This tutorial shows you How to Make Parchment Paper Packets that can sit on their own without using staples or toothpicks.
Parchment paper cooking is a cooking technique that involves wrapping food, usually chicken or fish in parchment paper. Sometimes vegetables are added to the parchment paper packet. It is often simply wrapped into an envelope and baked in the oven until the food is cooked and moist. The French call it en papillote.
Paper Wrapped Chicken
In Chinese cuisine, there is a popular dish known as Paper Wrapped Chicken where envelopes of marinated chicken are deep fried in oil. While the chicken is moist and tasty, it can be soaked in oil because the paper packet traps the oil inside the packet. As such, this dish is not more popular than it should be because many people prefer not to eat it.
Thankfully, with the advent of the air fryer, we can now prepare this dish with just a smidgen of oil. While it may appear more like baking than deep frying, the taste is comparable and we can eat it guilt free and that is a good thing.
Folded Parchment Paper Packets
As mentioned above, these parchment paper packets are usually folded into an envelope and held together with staples or toothpicks. Some people also fold the parchment paper in half over the food and fold the edges into a semi circle like a curry puff. Both these methods mean that you have to unwrapped the packet to eat the food inside.
Parchment Paper Packets That Can Sit On Their Own
You can eat directly out of the parchment paper packets that I am sharing with you today. The best thing is that you can make these packets without staples or toothpicks and they are easy to make. These packets are of course more suitable for air frying because they sit upright in the air fryer and the food will not spill out. If you are going to deep fry the packets, then you will still have to pin it shut somehow.
Similar Products Used in How to Make Parchment Paper Packets
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Reynolds Kitchens Parchment Paper Roll, 15 inches wide x 72 feet long, 90 Square Feet
Katbite Parchment Paper Roll for Baking, 15 in x 210 ft 260 Sq.Ft
Unbleached Parchment Paper for Baking, 15 in x 210 ft, 260 Sq.Ft
How To Make Parchment Paper Packets
Materials
- 8 sheets parchment paper 15 in x 9 in
Instructions
- Start with a piece of 15 in x 9 in piece of parchment paper with the long side facing you. Make a 1 inch fold upwards on the side closest to you. Press with your thumb or finger to make a crease. Flip the parchment paper so that the 1 inch fold is facing downwards.
- Fold ⅓ of the width of the parchment paper (5 in) on the left side to overlap the center. Press with your thumb or finger to make a crease. Fold ⅓ of the width of the parchment paper on the right side to overlap the left side. Press with your thumb or finger to make a crease. Tuck the right side into the 1 inch fold.
- Flip the folded paper so that the 1 inch pocket is facing upwards. Fold in half over the 1 inch pocket. Press with your thumb or finger to make a crease. Tuck the folded half into the 1 inch pocket.
- Open the packet.
- Press down about an inch from the right corner. Do the same for the left side. Press down firmly on both corners so that the packet can sit on its own.
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