All About Braising: Poultry and Game Recipe Reviews
October 2006 Cookbook of the Month: Please post your full-length reviews of poultry or game recipes from Molly Stevens' All About Braising here. Please mention the name of the recipe you are reviewing as well as any modifications you made to the recipe. If this is a recipe you've done many times before but aren't cooking currently, consider adding a note to the All About Braising: Previous Picks and Pans thread: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
A reminder that the verbatim copying of recipes to the boards is a violation of the copyright of the original author. Posts with copied recipes will be removed.
redwood2bay
Sep 30, 2006 03:59AM
Soy Braised Chicken Thighs with Star Anise and Orange Peel (p. 147)
I liked this recipe but didn't love it. It had an amazing flavor and the house smelled wonderful. I chose this recipe because I prefer dark meat, especially thighs, and it had a relatively short braising time. I didn't love it because the thigh meat, while fork tender, didn't fall off the bone.
It took a lot longer to cook this dish than I had anticipated. I used a 4.5 quart Le Creuset (blue) to cook this dish. Browning the thighs, at least the first batch was slightly problematic. I dried off the thighs but maybe not enough. The first batch stuck to the bottom of the pan. I used wooden chop sticks to scrape the skin off the bottom. I think some pieces stuck because 1) I didn't dry the chicken enough and/or 2) I didn't let the skin brown enough. The chicken did look brown, but who knows. The second batch of thighs browned up nicely. I had a timer set both times, so maybe it was the oil heat.
After browning the thighs, I tossed in the white parts of the scallions, minced ginger, garlic and dried chile pepper. I then added the soy mixture (soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar and brown sugar). Lastly, I added a whole star anise and orange zest.
I put the thighs back into the pot. Unfortunately, the pot could not accomadate all the thighs in a single layer, so 3 thighs were resting on top of the bottom layer. The covered pot went into the oven for about 15 minutes. At this point, I flipped the thighs over, added a little bit of chicken stock, and put them into the oven. Total time in the oven was between 40-45 minutes (the book recommended 30-35 minutes).
After the thighs came out of the oven, I removed the thighs from the sauce and lightly covered them with foil. A little bit of a corn starch and water mixture was stirred into the sauce, as well as the scallion greens. Lastly, the sauce was spooned on to the thighs.
Other than the braising time, which was longer, I followed the recipe to the letter. The sauce and chicken had a great flavor. But, the skin was slightly icky and soggy so I didn't eat that. The sauce, went especially well with the white rice. I expected the chicken to be falling off the bone but I had to use a fork, knife and fingers to get the meat off.
I served this with white rice and the braised broccoli rabe.
I probably would try this recipe again. But, I would let it braise for a longer time, maybe an hour. If the next time, the meat doesn't slide right off, I won't make it again.
Picture of the dinner plate:
http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv...
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It looks amazing even if you didn't love it! Beautiful chicken, and I don't even like dark meat! :-)
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Thanks. It was my first attempt at taking and posting a picture. I'm already thinking about next time - if there is white rice, use a colored plate... ;=)
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Hi, Beetlebug,
I hate it when the chicken sticks to the pan. I'm glad Molly Stevens included those hints about having the meat absolutely dry (which can be difficult with chicken) and letting it brown before you disturb it. I've been following that lately, and it seems to help. The chicken does look delicious, though like you I wonder how long it would have to be braised to be falling off the bone tender.
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For falling off the bone, I'm guessing about an hour. She also talks about the flabby skin problem w/ braising chicken and offers some good tips...
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Thinking back on it, I suspect it was because the skin could have been drier on that first batch. I did nothing different on the second batch, except for using an additional paper towel on the chicken prior to throwing it in the pot. Consequently no stickiness issues with batch two.
As for the flabby skin, that skin was going to be soft no matter what because it will rest in the braising liquid. That isn't as much of a problem since I can easily peel the skin off.
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Yes, I think that's the reason why my chicken often sticks to the pan, too. I'm one of these cooks who always has to wash the meat before cooking it. I guess in future, I'll just have to be more careful about drying it before I saute.
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I leave meat or poultry out to air dry or uncovered in the fridge to dry out the skin. It works well.
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how long can you leave raw chicken refrigerated? the last time i cooked breasts, i washed them and left them in the fridge with foil and they were nice and dry after a day and a half.
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Oh this looks really delicious! The color looks a little red -- was it?
