Chicken is the type of meat that is most often processed by Indonesians. In addition to having a relatively cheap price, the way to process it is quite easy with a variety of variations. Even so, how to choose and store it should not be arbitrary, because if it is wrong it can make its quality decrease. Here are tips for choosing and storing chicken meat:
Tips for Choosing Quality Chicken Meat
In order to obtain good and high-quality fresh chicken meat, several things need to be considered as follows:
- The color of the meat and skin is reddish white and bright. Meat that has been at room temperature for too long will be yellow or dark green.
- The color of the fat under the skin is yellowish white and evenly distributed. Make sure the skin is not transparent or striped, looks shiny and clean.
- There are no signs of bruising or blue-black meat.
- Make sure the surface of the chicken skin is not too dry but not too slimy.
- If the chicken breast meat is pressed, it will feel springy and tender. Meat from young chickens will return to its original shape (springy) because it has good water binding capacity.
- Good quality chicken meat has fine fibers and when sliced there is still blood coming out.
- The aroma of chicken should be fresh. Avoid chicken meat with a pungent rotten smell or even the smell of chemicals.
- The shape of the carcass is better if there are no defects found and has an intact body conformation (appearance).
Tips for storing chicken
- For chicken meat stored frozen, first in first out system can maintain the quality of chicken meat. It should be noted that frozen chicken meat has different characteristics from fresh chicken meat. Even though it has been stored frozen properly, if the processing is not correct, it will still result in a decrease in meat quality or even contamination with disease-causing microorganisms.
- A good thawing technique for frozen chicken meat is to lower the chicken meat from the freezer to the chiller before cooking. You can also do this by immersing the frozen meat in water while the meat is still tightly packed in plastic. If the water looks cloudy, the water can be changed at least once every 30 minutes until the chicken meat is no longer frozen. If melted using a microwave, the time needed will be faster.
- Avoid washing the chicken before cooking because the water will splash everywhere, triggering the risk of more bacterial contamination. On the other hand, the bacteria will also spread to kitchen utensils and cutlery in the washing area.
- Always keep kitchen utensils and refrigerators clean. Routinely sanitize the refrigerator where raw chicken is stored. Routinely clean cutting boards and utensils used to cut raw chicken. Try to use different cutting boards, knives and napkins for raw and ready-to-eat foods.
- Personal sanitation is done by getting used to always washing hands with clean water and soap before and after handling raw chicken meat.
