Chakhokhbili iz Kuritsy recipe

[rkasal]

Chakhokhbili iz Kuritsy (Chicken Chakhokhbili)

Well, folks, I promised to provide my Georgian recipe for chicken. Guys, this one is worth learning and frankly, is one of the best dishes I have eaten anywhere. I call this “The Closer.” This is a great dish to cook for a special lady and share over a bottle of wine – or three. Maybe it’s the wine that worked.

Hey, we'll get through this winter together. I rode today but understand some of you may have been weather bound.

WARNING: A chicken was harmed in the making of this recipe!

This recipe uses about a dozen different herbs and spices. The mint leaves counter-balanced by the garlic added right at the end to infuse is special. One of the key ingredients necessary to make the roux is chicken stock.

What is a roux? Good question. That will be addressed in a subsequent posting. HINT: knowing how to make a roux is also used in Cajun cooking so this is good stuff to know.

Sure, you can buy a can of stock at the store. Don’t be lazy! Chicken stock is used to make, you guessed it! Chicken soup!!

And chicken stock is key to many sauces primarily French in origin. Once you learn how to make chicken stock PROPERLY, the concept can be adapted to veal stock or even easier, fish stock. Stocks are used in sauces, braises, stews, and soups and are called fonds de cuisine or foundations of cooking.

I make stock with a whole chicken that I cut up. At some point, if I feel like cutting a chicken up, cleaning my hands to take a picture, and repeat a dozen times, I may post on how to properly dissemble a chicken.

Before teaching how to dissemble a chicken, proper knife technique is in order and that’s a lot of pictures so we will see.

The idea behind stocks is to simmer the ingredients long enough to extract the maximum flavors. Stocks may be refrigerated for several weeks IF they are brought to a boil every two to three days. You can also reduce stocks to a syrupy like glaze called – you are right? A glace. In any event, you may freeze stocks or a glace for several months. It’s a good idea to do so in small quantities.

Ok, let’s begin making stock.

You can use chicken wings, necks, things, etc. purchased in bulk at the store. The chickens don’t need them any longer so feel free to use them. You can think of eating meat as recycling.

Ingredients:

4-pounds chicken parts
3 small onions (will teach the proper way to dice an onion at a later time – after knife skills)
3 cloves
3 carrots
3 leeks (It’s important to rinse between each layer of the leek skins. Leeks are grown in sandy soil. If you don't rinse, you will eat sand. Cut the leeks in ½ length ways after cutting off the roots and all but the bottom end of the stems.)
2 stalks celery
6 cloves of garlic
Parsley sprigs including the stems
2 to 3 whole thyme branches
1 to 3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
10 peppercorns
12 cups of water

The celery and carrots are called the aromatic vegetables. It’s common to include at least these two. I also include parsnips and turnips cut into cubes.

Some of the other ingrediants are called a bouquet garni. This is simply the bay leaf, they thyme, parsley, and generally, the leeks and celery with the leaves. Many people will place these inside a cheesecloth while others will tie them together with kitchen twine. Since I strain the stock anyway, I just put these ingredients as they are into the pot. I also add savory and rosemary but that’s not always done.

Place the chicken parts and other ingredients into a stock pot (there’s a reason it’s tall) and bring to a boil. Skim off all foam that rises to the top. Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour. Continue skimming off fat, foam, and froth.

Remove the chicken and save for another use. Simmer the stock for another 1 ½ hours. Strain through a fine strainer. If you like, you can continue reducing (simmering) until you have a glace.

Leave the stock uncovered and cool as quickly as possible. I place the pot in a sink with cold water around the base of the stock pot.

After it's nearly cooled, I place into a refrigerator. Once it's completely cooled there, I take off all of the solid fat on the top. What is left is priceless. Make your next chicken soup with this stock. You'll love it.

There is your stock ready to use for numerous cooking purposes including the forthcoming chicken recipe.

Next posting: how to make a roux.

Subsequent posting: the chicken recipe itself

[KGT1200]

Randy,

Nice!:thumb

Can't wait for the next installment!

[From MARS]

Randy,

Nice!:thumb

Can't wait for the next installment!

Forget the next installment. I'm waiting for the invite to dinner at Randy's!

ROAD TRIP!

Tom

[rkasal]

Forget the next installment. I'm waiting for the invite to dinner at Randy's!

ROAD TRIP!

Tom


Just let me know when you're all coming, and I'll put another shrimp on the barbie!

