The Meat That You Don't Actually Have To Cut Against The Grain

This "life tip" has probably been drilled into you ever since you picked up a knife and started cutting and carving meat in your kitchen: always cut against the grain. By running the knife's blade across the long muscle fibers — the so-called "grain" of the meat — you can make them less chewy and stringy. But did you know there's one kind of meat in particular where you can break this rule and still get super-tender results? It's nothing fancy, just good-old chicken breasts, but here's the key: this only applies if you're slicing it paper-thin.

You can try this out the next time you make the filling for your chicken cheesesteak. Take the chicken breast and make several thin slices with the grain. The pieces will still taste buttery smooth after you've grilled them. However, if you make thicker cuts, like an inch or two thick with the grain, you'll find them difficult to chew again — just as conventional wisdom warns. So, why exactly is this? Why does thickness make all the difference?

The answer lies in the structure of the muscle fibers themselves. When you zoom into the structure of the chicken breast, you'll find muscle fibers bundled together that make it extremely tough for your teeth to break down. If you cut the meat thickly, you'll definitely feel it in your mouth in the form of tough, rubbery chicken pieces. When you slice the meat very thinly, though — so thin the meat looks translucent — there are so few of these muscle bundles that you wouldn't even notice the texture when you chew. This trick will be especially helpful when you need to velvet chicken for dishes like velvety soy chicken and broccoli or chicken scallopini.

Nevertheless, old wisdom is still relevant here: cutting against the grain is still preferred in most cases, thick or thin, as it'll tend to give you the tenderest chicken. But when you're in a hurry and don't have time to identify the grain direction? No worries — just slice it thin and you'll still get results!