Twisted Chicken or Am I the only one that can't get past the ick?

I will tell you right now, I have changed a lot of diapers, cleaned up a lot of messes, and smelled a lot of neglect. It happens.

Not in my house of course!

Well OK, some of it, I guess. We are human too. 

I have been diapering, cleaning and smelling out trouble since I was about 7 years old. Yep, right after I earned to strike a wooden match to light up the gas range and make percolated coffee. We had a Pyrex glass percolator. Some times I would forget to, not put coffee grounds in the stem. Then once the water boiled; then boiled over, I would turned down the flame, and stand right there watching for the color of “done”. I have loved coffee since I made it as a kid, and have been drinking it almost that long also.

I don’t mind changing a diaper; I know it bothers some, but not me. I can clean up just about any mess, with only a couple things on my “oh please, I just can’t clean that up” list. And that list might now be completely retired. Age has a way of making you mature enough to clean, what needs cleaning. And I am fairly in tune to odors, knowing where they are coming from, what caused it and how to clean it up!

But I am not comfortable sharing my food.

Let me clarify, not the food, just my food.

I will happily share all that I have, but please don’t ask for a bite off my fork or my actual piece of food. That is where my own personal “ick” fetish comes into play. If someone had asked me, “can I have a bite?” I would have said, “no, but you can have it” and then handed it over. Or the popular “oh let me taste that”, I would have gone ahead and then just not finished it.

You might have noticed that those two examples were in the past tense verb. I am better about “sharing”, but not completely over ick yet. If you asked me to try a sip of your beverage, even after you have tasted it, I can do that now. If you said, “what do you think of this cookie?” having just taken a bite and then handed it my way, I would be fine with that.

Lick your already licked ice cream cone, no thank you. You can have all of it, with my blessings!

It is an ick issue. I know that, and I don’t mean to offend. It is not you. Just this time it is all about me. 

And this little fetish is worthy, in what way again?

Chicken broth.

I have been using jellied stock for all my cooking. If it does not jelly in the refrigerator, it is not bone-based broth. Why am I cooking with only bone-based broth? My knees hurt. Yeah I could have went on and on about how I am a superb cook, cooking and offering the very best to my family and that nothing less would ever do. Which is true, of course.

But really; it is my knees, they hurt.

You see age, plus standing on concrete floors for eight hours a day, going on about twenty years, tends to take a toll on one’s knees. One of the ways to keep your knees healthy is physical exercise like walking and another is bone broth. We need the minerals and gelatin from those bones, for our bones.

Sometimes I cannot get enough bones, for all the stock I want to make. I do have a bag of chicken feet in the freezer, and I throw a couple of those in when I make stock. But having enough bones to make bone-based broth, without purchasing chicken pieces is difficult. Also if I cooked up chicken for broth, we would never eat anything but chicken, and that won’t do!

It has been suggested in other articles and different books and materials I have read, that the bones from dinner should be gathered up after the meal is over, including the bones from the dinner plates. The bones are then placed into a bag in the freezer. When the bag is full, it is time to make bone-based broth. The long cooking time will “kill” any bacteria, which may be present. I do not mean to show disrespect, but here is where I jump ship. And I don’t even swim!

For me, ick comes to mind. Sorry, I just can’t do it!   I know this is odd; after all I have partnered to create a family, delivered two babies and breastfed as well. But even so I don’t want your chewed on bones in my broth. When I thought about it and wondered if maybe I am just being a big baby, I asked Honey what he thought about the whole idea. Guess what, He doesn’t want your chewed on bones in his broth either!

I have noticed that many folks that seem to have plenty of bones for broth, will cook chicken and de-bone it, and have cooked chicken in the refrigerator ready to go. But honestly I don’t want to do that all the time. It is a good idea, but I want to serve whole pieces of chicken for some of our meals, probably most of them. I usually serve chicken thighs, they are economical, and not the legs which I don’t care for and not the breast which can be dry.

As I thought of this dilemma I realized that the biggest problem was in planning, in other words, I need to be ready to de-bone the chicken before it is placed on the table or ready and offered to be served from the stove.  Then the only other thing is, how to get the bones out, without making chicken hash. Lets see what I can do about this…….

Twisted chicken, when it's all about the bones!

350 degree oven

6 - 8 chicken bone in chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and skin

bacon fat, lard or butter for browning

flour for dredging

desired seasoning

assorted vegetables on hand

1/4 c dry white wine

balsamic vinegar
garlic salt
sea salt
pepper

Dredge chicken in plain flour.

I realized after dinner that it would of been prudent for me to cut a straight line in the chicken from one end of the bone to the other, while in this position, the whole twisting would of gone much cleaner than what I ended up with. But it is learn as you go, here in this kitchen!

I have found the easiest way to dredge small items like a chicken thigh, is to place flour in a covered container, add chicken one piece at a time, cover (securely !) and shake gently. Remove cover and proceed, repeat until all pieces are dredged.

Melt small amount of fat in skillet, brown chicken until golden.

 
Mean while, prepare assorted vegetables on hand and place in the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. Season with your choice of herbs or spice blends. I used some homemade Bay Leaf Seasoning and sea salt and pepper.

Use what you have on hand, this dish contains a small wedge of cabbage cut into 3 slices, 2 inch pieces of celery, 2 carrots thickly sliced, and 4 potatoes, peeled and cut in half. 

 
Place browned chicken on top of seasoned vegetables.

Pour wine into skillet to de-glaze the pan, pour over chicken and vegetables, drizzle small amount of balsamic vinegar over chicken.

 Sprinkle the chicken with garlic salt, pepper and seasoning of choice. Cover and bake 1 hour.
 

 (by the way, the large glass lids from the family size electric frying pans, work great on a 9X13 pan)

Remove the lid, baste the chicken and vegetables with the pan juices, bake uncovered 15 minutes, 

baste again, finish baking for 15 minutes. Serve.

To serve:

Hold chicken secure with tongs, using another set of tongs or your hands, grasp the bone, twist and slide out. Some meat may cling to the bone, use a fork to pull away from the bone. 

To plate:

If there is small pieces of meat, place them on plate first, lay the de-boned thigh over and add your vegetables. Dinner is served!

Here are the leftovers and the bones ready for the stock sack in the freezer. 

(they only LOOK like they have been chewed on!)

As always, thanks for taking a moment to stop and say hello. 

I appreciate your visits, very much!

This post shared with:

Hearth n Soul @ a moderate life.