Flattening Chicken Breasts?
I want to try a recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu tonight and I discovered a small snag in my cooking adventure: flattening the chicken breasts!
I do not own a meat mallet or a rolling pin. Short of my 12oz carpentry hammer, how should I flatten the chicken without having to go out and buying something I'm not going to use but for one recipe?
(Down with unitaskers!)
The help is appreciated!
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41 Comments:
i put them in lg bags then band them with a heavy pan, can, bottle, mallot.
dearrie at 4:43PM on 03/20/09
i meant bang them. but i'm sure you knew that. woopsie..
dearrie at 4:47PM on 03/20/09
A piece of 2x4, just put the chicken under plastic wrap first.
smokey07 at 4:48PM on 03/20/09
What dearrie said. I was just clicking in here to answer and she beat me to it. I lost my meat mallet in a move and never replaced it. I've found the heavy pan works best. A cast-iron skillet is ideal for this—and it builds up your biceps.
Adam Kuban at 4:49PM on 03/20/09
Or place between sheets of waxed paper (plastic wrap's ok too), and pound with the round side of a can of soup or something. The trick is not to pound the daylights out of it, but to pound firmly and evenly until it's a somewhat uniform flatness.
And actually, that hammer might not be a bad idea - just make sure you cover the whole area evenly.
You can also slice them in half thickness-wise - slide a very sharp knife in and cut across - making two breast cutlets - and then pound away. Takes less pounding that way.
moibec at 4:51PM on 03/20/09
If you don't have muscles like @Adam, a small, but relatively heavy saucepot does well. That carpentry hammer would also work if you put something flat on top of the chicken (which would be in a heavy plastic bag) and banged on that with the hammer. Like a hunk of wood, perhaps.
Anything heavy and with a larger surface area would work, the problem is that some things are hard to grip. So a big can of tomatoes would work fine, but it's kind of hard to hang onto. On the other hand, a heavy wine bottle would be great, but I'm always afraid that my aim is going to be bad, I'm going to hit the edge of the counter, and then I'm going to spend the next hour picking up broken glass.
dbcurrie at 4:58PM on 03/20/09
the phone book would work too
laurelie at 5:46PM on 03/20/09
this was quite the fun mental exercise as I sat and imagined various ways to flatten some chicken with normal household objects. I'll break my thoughts down in to a few categories. Please note that i'm leaving out hygenic measures for brevity so feel free to insert your own.
Boring but useful-
*pound with a brick wrapped in foil
*tamp with the base of a heavy mortar of mortar and pestle fame
*smack it with the bottom of a sauce pan
Fun and easy-
*Place between two boards in a bench vice
*Place same configuration on ground and proceed to jump
*Steamroll beneath a 64oz can of pineapple juice
*Electric or hand cranked pasta roller
Not efficient...probably won't work...but would be fun trying-
*Throw against road sign from the passenger seat of a fast moving
vehicle
*Borrow a turf roller from your local golf course
*Giant wooden sledgehammer a la Gallagher
*Set in street sandwiched between two pie plates till hit by car.
I'll stop here :)
I use the sauce pan most of the time.
brickh at 5:54PM on 03/20/09
I usually use several layers of plastic wrap and a heavy sauce pan. The problem with heavy, yet small surface-area "banging items" is that you may tear or puncture the meat. The bottom of a pan is a larger area, so less likely to penetrate the meat---try for a glancing/sideways blow. (Or, if it's a big pan--straight down). I tend to only flatten bigger pieces (like for bacon-wrapped turkey breast roulades, etc) so I need to work in sections. Think of it like a big piece of cold pastry dough---work it out in sections. Good luck!
bruisedbuddha at 6:01PM on 03/20/09
Yea the mallets don't always do the best job. I use a small Le Creuset skillet and that works great!
arm1970 at 7:01PM on 03/20/09
i use saran wrap under and over and then smack them down with the bottom of a very heavy glass, or coffee mug.... of course, you don't want to break the glass..... i'm sure you have something in your kitchen that would work....
pooch at 7:25PM on 03/20/09
I usually use a few drops of water between the plastic wrap and the chicken for lubrication and then work from the center of the breast out and I have used in the past, a rolling pin, a bottle of wine, and my favorite a smallish, but heavy sautee pan. Oh, and a rubber mallet works okay too. Don't forget to try this method and stuff lots of other things in those chicken breasts--goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts won me some rave reviews for a filling and I did those on the grill! Good luck!
dhorst at 7:49PM on 03/20/09
Just don't do what a friend of mine did:
She wrapped the chicken breasts very carefully in plastic wrap, all in one layer.
Wrapped that in foil.
Sealed it all in a heavy-duty freezer bag.
Then she backed her car over it.
Don't do it.
Womandingo at 9:13PM on 03/20/09
You need something of with some weight to it, some circumference, a bike helmet, old sneaker, that platform heel from the 80's, golf spikes add tenderizing properties, paperweight, my mother in laws pound cake frozen or fresh, the old fruit cake, giant can O coffee, frozen pork butt, that garden gnome you had to have that is still sitting under the picnic table, a stack of all the mail you got from geico that is staring at you 8)
JerzeeTomato at 9:44PM on 03/20/09
Wrap up the chicken which you have already sliced thin, and bang the hell out of it with a sautee pan. Place the chicken breast halves(because you have sliced them thin in this way) in a ziplock bag wih a little bit of oil
and bang away!Really great release after a bad day.
donnie at 10:01PM on 03/20/09
@Jerzee Have you been peeking again?! lmao I needed that, thank you sweetie! Oh I use a 2x4 after I've sandwiched the chicken between 2 of those worthless "flexible cutting boards"
huneybumper at 9:20AM on 03/21/09
@huneybumper - Worthless flexible cutting boards. I love it! Why oh why did I buy those things?!?! Must admit I have never thought of using them as 'chicken goop barriers.' Glad to have read that, as I now have a reason for not having thrown them away yet!
mollykate678 at 9:42AM on 03/21/09
Yeah, pretty much what everyone else said. My mom taught me to use a cast iron skillet (12 inches or so) on meat that's been wrapped in plastic. Just whack away until you get the thickness you want.