But the idea of braising chicken with the skin on makes me a little oooogly. What tips did she offer about the skin?
Chicken thighs are one of my favorite comfort foods. yum.
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It was more brownish with maybe a tinge of red. Probably from the orange peels.
Tips on the skin: (p. 135) chicken skin must be dry, dry, dry. Browning the skin is necessary and it also renders off the fat. While, I poured the fat off, there was still fatty flavor in the pot itself.
Other tips, watch the amount of braising liquid. Try not to submerge the skin entirely in the liquid. This, I don't get. If you are flipping the chicken pieces, there will always be skin in the liquid. I suspect she is differentiating between flabby and soft. To me, I won't eat either. Hence, I peel the skin off and place it out of eye sight. But, she also states that if you want crispy skin, to brown the chicken after braising, by placing it in the oven.
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Any reason not to use skinless thighs here? I tend to use skinless boneless thighs when I make stews and such. They also stick a little when browning.
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I've made a similar dish many times with skinned thighs (I don't care for braised chicken skin). But I do think the bones add flavor.
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Could you do it without the skin entirely? I think I would...
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Skinless probably would work. There would be less fat on the bottom of the pan, but that may not be a bad thing...
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I made a shortcut variation of soy-braised chicken combining ingredients from this recipe and those of red pine chicken for the braising liquid, particularly mushroom soy sauce.
I wasn't wild about it -- I think a soy sauce base for a braise just isn't to my taste -- too one-dimensional. To be fair, I did not use star anise or scallions, but I did use lemon zest and ginger. I do like soy sauce marinades for grilled fish or stir fry, but the chicken is not one I will be returning to.
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P.S. two days later: Reheated leftover soy sauce-braised chicken and it ain't bad. The flavor seems to have mellowed a bit and wasn't as harsh as it seemed freshly braised.
So maybe I would make again (such as if I'm short on ingredients and in a hurry as I was two nights ago)
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I am glad you brought up the flabby skin issue. I had some of the same problems when I made the chicken, olives, prunes and wine (p 131). After reading about your experience, I was thinking maybe it would be best to wash and dry the chicken earlier in the day and put it on a plate an uncovered in the fridge a la Zuni. The chicken would have a chance to throroughly dry. I also remember from watching a cooking show that once you get a really good sear then you can flip the meat, the meat has to release itself from the pan. I sometimes forget that tip and get flabby skin as a result. IMHO, the reason why you had less of a problem with the second batch is probably because some fat was rendered by the first batch then got hot when you were transferring the first batch to a platter/plate. The hot fat created an ideal environment for searing. It is sort of like the first pancake being the sacrificial pancake and all the others coming out perfect. I am glad we have this forum to discuss these issues, it makes cooking a lot easier (especially knowing others have the same problems as I do). Anyway, the chicken looks great and it looks like you did a terrific job.
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This is kindof a random thought, but I wonder how it would be if you got the skin good and crispy (on its own or on the chicken) and then removed it before adding the liquid. Just before serving it could be re-crisped and sort of added as an accent.
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That's an excellent idea. I do love crispy skin. I just made this other thigh dish, sans skin, per recipe and it was delicious. I may go bone in, skinless next time. Will post about it in the next day or two.
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I like the way you think!!! That would be a great idea...added flavor AND texture!
I will definitely try this...!
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I made this last week and the meat was falling off the bone after the suggested 35 mins. I as well used a 4.5 quart Le Creuset. I'm curious about whether you used parchment paper. I did, and this is something I haven't done with braises in the past, but I definitely will from now on.
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I did use the parchment paper. I think the science behind it makes sense.
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I made this as well a couple of weeks ago. To my surprise I like braised chicken skin just fine. I did not read the recipe carefully enough, and ended up with too salty sauce that needed to be corrected (what she says is to watch the sauce very carefully to avoid this). I didn't like that aspect of the recipe, I would rather something that needs to be corrected with more salt rather than the other way around...
I had also used seasoned rice vinegar, compensated by adding less sugar, but I probably didn't add enough (and I guess the extra salt didn't help either). In the end the extra vinegar she suggests did not correct the sauce to my taste, the salt was still overwhelming, and very little orange flavour. So, I corrected with quite a bit of orange juice! Not very sophisticated but I ended up with something more to my taste.
Loved it with plain blanched rapini as suggested above, perfect complement. But not interesting enough for me to make again anytime soon.
