[1 - 1] hey what's up my name is Brian I used to
[1 - 3] be a chef and today I'm going to show
[3 - 5] you my very well tested and delicious
[5 - 7] recipe for chicken tinga in this video
[7 - 9] you'll learn how to properly cook and
[9 - 11] shred chicken meat in a way that doesn't
[11 - 13] make it dry and how to cook a perfectly
[13 - 15] seasoned Smoky tomato salsa to serve
[15 - 16] along with it then we're going to pull
[16 - 18] everything together into a delicious
[18 - 20] chicken tinga tostada that's perfect for
[20 - 23] week night dinner this is week
[27 - 29] [Music] nighting so today we're making chicken
[29 - 31] nighting so today we're making chicken ting and if you haven't heard of it
[31 - 33] before chicken tinga is a traditional
[33 - 35] Mexican restaurant dish that consists of
[35 - 37] shredded chicken sitting in a smoky
[37 - 39] robust tomato sauce the problem with
[39 - 41] Mexican chicken tinga or at least as it
[41 - 43] exists in Mexican restaurants and strip
[43 - 45] malls in the United States is that they
[45 - 47] use breast meat and it's very dry and
[47 - 49] stringy it's essentially just cooked
[49 - 52] chicken sitting in a tomato broth and
[52 - 53] it's not very good today I'm going to
[53 - 55] show you exactly how to avoid that ropey
[55 - 58] dryness and it starts with 2 to 2 and2
[58 - 60] lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs
[60 - 62] or about 1,200 G Worth to prep them for
[62 - 65] cooking I'm going to hit them with a
[65 - 69] liberal amount of salt on both sides and
[69 - 71] that's like a strong three-finger pinch
[71 - 73] then I'll hit him with another strong
[73 - 75] three-fingered pinch or maybe a little
[75 - 78] bit more on the back side you definitely
[78 - 80] can use breast for this recipe if that's
[80 - 82] your truth the problem with breast meat
[82 - 84] is that you have to cook it to a very
[84 - 88] specific temperature about 150 to 155 F
[88 - 90] to avoid dryness and and that's
[90 - 91] difficult to do if you have an instant
[92 - 93] read thermometer and you want to pay
[93 - 95] extra attention to cooking your breast
[95 - 97] super gently so they don't go over that
[97 - 99] temperature by all means go ahead and
[99 - 100] use those but I like chicken thighs
[100 - 102] because they have a lot more flavor than
[102 - 104] breast meat and they're basically
[104 - 105] indestructible so that's why I recommend
[105 - 107] them for the home cook once this chicken
[107 - 108] is all salted up we're going to throw it
[108 - 111] into a preheated 400f oven and cook it
[111 - 114] for about 20 minutes now while that
[114 - 115] chicken roast we're going to make a
[115 - 119] smoky tomato sauce or an espanol salsa
[119 - 121] to make that I'm going to grab a half of
[121 - 123] a white onion here and give it a very
[124 - 126] rustic dice I call this the week night
[126 - 127] dice where basically I just slice it one
[128 - 130] way turn it 90° and then chop it into
[130 - 133] big chunks this onion's going to end up
[133 - 136] getting that's not a pro way to do it
[136 - 137] this onion's going to end up getting
[137 - 139] pureed so it doesn't really matter how
[139 - 141] perfectly diced it is once I got the
[141 - 142] onion chopped up I'm going to grab three
[143 - 145] cloves of garlic and just give those a
[145 - 148] really quick slice no need to be perfect
[148 - 149] here this is going to get cooked in
[149 - 152] pureed so we just need slightly smaller
[152 - 156] pieces of garlic so they cook
[156 - 158] faster next I'm going to grab a 3/4
[158 - 160] saucepan and drop it down over medium
[160 - 162] heat once that's hot I'm going to add a
[162 - 165] little Squiggy of oil then I'm going to
[165 - 167] slide in my onions and
[167 - 169] garlic and then I'm going to immediately
[169 - 172] hit those with a strong pinch of salt
[172 - 174] you'll notice that pretty much 100% of
[175 - 176] the time when I'm cooking onions I add
[176 - 178] salt right away because this draws out
[179 - 180] the moisture which creates steam in the
[180 - 182] pan which helps the onions cook faster
[183 - 184] and more importantly it actually slows
[184 - 186] down their caramelization for this dish
[186 - 188] in particular we don't want super brown
[188 - 190] dark tasting onions so that extra bit of
