How to Boil Meat

Boiling meat is a great way to get tender and delicious meat that you can use for a large variety of dishes.


I love to cook chicken and beef by boiling it. The meat is tender and flavorful, and you don't have to constantly stir it as you would in a skillet. Here's how I generally do it:

If you are boiling beef, it's helpful to brown the meat slightly in a little oil first. It seems to really improve the flavor of the meat. It doesn't have to be fully cooked--just brown it until the juices are flowing out. Then drain and rinse the beef.

Next, put your meat back in the pot. Use a large pot. Add 4-6 cups of water, and an equal number of bouillon cubes. You can also add other spices that you like. Bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, you can reduce the heat so that it isn't boiling too hard--you don't want to evaporate all the liquid too soon. Cover the pot with a lid. Allow the meat to cook. If the liquid is evaporating away too fast, you can add more water and maybe more bouillon.

After an hour or so, check the meat with a thermometer to see if it has been brought up to the right temperature. If it is, then meat is fully cooked. Try shredding the meat to see how tender it is. If you want it to be firm enough that it stays together, take it out of the liquid earlier. If you want it to shred, you can cook it longer so that it is very tender.

The cooked meat is very versatile. You can serve the meat in one piece, break it into smaller pieces to add to casseroles or stir-fry, or shred it to use for sandwiches. If you cook a lot of meat at once, then you can have enough meat to make more than one meal and store the extra in the fridge. Add some of the liquid to the meat to help it stay moist. This is also a great way to cook split chicken breasts that are still on the bone, because the chicken comes off the bone easily after it is cooked, so less of the meat is wasted.

I broke up the chicken and used it on Hawaiian Haystacks:


After the meat is cooked, you are left with a very flavorful broth that can be used for soup or made into gravy. To make gravy, mix two tablespoons of corn starch in 1/4 cup of cold water. Add to the broth while it is still warm, and stir until it is thickened--you might need to turn up the temperature of the burner. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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