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Burgundian Quail Braised with Grapes (p.196)
A new favorite - this sauce made with Vin Santo is sooo good. I've never cooked with vin santo wine, or quail before. Another Chowhound had tipped me off on where to buy reasonably priced, semi-boned quail, which is why I decided to try this recipe. For you Bostonians, this is where I bought them:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/326236?user_name=&query=butcher
The recipe calls for browning the quail in extra virgin olive oil. I rinsed them, and dried them very very well, and had no problem with sticking. I didn't have to brown them on three sides as she explains in her book since the breasts were boned and they lay flat, which made it easier. Simplified recipe - once they were removed from the pan, pour off oil, melt butter, and add finely chopped shallots and pancetta (I thought this was a key ingredient for flavor). I used a mini-chop for the pancetta. Add fresh thyme, wine, and grapes. Add quail, cover, and braise, turning once, for 15 minutes. Remove quail, reduce sauce for 5 minutes, and return quail to pan to warm. Really good, and done in a little over half an hour. It shows you braising isn't all about hours of cooking. I'll be cooking with quail again! Buying them semi-boned really made it easy to eat also; no need to halve them as she suggests. I also thought that one and a half quail per person wasn't enough. I cooked four, as that's how many came in the package, for the two of us. I'll try it with green grapes next time, I think that would also make for a pretty dish.
Tonight's Pic -
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47...
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hi all, i'm having so much fun with the cook along....
i am still awaiting my book to be shipped. in the meanwhile, i have been using molly's recipes that i find online and here on these threads...
next i am making the whole chicken braised with pears...
http://www.marga.org/food/blog/archiv...
however, on this recipe, she left out how much and what kind of wine to use! also---what to do with the first pear...
could someone fill in the blanks for me?
thanks a million!!!
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The first pear gets cut up into 4 pieces and put into the chicken along with 2 sprigs rosemary (left out of linked version which seems to substitute dried thyme which is not in the original recipe anywhere). When you saute the aromatics, the original recipe has you add another sprig of rosemary. Wine = 1/4 cup dry white or dry vermouth. Also, when you add sugar, salt and pepper to the pears in the garnish step, the original recipe has you add 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary. Sounds yummy -- please report your results!
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thanks gretchen! i sure will.
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I made chicken do-piaza last night, sort of a last-minute decision since I had most of the ingredients on hand. It's an Indian-flavored dish with a fantastic sauce of sauteed onions, garlic, and spices, with just-cooked onion slices and yogurt mixed in at the end. She recommends that you use skinless chicken thighs (one of the few times she recommends skinless), though she gives a variation for skinless breast with a reduced cooking time. My chicken was not as tender as I would have liked, but I halved the recipe, and that may have affected the amount of time needed to cook the chicken. I also used Total Greek yogurt instead of draining my yogurt ahead of time, which worked great. The combination of the sweet but almost raw onions, the tanginess of the yogurt, and the longer-cooked onion/spice mixture was truly amazing—I couldn’t stop spooning it up.
My pictures are pretty fuzzy, but here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/applesister/266024415/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/applesister/266024420/
I had this with a basmati/wild rice combo, and a salad made partly from wild greens found in Prospect Park, Brooklyn! That's another post, but there's a guy in the NY area who leads foraging tours, and I went to the one in Prospect Park this past Sunday. Brings a whole new meaning to the idea of "eating locally."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/applesis...
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Wow. Wild greens from the park! How exciting. Does the forager have a website?
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Yes, I should post something on the NY boards. It's wildmanstevebrill.com.
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I made the whole chicken with pears and rosemary last night. It was my first time braising meat and I was blown away. I followed Molly's directions precisely, and ended up with a remarkable bird. It was just incredibly tender and fragrant. The dark meat was practically falling off the bone. The pear and rosemary had infused the meat and were a definite presence without being overwhelming. I was most surprised by how subtle and delicate those flavors ended up being. I guess that's the joy of braising. The sauce and pear garnish she suggests was easy and provided a wonderful sweet buttery counterpoint. I served this, as per her suggestion, with buttery polenta which was a good idea as it soaked up all the extra sauce.
I basted the bird every 20 minutes because that's what the recipe said to do, but I don't really think it was necessary. Every time I opened the pot, it was simmering gently and there was plenty of moisture around.
The one serious problem I had was in the browning. The bird's breast browned beautifully, but the skin stuck on the sides. I don't know whether that's because I tried to turn it too soon, or didn't have enough fat in there, or maybe even had the heat turned up too high. I'll have to go back and read her discussion of browning in the introduction. It is very difficult to read that introduction because of how infectious her obvious love of braising is. It makes me want to go cook.
