Easy Chicken strips, grilled

by James Channing Shaw




Grilled chicken strips Prep time: 1 - 2 hour marinade; Cook time: 10 minutes; Serves: 2 to 4

Everyone knows the problem with chicken breasts: they get too dry. This recipe is guaranteed to come out moist and tender. It is an easy summer success story. The inspiration for this dish came from out of the clear blue. There had to be a way to grill chicken breast meat without drying it out. Surprisingly, the recipe came out beautifully the first time and I’ve not made changes to the original. It’s a winner every time.

MUSIC: This can be a lazy summer thing with just the sound of the breeze in the leaves or lapping waves at the shoreline. If you are into more intensity, go all-out with Sanctuary, off Miles Davis' Bitches Brew album while you prepare the marinade.

HERE'S ALL YOU NEED:

• 2 or 3 Chicken breasts. Bone-in breasts are less expensive, but you'll be taking the meat off the bone, so boneless is also fine.
• Olive oil, extra virgin, ¼ Cup
• Dry white wine, ½ to 1 Cup approximately
• Juice of lemon and/or lime, ⅓ to ½ Cup total
• Salt, small palm (close to ½ teaspoon)
• Herbs de Provence, total approximately 4 Tablespoons
• Black pepper (or mixed peppercorn), 5 or 6 big twists of a pepper mill.

HERE'S WHAT TO DO:

1. De-bone the breasts. Remove skin but put aside. Cut chicken into strips approximately ½ inch to 1 inch wide, the full length of the breast. You must have a knife at least 10 inches long, and very sharp. You can get 4 or 5 strips per breast. Remove any tendons.


2. Slice the skin into strips, a bit wider than the chicken so they don't fall through the grill.


3. Place chicken and skin in a large mixing bowl and add olive oil, white wine to cover, lemon and lime juice, herbs, salt and pepper. Use enough herbs to lightly cover all sides of the meat. Stir to mix and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour minimum but a 2 hour marinade is better. Stir occasionally and smell how the mixture takes on a richness that goes beyond the ingredients alone.


4. Cook on a gas grill or with charcoal. Medium-hot (not the hottest) is best. The strips cook rapidly, within 5 minutes usually. Lay them across the grill, turn once or twice as needed, but monitor firmness with your tongs or cut one in half after a few minutes to determine doneness. They will not brown (except the stripes of the grill- see photo) because of the wet marinade. The goal is to have them just done, pink just fading. See photo.


5. The skin takes longer than the chicken, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cook together with the meat, but in a separate area of the grill because it will cause flames. Cook until crispy, maybe even a little carbonized (blackened). Then let cool, chop up like bacon bits and sprinkle as a garnish over the chicken when served.

CADENZA: The chicken is good plain or with a small amount of aioli or light mustard sauce* The dish (and the sauce) goes very well with grilled eggplant or, of course, sweet corn on the cob.

WINE: Red or white Burgundy, big buttery oaky chardonnay, red Bordeaux, Beaujolais, or even beer go well with this summer dish.

About marinating at room temperature: Are you worried about not refrigerating? There is enough citric acid and alcohol with the lemon/lime juice and wine that nothing will grow in the marinade, even if you left it out for days. No refrigeration is necessary while you are marinating this dish.

*About the mustard sauce: 3 parts mayonnaise, 1 part Dijon mustard.

About chicken skin: The skin, because of its fat content, absorbs many flavors. I suggest marinating the skin along with the rest, and grilling separately. The fat content from the skin of two or three breasts of chicken, chopped into bits and spinkled over the chicken, is well worth it when divided among a party of four .

Hormonal Acne in Women

by James Channing Shaw, MD

It is common for women to get acne in their 20s or 30s for the first time. The cause usually centers around hormonal issues.

A common scenario is the woman who gets acne within a year of stopping birth control pills. Women often take birth control pills for years in their teens or early 20s, and their acne is controlled. When they stop taking birth control pills, hormones return to having fluctuations that lead to acne.

Another cause comes from irregular ovarian activity that causes hormone fluctuations. These women often have irregular periods or acne that gets worse a week before each period. Any woman can have this problem, and at its worst, it is part of polycystic ovarian syndrome. There are other diseases that lead to hormonal acne, but fortunately they are rare.

The hormone that causes acne is the male hormone testosterone and its metabolites. Women produce testosterone in small quantities, but several conditions lead to increased testosterone effect. An increase in body weight, for example, shifts hormones toward more testosterone effect. Ovaries or adrenal glands can spontaneously overproduce male type hormones. Stress causes acne mainly through overproduction of hormones by adrenal glands.

This photograph shows a typical woman with moderately severe hormonal acne. Women with adult hormonal acne commonly have pre-menstrual worsening, and involvement of the lower face and jaw-line. Their acne is usually larger red pimples instead of blackheads on the forehead. Increased oiliness on the face is common. Some women have unwanted hair growth on the face. Irregular menstrual periods are common as well.

Standard topical acne treatments can be effective in women with adult acne, but most need hormonal treatments for optimal control. Even Accutane® is less effective in women with hormonal acne. The best treatments for adult women are birth control pills and spironolactone.

Birth control pills not only provide a steady state of hormones, they reduce overall testosterone effect through a protein called SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin). The net effect (in addition to not ovulating, i.e. prevention of pregnancy) is less stimulation of the oil glands and facial hair follicles. Many women can achieve complete control of their acne with birth control pills alone. Health risks from birth control pills are fortunately very low, but certain women have higher risks of blood clots, and full discussion with the prescribing doctor is essential. Brands of birth control pills differ by country, and some are marketed for acne.

Spironolactone is an oral drug that blocks the receptor for testosterone and prevents hormonal stimulation of acne. This drug is mainly used as a diuretic in older patients. The acne benefit was discovered as a side effect years ago. Spironolactone is well tolerated by itself, with a 40 year track record of safety in young women, but works best when given together with birth control pills. Side effects include menstrual irregularities when it is given alone.

This photograph is the patient above after a year of combination hormonal treatment. Her acne is much improved and the hair on her lip has reduced. Many women achieve excellent control within a few months with hormonal treatments, but ongoing treatment is necessary in most cases. It is important to find a doctor who is familiar with the use of these drugs for purposes of monitoring.

Finally, two recent developments in acne: 1) Cosmetics have been shown not to aggravate or cause acne in most cases. 2) Dietary influences of a western diet high in carbohydrates and dairy products may worsen acne through complex hormonal mechanisms, so a reduction in carbs and milk products may be beneficial.