Chicken in my Cast Iron Pan

by Patrick
(Dayton, OH)

I have an old cast iron skillet that is among my favorite pans. I love to cook chicken in my cast iron pan. I like to get it reasonably hot, then spray just a bit of fat-free cooking spray on it to flash-saute pounded medallions of marinaded chicken breast.

Recently, I got everything ready: beautiful boneless, skinless, pounded medallions of marinaded chicken, a hot pan, and a light mist of spray, I took one of the smaller pieces to taste. To my horror, the chicken tasted like a commercial disinfectant...and for very good reason. I sprayed my pan with Lysol Sanitizing Disinfectant spray instead of the cooking spray!

My wife had been cleaning and left the disinfectant spray near the stove.

I later learned that just a little bit of REAL olive oil barely adds any more fat than the cooking spray, and makes the chicken taste better and brown easier. I no longer use cooking sprays...whether flavored with olive oil or Lysol.


Chef Todd Says:
Thanks for admitting your disaster, Patrick. That's a funny story, and I've done the same thing, but on a larger scale.

When I was a chef at a large government institution, we cooked for 15,000 people twice a day. I had to grill chicken breast on my very first day on the job. I sprayed 50 chicken breasts and put them on the grill. The spray someone left next to the grill was stainless steel cleaner. An entire case of chicken in the garbage on my very first day! It was humiliating.

This is why the health department will not allow cleaning products to be anywhere near cooking products.

Next time, try some furniture polish like Pledge, it gives a nice streak free shine to chicken!

LOL!
Chef Todd.