To start things off, I decided to use a braised chicken recipe I came across in Bittman’s
How to Cook Everything. I’ve roasted chicken before and didn’t feel like trussing, so I opted for this recipe instead. Spoiler: I should’ve gone with my gut and used a roasting method instead.
My version of the recipe: Rinse and pat dry a whole chicken after removing the innards. Sprinkle tarragon on the inside of the chicken (about ¼ tsp). Melt 2-3 tbsp of melted butter and place it in the bottom of a Dutch oven (or a roasting pan). Place the chicken in the Dutch oven or pan, breast side up, and use the butter from the bottom to baste the whole bird. Sprinkle with salt and lots of pepper, and put in a preheated 500 degree F oven for 15-20 mins, basting a couple times. You want the bird to develop a nice golden brown, but not cook fully. It was a bit browner than the picture here would make it seem, but I still could've gone a bit longer.
While it is in the oven, prep the other ingredients: 2 cloves of garlic, minced; 1 tsp dried (or 1 tbsp fresh) tarragon; 1 large onion, sliced; ¼ c red wine vinegar; 1 c dry red wine or water.
I didn’t have red wine, so I used a few splashes of balsamic (~2 tbsp?), a tbsp of so of dry sherry, and the rest of the cup with water. I used what I had!
When the chicken looks nice and brown, pull it out and set aside. With the remaining butter on the bottom of the pan, place the onions and saute for a couple minutes, then add the garlic. I liked to caramelize the onion, but not burn the garlic. Pour in the rest of the ingredients, then add the chicken back to the Dutch oven after the liquid begins to simmer. From what I know about braising, the liquid should touch the bottom of the meat, but only by an inch or two. There seemed to be a lot of liquid already. Red flag.
Put the lid on the pot and cook on medium-low heat for about an hour, or until the chicken reaches 160 F. It said to add liquid if necessary, but I never had that problem. The chicken took considerably more than the hour or so than the recipe called, almost an hour and a half. I carved it (successfully! achievement unlocked!) and served with a quick version of scalloped potatoes and asparagus:
-(slice a potato thinly, add salt, garlic, oregano, a touch of milk, and butter. Toss the potato in the spices and arrange in a buttered oven0proof dish. Pour the milk and pats of butter over the potatoes and cover with aluminum. Bake until the potatoes are tender, maybe a half hour. Pull of the foil ten minutes before you finish to brown the top of the potatoes.
-Steam the asparagus just until fork-tender, and then pour browned butter over the spears.
Wow, a lot of butter in this supper! I don't usually use exorbitant amounts like that unless it's a special occasion.
Verdict: My biggest problem was that the braising method makes for a chicken with very subtle flavor. I liked it, but only the dark meat had much flavor at all; the breasts were insipid at best. The wine/tarragon combination is a good one, and one I’ve used in the past on steaks. This technique, however, was different than past attempts because it didn’t allow for some of the liquid to cook off as the chicken cooked, so the end product was disappointingly lacking in flavor. Plus, the method itself makes for a real slimy skin, not crisp like roasting or frying, rendering the skin inedible. Maybe I should have browned it longer so at least it
looked more appetizing, but I don’t think that’d fix the slime factor.
If I were to fix it, I would add a bit of the onion and wine on the inside of the chicken, and put it in a roasting pan with the rest of onion and garlic on the bottom of the pan. Pour the cup of wine, a little chicken stock, and the melted butter in the bottom of the pan, and use it as a basting liquid. The outside of the chicken should have salt and pepper and the tarragon. I’d roast in the oven and use a baster (bulb, not brush) to continually expose the chicken breasts to the liquid as it cooks. As water evaporates off and is replaced by melting chicken fat, the seasonings and wine will concentrate and make for a more flavorful bird. Of course, this method will require trussing of a chicken, which I wanted to avoid in the first place.
Thoughts?
Thanks for reading!