Cooking liquid in oven turns crispy skin soggy
A few recipes I have tried calls for some liquid, typically a ladle of stock or broth, to be added to the baking tray before placing into the oven to finish the cooking process. (To assist in cooking the protein, not crisping the skin)
For example, a pan roasted chicken thigh is pan fried quickly to colour the skin before placing into the oven, skin side up (bottom and inside basically raw)with a ladle of stock. 15 minutes later, the chicken is cooked nicely but the skin is not crispy.
I have my oven set to 200 degrees celsius fan assisted. I suspect its all the water vapour inside the oven preventing the skin from becoming crispy as when I open the oven door, a large cloud of steam is released. What could I do to fix this?
Another example would be when roasting a belly pork with crackling. The belly sits on a rack above a tray of water. When the pork cooks the juices collect into the water below in order to make a gravy afterwards, but the skin isn't always as crisp as I hoped.
Best Answer
If you want crispy skin don't add liquid to the pan, I don't know why a recipe would call for a ladle of stock to crisp up the skin because it would have the opposite effect. Steaming before baking is a method used for making crispy chicken wings, but with that method you pat the wings dry before you bake them as moisture will prevent them from crisping up.
I love crispy chicken skin, and it's easy to achieve in a dry oven. I rub the skins of the pieces with a bit of oil, then sprinkle with salt and spices before baking them in a 200°C (395°F) fan oven for 35 minutes. It works every time.
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How do you get crispy skin in the oven?
Oven Baked Chicken RecipeHow do you crisp soggy chicken skin?
If using an oven, cook on a rack over or on a baking tray in a preheated 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) oven for around 20 to 30 minutes or until the oven has dried out the skin enough to become crisp again.What makes skin crispy?
The most important part of getting the skin really crispy is having a good hot oven. That means preheating it to 425 degrees on convection. Convection baking circulates the air around the outside of the chicken as it cooks, so that it cooks faster, and allows it to become much crispier.How do you keep chicken skin crispy after cooking?
The dryer the chicken skin, the better it will crisp when cooked. When you unwrap your chicken from the package, pat it dry on all sides (and inside if it's whole) with paper towels. If you have time, pop it in the fridge uncovered overnight or even for an hour and let it dry out further in there.I found this lost METHOD of Super Crispy Chicken!
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Answer 2
I'd agree with the other answers - adding liquid won't really aid crisping of the skin, if you are using the pan fry and then roast/braise technique that you describe (which I do like, and often use) I'd make sure that the skin is really crispy and browned in the initial pan fry (that's basically the point of that first step) - it might take up to ten minutes, but I generally find if the skin is properly cooked then, it doesn't get soggy in the second step.
The great thing about the technique is that its easily adjustable to basically any flavour combos, the braise is more for flavour/gravy rather than cooking - as Kenji covers here - note he also mentions early on the importance of thorough cooking of the skin and to keep the liquid level low enough to make sure you avoid this exact issue.
If you don't want the sauce/gravy with the chicken then cooking dry in the oven is the way to go.
The only possible reason I can think that someone might suggest adding the liquid could aid crisping of the skin is that it essentially means you can roast the skin & top of the thigh, whilst the meat underneath is braised. The braising liquid insulates the flesh and allows that to cook more gently whilst the skin at the top is subjected to the higher, drier (of not fully dry) roasting heat - but even with this guess, I wouldn't recommend it as a technique if the goal is purely crispy skin (if that's your only goal, then dry roasting is better).
Answer 3
My method for roasted chicken with crispy skin on the outside and moist, tender flesh on the inside is to sprinkle desired spices on top of the skin with a bit of cooking spray and roast for 1.5-2 hours at 375 F (190-200C) uncovered. I think the length of time roasting makes a big difference and the chicken comes out delicious with crispy skin every time. ( This is for chicken thighs and legs on the bone. For chicken breast on the bone, I would reduce the cooking time by half hour at least) If you are still not obtaining the desired results, I would increase the temp and lower the cooking time. The large cloud of steam is from the water and I believe you are correct - the chicken will not become crispy with all of that humidity. Good luck!
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