Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Poached chicken


Those poached chickens above look so lifelike. Oh, come on, it's just a joke. I performed an experiment over the weekend. I brined a whole chicken (backbone removed) for 5 days. Then I got nervous about how to cook it. What if it was too salty? I resolved the question by poaching it. Into a pot it went with just enough water to cover, garlic powder, onion powder, dried tarragon, mustard powder, black pepper and I don't know what else. Brought everything to a boil and reduced it to a slow simmer for 20 minutes. Then I turned off the heat and let the bird sit for another 15 minutes. I'm inclined to think that the meat was as delicate and soft as it was due to the brining. In any case we ate only one drumstick apiece, so there's a whole bunch left for other purposes.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

LOL.. I love the picture!!! And the joke too of course :)
I'd be interested too see if you had roasted half of it, how that would have turned out. I bet it was succulent though, between the brining and the poaching... mmmmmm!!

Pam said...

Great pic! Reminds me of days back on the farm. Poaching food usually really seems wet and mushy to me. Wonder what's coming next...

Pam said...

I still need to try brining a chicken. I am glad to hear it turned out delicious.

Mary Bergfeld said...

What a wonderful photo. As to the brining - if it worked and you liked the flavor of the chicken don't do anything differently. I usually opt for 24 hours in a brine that can be found in my Sicilian Pork Chop entry.

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