Of Chicken and Redemption Part 3 - Pulled Chicken

Yep, the Chicken did not work, but I had a plan.

It involves a Crock Pot, water, many hours and low heat.  Oh and a over cooked and tough stewing chicken.

All that went on for almost 24 hours.  Well, closer to 18, but in the end the meat was just falling off and most of it was rather tender by this point.

Then came the process of separating the meat from the bone and other stuff.  Kind of gross, but fun too!

I was left with a nice bowl of chicken!  I was also left with some really great and yummy juice that I added my frozen veggie and made a deep rich stock from. You know how much I love making stock right?

I had cooked up some beans and rice all ready, now for the pulled chicken.  As is the nature of this blog, this was truly a Back of the Fridge plate.

The sauce was a combination of beer - a pale ale, stock, water, white vinger, molasses, maple syrup, a dash of OJ, and spices (salt, pepper, cumin, cyan, red pepper flakes) and onions, garlic, and red bell pepper.

In a pot I heated up Olive oil, added the veggies and cooked until soft.  Deglazed with the beer, added the rest and a little corn starch for a bit of light thickness (does that make sense?).

Heated up until bubbling and then added the chicken and mixed well.

Served the chicken over the rice and beans with a side of boiled greens.  Bammo Mitch.

It was super yummy.  Hot dang was it good.  It could have been spicier, it was rather sweet and a little heat would have been nice.  But wow.  Redemption.

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

Of Chicken and Redemption.

Thanks to Johnny & Joe for leading this 3 part post off.

Stewing Chicken - is an old hen that is past it's laying prime.  Tough, dry and requires a long slow heat cooking process.

That's where I screwed up on.

My In-laws gave me stewing chicken that my brother in law had processed during a farming class.  The bird looked good, and I had a grand idea for Sunday Chicken dinner.




I cut the bird down into sections, put it into a pot with olive oil and potatoes, fennel bulb, onions, garlic, and vegetable stock.  Covered and put into the oven and cooked for about 1.5 hours.

Lets say that the veggies were wonderful!

The chicken it self was dry, tough, rubbery, and plain dull.  I was sunk.  My pride was hurt and I felt just dumb.  I should have know better I thought.

There was though a grand plus side to the dinner - The Wine for starters.

My friend David over at La Buona Tavola turned me on to a wonderful bottle of Italian red wine.

Good round flavor, not too fruity.  It was a pleasant drink to go with the vegetables!

I came up with a plan, but not until we finish dessert.  You'll have to wait until the next post for dessert: Pear tart with a shortbread crust.


Read Part 2
Read Part 3