Chicken Stew
The January Cook's Illustrated had a page on stew theory. The things it had to say -- mostly about the order in which stew components should be added -- was something of a revelation to me. I'm an avid stewer, so it gets harder and harder to learn anything new even as I still suffer the alarmingly regular failures of any regular amateur stewer.
I make stew in a deep steel-plated aluminum pot. Real stewers, I am assured, use Dutch ovens, but frankly I never make enough stew at once to make that work.
Trimmed four chicken thighs of excess fat. Browned them in a bit of oil over high heat, aggressively scraping up anything sticking to the pot -- nothing to be allowed to blacken. Removed chicken, added the trimmed fat and rendered it out into the oil, then discarded the drained fat tissue.
Added a large chopped onion, sauteed until golden, added 2 tbsp of flour and built a dark roux around the onions. Tossed in three crushed garlic cloves as an afterthought.
Added chicken stock to cover, 2 tbsp tomato paste, then the chicken back in. Covered, tossed in the oven at 300.
In a shallow covered pan, simmered five dried chanterelles in chicken stock for 30 minutes. Removed mushrooms, chopped finely, and reserved the simmer liquid. Sauteed the mushrooms with a chopped shallot in a good oil. Re-added the liquid.
Checked the chicken. It wasn't done. Remembered that I'd forgotten to add any salt. Added a generous teaspoon, tossed it back in the oven.
Added parsely, sage, and a tiny bit of of cayenne to the mushroom mixture, left it to sit (argh!) while the chicken caught up.
20 minutes later, took the chicken out, added the mushroom mixture, served.
Overall Rating:
+ Excellent.
+ With a sourdought baguette: Profound.
Lessons Learned:
+ Building a roux around the savories in stew prep is an excellent substitute for the rather unpredictable buisness of thickening it by boiling it down
+ Adding herbs at the end of cooking is rather nerve wracking -- it's hard to tell if the stew is balanced while you're making it -- but really pays off in taste. The delicate flavors really shone through.
+ The long thin sour baguettes that Whole Foods sells are absolutely excellent.
Fun Fact: Taking the stew out of the oven, I was sure it was a total failure. Some of the roux had gotten stuck to the side of the pot above the stew and burnt, so although the stew looked beautiful, it smelt burnt burnt burnt. Fortunately, a false alarm.
I make stew in a deep steel-plated aluminum pot. Real stewers, I am assured, use Dutch ovens, but frankly I never make enough stew at once to make that work.
Trimmed four chicken thighs of excess fat. Browned them in a bit of oil over high heat, aggressively scraping up anything sticking to the pot -- nothing to be allowed to blacken. Removed chicken, added the trimmed fat and rendered it out into the oil, then discarded the drained fat tissue.
Added a large chopped onion, sauteed until golden, added 2 tbsp of flour and built a dark roux around the onions. Tossed in three crushed garlic cloves as an afterthought.
Added chicken stock to cover, 2 tbsp tomato paste, then the chicken back in. Covered, tossed in the oven at 300.
In a shallow covered pan, simmered five dried chanterelles in chicken stock for 30 minutes. Removed mushrooms, chopped finely, and reserved the simmer liquid. Sauteed the mushrooms with a chopped shallot in a good oil. Re-added the liquid.
Checked the chicken. It wasn't done. Remembered that I'd forgotten to add any salt. Added a generous teaspoon, tossed it back in the oven.
Added parsely, sage, and a tiny bit of of cayenne to the mushroom mixture, left it to sit (argh!) while the chicken caught up.
20 minutes later, took the chicken out, added the mushroom mixture, served.
Overall Rating:
+ Excellent.
+ With a sourdought baguette: Profound.
Lessons Learned:
+ Building a roux around the savories in stew prep is an excellent substitute for the rather unpredictable buisness of thickening it by boiling it down
+ Adding herbs at the end of cooking is rather nerve wracking -- it's hard to tell if the stew is balanced while you're making it -- but really pays off in taste. The delicate flavors really shone through.
+ The long thin sour baguettes that Whole Foods sells are absolutely excellent.
Fun Fact: Taking the stew out of the oven, I was sure it was a total failure. Some of the roux had gotten stuck to the side of the pot above the stew and burnt, so although the stew looked beautiful, it smelt burnt burnt burnt. Fortunately, a false alarm.