How to Make Southern-Style Smothered Chicken

[Music] the key to great smothered chicken is not smothering the chicken flavor and that's important because this dish is really simple you really want that chicken flavor to shine through and unfortunately most recipes we tried early on they overwhelmed the chicken with heavy sauces and way too many herbs the trick is to let the chicken shine we're letting the chicken shine and speaking of chicken we're starting with a whole chicken here and this is a three and a half to four pound broiler the first thing we're going to do is break it down into pieces so that they cook more evenly first things first my favorite tool is a pair of scissors because it really easily goes through those chicken bones i'm going to cut up one side of the chicken back and then i turn it around and i cut down the other side now i flip the chicken over and it's pretty easy just to cut this chicken in half right through the breastbone now you can separate the leg from the breast pretty easily because the only thing holding it together really is a little bit of skin so it slices right through and these wings we're not going to use them in this recipe but i'd definitely save them because i like eating wings on their own or if you noticed i'm saving that backbone because that's good fixings for stock so i'll throw that in the freezer now i'm going to take each of these breasts so you see there's this tapered end and there's a thick end cut in half this side will be a lot thinner so actually about two-thirds to that side one-third to this side and then those pieces will cook nice and evenly right through that breastbone now onto the legs there's this little hip joint here and you can just cut that off again stock fixings last but not least let's separate this thigh from the drumstick and there's this little line of fat you can see it right there that helps denote where the thigh separates from the drumstick and if you cheated on the drumstick side of the thigh you catch that joint right through the middle cheater cheater there we see it again there's that line go to the drumstick side of the line right through all right so there is our chicken now we're just going to pat this dry now simplicity is key here so we're not going to do a lot of fancy seasoning just a little salt and pepper on both sides that's key here julia's working with raw chicken so she went ahead and poured a little bit of salt a little bit of pepper into individual bowls so you wouldn't have to reach into the salt box and contaminate the whole thing no contamination here this chicken is almost ready for the pot one last step is we're gonna dredge it in some all-purpose flour this does a couple things it protects the chicken on the outside so it gets a nice browning without overcooking but it also will help thicken the sauce at the end so two things in one i'm just to take this chicken dredge it lightly in the flour pat off the excess and that's it pretty simple so far no earth shattering news here in the chicken world keeping it simple that is the name of the game today okay here i have a dutch oven and i have some oil heating up it's a quarter cup of vegetable oil heating it up over medium high just until i see those wisps of smoke that's when it's time to brown the chicken i can see wisps of smoke i'm just going to add half of the chicken to the pot because i don't want it to crowd because crowded chicken doesn't brown and browning the chicken in this recipe is key because it's so simple we really want to taste the chicken flavor and the brown bits that that chicken leaves in the pot is crucial for the sauce all right this is all about simple steps building to big flavor that's right this will take about six minutes or so and of course i'm gonna flip them over halfway through to get brown on both sides okay [Music] this is the second batch of chicken just gonna turn the heat off so don't burn any of that good fond in the bottom and you can smell it smells like toasty flour and chicken fat ma'am depending on the chicken you use you may render a lot of fat or just a little bit of fat but that can affect the texture of the sauce being greasy or not sure i'm gonna pour all the fat out and then measure back just two tablespoons because that's what we want for the next step all right take this hot pot pour this into the bowl i poured out all that fat i'm going to put this back on the stove top i'm just going to add two tablespoons of this very flavorful chicken fat back into the pot and we're saving the rest to make potato pancakes later that would be good i'm putting this back on the heat now it's time to make our sauce key to a good gravy and smothered chicken are onions and this is two finely chopped onions next a little celery this is two finely chopped ribs of celery a little bit of salt teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper now we're just going to cook this for about six minutes or so until those vegetables are nicely softened almost smells like stuffing it does yeah now we're going to add just a little bit of garlic this is three cloves of minced garlic and some sage this is definitely an underused herb too that's a teaspoon of sage and a little bit more flour this is two tablespoons of all-purpose flour and of course that's going to help the gravy thicken and cling to the chicken we're just going to saute this until you can really smell the garlic in the sage that only takes about a minute oh smell that sage and it's time to move on we're just going to add a little bit of chicken broth again keeping it simple this is two cups of chicken broth we're going to whisk this in and we want to get up all the brown bits on the bottom and the sides of the pot and whisk out any lumps of flour oh i know it smells good doesn't it yes it does now we're just going to simply add the chicken back to the pot and cook it okay yeah you said it smells good we're about 10 blocks past smelling good you can see this liquid is starting to come up to a simmer and that's a sign it's time to put the lid on we're going to turn the heat down to low we're going to let this braise for about half an hour we're looking for a temperature of 160 in the breast and 175 and the legs and thighs okay [Music] pretty it's been about half an hour and it's time to take a good look whoa the aroma that comes out of that pot when you lift off the lid that's good gravy chicken and sage and a little bit of celery again we're looking for a temperature of about 160 to 165 in the breasts oh perfect 163 and usually the thighs and the drumsticks can take about five to ten minutes longer so i'm going to take out the breast pieces and let those thighs and drumsticks go for a little bit longer the thighs have been cooking for another five minutes now look at this sauce it is perfectly thickened yup not stodgy at all and now we're just to finish it with a little bit of vinegar this is a tablespoon cider vinegar a little bit of salt a little bit of pepper and that's it that's it that's it smothering time i'm just going to pick up this dutch oven and smother this sauce all over the chicken and it makes plenty of sauce oh yeah enough sauce for the rice because of course you have to serve this with rice last but not least little parsley perfect there you have it very simple some other chicken all right a little rice on the bottom oh yes please oh my gosh now it makes plenty of sauce no worry oh and a little on the rice smother it off oh yeah just gonna have a little rice with some of the sauce that's a good idea i just love that flavor i mean it's just chicken with a little celery and sage it's so simple it's so elegant i've had a lot of smothered chicken it just tastes like literally they fried some chicken put a little bit of milk and flour in there it doesn't taste like much more this has amazing amount of flavor and the flavor of the sage and chicken it is a really good combination incredibly satisfying and so delicious thank you julia oh my pleasure to make the very best mother chicken in your home well the key is to enhance rather than smother that chicken flavor start by breaking down a whole chicken then dredging the pieces in flour and then brown them in batches build a simple but satisfying sauce by sauteing aromatics and the all-important sage in the chicken fat then return all the brown pieces to the sauce and cook them until they are done so there you have it from cook's country a soul food classic southern style smothered chicken i'm gonna smother my mouth with more thanks for watching cook's country from america's test kitchen so what'd you think leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make or just say hi now you can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description and don't forget to subscribe to our channel see you later alligator

Channel: America's Test Kitchen

Views: 64,687

Keywords: southern food, southern cooking, smothered chicken, southern smothered chicken, comfort food recipes, comfort food, chicken recipe, chicken

Id: Rv9lFarKZrc

Length: 8min 42sec (522 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 07 2019