[190 - 192] steam in the pan is going to help cook
[192 - 194] the onions instead of caramelize them
[194 - 196] now I'm just going to jump in here give
[196 - 198] everything a quick
[198 - 201] stir and let these swep down for about 5
[201 - 203] to 6 minutes or until they're
[203 - 205] translucent and about 5 to 6 minutes
[205 - 207] later the onions and garlic are fully
[207 - 210] sweat or translucent and they're looking
[210 - 214] nice and softened so next thing in is 25
[214 - 217] G of tomato paste I'm just going to let
[217 - 219] that Sizzle up with the onions and
[219 - 222] garlic for a second and get a little bit
[222 - 224] of canned tomato flavor cooked off and
[224 - 227] I'll give that about 2 minutes and bring
[227 - 228] it to the point where it's just starting
[228 - 231] to take on a little bit of a rusty red
[231 - 234] color about 2 minutes later we can see
[234 - 236] that the tomato paste is Rusty red and
[236 - 238] it's kind of glazed up the bottom of the
[238 - 240] pot so the next tomato product going in
[240 - 244] is 400 G of fire roasted tomatoes these
[244 - 248] are going to bring a lot of smoky robust
[248 - 251] Stewie tomato flavor that provide a
[251 - 253] little bit more of a cooked tomato
[253 - 254] backbone to this sauce I'm going to
[254 - 256] bring that up to a simmer real quick and
[256 - 258] then I'm going to grab one whole fresh
[258 - 261] tomato and just kind of dice that real
[261 - 264] quick into rustic chunks nothing too
[264 - 266] crazy here make sure to remove the
[266 - 269] Tomato stem too for me the fresh tomato
[269 - 271] brings some extra moisture it obviously
[271 - 273] brings some fresh tomato flavor and it
[273 - 276] brings some nice bright acidity that you
[276 - 278] don't get in a cooked tomato product
[278 - 280] once my fire roasted and tomato paste
[280 - 281] are up to a hard simmer here I'm going
[282 - 284] to add in my chopped fresh tomato or
[284 - 288] about 200 g worth then I'll stir that
[288 - 291] in and let that cook for just a quick
[291 - 292] second while I grab the rest of my
[292 - 296] liquid liquid one is chicken stock 200 g
[296 - 299] of that goes in then to make it taste
[299 - 301] even more chickeny I'm going to grab one
[301 - 303] of my favorite ingredients of all time
[303 - 305] better than buan chicken flavor
[305 - 307] specifically roasted chicken I'm going
[307 - 310] to add about 10 G of that by the way btb
[310 - 312] is not sponsoring this video this is
[312 - 313] just a product that I happen to really
[313 - 315] like and use all the time if you can't
[315 - 317] find it at your local grocery store any
[317 - 319] regular chicken buan would totally work
[319 - 321] fine just be careful on the salt level
[321 - 323] next in I'm going to add in two Chipotle
[323 - 325] chilies in Adobo with their sauce to
[325 - 328] bring some Smoky roasty flavor and then
[328 - 331] about 1 G of dried oregano not Mexican
[331 - 333] oregano that stuff is very medicinal and
[333 - 335] delicious but not really appropriate for
[335 - 337] this dish in my opinion once
[337 - 338] everything's in I'm just going to jump
[338 - 340] in and stir it until it's all combined
[340 - 342] then I'm going to reduce the heat to
[342 - 344] medium low and cook for about 15 minutes
[344 - 346] until everything is nice and softened
[346 - 347] real quick while that cooks I'm going to
[347 - 349] take a quick second to thank the people
[349 - 350] over at maid in who make this beautiful
[350 - 353] 3Q sauser for sponsoring this video what
[353 - 354] am I doing with my hands as a
[355 - 357] professional chef turned full-time home
[357 - 358] cook I'm always on the lookout for
[358 - 359] professional quality tools tools that
[359 - 361] are practical for home cooking and
[361 - 362] that's exactly what maiden's products
[362 - 364] are designed to be they combine pro
[364 - 366] level performance with ease of use at
[366 - 368] home let's take a closer look at the 3Q
[368 - 369] sauser that I've been using for this
[369 - 371] chicken tinga first off the pan just
[372 - 374] looks great it's sleek and very welld
[374 - 376] designed but for me more importantly
[376 - 378] it's super functional the saer is
[378 - 380] perfect for reducing sauces thanks to
[380 - 381] its wide cooking surface and those
