8 tips for preparing poultry

If your family loves chicken or turkey, they’re going to love the way you prepare it with these great tips that will make your poultry dinner a real winner!

1. Want to make skinning a piece of poultry or even a whole bird a snap? Put it in the freezer until it partially freezes. You'll be able to pull the skin off with no trouble.

2. Buy whole birds and cut them up with poultry shears. Freeze the pieces in portion-size freezer bags. If chicken is your family's favorite dish, you'll make up the cost of the shears in a few weeks!

3. To tenderize chicken cutlets and pack them with flavour, rinse the breasts, pat dry, and marinate them in buttermilk for two to three hours, in the fridge, before cooking.

4. To make sure stuffing doesn't fall out when you roast a bird, when cooking a stuffed bird of any size, plug a raw potato into the cavity and the stuffing will stay put.

5. To give chicken or turkey breasts or thighs a light, smoky flavour and help them retain moisture as they cook, brew two strong cups of your favourite spice-flavoured tea blend. Once the tea cools, add seasonings of choice — black pepper, salt, paprika and garlic — to taste, pour into a large self-sealing plastic bag and add the chicken or turkey pieces. Put in a shallow dish and marinate in the fridge for at least two hours before cooking.

6. Forget hard-to-clean, traditional roasting racks! Instead, crisscross whole carrots and celery stalks on the bottom of the roasting pan, and top with your chicken or turkey. Once it's done, your bird will emerge from the pan without a hitch, and the pan gravy will be enhanced by the vegetables!

7. Combine excess pan fat with enough all-purpose flour until you can roll it into small balls about half the size of a walnut and freeze on a cookie sheet covered with a paper towel. When frozen, transfer the balls to a plastic bag and store in the freezer for future use. The next time you need to make gravy, pluck out a roux starter ball from the bag and melt it in the saucepan before stirring in the other ingredients. Is your already-cooked gravy too thin? Drop in a roux starter, whisk well, season to taste and serve.

8. About 15 minutes before you're ready to take your chicken or turkey out of the oven, brush the skin with white vermouth. It will take on a rich brown colour, thanks to the sugars in the fortified wine.

These creative tips on preparing and enhancing the flavour of poultry will have your family wanting chicken or turkey every night of the week.

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