Amandarama at 12:21PM on 03/21/09
I too use the skillet. It flattens them evenly. I prefer wax paper to plastic because it's less slippery--I don't like my chicken breasts shooting out of the plastic and splatting on the walls.
buffy at 1:10PM on 03/21/09
I put mine in a plastic bag, put it on the floor and stomp on them like I would grapes.
izatryt at 2:44PM on 03/21/09
I place in Ziploc freezer bag, squeeze out air, zip and sit on it. Might have to squirm a litte to get it evenly squooshed - think lap dance. As our favorite Effen (FN) Star would say, super simple, super smart, super delicious.
Jerzee's idea of the golf spikes work great for tenderizing, but wash the mud off before cooking.
PerkyMac at 3:42PM on 03/21/09
Perky, Izzy, and Womandingo have me crying with laughter. A lap dance....hee hee hee!!
buffy at 9:38PM on 03/21/09
....of course, two pregnancies has done a fantastic job of flattening my breasts. That might work too.
buffy at 9:43PM on 03/21/09
@buffy OMG!!! I'm laughing so hard!!!!!!! Thanks...I needed that!
foodiegal at 9:51PM on 03/21/09
I've been known to use the heel of my clog...after covering it in saran wrap of course.
Tartlet at 10:10PM on 03/21/09
@Perky girl you are NUTS! I love it! I've been reading these to SO and between Perky and Buffy I think he passed into hysteria!
huneybumper at 9:03AM on 03/22/09
Butterfly the breat with a knife. Place between two pieces of plastic wrap. Flatten with a good whack or two (or three) using a cast iron skillet or fry pan with a sturdy handle.
Viola'. Flattened breasts in an instant.
CJ McD at 3:56PM on 03/22/09
I used to use my roomie's empty champagne bottles. Then someone gave me a meat flattening hammer, but I think I'll use my cast iron skillet next time, seein' as how everyone recommends it.
minstrel at 4:47PM on 03/22/09
You all are awesome! Helpful tips AND hilarity! I used the skillet with the breasts in a big ziploc bag w/olive oil. Worked brilliantly!
And, thankfully, I never thought to get my car involved.
@buffy - *SHRIEK*
blogkitten at 6:07PM on 03/22/09
Flattened chicken boobs? Oh my heavens its too pornograpical for me to even say out loud. I may swoon from the smutty insinuations.
Someone fan me and get me sweet tea, Heavens to Betsy wetsy.
JerzeeTomato at 6:15PM on 03/22/09
Sorry you got the vapors Jerzee (southern belle from Jersey?), but this was fun. Someone needs to tell the truth, guess it will have to be me. Flattened breasts happen naturally with age. Just hang on to those suckers and before you can say, "Make me a mint julep, darlin'?" they'll deflate and go from plump and perky (haha), to flat as a lumpy pancake. Why that's known as Supreme beats the bourbon out of me. Must have something to do with Diana Ross.
PerkyMac at 9:47PM on 03/22/09
I do mine similar to Miobac. A do have a meat mallet though, or "the Whacker" as it's called in my kitchen.
I would suggest a brick as well. Wrap in with tin foil or something, just in case the plastic wrap or wax paper rips. Like others have said, don't beat it to death, just make sure you do it firmly.
Raiders757 at 10:04AM on 03/23/09
Put between 2 layers of plastic wrap, smack with (full, unopened) wine bottle to desired thickness. Just make sure to work the meat evenly. You don't need to hit it that hard, the weight of the bottle does most of the work for you.
chc82 at 2:24PM on 03/23/09
I've used my husband's rubber mallet for years. Unless my mom will's me her meat mallet, i'll continue to use the rubber mallet. I protect the chicken with waxed paper. I can't imagine using a skillet, but then again I have granite counter tops and would NEVER (even protected with a cutting board) hit my countertops with a cast iron skillet.
TeriN at 2:26PM on 03/23/09
put them in a zip lock bag that you have rinsed out with water, then whack away.
carriebwc at 5:14PM on 03/23/09
I do it the Martha Stewart method:
With the palm of your hands, push away the muscle from the center of the breast out, sort of opening it up. It really spreads the chicken breasts out and makes them large and flat!
or.....I just buy the thin sliced chicken breasts in the package!
Stacey Snacks at 5:51PM on 03/23/09
survey says whack it.
dearrie at 6:34PM on 03/23/09
whack it, or if you have a mortar and pestle, put 'em between plastic wrap and use the pestle! Isn't that the grinder part? I often forget...
dharmon at 11:04PM on 03/23/09
by the way, i tried the ziplock bag method last night, as i had just read about it myself. worked like a charm--i think the thicker plastic, as opposed to saran, makes it harder to destroy them, which i have done.
carriebwc at 9:43AM on 03/24/09
Butterflying the breast before flattening has really helped me on several occasions
canne at 6:59PM on 03/26/09
We could send our chicky breasts in for a mammogram. THAT would do the trick! teehee
NewIdeas at 11:00PM on 08/01/09