ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION

My mother never owned a meat mallet or any object other than her hand to pound flat a piece of meat.

There were countless evenings when I watched her lay her hand out flat and pound a piece of chicken flat using the heel of her hand. As she got older, she would use a wide knife to lay flat atop the chicken and make a fist to pound the chicken thin.

I’m a wimp by comparison. I bruise whenever I do that, so I purchased a meat mallet. It’s another utensil to wash during the clean-up process but it’s either the meat mallet or my hand that takes the pounding. Rock…paper…scissors. The mallet lost.

I use a cereal box liner of wax paper to place over the piece of chicken and hammer until it reaches my desired thickness.

What piece of chicken gets hammered?

If you hold a chicken breast that has been removed from the rib cage, underneath each chicken breast there is a piece of meat that loosely dangles from the breast. Detach it from the breast. The grocery stores sell these as chicken tenders. Like all cuts of meat, they are mighty expensive too.

Before grilling or cooking your chicken breasts, remove all tenders. It doesn’t require much effort, just a knife to slice it off the breast. It helps you along, implying it really doesn’t want to be there by loosely hanging from the undercarriage of the breast. If you have several breasts, you can easily make another meal from all those chicken tenders. By subtracting the tenders, this adds another meal to the menu!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Tenders cook quickly and are very versatile. Dredged in flour and sautéed in a skillet, once cooked remove from skillet and add orange juice and honey to the skillet for a sauce to coat the tenders. Served with rice and a vegetable, you have dinner in a jiffy! They can be coated in bread crumbs and baked, then served with honey mustard or BBQ sauce, just as you  could buy at a fast-food restaurant. They will be healthier (baked not fried) and at no additional cost to your family.

                    DANGLING CHICKEN TENDER ON A CHICKEN BREAST

 

SAMPLE OF TWO CHICKEN TENDERS SITTING ALONGSIDE A BREAST

                                    
                                         VARYING SIZES OF CHICKEN TENDERS

 

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A MEAT MALLET ON HAND, USE YOUR OWN!