Good ideas for cooking whole chickens?

May 9, 2009 9:27 AM

What good recipes do you have for a whole chicken? We're in a chicken co-op and get an organic bird every month, and I'm after interesting ways to cook them. Roast chicken is lovely, but I'm after a bit more variety.
posted by handee to food & drink (29 comments total)

Hainanese Chicken Rice Dead simple. Never get tired of this but not so successful duplicating it in US. I blame tasteless chicken. Organic ones might do the trick.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:37 AM on May 9 [1 favorite]

Much better recipe! Cilantro is crucial!
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:46 AM on May 9 [1 favorite]

Chicken stock/soup!
posted by availablelight at 9:50 AM on May 9

This Jamie Oliver recipe for a whole chicken braised in milk, lemon and cinnamon was a "new" recipe to me - something I'd never heard of or tried. The food bloggers were losing their minds over it so I gave it a shot. Personally I wasn't impressed, but you might want to try it yourself.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:57 AM on May 9 [5 favorites]

When I was eating meat I enjoyed cooking Drunk Chicken on the grill. Open a can of beer, drink about half, and stuff it in the chicken. Set the bird on the grill so that the can is vertical, and grill over low heat. When the can is empty and the bird tips over, it's done.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:06 AM on May 9

I've played around with cooking whole birds in a clay baker before. Romertopf is one brand you see in department or kitchen stores. Idea is that you soak the big, heavy lid in water and bake your whatever covered in the 'pot'. It tends to keep in the juices and flavors from the thing your cooking. Added spices can get really concentrated, which is either a good thing or very tricky, depending on your point of view.

A quick googling turns up scads of recipes. Some recipes mention taking a chicken out of the clay pot and finishing it uncovered in the oven for a few minutes to 'crisp' it; probably a good idea.
posted by gimonca at 10:14 AM on May 9

Okay, somehow I garbled up the first link. Romertopf has their own website, items available at many popular retailers. Schlemmertopf is proclaimed as the "only one still made in Germany!" Both are probably equally good.
posted by gimonca at 10:22 AM on May 9

Chicken is easy to cut up. Grilled, marinated breasts & drumsticks, curried thighs & wings. Make sure you save any bones and miscellaneous parts from cutting it up, as well as any carcass from roast chicken. Better chicken makes fantastic stock. Just cover with water, boil, then simmer for an hour or so. You can make even better stock with more fuss, but it's always worthwhile to make even simple stock. If nothing else, use it to cook fantastic rice.
posted by theora55 at 10:24 AM on May 9

Piri-piri chicken. That recipe is fantastic.
posted by fire&wings at 10:29 AM on May 9 [1 favorite]

This recipe with a whole chicken was my introduction to umami. It is a hit everytime I fix it. Scroll to the bottom of the page, but the tomato soup on the same page is also excellent.
posted by francesca too at 10:31 AM on May 9 [2 favorites]

FWIW My wife has a clay baker ( gimonca) and she swears by it. For that matter, so do I...YUM. :-)
posted by Taurid at 10:43 AM on May 9

Steamed chicken is great and can be served hot or cold. It's very similar to step one of the previously mentioned Hainanese chicken recipe. I recommend using a lot of ginger for the sauce. It's easiest to grate the ginger with a cheese grater, like this one.

Also delicious is Soy Sauce Chicken. Serve both with rice and some steamed greens.
posted by hooray at 11:05 AM on May 9

Ethiopian doro wot. Yum.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:23 AM on May 9

Toss a whole chicken in the crock pot and cover with water. You can add onions if you want. Cook it all day. Pull it out. It is going to completely fall apart. Get rid of the skin and bones. You now have pulled, super moist chicken. Use it as a base for sour cream chicken enchiladas or chicken salad or whatever you want. Save the liquid from the crock pot and use it in later recipes.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Pulled meat from one whole chicken
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 large jar of your favorite salsa
8 to 16 oz of sour cream - whatever you prefer
Mountains (2 or more lbs) of shredded cheese - use cheddar, monteray jack, mexican blend, you pick

Mix above ingredients together. Set aside.

