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I have been trying out Korean Ginseng Soup recipe but the chicken meat usually turns out dry. Is this to do with the heat and the time taken to cook? I use an induction cooker for all my dishes. Thanks a lot!

Ingredients: 1 whole chicken 5 cloves of garlic 1/2 cup glutinous rice 2 ginseng

I bring the water to boil on high heat before switching down to medium fire and let the chicken cook for about 80min. Thighs and wings mostly taste ok, but other parts are drier. Is this normal?

Mamanyinja
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    How long are you cooking it for, how are you preparing the chicken... including your recipe in your question will help people in answering you. – Spagirl Jan 29 '20 at 08:48
  • dry chicken _certainly always_ has to do with heat and time. – Luciano Jan 29 '20 at 09:39
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    "Tender" is not a taste, rather it is a texture. Then, in your last sentence, you are talking about moisture. Can you edit your title? I don't think this is about taste or texture. It is about creating moist, properly cooked, white meat. (short answer: you are over cooking the chicken, particularly the white meat). – moscafj Jan 29 '20 at 11:46

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This is normal. Chicken breasts are leaner than legs, thighs and wings, so they dry out faster. I often make a similar dish, but I use pre-cut pieces and dark meat for this very reason. 80 minutes sounds like a long time to me, you could probably reduce that and get a better result. You could also cut the breasts off and take them out early to avoid overcooking them.

GdD
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  • I imagine that *traditional* cooking times for pot chickens were much longer to tenderise older, tougher fowl. Modern bred chhickens don't really benefit from long cooking. The meat, especially the breast, doesn't have a lot of fat and tough connective matter in amongst the meat fibres which are what soften and melt to make something like a stewing cut of beef tender. Rather than taking the breasts out early, I would consider putting them in later, then the whole dish is ready at the same time. You could joint the chicken and leave the breasts on the crown. – Spagirl Jan 30 '20 at 10:47
  • That approach would work @Spagirl, you'd need to get the timing right which would come from experience. – GdD Jan 30 '20 at 10:51