I received an email from Jason who tried my recipe for Sautéed Chicken with Garlic and Shallots and was having some problems.

He said, “ the chicken breasts are taking nearly twice as long to cook through! I’m following the recipe exactly, using a fairly thick pan and pre-heating it well in advance.

The outside ends up charring pretty badly. Could it be the type of chicken breasts I am buying? I get the store brand packs, which are cheaper, but the breasts seem to be thicker than other known brands.”

After looking at the recipe again, I had some ideas on this problem but I wanted an expert’s view so I emailed Chef Adam Bickel for his take on this situation. Together we came up with some probable causes and a few solutions.

Even though we are talking about sautéing chicken breasts, these cooking tips hold true for sautéing chicken, beef, lamb, fish or whatever you are cooking.

Our first thought was to just turn down the heat to medium-high. Some recipes you find in cookbooks and on the Internet are written by professionals who sometimes forget that we don’t have the same skills as they do.

In a restaurant, professional chefs need to cook fast so they often have the burners cranked up to high but they have sautéed thousands of chicken breasts this way and are comfortable with the heat. Another chef friend of mine, Chef Ricco DeLuca, has to recalculate recipes as far as timing and burner heat to match my skills compared to his own. Otherwise, I end up burning everything.

So whenever you look at any recipe, you have to know who the writer is writing for and allow some leeway when it comes to cooking times and cooking temperatures. Looking back at the Sautéed Chicken with Garlic and Shallots recipe, I realize I have to change it some to make it easier for home cooks.  I don’t think anybody should be sautéing on the highest heat level unless they have a lot of experience. Just too many things that can go wrong.

Cooking Equipment

It’s important to understand that everyone’s cooking equipment is different and any recipe that provides exact times and heat will vary depending on that equipment.

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If you have never tried cooking in a clay pot before, you may want to think about giving it a try. There are a lot of advantages including juicier meats and poultry, low fat cooking, and my favorite, one-pot-meals that make clean up easy.

I initially learned about them when I received a clay pot as a gift as well as a great cookbook, The One-Pot and Clay-Pot Cookbook from my sister-in-law Judy. Although it sat on my bookshelf for a while before getting around to try any of the recipes, I changed my mind in a hurry once I tried one of them.

If you want to learn more about Clay Pots, please read my article on my web site called “What’s So Great About Cooking In a Clay Pot?” on my web site. It will teach you how they work, advantages, what type to buy for home cooking, how to use them and a good source for buying one.

This recipe came from Romertopf Clay Bakers, one of the leading manufacturers of Clay Pots. It was given to me by Bill Marbach from Romertopf as well as lots of interesting information about cooking with clay pots. If you enjoy this one, I will post a few more.

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Another Great Shortcut Meal

Another “shortcut meal” I pulled together this week was prepared by sautéing some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in olive oil and butter and finishing in a commercial sauce I found at Whole Foods.

The Tikka Masala Sauce is from Maya Kaimal’s line of products.  She is an expert on Indian food and has appeared on Martha Stewart, the Food Network and the Today Show, and writes about Indian cooking for “Saveur” and “Food & Wine“.

I love Indian food but I don’t have much experience making it at home. I do know you use a lot of spices I don’t usually keep in the house and how important these spices are to create the exquisite flavor.

Tikka Masala sauce is a classic creamy tomato-based curry, mildly spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and clove. It’s great on chicken but works well with fish or vegetables.

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