Need help, need a chicken chowder?

[sablesurfer]

Ok, so we are eating a lot more chicken, well because it is cheaper and we are working on getting the animals onto a raw diet.

Since I am breaking down whole chickens, we have all the parts necessary for a good thick stew. But...I have never made stew before. LOL. So I'll jump right in the deep end for a chowder.

My thoughts...

Prep (kinda think of a broth, but not quite):
- onion, garlic, carrots, celery salt in pot to simmer (I HATE HATE HATE celery as a despicable object, so use celery salt to get close to a mirepoix.)
- two chicken thighs and drums into veg to sear for a moment
- add water to cover, add bay leaf and simmer for 2 hours (?) until meat falling off bones

Stew:
- strain out the broth, capture meat/bones and set aside
- broth, more diced carrots, potatoes, diced onion, bell pepper(?), some form of a hot pepper all go back in pot to cook.
- strip all the meat off the bones and make into smaller bits, add all the meat back to the stew
- whole milk and cream(maybe) into stew with some flour to thicken.
- ground black pepper and salt to flavor.

Would you eat that? Wondering if I should put some julienned kale in as a color contrast?

 

[TasunkaWitko]

You've got the right idea, and I wouldn't mind trying that at all. Not sure if it is an actual chowder, but it looks pretty good.

The main concern is the broth/stock, and that it might "water down" the chowder. If your recipe says to use it, then by all means do so, because I am only going on instinct. Another option might be to reduce the stock down to a demi-glace or glace viande.

I also can't stand raw celery, but when I dice it up really small, and add it to a mirepoix, I can tolerate it and even like what it does. The celery itself is what I don't like, but the aroma and the flavor that it adds is nice. I might suggest dicing it really small, or using just the hearts and leaves in the centre. The celery salt would be an okay substitute, though - just remember when adding salt later that you already have some.

On step one of prep, I think you mean to sauté the mirepoix, rather than to simmer it. Be sure to hold back and add the garlic last, and then only for a minute or two, because garlic scorches easily and when that happens it sucks.

When mixing in the flour to thicken, be sure to mix it with just a little COLD water as well, to make a slurry. Even better, slowly brown it in a pan with an equal amount of butter or other fat, to make a roux. The results are worth the time.

Finally, bacon is absolutely your friend. Especially with chowder. And more especially if you make your own.

 

[Melana]

Excellent start - you're on the right path here.

What I would do...

Brown the bacon first in a large skillet. remove bacon for use later as a garnish.
Add chicken pieces to hot bacon fat and sear until browned (keep the skin on for this part). Remove chicken and set aside (the chicken will be mostly raw but will be nice and brown)
Add your veg to the pan and cook until tender. Add the garlic and cook just long enough to smell it. Add flour at this point along with thyme and other seasonings and cook for a few minutes. I would add a little white wine to deglaze the pan. Add Milk to cover and simmer.

If you are opposed to celery have you tried running it through a blender?

 

[sablesurfer]

Another option might be to reduce the stock down to a demi-glace or glace viande.

Ah, yeah, good point. I was cobbling together from random recipes, so reducing it is always possible.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Excellent start - you're on the right path here.

What I would do...

Brown the bacon first in a large skillet. remove bacon for use later as a garnish.
Add chicken pieces to hot bacon fat and sear until browned (keep the skin on for this part). Remove chicken and set aside (the chicken will be mostly raw but will be nice and brown)
Add your veg to the pan and cook until tender. Add the garlic and cook just long enough to smell it. Add flour at this point along with thyme and other seasonings and cook for a few minutes. I would add a little white wine to deglaze the pan. Add Milk to cover and simmer.

If you are opposed to celery have you tried running it through a blender?

Outstanding, Melana - excellent refinement on all poinst!

 

[sablesurfer]

Got some super thick cut strips of pork belly the other day. That would be a good fat in the bottom of pan for the veg. Cut it into cubes, render, pull out meaty bits for later...good idea. (I'll tell the GF it was my idea all along....LOL)

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Sounds like a plan - I am betting that this will be really good.

If you're trying to cook with more chicken, I have a great recipe for you, and this is the time of year to try it. In Bram Stoker's original "Dracula," the author references a chicken dish called "Paprika Hendl." Every year, we make it on or around Halloween, just because. Good stuff.

I don't have access to the recipe right at the moment, but if you go to http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net, and type "paprika hendl" on the search bar, you will get it. For the search options be sure to toggle from "show posts" to "show topics."

 

[z-bob]

I made something like your first post last week, but instead of adding milk or flour, I cut up some frozen biscuits and added them for the last 5 minutes to make Chicken and Dumplings. Stir vigorously to knock some of the starch off the biscuits into the broth to help thicken it more. No reason you can't add a little milk or cream...

