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What’s the cause here of rubbery chicken???

post #1 of 5
9/6/11 at 4:03pm
Thread Starter 

Ok all you chefs and cooks out here. Where did I do wrong? I entertained a large number of people and served grilled herbed chicken cutlets as one of the meat dishes a few weeks ago. These were chicken breasts from Sam’s which I used before for large events with no problems.

 

The chicken breasts this time were huge and I mean huge. I have never seen chicken breasts that large before but it was definitely chicken LOL. I sliced the breasts into cutlets, no pounding and brined in salt and sugar as I usually do for a few hours before grilling.  

 

The chicken breasts for the event were good, very juicy, but I thought the meat was a tad rubbery coming off the grill but it wasn’t really noticeable.

 

I froze the leftover raw, brined chicken and thawed it and used it over last weekend. The meat off the grill this time was like biting into rubber. I never had this problem before, wasn’t over cooked or dried out but the wood grill may have been a little high on the heat.  

 

Was it poor chicken quality from Sam’s? Was it the brining and freezing? Could the meat have been frozen before and the second freeze caused the problem? Can too high of heat cause this? Trying to figure out what made the chicken rubbery as serving that at my next event would be highly embarrassing.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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post #2 of 5
9/6/11 at 4:30pm

Could be a combination of all of the above.

Are the chicken breasts natural or enhanced?..... Chances are from Sam's, they are enhanced.

Stick with smaller breasts, don't know what region your in, but buy a reputable brand such as Foster Farms or similar, they will not be enhanced 15% with salt water. They will be fresh, never frozen thawed, unless you buy them frozen, then they will be ice glazed, and your still paying for water.

 

I serve grilled chicken breast every day, 6oz, never dry, always tender. Skip the brine, give this marinade a try....

 

Cilantro, fresh lime, garlic, olive oil, red chili flakes, s&p. Marinate for a couple hrs, then grill, don't over cook.

 

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post #3 of 5
9/6/11 at 6:43pm
It was partly freezing, but mostly the chicken itself.

As a rule, you can't use too much heat to grill a thin piece of poultry white meat. You can overcook it, but I'll take your word that you didn't.

Brining will not make chicken tougher than otherwise -- won't tenderize it either unless there's acid in the brine, but... again, not the case.

Cooking, holding and reheating will -- but you didn't do that.

Since the chicken was rubbery before you froze it, then more rubbery afterwards... you have your answer.

Buy better chicken.

BDL
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post #4 of 5
9/7/11 at 3:58am

Most chicken breast sold today are FROSTED that is a degree or 2 below freezing. So in escence you froze twice which makes them  tough., but allows extended shelf life

 2 The larger the breast the tougher

. 3. You should in particular, those large 10 and 12 ounce breast  Pound them first. I do not think marinating had any thing to do with it

4 Some brands of chicken are  always tough to start with Sanderson Farms, Iowna, Mission etc.

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post #5 of 5
9/7/11 at 10:24am

I have a very good gambling buddy called Chicken Neck.

Their family has been in the chix business for years. It's a simple fact that you can oversaturate any meat including humans.

Enhanced is a nice word. If they were taken to 100% saturation the muscles will in fact expell water if enhanced again.

It no longer represents meat/muscle. Heat will make it expell all of it's liquid.

  If you purchased flashed chix breast like Chefed says, he is exactly right about refreezing them.

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