In any event, I loved the way the chicken came out and highly reocmmend it.
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Whole chicken braised with pears & rosemary (p. 179)
Made this last night and it was very good. As we were told in cooking class, there are two ways to get to a destination -- you can turn left and then right, or first go right, then left. Same with this chicken. Instead of roast chicken where it cooks and then browns (over time), here you brown the chicken on the stove, and then cook in a braise in the oven.
Molly has you brown a trussed chicken stuffed w/ pear & rosemary sprigs (happily no herb chopping!), brown cut-off wings (and neck, etc. which wasn't included in my bird, so I just used wing tips), saute chopped leeks, shallots & another rosemary sprig, add wine, stock and a little white wine vinegar. Into the oven for about 1 hr, 15 mins. (I did not use parchment paper 'cause my bird near filled up my pot.)
Make a sauce with more pears, butter, sugar, chopped rosemary, and balsamic.
Strain, de-fat and reduce braising liquid, and add to pear mixture. Put sauce over cut-up chicken. Very tasty.
It's more work than roast chicken, and I'm not sure it's all that preferable in terms of how the meat comes out, though flavors were very satisying. Maybe I'll add pears, leeks and shallots to a roast chicken somehow. Oh, and I used seckel pears 'cause that's what I had locally, and they were fine.
Served w/ those chipotle sweet potatoes (heaven on earth), and braised kale. Polenta would be good, but I was out; couldn't roast potatoes 'cause I only have one oven -- I cooked sw potatoes ahead and reheated (and it was impossible not to eat top layer while I cooked the rest of the meal!)
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I made this one too. The kitchen smelled heavenly, and the meat was completely infused with the flavor of the rosemary. Normal early-evening family madness was going on all around me, and I wound up not having time to fix the pilaf and the vegetable dishes I had planned. I served it with plain rice and a big salad, and no one complained at all. The reduced sauce was delicious. Needless to say I did not baste every 20 minutes (I think I basted once), but it didn't matter.
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Goan Chicken - chicken thighs braised with cilantro, mint and ginger (pg. 140)
OMG, this recipe was amazing. Words cannot even begin to describe how much I loved this dish.
Around lunch time, I decided I was going to braise something to go with the World's Best Cabbage (pg. 59). I flipped through the book - I was looking for a recipe where I had most of the ingredients and a short braising time. I found this and saw that I only needed the bone-in skinless chicken thighs.
I had to take the skin off the thighs. I was not amused. I hate touching raw chicken meat. It grosses me out. But, the recipe says no skin, so I sucked it up and took the skin off. Then I chopped up cilantro leaves, mint leaves, minced ginger, hot peppers, EVOO and garlic.
variation - recipe calls for one deseeded jalepeno pepper. I used one of those, plus a seeded hot cherry pepper. Next time, I'll probably add an additional seeded hot pepper.
Dumped the above herbs/spices and chicken thighs in a zip lock bag and mixed it up. Oh no, recipe says to marinade for 8-24 hours. The thighs only marinaded for 5.5 hours and it was great. I can't even imagine how much more flavor these thighs would have if I let it sit in the stuff longer.
After, I took the chickens out and scraped the herbs back into the marinade. I browned the chicken in two batches. Dumped the excess fat out and poured in 1/4 cup of rum with the leftover marinade to de-glaze the pot. The recipe states that the pan should be on medium high heat and it would take about 3 minutes to reduce the rum to a couple of tablespoons. My pan must have been extra hot because the rum pretty much disappeared. So, I poured in more run, deglazed a bit more and then added the chicken stock. After the stock simmered, I put the thighs back in.
Now, I have an old stove. Often times when I simmer, the flame goes out and I don't notice until the next time I go to stir the pot. This happened again, when I don't know. But, I did simmer longer than the 30 minutes - probably an additional 10 minutes total. Halfway through, I flipped the thighs. After the braising period, the thighs came out and rested on a plate.
http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6ce31b3127cce98548bceb40f00000017102UatGjRoxs
I turned the heat up and reduced the liquid. A few minutes later, I added 3T of heavy cream and boiled until the sauce thickened up.
Thighs went on the plate, sauce went on the thighs. I had the cabbage and rice as sides.
