Chickens Being Grilled
In all honesty, while I am a fairly adventurous eater, eating raw chicken sounds disgusting to me. I’m not even as concerned with the disease aspect, but the texture of uncooked chicken breast is very unappealing.
Elizabeth Gunnison gave it a shot…
Spend a lot of time around restaurant cooks and there’s a good chance you’ll turn into a whiskey drinker with an above-average swearing vocabulary. You’ll also be exposed to the kind of late-night banter that reveals the city’s best taco stand or revolutionizes the way you scramble eggs. Earlier this year I overheard some chefs talking about certain little-known yakitori joints that will, by request, cook their chicken skewers to a mouthwatering medium-rare. That’s one you don’t hear every day: chicken served pink.
Chicken breast is boring. It has the charisma of Tim Pawlenty and the texture of an old tennis ball. It tastes like you’re being punished for something. Which is a shame, because chicken breast is such a practical sort of meat, being that it’s lean, affordable, and widely available.
…
First up was a sliver of raw breast. It was slippery, limp, bloodless, room temperature, and for all those reasons, not recommended. The best turned out to be the one cooked medium-well, about 150 degrees. It was what we’d classify as “pink” when you cut into it, but the distinguishing feature wasn’t the color of the flesh so much as its sheen and a hint of translucency. The well-done meat we’re used to is a firm fist of hot, parched, matte-hued muscle. By contrast, medium-well chicken is supple, glossy, warm, and explosively juicy. Riskier to eat than well-done? Maybe. But worth it. Plus: one less thing to worry about.
(click here to continue reading Eating Raw Chicken – How to Eat Raw Chicken – Esquire.)
If you ever try some, let me know what you thought…