Oil
Corn Tortillas

Heat oil in a pan. Once it is warm, dip a corn tortilla into it for a little while to soften. You're not wanting to fry the tortilla, just soften it so it doesn't fall apart when you stuff it. You'll need 30 or more tortillas. For each tortilla, scoop a bunch of the chicken mix into it. Roll and put into a baking dish. (I usually fill 2 9x13 rectangles.) After you've filled the pans, cover the rolled enchiladas with more cheese and bake at 350 for at 30 minutes. Enchilada sauce is optional.
posted by onhazier at 11:32 AM on May 9

I haven't tried this yet but this recipe for Thai-ish Whole Chicken in Coconut Milk from the Kitchn blog looks wonderful.
posted by peacheater at 12:59 PM on May 9

Classic brined roast chicken.

Use the roasting instructions in that recipe as a rough guide only. Just rub it with some oil or butter and whatever spices you like and stuff an onion and the solids from the brine in it, and you're off to the races.

It's all about the brining. I've done this for a range of friends and family - first bite of a brined roast chicken and everyone gets the same where have you been all my life? look on their face. It's magic. To put it in mefite terms, it's the bacon salt of whole chicken cooking.
posted by gompa at 1:46 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic.
posted by essexjan at 2:13 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

alton brown's chicken with garlic and shallots is a big hit in my house. very cheap, very easy. serve with a loaf of crusty crusty bread to dip into the leftover oil.
posted by kerning at 2:17 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

When I was eating meat I enjoyed cooking Drunk Chicken on the grill. Open a can of beer, drink about half, and stuff it in the chicken. Set the bird on the grill so that the can is vertical, and grill over low heat. When the can is empty and the bird tips over, it's done.

Ugh, no. You get flavours of hot aluminium and whatever the ink is made of all up in your bird. It's gross. If you want to do that sort of thing, use an oven-ready container for the beer.

You could carve it up and do Chicken Marengo (famously created for Napoleon after a battle, utterly delicious). Be sure to save the bones and such to make your own badass chicken stock (let me know if you need a recipe).

Given that summer is approaching, you might want to start looking into cold applications. Try making a Waldorf salad with chunks of chicken--it's a leg up (ahem) on your standard chicken salad. You may also wish to try making a galantine; bone out your chicken, pound the breasts thin, stuff with a forcemeat (e.g. ground chicken, a panade of bread soaked in cream, shallots, maybe some saffron or mint or tarragon), roll up into a nice tight log. Wrap in saran, very tight, poach at a bare simmer until cooked all the way through. Chill, slice, serve--perhaps with a warm potato salad and some fresh raw veg. Classically a chicken galantine is served with a fruit-based sauce--perhaps redcurrant.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:18 PM on May 9

Open a can of beer, drink about half, and stuff it in the chicken.

I do this too. If you don't think it's gross you can also do it with soda. I've found that Coca-Cola is pretty delicious. You have to be careful getting the can out because it winds up being partially full with boiling hot sugary liquid. Good to hold it with some tongs and pull the chicken off of it. Here is a photo and a few more instructions.
posted by jessamyn at 2:33 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

The Zuni Cafe roast chicken is probably the best chicken I've ever had .

It requires starting a day or two ahead by seasoning the chicken and putting it in the fridge, but it is well, well worth it.
posted by kms at 2:40 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

Oops, sorry thought you were asking for roast chicken!! Should have read closer. Apologies :-) (but my claim still stands)
posted by kms at 2:41 PM on May 9

Here's a link to a Marcella Hazan recipe for pan-roasted chicken with garlic and white wine. It has never failed me, although I usually just do it with leg quarters instead of a whole bird. Also, I wind up thickening the remaining pan juices with some flour or Wondra.