I can't even begin to tell you how great the sauce smelled. The thighs were juicy and tender. The sauce was just out of this world. The whole house, 3 hours later, still smells fantastic. My upstairs neighbors (vegetarians) have been drooling...
http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv...
This one is a keeper. I can't wait to make it again. Actually, I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch. I bet the chicken will have even more flavor because the sauce would have soaked into the meat. Yum.
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That looks so good. Sometimes when I read these threads, it just ends up making me so hungry. You made this chicken dish sound terrific-- another one I'll have to try along with the pear and rosemary chicken.
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Thanks for everyone's reports on this thread! I had already bookmarked the Goan Chicken recipe and will def. have to make it now. I love how braising gets the house all toasty and fragrant! Those poor vegetarian neighbors of yours...
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I just finished making this, but since I didn't have heavy cream, I substituted coconut milk. The chicken marinated 24 hours, and I used three Thai chilies instead of a jalapeno in the overnight marinade. After reading your report, I added four more Thai chilies while simmering the sauce, which was about right for a slight heat.
I agree that the rum & broth vanished too quickly -- I had to add about twice as much of each to avoid a dry pan, and also added more coconut milk as well (which made my sauce more creamy-looking than yours). The dish was great -- definitely a keeper!! While not as yummy as the rosemary/maple syrup short ribs (which I made last night), it was significantly easier and quicker to prepare. While dining I didn't think the coconut milk added much flavor, but when I indulged on some coconut-pineapple Haagen-Daaz afterwards, I realized that the coconut flavor in the chicken was nice and subtle (and complemented the coconut in the ice cream well).
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Coq au Vin
Not sure why I picked this recipe, I think it's just where the cookbook opened. I meant to do something a little quicker and simpler, since I started late and it was a school night. But the final result was worth every bit of time and effort. Yum, yum, oh yum!
I used a whole chicken which I bought cut-up to save time, plus about five thighs, since my whole chicken didn't weigh as much as the recipe called for. My chicken was missing the neck and innards, which might have added even more flavor.
Not a big problem browning the chicken, I used two pans (the braising dish and one other) to speed things up, and scraped the extra one into the braising pan before deglazing. As someone commented about another dish, the brandy called for to deglaze vanished immediately, and I added a bit extra.
Everything went together very smoothly. I did taste the liquid at one point and think, my son is never going to eat this, but that was before it was completely transformed in the hour-long braise, after which no one could have resisted it. (I've never made coq au vin, and if I have ever eaten it, it was not a high quality version, and not memorable, so I didn't have much idea what to expect.)
I'm curious about the parchment-- I used it, and it seems to have prevented my braising pot from leaking steam. I have a very old braising pot from my mother, and it leaks. Am I right that the parchment was the difference? Or was there just so much braising liquid that some evaporated and I didn't notice?
My biggest problem was finding the pearl onions. I went to three stores looking for frozen ones, since Molly says you can use those, but no one sells them. All sorts of other exotic veggies, diced onions, etc. Anybody know if TJ's sells them? Eventually I bought fresh, which were less work than I feared. I got distracted and slightly over browned them, but in the end it added a great flavor and was just fine.
I probably cooked the whole thing about 1 hour 20 or 30 minutes, a few minutes longer than called for, because I was scrambling to finish the onions, which I only bought after putting the chicken in to braise. The meat was falling off the bone, but very moist, didn't seem overcooked.
The skin -- I personally removed and discarded mine. Not very desirable after the braising. But it had served its purpose and added flavor.
And was the flavor ever incredible. Complex, luscious, just wonderful. I could have added more pepper. I peppered all the chicken before browning, as the recipe said, and added wherever instructed, and thought it was a lot of pepper, but I could have used even more.
If I used skinless chicken to cut down on the fat (this sure isn't a low fat recipe, eh), would it do great violence to the final outcome? (Keeping the bacon and the butter, maybe trying to cut back a bit on the butter.) Maybe use skinless thighs, leave the skin on the whole chicken parts?
Does anyone know how it would taste if I made it in advance and reheated it? I'm having company on a weekday in a couple of weeks, and would love to serve this, but I'd have to make it the night before.
Can't wait to try the next recipe! I'm thinking Goan Chicken, but who knows.