[382 - 383] curved walls on the side are ideal for
[383 - 385] stirring and whisking things in this
[385 - 387] saier is part of maiden's five ply
[387 - 388] stainless collection just like the sauté
[389 - 390] pan that you guys have seen me use
[390 - 392] before thanks to those five layers these
[392 - 394] stainless pans heat up evenly retain
[394 - 396] heat like crazy and they can go from
[396 - 398] stove top to oven up to 800° plus they
[398 - 400] all have this rolled Rim that makes
[400 - 402] pouring sauces super easy if you want to
[402 - 404] check out this saer or any of other ma
[404 - 405] in stainless cookware hit the link in my
[405 - 407] description to save on your order these
[407 - 409] are truly great products and they get my
[409 - 411] highest recommendation but if you don't
[411 - 412] want to take my word for it there are
[412 - 415] over a 100,000 fstar reviews backing me
[415 - 416] up again the link is in the description
[416 - 418] sauce is cooking time to check back on
[418 - 421] the chicken at this point it's been
[421 - 424] about 20 minutes and these things are
[424 - 427] looking nice and roasty as you can see
[427 - 429] we got some nice color around the edges
[429 - 431] all the flabby chicken fat has kind of
[431 - 433] rendered out and they're cooked all the
[433 - 434] way through now at this point this
[435 - 437] chicken is way too hot for us to shred
[437 - 439] apart with our tender little fingers so
[439 - 440] in the meantime we're going to check
[441 - 442] back on our sauce and finish that up at
[442 - 445] this point the onions are super soft the
[445 - 447] fresh tomatoes have cooked down into
[447 - 449] kind of a mushy texture so so they're
[449 - 451] super tender as well and all of the
[451 - 453] Tomato products have coalesced into a
[453 - 457] unified tomato thing now to finish I'm
[457 - 459] going to add in 15 to 20 G of cider
[459 - 463] vinegar about 5 to 8 G of salt and then
[463 - 465] a small handful of chopped cilantro
[465 - 468] stems I'm reserving the cilantro tops to
[468 - 470] put on top of the final dish the stems
[470 - 471] have tons of flavor though and it's a
[471 - 473] shame to let them go to waste they bring
[473 - 476] a ton of nice citrusy herbal flavor
[476 - 479] they're dope next I'm going to grab a
[479 - 482] immersion blender and drop it into my
[482 - 485] sauce and just very carefully spin it to
[485 - 487] break it down into a puree you kind of
[487 - 490] want to tilt the pot away from you a
[490 - 492] little bit and like pulse it because
[492 - 494] this can get a little bit splashy as you
[494 - 496] can see from here I'm just going to
[496 - 499] puree this for a minute or so to kind of
[499 - 501] break it down we don't want it to be a
[501 - 503] perfectly smooth paste this sauce should
[503 - 506] still be a little bit
[506 - 508] rustic of course you could throw it in a
[508 - 510] blender that'd be a little bit easier
[510 - 513] and faster but it you'd have to make a
[513 - 515] blender dirty which kind of sucks and
[515 - 516] puring hot liquids in a blender can be a
[518 - 521] dangerous and that looks really good
[521 - 523] it's Saucy and just a little bit loose
[523 - 525] but not watery that's what we're really
[525 - 527] trying to avoid anytime I make a sauce
[527 - 528] though before I call it done I'm going
[528 - 532] to give it a taste for acid and
[532 - 536] salt and that is really really flavorful
[536 - 538] you got this bright tomato acidity the
[538 - 540] cilantro stems are are beautiful and
[540 - 542] there's just a little bit of sweetness
[542 - 543] salt wise I do think I'm going to bump
[544 - 546] it up just a little bit more because
[546 - 548] this sauce is going to be sitting on top
[548 - 551] of the chicken and we need it to be just
[551 - 553] a little bit more seasoned than if we
[553 - 556] were eating it as a standal on salsa by
[556 - 557] the way this is a fresh spoon for
[557 - 558] anybody who's out there is going to
[558 - 560] comment being like hey man same spoon
[563 - 566] different ooh yeah man that tastes so
[566 - 567] good I'm going to let that hang for just
[567 - 569] a quick second then I'm going to go back
[569 - 571] over to my chicken here and start
[571 - 572] shredding it up to break these down I'm
