For me, I tend to cook with chicken thighs more than anything else. I like the bone-in chicken thighs with the skin on. I seem to get the best results from them. When I’m sautéing chicken, I like to get the oil very hot (about medium-high) until it stat to shimmer. I always start off skin side down and then let it go until it has some nice browning, then do the same on the other side. If the oil is not hot enough, the chicken will taste oily. Most of the time, I like to start the chicken on the stove, then finish it off in the oven. If I know that the chicken is going to above the sauce or vegetables that I am using, I’ll sauté the skin until it gets nice and crispy.
One exception to this is when I’m roasting chicken. In that case, I’ll keep the chicken more or less whole. I say more or less, as I usually like to butterfly the chicken, which is cutting it down the back, so it can lay flat. That way I can brown both sides of the chicken in a skillet, then finish roasting it in the oven. The result is the chicken gets some very nice flavor.
All of this is probably the reason that I’m a big fan of skillets that I can use on both the stove and in the oven. While most large skillets are about 12 inches, I found on that it a 14-inch skillet is a little better. The extra two inches allows me to cook everything in one batch. If you’re thinking getting a slightly larger skillet, first measure your oven to make sure that the skillet will fit inside.
On our San Francisco Food Tour of North Beach\Little Italy and Chinatown, there are great little tips that I pick up, such as using chicken thighs or butterflying chicken, so it has better flavor. At the same time, ovens and ranges in a restaurant are usually larger than one’s home, so I always to translate the way that a restaurant cooks compared to my home kitchen. So, while we are learning some new ideas on our San Francisco Food Tours, we always try to adjust to cooking at home. If you’re ever reading a recipe, a good idea is if it is from a restaurant, think about how you need to adjust it to your home kitchen, whether is an ingredient or equipment. Do that before you start cooking and you’ll end up with a great dish.
