Saturday, October 26, 2013

Pat the Chicken

I keep running across these recipes that say, "Pat the chicken dry with paper towels," and then the instructions go on to tell about spices or frying or whatever.  I never quite saw the necessity of that.  I often soak my chicken parts in water for hours before cooking, so yes, then I will [usually] pat it dry.  But not always.

Last week, in a rush for lunch, I bought chicken tenderloins -- little strips of skinless, boneless breast meat.  Mushrooms were on sale at Aldi super-cheap, and I had my heart set on some delectable Chicken Marsala.  I dredged the chicken strips in seasoned flour.  When I set them into the thin layer of hot oil, ... uh ... the oil ... uh ... exploded.  Most of the burns are decently healing over, but my left wrist is still a mess of raw skin.

My guess is that the moisture in the chicken was the problem.  From now on, I'll pat the chicken dry! That's lesson #1.

Lesson #2?  I must remember that a burn should be patted dry before the aloe application.  I pulled my arm out from under the cold faucet and started rubbing on aloe.  But it was diluted by the water all over my arm, and thus not as effective as usual.


By the way, that Chicken Marsala was amaAAAzing.

4 comments:

  1. Ouch! That sounds painful! Hope it's healing nicely for you.

    Blessings~

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  2. I grew up watching my mom rinse chicken and I have always done so. But lately I have been seeing the argument that you shouldn't rinse it--that doing so increases the risk of cross-contamination, no matter how careful you are, and that as long as you cook the chicken to the proper temperature it doesn't need to be rinsed.

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  3. Ouch! Hope you're doing alright now!

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  4. Thank God for aloe! After some trouble with changing bandages, I resorted to cutting an aloe leaf in half lengthwise, putting the cut-side down on the wound, and wrapping it all up. That was my protection against germs in the open air when I was out in public. But apparently the aloe did a lot more than that to help heal.

    The more the years pass, the more impressed I am by aloe!

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