Increase the Potential of Chicken Flour by Steaming It First
If you’ve read about online cooking, you’ve no doubt seen several listings touting many uses for one humble chicken. At this point, you know what chicken can do for you, so another over-prescriptive chicken-based meal plan seems unnecessary. My agenda is very simple: the next time you buy a whole chicken, I want you to digest it.
Poaching is a criminally underestimated method, and the chicken really loves it. No special equipment required: If you have a mixing bowl, large saucepan with lid, strainer, and stock containers, you can. What’s more, poaching is as reliable as roasting and pays more dividends: flavorful, juicy meat for a whole bird, a gallon of delicious broth, a carcass that can be simmered again, and maybe even stewed a little . fat . If you really miss the crunchy crust, simply click on the wobbly, oddly poached skin between the two baking sheets and bake it for yummy and delicious cracklings. It’s a time commitment – about five hours from start to finish – but with just thirty minutes of vigorous work, you can get it done on the weekend and still have a lot of downtime.
Step 1: Plan Your Meals Carefully
The planning is just to cook several dishes from the same chicken. Make a list of meals for the week, starting with a hearty meal of poached chicken, and shop accordingly. I vouch for all of these recipes:
- Khao Man Gai of Nong
- Chicken noodle or soup of Matseva balls
- Chicken and dumplings
- Chicken cooked in red sauce
- Avgolemono
Serve dark or white meats on your first big meal to maximize leftovers, but otherwise, this is an adventure story of your own choosing. Are you crazy about chicken and salad sandwiches? Save the breast for last and stock up on bread, mayonnaise and crispy vegetables. If you prefer to eat white meat first and dark meat for, say, enchilada, make sure you have tortillas, processed cheese, beans, and enchilada sauce on hand. You will also have a gallon of broth and broth to work with, so use more ingredients for soup, stew, and / or risotto. Speaking of broth, don’t forget the roots and aromas – I especially recommend parsnips .
Step 2: cook the chicken (and make the broth)
Remove the chicken from the packaging. Remove giblets and trim off excess skin around the cavity. Render clipping if you like; discard offal or save for another project.
Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and let it come to room temperature, which will take an hour or two. (Running the chicken at room temperature in the room ensures that the water temperature is kept it cooks all the way to the end, so don’t skip this step!) Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients, I made Kao man Gai, so I chopped a little ginger, chopped a head off a little garlic and measured salt and sugar for me.
Once it’s hot, place the chicken in a bowl (or colander) in the sink and sprinkle a handful of salt on top. Salt the entire surface, including the inside of the cavity, then rinse well. Exfoliated chicken sounds like a goop fever dream, but the salt scrub removes any remaining skin impurities, making the broth clearer and more delicious. (Skip this step if you are using kosher chicken.)
Place the chicken in the pot with the notch facing up. First fill the cavity with cool water, then add enough water to cover the chicken a few inches (usually a gallon does this for me). Make sure the cavity is completely filled and push the chicken until the breast is facing up.
Season and cover the saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium to high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the chicken steep in the broth, covered for two to four hours. With prolonged brewing, juicy meat and richly aromatic broth are obtained without any debris obtained by boiling parts of animals in water.
When it has cooled to your liking, remove the chicken from the pan. I find it easiest to stick a sturdy long-handled spoon into the recess and gently tilt it up – so you are looking down the neck, not up the butt – then slowly pull the chicken out using a different spoon or tongs for extra support while necessity. Thus, the liquid from the cavity flows back into the pan.
Place the chicken on a cutting board and let it rest while you strain the broth, then use half the cooked chicken and all the broth you need to prepare the rest of the meal. After lunch, collect the carcass clean and save everything: meat for future meals, skin and bones, and carcass for broth. If you’re tired of waiting to drain hot liquids, prepare a supply tomorrow.
Step 3: profit
If you’ve never eaten poached chicken before, you may be suspicious of what’s on your plate, especially if you’ve cooked khao man gai or chicken cooked in red sauce that actually has poached meat. How can chicken cooked in water taste good, let alone sweet?
The secret, as I implied earlier, is in the coolest. When the chicken is cooked in a covered saucepan filled with gradually cooling water, the broth gains maximum flavor, which in turn creates the ideal conditions for tender and aromatic meat. Soaking the whole chicken also ensures that what’s left on the carcass has many of the broth health benefits. This is why I cook my chicken slowly on the stove, not quickly in a 3 liter instant solution, which is too small to quench my thirst for broth. (It makes a great broth, though.) Some good things take time, and poached chicken is one of them; after a few dinners made with trophies, I think you will agree.