Chicken meat is a type of food that brings many health benefits if cooked deliciously and eaten in the right amount. Chicken meat is a rich source of protein, but low in fat. Boiled chicken provides both energy and valuable nutrients, suitable for those who are losing weight and firming muscles.
Here are some tips for boiling chicken to help you have a delicious and restaurant-standard dish.
Choosing chicken
You should choose chicken weighing about 1.5 – 2kg. Boiling chicken that is too big can cause the chicken skin to crack. If you want it to be even better, you should choose a freshly laid hen and still have young eggs in its belly. This type of chicken meat will be tender, fragrant, and firm.

For ready-made chicken, you should choose a chicken with a firm body, compact, and small chicken breasts.
Vietnamese chickens, after being cleaned, have the characteristic of yellow, shiny skin, but most of the breast, wings, and back will have a deep yellow color. Avoid choosing chickens with dark purple, spotted or black areas.
The tenderness of the chicken meat also depends on the firmness of the chicken. You can check the firmness of the chicken meat by lightly pressing the body, thighs, and loin of the chicken with your fingers.
You can also smell if the chicken has a smell, rot, or antibiotic injection.
Boiling chicken
Step 1: Rub the chicken (both outside and inside the belly) with salt to clean the chicken and eliminate the smell, rinse with clean water. The trick to prevent the chicken skin from tearing when boiling is to chop off the chicken feet after cleaning, and the chicken skin will shrink when boiled.
Step 2: Choose a pot that is tall and wide equivalent to the size of the purchased chicken so that the chicken can be boiled evenly, not shrink, and have an attractive shape. Before putting the chicken in the pot, use a toothpick to fix the chicken head with the chicken body.
Step 3: Put the chicken into the pot so that the belly is below, the head is above. Then, pour cold water to immerse the chicken’s head and put the pot on the stove, turn on the high heat to boil the chicken. A good way to boil delicious chicken meat is to add ginger and crushed onions into the pot of chicken stock, you can also add a little soup powder or salt. Start boiling the chicken from cold water until the water boils, which will help the chicken cook evenly from the bone to the meat.

Step 4: When the chicken stock boils, reduce the heat and continue boiling the chicken for another 10 minutes. Note that boiling the chicken from high heat to low heat should not cover the pot. After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, cover the pot to let the chicken cook evenly, and wait for 20 minutes.
Step 5: Take out the cooked chicken and put it in cold ice water to help the chicken meat become firm and chewy, and maintain the color of the chicken skin. A delicious and golden chicken skin can be achieved by mixing turmeric with the chicken stock and evenly pouring it onto the chicken skin. This can also be done in step 1 before boiling the chicken. After cleaning the chicken meat, rub turmeric all over the chicken, let the turmeric soak into the chicken skin for about 5 minutes, then start boiling the chicken.

So, with these simple steps, you can easily boil a delicious chicken with crispy skin, even better than in a restaurant.
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