8 easy ways to cook meat at home that will give you restaurant-quality food

• There are a multitude of options when it comes to cooking meat at home.
• Grilling works for almost all kinds of meat, while whole chickens and whole fish are great for roasting.
• If you're looking to batch cook meat, try poaching.
• When frying, make sure to use a thermometer to check that your oil temperature stays consistent.
• Don't forget that you can easily broil meat by using your oven's broiler.

So you bought a package of boneless chicken breasts on sale at the supermarket. Now what?

Maybe you're a pro at making sheet pan dinners, or you've only followed a step-by-step Blue Apron recipe.

Before you panic and pass off that raw chicken to a neighbor (or worse, try microwaving it to make a meal), consider one of these easy meat-cooking techniques that can all be achieved via stovetop or oven.

Baking

Baking may be the easiest way to cook a piece of meat or fish. All you do is set the oven to a temperature — usually under 375 — let it preheat, and then set your protein in for a set amount of time, which is typically under an hour.

Baking is the technique you use for sheet pan meals and baking can be also used to cook chicken cutlets, pork chops, or white fish. You can also use baking for ground meats, like turkey or beef, to be baked as meatballs, meatloafs or casseroles and pies. Because baking can dehydrate meats, make sure to marinate them or have a dipping sauce at the ready.

Roasting

Roasted meats are cooked in the oven, at a variety of temperatures. If you're cooking a large roast, go for low to moderate heat (250-375 degrees). For smaller, more tender cuts, high heat (above 400 degrees) is best.

Roasted meats, like a whole chicken, get a glossy, crisp crust on the outside and should have a generally soft, tender texture inside. Large cuts of beef, like chuck, as well as whole fish or fatty fillets, like salmon, are most amenable to roasting.

Sauteing

Sauteing, or stir-frying, meat refers to cooking meat in a skillet using fat. You'll want the fat to be hot when the meat touches the pan (rule number one of saute is no cold pans) so preheat some butter, leftover bacon grease, or vegetable oil before tossing in chunks of chicken breast or shrimp.

Sauteing can also be the first step in browning ground beef, turkey, or pork to make meaty sauces like bolognese or chili.

Braising

This may be the best way of all to cook a piece of meat on a cold day. Braising involves searing a piece of meat and then slow cooking it in liquid, often a combo of broth and wine, with other seasonings.

The meat will be tender, and if you throw some veggies in the sauce, or make a pot of pasta or rice on the side, it's easy to throw together a hands-off dinner. Try braising short ribs, lamb shanks, or chicken thighs.

Grilling

To grill meat you don't necessarily need an outdoor grill (though it's helpful, and arguably, more flavorful).  A stovetop grill pan can help get those charred ridges you crave at a summer barbecue.

The beauty of grilling is that it truly works with anything — burgers, steaks, bone-in or boneless chicken, fatty fishes — just look up a suggested grill time and keep your eyes on the protein as it sizzles and smokes. But hey, any mistakes you make can be covered up with ketchup or barbecue sauce.

Broiling

Almost every standard oven is equipped with a broiler, which may be the most underutilized part of a millennial kitchen — I just discovered mine last year. Some broilers come with different heat settings, while others just have the one: broil.

To broil meat or fish, you'll want to move your oven rack up to the highest level, closest to where  the heat (typically fire) from the broiler is produced, and you'll want to season and/or marinate the protein. Swipe some barbecue sauce or mustard on salmon or rub olive oil on steaks and you're good to broil.

The top should have a nice, hard glaze — consider cooking fish skin side-down for crispy skin — and the inside of your meat or fish should be tender or rare, if you purposefully limit cook time.

Poaching

If you can poach an egg, you can poach meat. Sure, poaching isn't the most flavorful method, but it's easy and can be used to create tender, stringy portions of chicken to use in soups and stews or in grain bowls, sandwiches, wraps, and salads.

If you're trying to batch cook meat, poaching may be your best tool. Just salt some water (or broth), bring the cooking liquid to a boil, lower the heat, and drop your meat in. After 15 minutes, you'll have fully-cooked chicken, which can be drained and shredded with a fork to use in a multitude of ways.

Frying

Unlike sauteing, frying requires drenching your meat in oil — essentially poaching it in oil, if you will. Frying can get messy, and dangerous, so try and have a second set of hands to assist you in your first frying trials.

While technically anything can be fried, breaded chicken, i.e. fried chicken is America's most iconic (and best, in my opinion) fried meat. For frying, you'll want to have an oil thermometer to make sure your cooking oil stays at a steady temp as well as draining racks lined with paper or paper towels ready for your freshly fried food. Frying is definitely an advanced cooking skill, so if you have a sous chef who knows what they're doing, don't be shy about asking for help.

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