[Newstar]

Chakhokhbili iz Kuritsy (Chicken Chakhokhbili)

What is a roux?



Oooh! I know!! I know!!! Pick me!!!!:wave

[rkasal]

Oooh! I know!! I know!!! Pick me!!!!:wave


Tag! You're it!

[rkasal]

Ok, tonight's installment leading to the single best chicken recipe and perhaps the best meal you have ever had is "How to dice an onion."

WARNING: If you are easily offended, an onion is harmed in the making of this meal as was the chicken yesterday to make the stock and the chicken tomorrow to make the meal.

WARNING: Knives are sharp and can remove your finger(s). This lesson pre-supposes basic knife skills before a possible formal knife handling (no, not in a bar fight but can teach that some other time off-line) course with pics. If I feel like taking pics.

Ok, boys and girls, let's get started.

The reason behind uniform sized onions or anything you cook is uniform size leads to uniform cooking and consistent results.

For this recipe, I use a yellow onion.

Take an onion and remove the little sticker. Assuming you are right-handed, take the onion in the left hand and place on a cutting board with the top of the onion to the right. Cut downwards to remove the top portion of the onion.

Place the onion in the opposite direction. This is key. Cut only enough of the root off to remove the dirty part (get your minds out of the gutters) but make sure there is enough of the root base to hold the onion together.

After cutting off the root portion, peel off the skin and the first layer.

Place the root portion down on the cutting board. Slice down the middle of the onion almost to the base but do not slice through the onion. Make another cut parallel to this first about 1/4" on either side. Continue parallel cuts on each side of these cuts about 1/4" apart until the onion is cut nearly to the base each time.

Now, leaving the onion root side down, rotate the onion 90 degrees. Make a single cut down the middle almost to the base but not through the onion. Repeat on each side of this cut in 1/4" increments until the onion is a checkerboard when looking down at it from the top.

You can also make the last cut all the way through so as to make a base for the next step.

Place the onion on its side with the root portion to the left. Hold the onion together and starting from the right, cut downwards in 1/4" increments.

You will immediately see perfect uniform onion cubes.

Tomorrow, we learn to make roux. A roux is basic to a lot of French cooking including cajun cooking. Good stuff to know.

[Newstar]

Are we making a white roux, blond roux, or brown roux?

Patiently waiting for the enxt installment...

[rkasal]

Are we making a white roux, blond roux, or brown roux?

Patiently waiting for the enxt installment...


Although I am partial to blonde, brown is also good in my experience. Tonight, it's a brown roux started by roasting flour. Stay tuned!

[rkasal]

Ok, we are getting closer to making our chicken recipe. So far, we have learned how to make chicken stock and how to properly dice an onion. We learned that uniform sized food leads to uniform cooking and consistent results.

Today, we will learn how to make a roux. A roux is important to many cooking techniques including cajun. Sure, you an add shrimp and okra to a pot and call it gumbo, but unless you've made gumbo with a roux, it's cheating yourself.

As you may have guessed, the word roux is French in origin. A roux is simply flour and fat (typically butter – hey, it is French) cooked together and used as a thickening agent.

A roux is essentially a flour based sauce called Sauces meres (mother sauces) from which all flour based sauces derive. Sauces are classified by color. White sauces called béchamel and veloute and sauce espagnole which is a brown sauce.

Bechamel is made by adding milk to a white roux (roux blanc). You make a veloute with a lightly colored roux (roux blond) and add white stock (veal, chicken, or fish). We are making sauce espagnole with a twist.

Sauce espagnole is normally made with a brown veal or beef stock and then cooked to make it a little browner. We are going to adapt a French result (brown roux) with the Georgian cooking technique). Some call it fusion – I call it “The closer.”

As a side note, I learned in an Indian cooking class that onions are also a thickener so our completed recipe should be thick and rich with the onions and the roux.

How the roux becomes a thickener is as the flour proteins break down, they begin to bind with the fat molecules.

There are still further sauces such as sauce mornay which is merely béchamel with cheese while veloute made with chicken stock with added crème becomes sauce supreme. A sauce bordelaise is a brown sauce with red wine, shallots (I cook them down to a fond. Fond will be covered at a later time), and herbs (especially love thyme here). Sauce bordelaise makes the best steak you have ever had when ladled over a rare steak.

When making a roux, in general, add a cold liquid to a hot roux or a hot liquid to a cold roux. Otherwise, you will probably have lumps.

