Eatn mor chikn
I've had so much free food lately that I'm only now getting to the chicken I made on Monday.
I had tons---I was setting out to cook two leg quarters, which is like a drumstick attached to a thigh (I didn't know before I bought it...), too much to fit alongside onions in the pan, so I put the onions in a different pot. I dusted the leg quarters with flour, besides the usual salt and pepper, and browned them the best I could in the pan with butter (still my only cooking oil...) before pouring in the liquid and closing the lid to cook on the stovetop. Fortunately I didn't have only water, but also chicken brother, which made a really delicious cooking liquid. I had it in there for over half an hour. ChatGPT suggested that and I don't have a thermometer, so I took its work for it, and it worked out pretty well. Here's a peek of everything cooking together at first:
I cooked the onions for almost as long, as I love cooked-down onions, but eventually turned the heat off once they were nice and brown. Then I pulled the chicken out of the pan (again, after a bit over half an hour) and poured some shaoxing in to deglaze. The skin sort of stuck to the pan. Too bad.
But at least I tons of brown bits to scrape off. I added lots of butter, the cooked onions, and a big scoop of Greek yoghurt, as well as some extra salt. These sauces always turn out so good. This was one sort of "pattern" I did learn from my dad a year or two ago... deglaze + butter + some other fat + salt, or something. You can do it with heavy cream, but I think something tangy like yoghurt is even better.
It was good, but kind of "heavy" good. I think what it most missed is simply being roasted, to be able to be a little dryer. It's so squishy when you steam it on the stovetop. My stove doesn't work, so there's not much to do, but too bad.
I ate one leg quarter and then was looking for a way to store the next one... I could find anything, so I decided to just eat the other one, too. I still have two to make and I need the calories, anyway.