Another similar idea:
1. Brown the chicken pieces well in a heavy pan (I use a Le Creuset dutch oven)
2. Remove the chicken pieces, then sweat some garlic, onion, carrot, celery and rosemary until soft.
3. Add a few good spoonfuls of tomato paste and fry that until it becomes fragrant and takes on a rusty color.
4. Add a cup or so of red wine and let it boil for a minute or two.
5. Add a can of whole tomatoes that you've crushed up a bit.
6. Add the chicken pieces and any juices back.
7. Put a lid on the pot/pan and put it in a 350 oven until the chicken is cooked through.

I usually do this with turkey legs that I have the butcher cut in half, but I suspect it would work just as well with chicken.
posted by 6and12 at 4:08 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

Seconding the Jamie Oliver Lemon chicken recipe and the soy sauce chicken recipe above. Except the soy sauce recipe linked to above looks like it cut up the chicken -- I've kept the chicken whole. It's exactly the same recipe ingredients-wise, only instead of simmering everything for a couple hours straight through, I first dump the rest of the ingredients into a pot and simmer them for about 20 minutes to get the broth going, and then I bring it to a boil, plop the chicken in there whole, and simmer it about 15-20 minutes per each side, then another 15-20 for the top and then again for the bottom. You can serve it exactly the same way.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:44 PM on May 9

As theora55 suggests, cutting up a whole chicken opens up many possibilities, including using the parts in separate meals. For example, breast meat is good in stir-fries, salads and curries. Legs can be roasted, grilled or braised.

Another option is to 'spatchcock' the whole chicken by cutting out the backbone. (Easy if you own a good set of kitchen shears.) Press down on the chicken after removing the backbone to open and flatten it as much as possible. Tuck the wings behind the neck. The 'spatchcocked' chicken can be cooked in a pan (best weighted down with another heavy pan, or a brick covered in foil) or cooked on an outdoor grill.
posted by lovehandles at 6:06 PM on May 9

Chinese drunken chicken:

Clean chicken, inside & out. Rub in salt, white pepper. Steam (you can cut it into halves or quarters) in a deep-ish pan or dish until cooked. Let it cool a bit and cut it into bite-sized pieces (a cleaver works well). Mix liquid left in pan/dish (not the left-over steaming water) with ~ 4-6x as much chinese cooking wine or sherry. Add in a few slices of ginger, crushed garlic.

Soak chicken in broth/wine mixture for 6 hours to overnight (in the fridge is fine). Serve cold* with dipping sauce**.

I usually cut the back and neck off the whole chicken before steaming (poor meat:bone ratio) and save those for stock. Traditionally, the breasts are halves length-wise, then cleavered perpendicularly into ~1" wide pieces (bone-in). Drumlette/wings separated. Drumstick whole, thigh into ~ 3 pieces. A lot of the time, I'll de-bone the thighs.

*if served very cold, the liquid might gelatinize. Warm up slightly, unless you like the gelatin-y bits (which I do)
**shredded ginger (a microplane makes the perfect shredded ginger), shredded green onion, cooking oil (preferably from previously used clean oil), sesame oil in proportions that get you something about the consistency of salsa - no need to cook the sauce. You can add minced garlic and/or crushed chili/chili flakes
posted by porpoise at 8:24 PM on May 9

coq au vin
posted by AceRock at 8:39 PM on May 9

I must offer this up before moving beyond roast chicken: I have been championing The Amateur Gourmet's interpretation of Chez Panisse's Roast Chicken since I first made it.

A handful of ingredients, most out of your pantry, and near non-existent preparation produce a bird so flavorful and juicy it'll easily become a weeknight staple.

If it weren't for the above, Mark Bittman's minimalist version of Chicken Adobo would easily be my favorite chicken dish of all time.

Again, a handful of ingredients and even more minimal preparation (if you discount the time it takes to cut up your chicken) produce flavors rich and complex. Serve over a bed of rice and be sure to serve everyone their own bit of sauce as sharing tends to get thrown out the window after the first taste.
posted by unsupervised at 8:40 PM on May 10 [2 favorites]

Poularde de bresse en vessie (chicken in pig bladder), a French classic.
posted by NekulturnY at 1:51 AM on May 11