Category Archives: Chicken / Poultry

Chicken / Poultry, Meat, Slow cooker

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken

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My favorite way to use the slow cooker is on the high setting, where I can count on meats not being dried out and flavorless. That’s what I find happens when you cook meat for 8-10 hours while you are at work. Soups and dried bean recipes do well for the long cooking, but even then any added meats are usually overcooked, unless you have a large piece like a pork shoulder. So, I’ve found a number of recipes that cook up in 3-5 hours, like my Butter Chicken/Pheasant recipe, that takes care of the delicate little pheasant breasts. Of course, I’m retired, so I can make use of the shorter cooking times any day of the week.

This slow cooker pulled chicken is a variation of the slow cooker pulled pork recipe originally from Chowhound. Here are the few changes I’ve made to accommodate chicken:

  1. I cut back the cinnamon in the rub to 1/2 teaspoon
  2. I rubbed the chicken pieces with the rub and let them marinate in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for about 4 hours
  3. I only used one onion and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, because I only used 5 boneless chicken thighs
Marinated chicken on onion-garlic bed
Pulled chicken
Sandwiches with slaw

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • Rub:
    • 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
    • 1 tablespoon chili powder
    • 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
    • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock

Preparation

  1. Place the chicken and rub in a large plastic bag, seal, and turn to coat all pieces well. Refrigerate for about 4 hours or even overnight.
  2. In the crock of a slow cooker, place the onions, garlic, and chicken broth. Place the chicken pieces on top and close the lid.
  3. Cook on high for about 4 hours. Pull the chicken apart in the crock and mix well with the onions and broth.
  4. Pile meat on buns and serve your favorite way, which for us is with a creamy slaw.

Chicken / Poultry, Meat, Recipe Testing, Review

Recipe Review: Crispy Fried Chicken

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I’ve tried many methods for fried chicken. The ones that use only flour, or the three stage flour–egg–breadcrumb process, or the buttermilk marinade followed by breading, but it seems like the crispness doesn’t hold up for more than a minute or two past frying. They all taste good, but I really expect a crisp coating if I’m going to go to the trouble of frying. This recipe—Crispy Fried Chicken from Taste of Home—delivers. The name says it all.

What they do differently than most recipes is add flour to the egg wash, so that you are really dipping it in a batter before adding a final coating of seasoned flour. The final coating makes a shaggy layer that crisps up all over the chicken. Sometimes you get that shaggy look when you start with a buttermilk soak, but I find this egg–water–flour batter works even better than buttermilk.

I usually use an electric deep fryer, but I only made four pieces today, so I used a high-sided stock pot with a couple inches of oil. Unlike the original recipe, I did not use bone-in chicken; I used boneless thighs, which cook more quickly, about a total of five minutes in 375° oil for each piece.

Egg batter
Seasoned flour
Battered and breaded chicken
on fried chicken

Crispy Fried Chicken

  • Servings: will coat about 4 lbs
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients
  • 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons garlic salt or garlic powder plus 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons  white or black pepper
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning—I used a combination of sage and celery seed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • up to 4 lbs chicken pieces, with or without skin. I used boneless thighs.
  • cooking oil for frying
Preparation
  1. Combine the first five ingredients in a large bowl for the final coating and set aside. The original recipe suggests a plastic bag, but I find patting on the flour works better, creating a shaggier coating that has lots of crispy edges.
  2. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs and water, then whisk in the second amount of flour and salt, until the batter is smooth.
  3. Coat chicken pieces in batter then dredge in seasoned flour, patting the flour on until all the batter is covered and the coating is dry enough to handle and set aside.
  4. Heat cooking oil to 375° not allowing it to fall below 350° between batches. Fry chicken in small batches, depending on the size of your fryer, so that you keep the oil temperature high throughout. My boneless thighs cooked in 5 minutes, one piece at a time. The original recipe suggests that bone-in pieces would take about 5-6 minutes per side. My oil was deep enough that I didn’t need to turn my pieces over.

★★★★★ = Five Stars

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Chicken / Poultry, Meat

Breast of Chicken Cockaigne – Kitchen Portfolio

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I’m reblogging this just because it hurts me to hear of other cooks boiling boneless, skinless chicken breasts—for any recipe. If you want moist chicken, use this tried and true method:

Another recipe from my old Joy of Cooking (1967), “Breast of Chicken Cockaigne” uses a small amount of both oil and butter in a quick simmer, then relies on a short rest in a covered pa…

Source: Breast of Chicken Cockaigne – Kitchen Portfolio