Chicken - you might as well boil it

Do you remember the old 70's TV commercial for Shake and Bake chicken coating:

If it isn't Shake and Bake, you might as well boil it!

I was always confused about whether this is back-handed praise for boiled chicken. But then I would slap myself and remember that thinking about commercials can cause your head to implode.

Anyway, this post is about boiled chicken, or more accurately, poached chicken. After Superbowl Sunday's overindulgence - too many fresh potato pierogi drenched in sour cream - I needed something much lighter today. Lately, lighter has been a simple but very satisfying meal of chicken poached in stock. The trick is that I have been freezing and reusing the same stock, so each time it is used it becomes richer and richer and the bird tastes better and better. This is such an easy meal, just plop the a whole bird in simmering stock until it is done. I usually serve it with some kind of leftover sauce (today it was some Liptauer cheese spread from yesterday), but I'm not ashamed to admit that ketchup makes this the perfect comfort food. Here is a photo of the bird floating in the simmering stock (it is usually submerged, but it rose to the surface for this photo-op):



BTW, I use the same trick for poaching shrimp. I started about 8 years ago with a court bouillon and keep freezing and resusing the same liquid - the shrimp that are poached in it come out so tasty.

Bill/SFNM

Bill,

When I was growing up, 'boiled' (i.e., poached) chicken was on the regular rotation of things my mother made and it was something I really loved then and now still. My favourite way to consume the chicken is in a sandwich... the perfectly moist meat, besprinkled with a little salt and a grind of black pepper, placed between slices of fresh, crusty bread, dressed with butter... Anything else would be for me an unwanted distraction... One of the simplest and best ways to eat chicken... And of course, as you say, there is all that flavourful stock to boot...

Antonius

I love poached chicken meat as well and love your method.

Are you ever tempted to use the broth in a soup or just drink it? I'm not sure I could resist the temptation.

All of which recalls the chicken-in-a-pot dish of so many Jewish delis. I recall the very comforting version at the old Belden deli. More or less a chicken soup with veggies, but with the chicken whole. Is this still on a menu anywhere?

I always liked that leftover chicken sandwich with just the lightest schmear of good mayo on the bread. (Plus S&P) That combination of sapidity and tang put it right over the top for me.

On a related note: I happened to try Potbelly's veg. soup this weekend. I was happily surprised that it was flavorful. Not polluted with stale dried herbs. Filled with veggies which seemed to be fresh, cut in nice, generous, irregular chunks, and most remarkably, still with a bit of crunch to them. (This was the Lincoln Ave. location across from Victory Gardens Theatre; the old space, not the former Biograph.)

My father and uncle would never eat "boiled" chicken and I grew up believing it was a horrible thing. This is mainly due to the fact that every friday night, my grandmother would make chicken soup and friday night dinner would be the chicken that was cooked beyond recognition. There is a severe difference between a gentle poach and a severe boiling.

I've since learned the difference and poach chicken quite often for a simple dinner. The idea of using and re-using the stock had not occurred to me (thanks, Bill).

One of the things I do with the leftovers that I don't eat right away (and the little bits that cling to the carcass) is to add them with onion, garlic, and olive oil to a very hot pan for a minute or two. A couple shakes of sumac, a little tahini and it goes great over rice or on some pita.

mrbarolo wrote:All of which recalls the chicken-in-a-pot dish of so many Jewish delis. I recall the very comforting version at the old Belden deli. More or less a chicken soup with veggies, but with the chicken whole. Is this still on a menu anywhere?

Chicken or beef-in-the-pot are available at The Bagel. One of the better items there (one of the taller midgets in the room):

http://www.bagelrestaurant.com/

Best,
Michael

For us, the poached chicken was typically the primary product, the stock the secondary; that is, the meat was cooked à point, as it were, and eaten as soon as it was finished, the stock set aside. The abiding bits of meat could then be used for soup or for the stuffing of dumplings, etc.

Once the meat cools off, its flavour and texture begins to deteriorate a bit, at least in my view. That's not to say it becomes bad but it is the tender and juicy meat, fresh out of the poaching pot, that is best.

Antonius

viaChgo wrote:Are you ever tempted to use the broth in a soup or just drink it? I'm not sure I could resist the temptation.

I do try to refrain from using these master stocks. Unfortunately, today a piece of crusty bread was sitting on the counter and somehow fell into the stock pot which was several feet away. So I had to eat it. What else was I to do? And it was amazing!

The master shrimp stock that I have been caring for all these years does get used from time to time, but just a little bit of it. When I make angel hair pasta with shrimp, after poaching the shrimp and partially cooking the pasta, I toss the pasta into a pan with the sauce and a ladle-full of the shrimp stock to finish cooking. Really good.

Bill/SFNM

If you had to start over from scratch, what would you add to the water? I'm guessing a bouquet garni and not much else? Maybe some mirepoix?

Octarine wrote:If you had to start over from scratch, what would you add to the water? I'm guessing a bouquet garni and not much else? Maybe some mirepoix?

I started with a marvelous stock from Paula Wolfert which she uses for Chicken in a Pot. My version which makes a great stock for all kinds of uses:

2 onions, halved, skin on, cut side browned on griddle
6 pounds inexpensive chicken parts (you have to sacrifice some chicken. A local supermaret has a monthly loss-leader of checken legs for 29 or 39 cents per pound.)
1 leek, halved, washed, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley stems
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 T kocher salt
1/8 t each: freshly grated nutmeg, freshly gound pepper, ground cloves, ground ginger, cayenne
6 whole unpeeled garlic cloves

Simmer, skim, yada, yada until full-flavored. This is the mother stock which I have since used for poaching whole birds without adding anything else.

A couple of notes:

1) I think it pays to use the best quality chickens for poaching. This is all about bringing out the natural chicken flavor and texture. No place to hide for flavorless, mushy birds.

2). Don't overcook the chicken when poaching. It won't necessarily dry out, but it won't retain as much of its natural juices.

Bill/SFNM