Shameless attention grab. I admit it.
I have some chicken breast marinating. The problem is they are thick breasts. I meant to pound them out before I dropped them in the marinade but I forgot. Do you think they will loose the flavor if I pound them out after marinating?
I doubt this matters but I’ll say it anyway: The breast will be cooked on a charcoal grill.
Lose, not loose.
I always pound my chicken breasts - always. The change in texture makes the meat more tender, and reduces cooking time so the breasts stay moister. Even though you’ve already marinated them pounding shouldn’t affect the flavor - so I say beat away!
I would beat my meat if it were your meat – wait. It will change the texture, but who cares? It’s already got the flavor from your marinade, and unless you want a nice clean cutlet as a steak-like-chicken, it shouldn’t matter.
To share a family secret, I often buy “cubed steak” instead of hamburger at the grocery store – I don’t have a “tenderizer,” just a rubber mallet, and I do find the consistency acceptable for a nice sandwich. ETA, it goes without saying I’m far too lazy to grind my own meat, be it pork, chicken, or beef. Except for special occasions.
Dang it! This is a pet peeve of mine. And look, I went and did it myself. :smack:
Thanks.
I find that beating my meat leads to a loss of juices.
Joe
You might have to eat a half-pound of steak to replace that. And what would she give you? A can of Mushroom Soup.
You mean you use the cube steak w/o flouring & frying it? just put it on the grill? never thought of that. Of course, I guess you could fry it & call it a Chicken Fried Steak sandwich, but I’m going to try it like you said. Thnx
Personally, I usually only beat chicken breast if I want to pan-fry slices of an even thickness (especially breaded fried chicken breast made schnitzel style.) For grilled chicken, I usually like them brined, but not pounded. You get very juicy breasts this way, if you cook them properly. (I bring them up to temp slowly on the cool side of the grill, then sear them at the end for color and flavor.) If I want to cook them directly over coals the whole time then, yeah, pound away and get them nice and thin.
My meal sucked tonight. Not because of the advice given but because I over cooked the chicken. 
Oh well…
Aww. See, this is why my meat thermometer is the best thing I ever bought for the kitchen. No more overcooked meat, ever.
Yeah, I never thought about flouring it and all that – hey, that kind of is chicken-fried steak, isn’t it! Lightbulb time! If it weren’t so hot out, I’d go all the way and give them the old deep fat treatment.
Pounding chicken breasts is really helpful in getting them to cook evenly (as long as you don’t overcook the whole thing, as the OP has apparently done), because normally, there’s a thicker part and a thinner part. If you can flatten the whole thing out such that it’s all the same thinness, you won’t have to choose between an overdone thin end or an underdone thick end.