[572 - 575] just going to grab a thigh and start
[575 - 578] pulling it apart into little thread bits
[578 - 580] that are maybe a/ inch wide if you go
[580 - 581] too far the chicken's going to shred
[581 - 584] into little fine threads in the sauce
[584 - 586] and that's going to end up being kind of
[586 - 587] ropey and it's going to stick to your
[587 - 590] teeth and that is pretty unpleasant also
[590 - 591] another thing I want to mention here is
[591 - 593] when it comes to cooking your chicken
[593 - 595] thighs don't cook them too much I know
[595 - 597] chicken thighs are pretty indestructible
[597 - 598] and you can cook them forever and they
[599 - 601] won't dry out that's true but if you
[601 - 603] cook them too far you're going to
[603 - 605] convert all of the collagen inside of
[605 - 606] the meat into gelatin and when you go to
[607 - 610] stir fully rendered 100% melted chicken
[610 - 611] thigh into a sauce it just completely
[612 - 613] falls apart and then you're left with a
[613 - 615] very mushy eating experience we still
[615 - 617] want the meat in this sauce to have a
[617 - 618] little bit of bite so for me I like to
[618 - 620] cook them until they're cooked through
[620 - 623] and no longer flabby but not fully
[623 - 625] melted and totally shreddable by the way
[625 - 627] this whole shredding process is
[627 - 628] definitely the most timec consuming part
[628 - 630] of this whole dish dish cooking the
[630 - 632] chicken takes like 15 minutes the sauce
[632 - 634] maybe takes 15 minutes and the shredding
[634 - 635] could take up to 15 minutes if you're
[635 - 637] doing it by yourself so if you have some
[637 - 638] people around who have clean hands and
[638 - 640] want to eat chicken tinga sooner than
[640 - 642] later have them jump in and help you out
[642 - 644] okay once I've got all eight of my
[644 - 645] chicken thighs shredded down I'm just
[645 - 648] going to move this over to my pureed
[648 - 650] sauce then I'm going to fold it in don't
[651 - 652] stir this too much because that can
[652 - 655] pretty easily over Shred the chicken and
[655 - 656] like I've been saying that's not good
[656 - 657] because the chicken won't have any
[657 - 659] texture also if you were wondering you
[659 - 661] definitely could make a two times batch
[661 - 663] of this and freeze half of it the
[663 - 665] chicken thighs are super robust and
[665 - 666] there's nothing about the sauce that's
[666 - 668] going to get weird in the freezer okay
[668 - 670] once that's all stirred in it's time to
[670 - 672] give ourselves a little
[672 - 676] taste M the chicken has perfect texture
[676 - 677] you get a little bit of smokiness from
[677 - 679] that Chipotle chili you get the bright
[679 - 681] acidity from the tomato and then at the
[681 - 683] very end you get that onion and garlic
[683 - 686] flavor that kind of ties the whole thing
[686 - 688] together M so I'm just going to let that
[688 - 691] stay warm in the sauce while I build a
[691 - 694] tostada first thing down is going to be
[694 - 698] some tinga 5 6 oz spread from edge to
[698 - 700] edge next I'm going to hit this with
[700 - 703] some crunchy fresh little gem or Roma
[703 - 705] lettuce that I've shredded this going to
[705 - 708] bring some excellent moisture and
[708 - 710] texture to the top of this tostada then
[710 - 713] I'm going to give the whole thing a
[713 - 716] liberal Ziggy of Crema that's just sour
[716 - 718] cream and a little bit of lime and then
[718 - 719] finally on top we're going to go just
[719 - 722] with a little bit more fresh cilantro
[722 - 725] and that looks so sick you got some
[725 - 727] crunchy tostada some tender Stewie
[727 - 729] chicken meat a little bit of crunchy
[729 - 731] lettuce and then some fatty twangy sour
[731 - 737] cream right on top now let's eat this
[741 - 741] thing M oh my God that
[742 - 745] good by the way the knife that I used in
[745 - 747] this video is a custom one that I
[747 - 749] designed for home cooks and for myself
[749 - 750] and it's going to be on sale in the next
[750 - 751] couple of weeks if you want to learn
[751 - 753] more about it sign up for my email list
[753 - 754] and I'll let you know when it launches
[755 - 756] no spam I promise link for the email
[756 - 761] list is in the description below