Chinese white cooked chicken or white cut chicken is another treasure for a busy cook. It's among the great things to have on hand during the hectic holdiay season or anytime you have a house full of company. I always make it when we're renting a beach house.
It can be served as it is with side dishes, or as an ingredient you can turn it into an array of delicious dishes. This time, I turned it into Curried Chicken Salad.
What would you create with beautifully cooked chicken?
The first step is to poach the chicken in a rich, well-seasoned, slow simmering broth. I use the method of simmering it for about 15 minutes then letting it sit in the hot poaching liquid until it's completely cooked. You can use a whole chicken, or your favorite chicken parts.
(Remember your food safey basics when you do this. Use timers and thermometers to be sure you don't forget it and are keeping the chicken at safe temperatures.)
Here are a few recipes to cook the chicken.
The easiest always-moist poached chicken from Just Bento
Poached chicken from Cooks.com
The bonus item from this process is a wonderful double chicken broth that you can turn into Pho or a traditional chicken soup, chicken gravy, or the sauce for a chicken pot pie.
Here's the poached chicken as it came out of the pot and began to cool. When I have some extra time, I strip the meat and put the skin and bones back into the stock to simmer for a while longer. That adds more goodness to the finished stock and reduces it, so it takes up less space in the refrigerator or freezer.
To make the curried chicken salad add a couple of stalks of celery chopped, an apple with the skin cut into cubes, a handful of raisins, a chopped scallion, and a couple of sprigs of parsley to your chicken. My dressing is a vinaigrette made with olive oil and seasoned rice vinegar to which I add a good bit of curry powder and a good sprinkle of my beloved Aleppo Pepper.
Barefoot Contessa's Curried Chicken Salad- this one has mayo!
Delectably Chic has Curry Chicken Salad with a Coconut Curry Vinaigrette!
A low-fat version from Eating Well
This is a technique that any cook can master. Once you have your chicken and stock, a whole world of possibilities opens up.
Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. Here are a few things you might need to make this chicken and chicken salad.
Le Creuset's Enameled Cast-Iron French Oven will hold the heat for poaching
This is the Digital Instant Read Thermometer I use
A Timer & Stopwatch around your neck will always be heard.
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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: © 2011 Penny Cherubino
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