Poached Chicken à la Crème (Recipe)
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We were looking through recipe books and found this recipe for poached chicken that sounds delicious. The book is "Good Cheap Food" and it is written by Miriam Ungerer. The book has lots of recipes, from simple and comfort foods to fancier dishes. Here is Miriam's entry for poached chicken (just be warned this is not the most simple recipe to execute):
"Poached Chicken à la Crème |
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Simmered in a rich broth, poached chicken is a moist and delicious foundation for many dishes. Although it's easy enough to do, this type of poached hen is rarely found nowadays because not too many people have to worry about what to do with an old hen whose laying day are over. The deeper flavor of a mature hen provides a fragrant stock for soups or sauces, the flesh a foundation for white or brown fricassees, chicken fritters, croquettes, or an old-fashioned chicken pudding. A French farm wife might make a galantine of hers, boned and stuffed with pâté, then poached in white wine and broth.
A roasting chicken may be poached according to this method, but the cooking time would only be about 45 minutes. The type of pot is really important here: It should be rather narrow, oval, and deep enough to allow the chicken's legs to be covered with stock.
SERVES 4 TO 6
1 mature stewing hen (fowl), 4.5 to 5 lbs.
Softened butter
2 Tbsp. butter
2 to 3 large carrots, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 bay leaf
2 or 3 sprigs parsley
3 or 4 qts. water
Pinch of dried marjoram
Pinch of dried tarragon or 1 branch, fresh
Giblets from chicken, except the liver
White pepper
Salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove the giblets from the cavity and wash the hen. Look it over for quill stumps, which may have to be removed with tweezers. Tie the wings to the body and tie the legs down (normally one pushed them up toward the breast) as far as possible, because they must be submerged in broth while the breast is exposed only to steam. Rub the breast well with a little softened butter. (Old recipes recommend a great deal of butter, but a plump old fowl yields a good quantity of fat of itself, which should be saved for other cooking purposes; if you have got a dried-out stringy old bird, it is really good for nothing except its stock.
Melt the butter in a deep pot, and put in the carrots, onions, garlic, bay leaf, and parsley. Stir them around to coat with butter, then put the chicken on top of the vegetables. Pour the water around the chicken until it covers the legs. Put in the herbs, pepper, and giblets. Bring it to a simmer and salt it lightly. Seal the pot with aluminum foil, put on a heavy cover, and set it in the oven for about two hours or until tender. After a half hour, see that the pot is merely bubbling gently, not boiling rapidly - otherwise the broth will waste away and the flesh will be dry and worthless. No one can determine the life that late she led, and it may take another hour to become tender. When it is, take the chicken from the pot, strain the broth into a bowl, discard all the vegetables and giblets; they've given their all, and refrigerate.
When the fat has congealed, lift it off, put it into a jar, cover, and refrigerate to use as a frying medium for other dishes. Pull the skin off the chicken and the meat from the bones, keeping it in fairly large pieces. This is most efficiently done with your fingers. Pack the meat into a bowl and cover it tightly to keep it moist. If you propose to keep all or some of the meat for another meal, slosh some of the broth on it.
Now, you may either make Chicken à la Crème for two and chicken salad for two, a couple of quarts of chicken soup with rice or noodles, or soup plus four generous servings of Chicken à la Crème, curried chicken, chicken pot pie, or whatever.
4 Tbsp. chicken fat
5 Tbsp. flour
2 cups hot chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp. lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup sliced cooked mushrooms
1 to 2 Tbsp. sherry (optional)
Melt the chicken fat in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for about two minutes. Off heat, dump in the hot chicken broth and cream, whisking rapidly with a wire whip. Return the sauce to the heat; and whisk and taste as you add lemon juice, salt, pepper, and sherry to taste. If you like a thinner sauce, add a little more broth. When the texture and flavor please you, stir in the mushrooms and chicken. Serve on a bed of rice cooked in some of the chicken broth."
- from "Good Cheap Food" by Miriam Ungerer
A roasting chicken may be poached according to this method, but the cooking time would only be about 45 minutes. The type of pot is really important here: It should be rather narrow, oval, and deep enough to allow the chicken's legs to be covered with stock.
SERVES 4 TO 6
1 mature stewing hen (fowl), 4.5 to 5 lbs.
Softened butter
2 Tbsp. butter
2 to 3 large carrots, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 bay leaf
2 or 3 sprigs parsley
3 or 4 qts. water
Pinch of dried marjoram
Pinch of dried tarragon or 1 branch, fresh
Giblets from chicken, except the liver
White pepper
Salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove the giblets from the cavity and wash the hen. Look it over for quill stumps, which may have to be removed with tweezers. Tie the wings to the body and tie the legs down (normally one pushed them up toward the breast) as far as possible, because they must be submerged in broth while the breast is exposed only to steam. Rub the breast well with a little softened butter. (Old recipes recommend a great deal of butter, but a plump old fowl yields a good quantity of fat of itself, which should be saved for other cooking purposes; if you have got a dried-out stringy old bird, it is really good for nothing except its stock.
Melt the butter in a deep pot, and put in the carrots, onions, garlic, bay leaf, and parsley. Stir them around to coat with butter, then put the chicken on top of the vegetables. Pour the water around the chicken until it covers the legs. Put in the herbs, pepper, and giblets. Bring it to a simmer and salt it lightly. Seal the pot with aluminum foil, put on a heavy cover, and set it in the oven for about two hours or until tender. After a half hour, see that the pot is merely bubbling gently, not boiling rapidly - otherwise the broth will waste away and the flesh will be dry and worthless. No one can determine the life that late she led, and it may take another hour to become tender. When it is, take the chicken from the pot, strain the broth into a bowl, discard all the vegetables and giblets; they've given their all, and refrigerate.
When the fat has congealed, lift it off, put it into a jar, cover, and refrigerate to use as a frying medium for other dishes. Pull the skin off the chicken and the meat from the bones, keeping it in fairly large pieces. This is most efficiently done with your fingers. Pack the meat into a bowl and cover it tightly to keep it moist. If you propose to keep all or some of the meat for another meal, slosh some of the broth on it.
Now, you may either make Chicken à la Crème for two and chicken salad for two, a couple of quarts of chicken soup with rice or noodles, or soup plus four generous servings of Chicken à la Crème, curried chicken, chicken pot pie, or whatever.
4 Tbsp. chicken fat
5 Tbsp. flour
2 cups hot chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp. lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup sliced cooked mushrooms
1 to 2 Tbsp. sherry (optional)
Melt the chicken fat in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for about two minutes. Off heat, dump in the hot chicken broth and cream, whisking rapidly with a wire whip. Return the sauce to the heat; and whisk and taste as you add lemon juice, salt, pepper, and sherry to taste. If you like a thinner sauce, add a little more broth. When the texture and flavor please you, stir in the mushrooms and chicken. Serve on a bed of rice cooked in some of the chicken broth."
- from "Good Cheap Food" by Miriam Ungerer