Tasty & Simple: Poached Chicken
Introducing Tasty And Simple, where I’ll provide easy recipes for the novice chef. My vow to you: no fancy ingredients, lots of suggestions for making it your own, and active prep time in under an hour.
Let’s start with one that is sure to come in handy: poached chicken. Poaching is a cooking method that submerges the main ingredient in a flavored liquid and simmers it until cooked through. It is usually employed for lighter flesh like chicken or fish, but can also be used for eggs, vegetables (such as artichokes), and other fragile food items. As an added bonus, poaching is (usually) a low-fat, healthy cooking technique.
Chicken — especially the breast — is an excellent candidate for poaching. Poached chicken can be applied to many dishes: sandwiches, salads, soups, pasta, tacos… you name it. Based on the ingredients in the simmering liquid, you can tweak the flavors soaked up by the chicken.
Ingredient Guide:
Makes enough for 4 sandwiches or salads
| Meat Options: 1 whole bone-in chicken breast split 2 boneless chicken breast halves 4 bone-in chicken thighs 4 boneless chicken thighs (above can be with or without skin) |
Aromatics Options: a few cloves of garlic, smashed a few slices of ginger 1 carrot, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 small onion, chopped |
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| Herbs/Spices Options: 1/2 tablespoon salt (key ingredient) 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns Big handful of fresh herbs 1 bay leaf 1 tablespoon cumin or fennel seeds |
Acidic Liquid Options: 1 cup vinegar 1/4-1/2 cup citrus juice 1 cup wine, sake, or sherry 1/4-1/2 cup scotch, rum, or tequila |
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| Other Options: Cirtrus, zested or sliced Chopped chili peppers Soy sauce (instead of salt) |
Poaching Liquid Options: Water Low-sodium chicken stock Vegetable stock Coconut milk |
Directions:
- Give the chicken a quick rinse, then place in a single layer in dutch oven or other wide-bottomed pot with a lid.
- Add desired items from every option category, then add poaching liquid until it just covers the chicken.
- Heat just to boiling, lower to a simmer, and cook for 2-3 minutes (add an additional few minutes if the chicken still has its bones).
- Remove pot from heat, cover, and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Remove chicken from poach. Wait for it to cool a bit before shredding with hands, discarding skin and bones. Boneless parts can be added to a dish intact.
Suggested Combos:
- carrot, celery, 1 minced shallot, white wine, parsley
- sliced whole lemon, garlic, basil, oregano, peppercorns
- balsamic vinegar, a few sprigs of rosemary
- tequila, cumin seeds, cilantro, oregano
- coconut milk, ginger, chili peppers, lime zest
What’s your favorite poach?
Good isht.
By Patrick Angeles on Jan 8, 2009
Great idea. Do you ever use the remaining poaching liquid-brew for anything after you’ve poached the chicken? Like, make rice with it?
We recently made a chicken-rice curry where I browned the chicken, removed it from pot, sauteed some garlic/onion/ginger/curry powder in pot, added coconut milk, then added the chicken and some rice, and cooked the whole thing together. Really good.
By Z on Jan 8, 2009
That’s a good idea, Z, I’ma try that!
By -G. on Jan 8, 2009
I should note that it was really one part coconut milk and a bit more than one part water — broth would be even better. Next time I think I may do one part coconut milk to two parts broth — it was pretty rich the first time around.
By Z on Jan 9, 2009