Frozen peas added right at the end would be nice, and give it some color.

If you want to call it chowder, you need bacon and potatoes. Melana's is pretty close

 

[Rhumbline]

Here's my go to recipe for chicken stew. It never disappoints.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/1985-chicken-pie-with-biscuit-crust-11056

The veggies stay firm, not all mushy. If it's the texture of celery you dislike just cut it into big pieces and don't add them back in.

I've made it with and without the biscuit crust. If you do the crust, make sure the stew is extremely hot before adding the topping or the bottom of the biscuits will turn into a gloopy mess.

 

[Homercidal]

I've got a chicken corn chowder the family kills for. It's similar to Melana's recipe. Here's the short and sweet version:

Fry up some bacon. Save grease.
Sweat (not saute) diced onion and whatever else you want (Celery, garlic, carrots, etc. We forego the extras) using bacon grease in a large pot.
When onions and stuff are soft, add some flour and stir it all up so the bacon grease soaks up the flour and you get a thick paste.(Roux)
Add several cups of your broth a few ladles at a time and whisk into the Roux. when it's pretty thin add the remaining broth and mix well.
Add cut up potatoes into the stock and get it simmering.
While the potatoes are simmering, cook the chicken in the pan that had the bacon grease and cook through (I often slice the chicken breasts in half to get them to cook faster).
Pull chicken and set aside. Deglaze pan with broth or wine or whatever and add to the pot.
Cut up the chicken and add to the pot. Add bacon if you haven't eaten it all yet.
Heat to simmering. Add heavy cream until it's the consistency you like.
Taste and salt and pepper to your liking.

And make sure you drink a beer while cooking. I can tell you it makes the food taste better in the end. Pale beers for chowders and dark beers for dark meat stews.

That chicken will go good in a Southwest Chicken Chili recipe I got too. Lots of beans and chicken and a fair amount of heat if you want it. That one's even simpler as I cheat and use canned beans.

 

[sablesurfer]

Thank you all, you gave me the confidence to go for it.

The only issue was that I got home and remembered that all the rest of the pork belly is in freezer! GAH. So all my initial broth veg...onion/garlic/carrots got sweated in butter. (Later when I went to make the chowder, the already prep'd pork belly had finished cooking so I could use all the rendered fat out of that pan for inital veg cooking.)

Big changes to recipe were...sliced baby portabella's into chowder (was worried about umami'ness) and that I totally spaced the bay leaves until the final chowder was reaching a simmer...sigh. The flavors are great, the chicken was just right, mouth feel was great, and the lingering flavor was very much 'chowdery' from what limited experience I've had with it.

Prepping ingredients. (Notice the beer as Homercidal said was a must.)



Dishes for GF and I. (She went back for more 'soup' seconds.) Color a bit off because the cooked pork belly had been smothered in a smoked paprika rub, but had to use what I had.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

It looks great, Sable - good job!

 

[ChefRex]

If your breaking down whole chickens why are you going to waste the dark meat in a stock? You have a carcass, that's what I use, dark meat is my favorite, at least debone and use that, one you make stock the meat is pretty flavorless although the dog disagrees.
I make a pot of stock, put it up in takeout containers and freeze it.

 

[sablesurfer]

If your breaking down whole chickens why are you going to waste the dark meat in a stock? You have a carcass, that's what I use, dark meat is my favorite, at least debone and use that, one you make stock the meat is pretty flavorless although the dog disagrees.
I make a pot of stock, put it up in takeout containers and freeze it.

Well, I had no stock ready to go. This was a "cheat" to also get extra collegen and bone flavors into the broth while I was cooking down the chicken until it was fall of the bone.

Yes, we put all our bones into baggies in the freezer until we have enough for stock. This time the timing was off. <shrug>

 

[sablesurfer]

If you're trying to cook with more chicken, I have a great recipe for you, and this is the time of year to try it. In Bram Stoker's original "Dracula," the author references a chicken dish called "Paprika Hendl." Every year, we make it on or around Halloween, just because. Good stuff.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this note! The GF is a HUGE horror story freak and the classics are her fav. I mentally remembered and it is being made today!

She is HUGE into halloween and makes me participate in her yard decorations every year, and this year she just landed a part time spot doing make up for 5 haunted houses!!! She is loves this time of year, so making it tonight.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hey, glad you liked the idea, and I hope that she likes the dish!

Let me know what you think of it and if you have any questions, just ask. The pictorial should be fairly self-explanatory, but I tend to ramble sometimes...here's the link:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/paprika-hendl_topic1001.html