with chicken and pork is to brine in saltwater in the fridge- generally I take stuff out of the freezer into the fridge over night in a stainless steel bowl. the brine is nothing fancy just cold clean water and salt.
 
fieldgrade said:
two very large chicken breasts from Harris Teeter.
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I got some of those. They were all tough and rubbery. Didn't even tender up in the crock pot. Just low quality meat. We wound up feeding them to the dog because pound-for-pound they're cheaper.
 
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One of the barbecue books I’ve read said every piece of meat is different. And I tend to agree. Sometimes you just get a lemon and sometimes it cooks at its own pace. Marinades and injections can fix most thing though.
 
Catfish said:
I got some of those. They were all tough and rubbery. Didn't even tender up in the crock pot. Just low quality meat. We would up feeding them to the dog because pound-for-pound they're cheaper.
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I was going to add the same comment. The wife and I eat A LOT of chicken breast. Close to 7 lbs a week. We ate a lot of it from Harris Teeter while living in Charlotte, mainly due to the cost and it being fairly clean. Since moving to Vale and being forced to eat from different sources, we have discovered all chicken breast is not the same...
 
We had some rubbery chicken and some rubbery pork last month. It was so gross that I couldn't eat the pork, and the dog wouldn't either. I cook with a temperature probe. I can't explain it except to say the quality of the meat is way down.
I've been eating more fish and ground meat since.
 
Lots of possibilities. First would be simply a crappy piece of meat. Second it was over cooked. Third it was not allowed to rest to reabsorb the lost moisture.

Mu suggestion in general is to get a instant read meat thermometer. Thermometer Pops are a good high quality option. You can find them cheaper but they won't last as long or be as accurate. Temp is the only way to really know if the meat is cooked properly.

As a general rule I let chicken rest 1/3 of the time it cooked before cutting or eating it. That allows it to reabsorb the moisture it has lost in the cooking process. If you cut it immediately those "juices" run right out and leave the meat dry and rubbery.

Pan seared chicken breasts with pan sauce served over mixed greens with sauted cabbage on the side.

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fieldgrade said:
I just grilled two very large chicken breasts from Harris Teeter. It was cold and windy out, so the grill temp was up and down when I’d open it, and I was in and out of the grill a lot because I was cooking french green beans and Brussels sprouts for the missus.

I don’t *think* I over cooked the chicken because it was very juicy when I first cut into it, but about 1/2 the first breast was rubbery as heck. I mean REALLY rubbery. The second breast doesn’t look to be cooked quite as much if the skin is any indication, and it’s waiting on the missus to get home, so I don’t know how it is.

Did I just over cook it? It wasn’t dry.

And when I say these were big breasts, I mean Adrienne Barbeau big.
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Some of you know I ran a kitchen for a few years so I’ve seen some stuff…. A little sample of said “stuff”….
Unless you are someone that buys the hormone/steroid free chicken, they pump them with all kinds of fun stuff to make them very large. A prime indication of this is not only the size, but when raw, the breast will be more of a white color than the normal pinkish or whatever color you want to call chicken. Avoid these!!! You will never ever get them to cook right. The texture has changed from their manipulation.
And temp darlin, temp! Temp it in the pan/grill/whatever and pull it about 5 degrees prior to preferred doneness and let it rest 5-10 minutes. It will rise to the done temp while it rests and you won’t lose your juices 🙂
 
LizardKing said:
I was going to add the same comment. The wife and I eat A LOT of chicken breast. Close to 7 lbs a week. We ate a lot of it from Harris Teeter while living in Charlotte, mainly due to the cost and it being fairly clean. Since moving to Vale and being forced to eat from different sources, we have discovered all chicken breast is not the same...
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If you stick with name brand chicken, it’s usually pretty good. Justin brought home some chicken breast that where Walmart brand and they were down right horrid! Rubbery and tough, and the tastes was off. No thanks! Yeah, food quality isn’t what it used to be and with food prices going up, prepare for quality of food to go down.
 
