In the 17th century, King Henry IV of France promised the French “a chicken in every pot, every Sunday,” and things haven’t changed much since then. Chicken remains a classic French Sunday meal, as the lines for grilled chicken prove at markets and grocery stores on weekends.
People in France eat chicken on other days of the week but some consider it a secondary meat and for years beef has been considered the best and healthiest choice. The first cleaner told me that I need to eat beef a lot, to be healthy. In recent years the consumption of beef has decreased in France, but I often choose chicken over beef, which Romain teases me, saying it is. very american to order it often in restaurants, and sometimes call me the rooster. But when I did it Chicken or pot for him recently (at home, so he’s happy), he said it was the best he’d ever had. And as you can see, he is a tough customer.
traditions, Chicken or pot done in a chickenfried chicken. Interestingly, if you go to the website of Nouvelle Aquitaine, the region where Poule au pot is said to have originated, the French version of the Poule au pot recipe calls for chicken but when the recipe is translated into English, it calls for chicken. Their recipe also specifies (or doesn’t specify) the cooking time in the preparation phase, but under the recipe title it says that the recipe takes “2 1/2 hours”, which seems about right for the chicken, but a long time for the chicken. The Nouvelle Aquitaine website also calls for rice, mushrooms and “white sauce”. But the picture with the recipe doesn’t show rice, mushrooms, or white sauce.
(Another gastronomic difference between the two cultures is that the French prefer their vegetables well-cooked as opposed to what is sometimes called “the American way,” which still has a little crispness.)
But we were having dinner with some friends recently, a French-American couple, saw me making the Poule au pot on social media. He told me (half American) that the dish was served with mayonnaise (further investigation revealed that it is sometimes served with Béarnaise sauce as well) and served with two courses; first the chicken and vegetables, then the bouillon with maybe vermicelli noodles in it. If you’re diving deep into poule au pot, there’s even a version served cold, with mayo.
I looked at what Madame E. St.-Ange said in La Bonne Cuisine, which is kind of the French Joy of Food (published in 1927, and translated into English in 2005), and she added bacon. He also noted that rural kitchens were not well-decorated at that time, and often had only one gas stove, so vegetables were not washed separately as some do today. And he also said that in professional French kitchens, chefs are known to add veal fat to the pot, to give the bouillon more body, but admitted that it is not possible for home cooks.
When you buy chicken in France, it is already prepared and grafted, even if you buy it from a supermarket, like the one I bought above. Nice touch but if you go to the butcher or Poultry or poultrythey will prepare the birds for you, remove the ones you want to remove, and tie them all up ready to go. But for this recipe, you don’t need to do that, so you don’t need to work on these skills. oh!
Chicken sold in France with the Label Rouge label is free and available rustic species, and they have different characteristics than normal chickens. The meat tends to be firmer and they release more natural gelatin, resulting in a thicker broth, especially when you serve leftovers the next day.
I was scratching my head at a recent article about shopping at French markets and wondering why some people buy a single green or parsnip. I thought if you were going to prepare one root vegetable, because of the longer cooking time, you might as well cook a few. I was afraid that someone would buy just one ginger of this, so I bought two, so you can use two if you want. No two Poule au pot recipes are the same, so feel free to improvise with other vegetables.
One place I don’t want you to go, though, is to go the cubedry bouillon in tablet form. They are often used in France but my favorite shortcut is to use Better Than Bouillon, which does not have a long list of unpronounceable ingredients. A reader pointed out to me that there is now a company selling cartons in France, and for a while Picard, the frozen food store, sold full bags. pebbles (disc) of reduced stock. (Though I just looked at their website, it doesn’t seem to be listed anymore. The only one is a combination of chicken and beef.)
Sincerely, Chicken or pot makes a perfect weeknight dinner. It requires little preparation and is even better to repeat. When I moved to France when people were having dinner, I would pick one chicken for every two people…and always have tons of leftovers. I now realize that one chicken can feed six in France. (Yes, that’s right.) And now I’m surprised when I go out to eat in the US and they give me a whole chicken. I appreciate the generosity but thanks for the doggie bag.
All I can say is that we got two of the three dishes, the last one being a delicious chicken soup with chopped leftover chicken, and served with a vegetable broth. I would also say that if you get good quality chickens you will be rewarded with richer stock and sweeter birds. Stirring it in the pan is not a necessary step but I find it gives the sauce more depth, so I recommend doing it.
Poulet au pot (Chicken in the pot)
As for the stock, some have salt in them so you can add less salt than mentioned in step 3 (maybe 2 teaspoons) if you are using store bought stock, and add more salt as needed.
Since the vegetables will be cooked for a while, I cut them on the thick side. If you want them firmer, you can add them later in the cooking process.
A little or "boiling" Onions (as they are sometimes called) are a bit of a chore but can be boiled in a small pot of boiling water for a minute or so, then drained and rinsed in cold water, which will help the skins to come off. If you want to use regular onions, cut them into sixths or eighths.
I used a standard chicken for this recipe, which is between 1.75-2kg (about 4 kilos) but you can use any other size chicken. If it is smaller or larger, you can adjust the cooking time if necessary.
Ingredients
- 1 AVERAGE onions
- 3 RECOMMEND cloves
- 5 branches fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 spoon olive oil
- 1 spoon butter
- 1 whole chicken
- 12 LITTLE boiled onions (or shallots) anointed
- 3 cloves garlic crushed and ground
- 4 Medium (250g) carrot removed, cut with a 3/4-inch (2cm) knife.
- 1 Medium (220g) turnip drained and cut into 1-inch (3cm) cubes.
- 1 spoon kosher or sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 10 small (400g) new potatoes
- 1 liter (1L) water
- 1 liter (1L) chicken stock Homemade or low-sodium (preferably)
- 4-5 stalks of fresh parsley plus extra chopped parsley for garnish
instructions
-
Make a bouquet garni by dressing the onion with the cloves. Wrap them in a towel or muslin with thyme and bay leaves, and tie tightly with string.
-
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When hot, place the chicken inside, breast side down and cook without moving until the breasts are browned, then turn the chicken to brown the chicken on both thighs and legs, which will take about 15 minutes. (You may need to scrape the chicken off the sides of the pan to hold it in place while browning the sides.) If you have extra time, you can also brown the bottom.
-
When browned, remove the chicken from the pan, place on a plate, and add the onions to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrot, ginger and salt, along with freshly ground pepper, and cook for a minute or two, stirring frequently. Put the chicken in the pot with the bouquet garni. Place the potatoes around the chicken, place the parsley sprigs next to the chicken and add the water and stock to cover three quarters of the chicken. If you need more water, add more water or stock.
-
Cover and bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to a steady simmer, but slowly, with the lid partially ajar. Cook for about 1 hour, until the chicken is tender and cooked, as are the vegetables. Taste for salt and add more if you like.