This is a variation on the potted chicken with tomatoes that I did for the Aetna Healthy Food Fight. Actually, I should call the tomato recipe the variation, since other versions are much more like this one.
For instance Susan at “Cooking to Save” has this version, that starts out almost exactly like mine. Then there’s this one at DVO, which uses the whole chicken like in my previous version. (Though roasting it first before adding to the Dutch oven seems like just a way to dirty another pan.)
Whatever you call it, this produces some really delicious chicken, and can easily be turned into great chicken soup.
Ingredients
2 whole chicken legs (including the thigh)
1 stalk celery
1 large carrot
½ medium onion (any color)
2 cups chicken stock (see below)
2 tablespoons bacon fat or butter
salt and pepper
Directions
Ingredient notes
Before I start, I have to point you to this article on making Ice Filtrated Consommé. That measuring cup full of clear brown liquid in the ingredients photo above (click the photo for a larger view) is ice filtrated turkey stock. I didn’t use the recipe from that article, just the process, and it worked exactly as advertised. (And the residue is as disgusting as the article says.)
In any case, feel free to use pre-made chicken stock, or broth — and don’t get picky about what you call it, both Chow.com and Chef 2 Chef say the terms are mostly used interchangeably now.
Another change in ingredients is I’m using pieces instead of a whole chicken. After the first potted chicken recipe, a couple of people asked if you could do it with pieces, and I said I’d do that and post an update.
Directions (This time, I mean it)
Before starting on the chicken, clean and dice the aromatics — the onion, celery and carrot — to make a mirepoix. That link has the details, but here’s the short version: Equal parts onion, celery and carrot, diced and cooked, make the base of many recipes. And it’s called … that’s right, mirepoix.
While you’re pre-heating the oven to 350°, coat the chicken with salt and pepper.
You could dredge it in flour, but I left it out this time and didn’t miss it.
Melt the bacon fat or butter in a Dutch oven over hight heat on the stove-top, then add the chicken.
I started skin-side-down this time. I made another batch a few days later and started cut-side-down instead. Go with that. You’ll render out more of the chicken fat — also known as schmaltz, common in Jewish cooking — and keep the skin from sticking to the pot.
I seasoned the cut side of the chicken after it was in the pot.
You can season both sides before putting it in. With beef or pork that’s what I’d recommend, so the salt has time to draw out some liquid for the Maillard reaction to get going. With chicken, the skin is going to keep the salt away from the meat so it doesn’t matter as much.
Brown the chicken on both sides …
… then pull it out and add the mirepoix.
The skin stuck to the pot a little bit, so Winnie and I had no choice but to peel it off and have a crispy, salty snack.
Cook until the onions are soft, stirring occasionally, then add the chicken back in.
Add the stock or broth, cover, and put in the oven for an hour.
When it’s done, the meat will be pulling away from the bones on its own.
Be careful picking up the pieces — if you grab by the bone there’s a good chance it will just pull right out and you’ll drop the rest of the leg back into the hot stock. (Ask me how I know, go on.)
Using a slotted spoon, scoop the mirepoix out of the broth.
Put the mirepoix on a serving dish, and the chicken legs on top.
You won’t need a knife to eat this, as the meat will just pull off the bones by hand. (Or fork, if you’re fancy like that.)
And that’s it.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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13 Comments
That looks really good!
Hey a quick question? Do you have a recipe for a whole roast chicken in enameled cast iron? We made a chicken last night just putting it in the pan with simple seasonings and it came out so much moister than our normal way of cooking it on a stand in the oven.
Thanks for all you do..
Rebecca, if you look at the previous potted chicken recipe I did, you’ll see it was the whole chicken. You can follow exactly the same directions for that recipe, up until you add the tomatoes and herbs. At that point, you just switch to this recipe and do the mirepoix and stock instead.
I did this the other night with a small whole chicken and made it into chicken soup. I just cooked it in the dutch oven then let it cool. After the chicken was cool I took it off the bone added it to the chicken stock I had with all the left over veggies in my fridge with a little cream of chicken soup and salt and pepper….it was so yummy! And since its just my husband and I it made enough for us to eat on for a few days and then freeze!
Great work! I made the tomato version and it was spectacular.
Looks wonderful!!!! I love one pot recipes!!!!
It feels like magic, doesn’t it? Freezing your stock, slowly defrosting it and tadaa: a perfectly clear stock without any special effort or skill. It just seems a bit of a waste to use it again in a potted chicken recipe. Although I’ve done that too sometimes.
This is the method I usually choose to cook the heritage pastured chickens that I get from the farmers market (grocery store chicken contains GMO corn-derived citric acid in the soaker pad and we are allergic to corn). The only difference that I can see is that I use filtered water to cook the chicken and it makes broth for me to use later (chicken and dumplings!). This is vital for us since all commercial broths, bouillons, and soup bases have some form of corn in them. You can just pull the chicken off the bone while using the broth to cook rice or noodles or dumplings, then add the shredded chicken and the mirepoix back to the pot for delicious soup. The beauty is that this is a one-pot meal if cooked in the enameled cast iron dutch oven. From the stove top to the oven and back to the stove top, you gotta love Le Creuset.
KC, yes, yes, and yes. And one “How about that?” for good measure. I think this is the second or third time you’ve told me about something that had corn in it that I never would have thought of. (You’re the one who told me about the wax on wax paper, right?)
I made your original potted chicken a week ago and we all loved it. I don’t think I’ll bother with the browning of the chicken again though. At least not a whole one.
This version reminds me of something that I do with chicken thighs. In a cast-iron dutch oven, I put in 2 onions, cut into 8ths, a slew of baby carrots, and about 3-4 red-skinned potatoes, also cut into 8ths. I shake on some salt and pepper and some herbs de provence (or at least some dried thyme and crushed rosemary) and then top with chicken thighs and more herbs and salt and pepper. Cover and bake at 350° F for an hour. Serve up. I have also used the drippings (plentiful) to make a gravy, but it’s totally unnecessary and would be better used to start a soup.
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Hi Drew, When you do the stock in this way, does the fat get removed, or do I remove it once it goes hard on the top & before I freeze it? Thanks. Your recipes are fabulous as is your blog.
Sue, I haven’t strained any fat out of the last couple of batches. If I were going to, though, it would be after it goes hard before freezing.