Ok, now that we have that background, let’s learn how to make the adapted roux for the Georgian Chicken recipe.

Take a small ungreased skillet and add several tablespoons of flour. Stir the flour over low heat until the flour starts to turn pale golden. The flour proteins are starting to break down and will be ready for the added butter. And for God’s sakes, use butter. Margarine does not work.

Add butter in tablespoon amounts as the flour turns darker. We are not doing what's called "building" the sauce here for those of you familiar with cooking techniques so room temperature butter is fine.

Do not let the flour burn! Keep the heat low, continue stirring, and add butter, until you have a consistency slightly more liquid than a paste. This is your roux.

Tomorrow, we will add the chicken stock to this roux as we make the chicken.

[From MARS]

Good technique, Randy.:thumb

It is a fine line between "roux" and "ruined".

Those with A.D.D. must focus.

[rkasal]

Georgian chicken

Ok, now we are ready to make our famous Georgian chicken recipe. It’s important in the ingredient list to use fresh herbs and spices. Spices, just like olive oil, should always be purchased in small quantities and used often. Keep away from heat and light. If you have to use dried spices, at least use fresh mint from the store.

WARNING: A chicken or chickens was harmed in the making of this recipe.

WARNING: Knives can be sharp while dull knives are more dangerous

This recipe serves about six people. Let’s begin with the ingredient list:

Four to five pounds of chicken 2 tablespoons of tomato paste

5 tablespoons of butter 1 tablespoon each of finely chopped cilantro,
basil, and savory

3 medium onions diced 1 ½ teaspoons each of finely chopped tarragon,
and mint

1 tablespoon of flour ½ teaspoon paprika

1 ¼ cups chicken stock 6 medium tomatoes, peeled and quartered

Large pinch each of oregano, thyme, savory, 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
Saffron, fenugreek

¼ cup dry white wine 1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons lemon juice Thinly sliced lemon for garnish

Salt to taste



I usually service this dish over Basmati rice.

Dry the chicken pieces with a paper towel. You may remove the skin but leave the bones with the meat. The bones add a lot of flavor.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium -sized Dutch oven, add the chicken pieces, and brown on each side for about 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside. Melt 2 more tablespoons of butter in the Dutch oven, add the onions, and saute over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until translucent.

In a small ungreased skillet stir the flour over low heat for 3 minutes, or until pale golden. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, stirring continuously, and cook until bubbles appear. Gradually stir in 1 cup of chicken broth and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Pour the sauce over the onions in the Dutch oven, stir, then add the tomatoes, wine, and lemon juice, and bring to a boil.

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and add to the pot. Cover and cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, then add the tomoato paste and 1/3 cup of chicken broth or water, if necessary. Stir, cover, and continue to simmer for 10 minutes more, or until the chicken is nearly cooked.

Mix the herbs and spices, reserving the garlic and 2 tablespoons of the chopped parsley, and add to the stew; simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic, cover, remove the pot from the heat and let the fragrance infuse for 3 minutes longer.

Hint: you nearly can't use too much mint.

As an aside note, almost everyone overcooks garlic. Garlic almost always should be added near the end of a dish. Garlic should be thinly sliced or finely diced or I generally use a garlic press.

Serve with steaming rice, sprinkle with the reserved parsley, and decorate with thin lemon slices.

This recipe if followed is restaurant quality and never fails to impress a date or significant other. Serve with a bottle of red Georgian wine. I believe I recall reading once that wine was first made in Georgia. They have some world class wines yet little known in the west.

Good luck.

[lamble]

I believe I recall reading once that wine was first made in Georgia.

That'll be Georgia in Greece or Iran then will it. Site of the earliest recorded vines and/or wine.

Interesting recipe otherwise. Check out Hairy Bikers site for a recipe, to copy, when they were in Romania...spetzls (phonetic) would make a fine addition.

http://www.hairybikers.com/

[riderR1150GSAdv]

So when and where is dinner??? :rofl

Great food, keep it coming!! :lurk

[flgoff]

. . . and all this time I thought georgian chicken was heavily battered, deep fried in lard, and served with mashed potaotoes and gravy . . .

The lower case "g" was intentional . . .

[Mrs2beers]

Ahhh, as to the roux(roo) questions. When ever I make one at home Barr (with glee in his voice) says "Oh, what type are you making light, dark, or Kanga ?"
Any how the recipes sound delicious and I'll be printing them off to try.