How do you remove the chicken smell from Tandoori chicken?

Question

The last time I cooked the chicken, it had a strong chicken smell. I know that the chicken was not bad because I was fine after eating it. Also, I defrosted it for 24 hours and immediately cooked it.

I'm not sure whether the flesh smell comes because of the marinade (something we need to add),

or the way it is cooked (like don't air fryer it, or don't use 200 Celsius for cooking, or keep the gas grill on low),

or do we need to wash chicken after defrosting it (WHO recommends not washing chicken to avoid the water splashing around, and I guess store bought chicken might be pre-washed, but not sure whether we need to wash it to remove the water that gets accumulated after defrosting it),

or is it to do with adding more oil while cooking,

or is it that I must be careful to discard all marinade that's left over in the bowl rather than use them to coat the chicken one last time?

I'm totally at my wit's end about to get rid of the chicken smell.

Answer 1

You should try a South Indian way to remove the raw smell of the chicken and this method applies for any meat. After defrosting the chicken, wash it and marinate it with some haldi (turmeric Powder),leave aside for 5-10 minutes and then start the actual marination.

Answer 2

I will assume you are cooking the chicken whole. Supermarket chicken is usually frozen for transportation, unless it's specifically stated on the label "air chilled". This freeze and transport process makes the chicken smell unpleasant. Fresh chicken does not have this smell.

To remove or reduce this smell (sometimes, it's so strong, it will not be completely removed), use old ginger and fresh scallions. Follow these steps:

1. lightly crush with a mallet 2 inches of ginger root (old ginger is better).
2. lightly crush the bulbs of 2 whole scallions (green onions), and knot them into a bunch.
3. stuff the ginger and scallion into the stomach cavity of the chicken before cooking.

Answer 3

Yes it happens sometimes, you don't need to worry much for that. There's a simple solution and if you follow the basic instructions, I hope you won't get that smell in future.

Always use first marination for Tandoori chicken or any Tikka or kebabs. Apply little amounts of lemon juice, salt, pepper, chili powder and oil and keep it for 10-15 minutes before applying the final yogurt marination. When you apply the first marination, your final product will be more juicy and flavourful. And there won't be any raw chicken smell.