Lil D said:
Some of you know I ran a kitchen for a few years so I’ve seen some stuff…. A little sample of said “stuff”….
Unless you are someone that buys the hormone/steroid free chicken, they pump them with all kinds of fun stuff to make them very large. A prime indication of this is not only the size, but when raw, the breast will be more of a white color than the normal pinkish or whatever color you want to call chicken. Avoid these!!! You will never ever get them to cook right. The texture has changed from their manipulation.
And temp darlin, temp! Temp it in the pan/grill/whatever and pull it about 5 degrees prior to preferred doneness and let it rest 5-10 minutes. It will rise to the done temp while it rests and you won’t lose your juices 🙂
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Thanks.
I kinda figured this Chikasaurus Rex was on the juice.
 
BrettB said:
Temperature matters of course, but one thing I do with chicken and pork is to brine in saltwater in the fridge- generally I take stuff out of the freezer into the fridge over night in a stainless steel bowl. the brine is nothing fancy just cold clean water and salt.
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Yes!!! It helps it sooo much if you have the time to do it.
 
Burt Gummer said:
Here. This is what I use. You’ve spent $10 on worse things.


DOQAUS Digital Meat Thermometer, Instant Read Food Thermometer for Cooking, Kitchen Thermometer Probe with Backlit & Reversible Display, Cooking Thermometer Temperature for Turkey Grill Candy Liquid Amazon product ASIN B08RWPPD8J
Click to expand...

For about 6 or 7 years now, I’ve been using an insertion probe thermocouple in a spare multimeter. It’s a very accurate and robust setup, and the probes are cheap. It is a good option if you have an extra meter laying around.
 
This thread makes me happy to buy chicken from a local farmer. And yes, sometimes, its even been tough, but it hasn’t been full of funny fluid.
 
In other news, I cooked some slightly rubbery scrambled eggs this morning
(like I like them, versus runny, soupy eggs. You philistines, you know who you are).

Much better than the rubber chicken from whence they came.
 
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Do you guys brine it overnight while it’s thawing or after it is thawed…obviously using chicken from the freezer.
 
DCGallim said:
Me and my wife had some the other night when you bit in to it the texture was way off. Like it was raw, it wasn’t at all though. 2 separate breast pieces it was super weird.
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I’ve had that happen too.

I’ve pretty much given up on breasts. Thighs, as has already been said, are far more consistent.
 
Chdamn said:
I’ve had that happen too.

I’ve pretty much given up on breasts. Thighs, as has already been said, are far more consistent.
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Jac loves chicken breast. She can eat boneless skinless chicken breast for every meal and be happy. I hate it, I did smoke 2 chickens yesterday and the breast came out great. I put leftover chimichurri on for a seasoning. Would recommend.
 
DCGallim said:
Jac loves chicken breast. She can eat boneless skinless chicken breast for every meal and be happy. I hate it, I did smoke 2 chickens yesterday and the breast came out great. I put leftover chimichurri on for a seasoning. Would recommend.
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Yeah. We keep wet and dry versions of that stuff. Put it on a lot of stuff.
 
I've read that marinated chicken gets tough if it's soaking too long.
 
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Breast are the sorriest piece of chicken on the whole bird. It's best used to make chicken hash. Or beat it flat and make a sandwich out of it.
 
Wife threw 3 pounds of breasts into the instant-pot last night along with a box of broth... came out really good. Made "pulled bbq" out of it.

The only way I can consistently grill chicken "perfectly" is outside on my standing electric George Foreman. Dunno if youve seen those before... looks just like a round charbroil grill but its electric.
 
Been eating our backyard birds for several years. Took some getting used to. Now the commercial breasts turn my stomach. They are so extremely different from what a chicken should look/taste like that's it's off-putting.

We still buy commercial somewhat often, but only thighs and wings.
 
GeorgeBush said:
Wife threw 3 pounds of breasts into the instant-pot last night along with a box of broth... came out really good. Made "pulled bbq" out of it.
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We do something very similar in cast iron with peppers, onions, half a beer and seasonings in the oven. Pull it for chicken tacos/burritos.
 
Timfoilhat said:
I've read that marinated chicken gets tough if it's soaking too long.
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Yes, there is some chemical change in the meat. That’s why 2 days is a max for me. I‘ve done pork and beef longer, but even they will change. Usually 24 hours is about right, but I’ve gone 48 without screwing it up.
 
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