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Your dish sounds wonderful. I will try it soon. So far, I've loved every dish I've made except one and your right they are pretty easy. In answer to your question re the frozen small onions, I've had a hard time finding them as well. I live in the Chicago area and haven't been able to get them at any chain type supermarkets and that includes Trader Joe. I did find them in a very small town country market which is were I go now for them as well as shallots which cost $2.79 for 2 in my area, but cost only .40 there. If you live near a small town with a non-chain type grocery store,you may want to check there. Good Luck.
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I just bought this cookbook and am very excited to start cooking from it. What is the verdict re making coq au vin a day ahead of time? I'd like to make it for New Year's Eve dinner, but since I have to work during the day I'd need to prepare it on Sunday. Will it still be good the next day? Seems like the flavor could only improve, but the texture (esp. of the breasts) might get a bit dried out. Any tips?
Thanks!
-pamplemousse
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Has anyone dealt with the red pine chicken? I really would like to make it tonight, but I don't see myself getting out to Queens to buy mushroom soy sauce (especially since I would like to have this cooking by the time Lost starts.) Is the soy sauce plus molasses an acceptable substitute?
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I made the red pine chicken a couple of weeks ago and thought it was absolutely delicious. I did buy the mushroom sauce, which I've never used before, and thought it tasted just like molasses. So I would bet the molasses plus soy sauce option would work just fine.
The one problem I ran into was that I used a bigger pan than she recommended and found that the chicken didn't braise as much as it sauteed. Plus, I had a hard time spooning up the sauce to baste the chicken since it was so spread out in the pan. But even with that, it was fantastic. The sauce is so good you'll want to drink it.
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Thanks Montrose and BKcc for this timely post - I actually have the mushroom soy from when I made the "Red-Cooked Pork Belly" earlier this year. I'm going to try the Red Pine Chicken tomorow night...will report!
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Red Pine Chicken (p. 54)
This recipe calls for pounding boneless chicken breasts and applying a filling of ground pork mixed with a little sugar and water. Chicken is browned in peanut oil, first filling size up, and then turned over and braised at a very low simmer for about 35 minutes. The braising sauce is made of both mushroom and regular soy, ginger, rice wine, sugar, star anise, and chicken stock. I cheated and used the leftover braise sauce for "Red Cooked Pork Belly" (p. 385) that I had frozen. It's similar, but with the addition of scallions, chinese rock sugar and cinnamon. I used flour instead of the recommended corn starch, and had no problem with the filling adhering to the chicken. It came out very moist and tender. I served it on a bed of braised scallions (p.92), which I REALLY liked as a side to this dish, and a cucumber salad made with mom's Nuoc Cham.
Picture:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47...
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Whole Braised Chicken with Pears
well, i was dying to try this recipe, but didn't have all the ingredients, so i improvised a bit.
i had no pears! so i turned to my apples. instead of leeks i used yellow onions as i wanted a stronger onion-y flavor.
and instead of rosemary i used thyme...as i love the combo of apples, onion & thyme.
the chicken browned perfectly! i let the butter get good and hot, made sure the chicken was bone dry.
the braising liquid was divine, as was the sauce, with in my case, the apple garnish. the chicken was juicy and practically falling off the bone
on the side i served braised leeks (from the halibut and leeks recipe). BUTTERY and delicious! along with some buttery brown rice.
the meal was decadent, a perfect sunday supper.
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Duck Legs with Port and Dried Cherries.
Beautiful! It was a bit more time consuming than I anticipated, but worth the effort. It was beautiful to look at (my friend took pics and I'll post if/when I receive( and it also was incredibly fragrant, something I love about cooking and entertaining. My friends were very, very impressed. What's interesting is that i thought this dish might be sweet, but it wasn't particularly so -- VERY important to get UNSWEETENED dried bing cherries, I think.
Three notes: 1) Degreasing the gravy was a royal pain -- gravies aren't my strong suit, so I think this may just take some practice on my end. 2) As I noted above, the dish took longer than I thought -- More the result of my poor planning than the recipe timing being off. 3) MY ONE WARNING is to WATCH the broiler VERY carefully at the end. I charred the skin on the legs a bit because, on my stove, at least, it browned A LOT faster than the 8 minutes MS notes.
Also, I should note that I made the dish as part of a celebratory bday dinner that also included: Arugula Salad with Pears, Candied Walnuts and Walnut Vinaigrette, Truffled Mashed Potatoes with a real white truffle (WOWEEE!!!!!!!!!!), and homemade Tiramisu. After all that cooking --and cleaning today -- I am happy but exhausted.
