chicken thighs - but do it like a restaurant

January 24, 2021 3:24 PM

I've noticed a specific taste/texture that I really like in chicken thighs prepared in restaurants - but I don't know what this quality might be called or how to make that magic happen in my own kitchen.

To describe this, I would say that the meat is cooked so that the outside is darker/dry looking, but biting into it, the meat is still silky/juicy. I'd almost call it "chicken caramelization," but I don't perceive it as sweet.

Teriyaki Madness seems to have this quality on lock. Bourbon chicken places that show up during summer fairs, etc, seem to know it. Occasionally, rarely, a Chipotle will achieve this effect, and I am on cloud nine.

Some commonalities:
* the meat is both boneless AND skinless
* Usually grilled? But I've seen/tasted it in tandoori chicken.
* It usually looks like this (under the teriyaki sauce): https://teriyakimadness.com/menu/chicken-teriyaki/

I've had marinated chicken thigh from a restaurant that has it one day, and not the next day. Presumably the recipe they're using is the same day to day. So I'm wondering if this is a skill, a secret marinade ingredient, a way of cooking, or even something else.

Thanks metafilter! :)

posted by snerson to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

I'm a home cook. my experience is that to get this effect, use a dry rub and roast in a very hot oven. oven roasting takes too long for a restaurant, dunno what their process is.
posted by j_curiouser at 3:28 PM on January 24, 2021

Is it crispy? My guess is that there's sugar on the marinade, and high temperature is applied to it quickly (sear, the texture differences), caramelizing the sugar as you've identified (colour).

I think how thick the skin is makes a difference. I can get crispier lighter skin by treating it with vinegar, and more of the fat renders out.

If I'm frying chicken, I'll dry the skin thoroughly and apply a dusting of cornstarch before shallow fat frying at a high temperature to get a crispy fried chicken texture/ appearance without the excess batter. This protects the inside meat so you can get crispy outsides and juicy insides.
posted by porpoise at 3:30 PM on January 24, 2021

Guessing that the meat is marinated ahead of time in anything that contains both salt and sugar. Salt will brine the meat, given enough time it will firm the texture up and make it juicier. The sugar will caramelize on the outside with enough heat, as it does not penetrate the meat as quickly.
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 3:45 PM on January 24, 2021

I think what you're referring to in terms of 'caramelization' but not being perceived as sweet may be the more intense end of the Maillard reaction (ie, the browning of protein under heat).

Reliable way to increase browning/maillard reactions and retaining moisture is a combination of brining the meat, raising the PH of the meat, and making sure the surface is completely dry before cooking. Brining the meat will encourage moisture retention. Raising the PH of the meat will allow for the maillard reaction to actually occur at a lower temperature, which will prevent overcooking (which will both help retain moisture AND increase the amount of maillard you can achieve without burning). Making sure the meat is completely dry before cooking again increases the amount of maillard/browning you can achieve quicker. If meat is moist on the surface at all, that moisture has to steam off before browning occurs. This ironically prevents the drying out of meat because you get better browning quicker.

When I cook thighs over a grill, I usually add baking soda, baked soda or kansui to brine I use (which usually contains some type of sugar as well), and then I remove the thighs and let them air dry, uncovered in a fridge overnight. They look tacky and dried out, until you cook them.
posted by furnace.heart at 3:52 PM on January 24, 2021 [14 favorites]

Speed of cooking is much more important than people give it credit for. If you're starting with a tender meat and want to keep it moist, the minimum cooking time is going to give you the best result. The outside browns even better, to boot. Of course, an extremely hot grill or wok takes special equipment (not least to handle the resulting smoke) and an experienced cook. I'm not a restaurant cook, but that's certainly one of the things I have learned. A big part of the reason a hamburger cooked at 350ºF / 175ºC on the grill doesn't taste anything like a good restaurant burger is that the restaurant is grilling or broiling their burgers at 900ºF / 475ºC.
posted by wnissen at 3:53 PM on January 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

You need to let the chicken “rest” for 5-10min after cooking with a cover over it (like a microwave cover). Article. Literally just let it sit. My husband does this and it’s a been game changer !
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:01 PM on January 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

More butter.
posted by vrakatar at 4:54 PM on January 24, 2021

As a rudderless college grad, while grasping about for a career I ended up prepping in restaurant kitchens, and eventually cooking on the line in several. Typically meats like cutlets or chops are first sauteed for crispness and then finished in a hot - like 500 degree - oven, right in the saute pan. I saw rubs but rarely marinating, though I'm sure there are lots of restaurants that use this technique.

