Hi All,
I have followed all the advice in this thread, and a large thank you to everyone.
I have came to a realization and I'll try to explain it, and might not do a good job, but here it goes: A large part of it has to do with the chemistry of chicken fat, and the way it is affected by heat, water, other oils and herbs/spices.
For example, if the chicken after cooking comes in contact with cold water (could be cold mist from in the fridge) or cold salad ingredient like cucumber or tomato (chopped), the fat (this could be a tiny bit of fat) solidifies and produces the smell I'm talking about after being reheated, but in a curry, that has a blend of spices soluble in vegetable oil, it interacts well with chicken fat, the effect is much less dramatic.
I also found slow cooking, especially Moroccan style (I purchased a scanpan tagine to test this) in a blend of herbs and spices works wonders, and not only does the chicken keep well in the fridge, but is tasty and tender even after a few days, I've tried this with a chermola marinade. This is based on the recommendation to poach in low heat - Thank you!
When grilling chicken breasts for Salads, I'm soaking them in milk over night, then in a brine of salt and sugar and herbs, then grilling, and cutting up in shreds and coating in mayonnaise with parsley and coriander, and it keeps well after a few days even when in contact with cold salad ingredients, and I think that works because the chicken fat is surrounded by another fat from the mayonnaise and the essential oils of parsley and coriander which give it a nice aroma and seem to preserve the flavor.
The roast chicken we buy from the store doesn't seem to have any smell when they keep the second day, and I don't have an explanation for that, except that the chicken gets to cool or the smelly part of chicken fat usually drips out of the chicken when rotating.
So far, the Moroccan style for stew like dishes keep very well in the fridge as they cook really slow and are well marinated, and pre-soaked/brined grilled chicken breast with the mayonnaise mix do as good, I'm also planing to introduce an olive oil/herb coating instead of the mayonnaise for a change.
I'll keep researching until I have a few fool proof recipes that I can replicate, and even though it may seem a lengthy process, I'm willing to do more than that just to avoid that smell and continue to enjoy second day chicken (because I cook my own food for work and it always has to be reheated, and chicken has been my challenge).
Thank you all for participating in this thread.