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Thanks for reporting back on this recipe and on your dinner! The duck sounds delicious, so I'll have to put this on my "to make" for winter. Pairing w/ truffled mashed potatoes sounds great too...esp. w/ a REAL truffle!
I hate defatting gravy too. I know that there are tools one can buy for that, but I don't have any and not even sure they work. I start by skimming w/ a small ladle and then finish using the paper towel method--gently lay a paper towel flat on the surface and then remove. It's amazing how it just sucks up the surface oil.
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WOW - what a meal. I'm so glad you reported back. I'll definitely have to try the duck this winter. It sounds delicious! Don't forget to post pics when you get them ;)
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I am way behind on this cookbook of the month thing. I think I need to scale back to cookbook of the year...
In any case I made the chicken breasts with parsnips and hard cider last night. This is my 4th recipe from the book, but only the first that has "wowed" me. I mean the short ribs with porter, rosemary and maple were great, but I only expected that from the list of ingredients and time involved. This chicken dish, on the other hand, was thrown together on a weeknight and has a short list of ingredients with one interesting element (the hard cider). And it includes its own side veggie - it was a one-pot meal. The cider added much more of an acid note than I was expecting, so the dish was not that sweet. The parsnips, which ended up sort of glazed, were the star of the show. My husband, not a parsnip, fan, pronounced it "yummy".
Because of what I had on hand, I used boneless skinless breasts and English-style bacon, which possibly made the dish lower in saturated fat. But the b.s. breasts did create some problems, the chicken was too dry/stringy. I reduced the braising time but not the browning time, maybe I should have done the reverse?
The major problem I had was the same as the short rib recipe. I halved the recipe, but only reduced the braising liquid by 1/2 a cup. I still ended up with next to no sauce, definitely nothing to reduce as she suggests. I don't think I'm boiling the liquid away, but something about less meat in the pot is doing me in here. But I think a lot of the liquid ended up in the parsnips making them so good.
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let's say you want to cook a chicken. Roasted is not what you're after, and you remember Molly Stevens' poached chicken w/ pears. But wait -- you don' t have pears or fresh rosemary. Here's what you can do, or what I did this week: make the recipe w/ apples and dried thyme, using the same technique (though w./o adornment of pears accompanying, which IMHO is gilding the lily)
Came out great! Flexible and very good technique.
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Let's say you want to poach a chicken a la Molly Stevens. No pears? No rosemary? I'm here to say: no problem.
I had a high quality natural chicken that I didn't feel like roasting and wanted to poach. I had some apples and substituted dried thyme for the rosemary. Came out very well, indeed. Not over the top as is Molly's recipe w/ pear garnishment, but still made a nice meal and excellent juicy tender breast meat I used for sandwiches during the week.
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Duck Ragu with Pasta (pg. 203)
Wow, Wow, Wow. This was delicious. Fairly labor intensive but totally worth it. All total, it was probably 1.5 - 2 hours of active prep time and 2 hours of braising time. But, a good portion of the prep can be done prior to company arriving which helped my dinner planning.
Per the recipe, I browned 4 Moulard duck legs. Stupidly, I dumped the fat out - I was multi tasking and clearly not thinking. Live and learn. After the ducks are browned, season the pan with the aromatics (carrots, onions, celery, garlic, canned tomatoes, rosemary and allspice). Add the liquids (white wine and chicken stock). All this also includes the browned bits of duck stuff that was stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the duck legs back in, tuck bay leaves between the leaves and stick it into the oven.
The braising duck smelled unbelievable. The house was so fragrant and I was ready to chew my arm off. However, I was making this a day early so I was self torturing myself with thoughts of duck. Sigh.
The duck then rested in the liquid and then was refrigerated. A few hours before I served it, I separated the skin from the duck and shredded the meat. I kept the meat in a separate bowl. I warmed/simmered the sauce (more chunky then saucy) and about half an hour before dinner, I put the duck meat back in. I also chopped and crisped up the skin to serve as a condiment for the pasta dish).
When my guests arrived, I cooked the pasta, reserving a cup of the water. I added the pasta directly to the duck ragu pot and tossed from there. I added a smidge of cooking water to give the sauce a little liquid and brought it to the table. Each guest added cracklings to the dish.
The duck was so tender and the sauce incorporated into the pasta beautifully. The chunks of carrots and celery melded right in with the canned tomatoes. The duck practically melted in my mouth. Each bit of duck was infused with veggie flavor. It's almost indescribable. So, here are pictures instead.
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