To recreate this I'd suggest you try a rub with the spice/flavor profile you like, and then dust lightly with flour, or even mix your spices with a little flour or cornstarch (like a tablespoon for several cutlets) to help form a crust. Make sure the cutlets are dry before sauteing or they will spit. Line cooks often cook at much higher flames than home cooks, and this contributes to the crispy outside, so make sure you use a cooking oil that will not smoke or burn at high heat. Finishing in the oven keeps the outside from burning so the middle can cook to the desired internal temp, like steaks. If you want a sauce pour over once the meat is plated, or pour a small amount on the plate before placing the cutlet on top.
posted by citygirl at 5:16 PM on January 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

I make boneless chicken strips that are dry outside, really juicy inside, by using any old dry rub, a lot of heat, not much oil. They take a very short time, usually turn twice. I make sure anything else is ready because they're best served immediately. One of my favorite quick meals.
posted by theora55 at 5:52 PM on January 24, 2021

University Residential Dining grill cook. Teriyaki marinade for a good while (overnight usually, but overnight sort of marinade) hits the salt and sugar bits. The OMFG hot grill does the rest. There's also the twice cook (like good fries) of cooking just below done, letting cool down, coating and then cooking again at ridiculous high heat for the outside and letting sit long enough to finish the inside.
posted by zengargoyle at 9:35 PM on January 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

I cook chicken pieces with a dry salt/sugar rub in the sous vide @ 145 F for about 3-4 hours before searing them on the grill or in a grill pan on the stove. Dry the meat off well before searing. Super juicy and carmelized on the outside.
posted by waving at 6:04 AM on January 25, 2021

Response by poster: furnace.heart: re: drying the chicken uncovered in the fridge overnight - are there any food safety precautions I should take with this approach, given I'm dealing with raw chicken? Obviously I'll have them on a plate / on a rack over a plate, anything else?

I have learned a lot about cooking from this thread, thank you so much everyone!
posted by snerson at 6:55 AM on January 25, 2021

there's a very talented home cook on both tiktok and instagram whose content i've been following lately, @tiffycooks .. most of her recipes are various styles of Taiwanese/Chinese/east asian cooking.. anyway the reason I thought to mention is that the marinate and/or dust with cornstarch and then quick-cook-over-high-heat method is the method that she uses for ALL of her meats, and I think her video content does a good job of giving a sense of the overall "how" that can be applied to whatever recipes of your own making. hope this helps : )
posted by elgee at 8:39 AM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

Nthing cornstarch and starting with a very hot pan. This is a classic home stir-fry method and it works very well. The best way to do it is to marinade your diced chicken in a wet marinade that has a cornstarch slurry in it. Get your pan as hot as you can without making the smoke detector go off. Throw the chicken onto the pan in one layer (work in batches if you need more than one layer) and let it sit for 1-2 minutes. When a test piece is adequately browned, flip them and stir fry quickly until the meat is cooked through. (If you are worried about burning, you can turn the heat down at this point) Remove the chicken as soon as it's done.

If you want it to have a bit of sweetness, you can add sugar to the marinade, but it doesn't need it for the cooking method.
posted by lunasol at 6:25 PM on January 25, 2021

Just make sure it can't leak on anything, and be extra about not letting anything touch it directly. There's nothing about dry air that is inherently more or less dangerous in a food safety way than regular chicken. Simply covering something isn't going to make it more or less food safe; people say to store it covered because they're worried about raw chicken getting on other things. it's commonplace when roasting big birds like turkeys to even hit them with a hairdryer or heat gun before roasting it, so that the skin dries out faster, becoming more crisp. If you're using a brine, this can probably prevent some things from growing, but nothing's going to happen in the fridge overnight unless your fridge has Bigger Problems.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:56 PM on January 25, 2021

Lucky Peach has a full roast chicken recipe that uses this method, and it is really simple, and pretty spectacular.
posted by furnace.heart at 8:02 PM on January 25, 2021

Look up velveting chicken and try it some time
posted by Dmenet at 9:10 AM on January 26, 2021 [1 favorite]