Boursin Chicken - easy

[Texmex]

There is a recipe going around on the internet called Boursin Chicken. It is few ingredients and you can find it on the internet just by googling Boursin Chicken.
I made it today. It is easy enough and has a nice flavor. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup chicken stock. I think a half cup would have been better. Unfortunately my chicken was tough. I am so tired of these oversized chicken breasts. I cut mine laterally and just used two of them. But even after simmering in the liquid, they were very tough, no fault of the recipe.

I just had an iceberg lettuce salad with red wine vinegar on the side and that tasted so good and fresh to me.

 

[dragnlaw]

which recipe were you following? I'm trying to figure out why your chicken breasts keep coming out tough.

edit:
why did you simmer them? all the recipes I saw, split, like you did, if they were large - or slightly pounded by the heel of the hand to even the thickness out, and then just browned for a couple of minutes per side (depending - maybe 3 minutes per side) removed from the pan, sauce made and simmered, meat returned to reheat... and serve.

 

[Texmex]

which recipe were you following? I'm trying to figure out why your chicken breasts keep coming out tough.

It's not the recipe. It's the chicken. I'm anxious to see if the other breast is also tough as the first one. They're not usually THAT bad. It's just the same recipe as you can google under that name. Anything simmered should be more tender than that one I ate was! If I have to use those big ones, they often come out stringy. These were just sauteed, then removed from skillet until sauce was ready to add back in and then cooked down in the fairly liquidy sauce. I'll let you know if all four (halves sliced laterally) are just as bad as that one! I hope not. Maybe it's the chickens' revenge for charging too much for their eggs!!

 

[dragnlaw]

Or maybe those chickens on "Special" are really stewing chickens.

Could your pan possibly be too hot when you are browning them? Over cooking is the only reason I can think of that would make chicken tough and stringy.
I'm wracking my brain here... there has to be a reason!

 

[Texmex]

Or maybe those chickens on "Special" are really stewing chickens.

Could your pan possibly be too hot when you are browning them? Over cooking is the only reason I can think of that would make chicken tough and stringy.
I'm wracking my brain here... there has to be a reason!

When I have normal sized breasts, it doesn't happen. It could be overcooked, but it still doesn't account for all of it. Overcooked will make them dry, but not just tough like this, at least in my history. And if they are simmered in sauce, it should fix it. I did buy a brand (can't remember name) that I don't usually because it was the only one with just two breasts in the package. Usually either buy store brand or organic. I don't remember seeing these before at Kroger either, so maybe that had something to do with it. I will lower my temp on future sautes for chicken just in case I'm going hot wild! The video I saw on these did say to cook the chicken done, which I thought was weird at the time and not something I would normally do if simmering later in sauce, so maybe...

 

[GotGarlic]

How long did you "cook them down"?

 

[Texmex]

Oh I don't ever time anything. I got them browned. I browned
one side more than the other.

 

[GotGarlic]

Oh I don't ever time anything. I got them browned. I browned
one side more than the other.

I asked because overcooking chicken breasts makes them tough, even when they've been cooked in a sauce.

 

[taxlady]

Maybe the Chinese technique of velveting would keep your chicken tender. How big are the pieces that you cook?

 

[dragnlaw]

Well taxy, he did say that they were large breasts that he split horizontally. It's a little late for him to weigh and measure them.

Velveting is a good idea and could certainly help if they were cut into chunks but I don't think it would really help if the pieces are too large. As small pieces cook so quickly the velveting helps them brown faster but still cook thru and finish when added back to the stir fry or whatever.
Large pieces would brown too quickly for the entire piece to be cooked enough (without burning the 'velvet') even when adding back to a sauce. IMO

But anything is worth a try! yuh never know, might work!