Homemade Chicken Breast for Sandwiches.

I like buying chicken or pork with bones because the bones are the flavor bombs. They are the reasons for broth and stock to be the flavor foundation for every savory dish. Foodies know the meat next to bones are the tastiest part of the whole.

I buy the bone-in skin-in chicken and cook them with bones and skin for the flavor. Then I remove the skin and separate the bones from the flesh. Collect those bones and make broth with vegetables. Here is how.

I placed a 8 3/4 inch chopstick along each side of the chicken in the picture. The left piece is around 18 ounces and the piece on the right is 15 ounces, just to give you an idea.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts about 17 to 18 ounces and 2 inch thick each piece with skin on and rib cage bones. (To save time, you can use boneless and skinless chicken breast but the cooking time needs to cut back 4-8 min.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 quart of water to cook chicken
• Formula for brine (for 1 days):
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 quart (4 cups) of water

Directions:

1. If you choose to brine, use the formula above and brine in the refrigerator for at least one day, up to two days. Mix salt and sugar in water and submerge chicken breasts in it. Leave in the refrigerator for 24 hours. 
2. Take the chicken breasts out of refrigerator and drain the brine liquid. Rinse the chicken breasts. If you don't want to cook with the skin, you can remove it. 
3. Heat up 1 quart of water with 1 1/2 tablespoon sea salt, 2 teaspoons sugar and bring to a boil.
4. Put the chicken breasts in. For 1 quart of water, you can fit 2 pieces. Bring to a boil on high. Turn to low heat as soon as it starts to boil. Cover and simmer for 16 minutes and turn the heat off. If you have an electric stovetop, make sure to turn heat off early, around 14 to 15 min as it will take sometime for the stove to respond and to cool. I turn my electric stove off around 15 min. (If you find your chicken breasts on the grainy side, adjust the cooking time and turn the heat off earlier next time.)

5. Put the lid on and keep it covered. Let it sit there in the hot water for 10 min to 12 min. Check after 10 min with one chopstick or a fork. You need to be able to stick it through the cooked flesh with a little resistance. If you can't stick it pass the center, let it sit there covered for another 5 to 10 minutes and check with fork again.
6. Transfer the chicken breasts to the plate and let it cool completely before cutting. 
7. At this point, if I cook more, I'll freeze some pieces after removing the skin and bones for later use. This will effect the texture a little but saves me time.
8. Remove skin and bones. Toss away skin but keep the bones to cook in soups.
9. Slice chicken into slices for sandwiches or soups.

Note:

• Why do I make my own while it's so convenient to get it from the supermarket? I don't like what they add in there to prolong the shelf life, neither the amount of sugar they use in it. I like my chicken to taste like chicken with just enough salt.
• Chicken breasts can be really dry and grainy when overcooked. The solution is to brine them to keep them moist at the cost of some flavor. Use less salt (2 teaspoons) if you are to leave it for 2 days.
• I don't brine my chicken as I like full chicken flavor but I watch the cooking time closely to make sure it's not overcooked.
• You can choose to dry-brine (aka extended salting). Rub one to two teaspoons of salt all over chicken breast and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Rinse when you're ready to cook it.
• Cook time is about 7-8 min per inch of meat in simmering water plus 10 min leaving in hot water after the heat is turned off. 
• For a 16 ounce skinless boneless chicken breast, cook 8 minutes per inch and leave it in hot water covered for 10 minute.
• Always let cooked meat rest before cutting or the juice will run out and the meat will be dry.