Braise Chicken In Milk For Exceptionally Juicy Meat

Braising or pot roasting is a great technique for making meat more tender. If you braise the meat in milk, you take it to a whole new level.

Food 52 notes in particular Jamie Oliver’s chicken in milk recipe, which combines milk with lemon, sage, cinnamon and garlic. Here’s why the milk works:

What this does for the chicken is one thing: Braising tends to make meat more tender, especially the sort with taut joints and connective tissues that will melt under low, sustained heat. And braising in milk does so in an especially gentle, almost caressing way. “The lactic acid present in milk tenderises the meat, making it juicy and sweet,” Emiko Davies explained in her excellent article on the Emilia-Romagnan technique of braising pork in milk, made famous by Marcella Hazan.

You’re probably thinking “milk and lemon? Won’t that curdle?” The answer is yes, but it’s intentional, and the produced sauce with the curds is actually the point. Faith Durand of The Kitchn calls it the best chicken recipe of all time, which means this is definitely worth a try.

Jamie Oliver’s Chicken in Milk [Food 52]