Boiling a Chicken
In the spirit on my recent Nero Wolfe cooking exploration, I realized we left a whole chicken in the freezer for too long and it wasn’t looking to good – so I decided to boil it into soup. Hides all the flaws but captures the flavour. Although I already had it in a pot, I looked up boiling a whole chicken online and found this:
Most recipies call for bringing the chicken to a boil and then simmering for around 45 minutes (give or take 10 on the size of the bird); it should result in a cooked but pretty dried out chicken. Another method would be to boil for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let sit in the water for approx. 1 hour. This last method is especially common in Asian cooking when you are going to further cook the meat (stir fry or other use). Note: never boil from frozen. It just doesn’t work out well! Defrost it in the fridge overnight.
You may also want to check out Stephanie’s crock pot recipe to make shredded chicken. Since I was going to re-cook the chicken in a casserole, I opted to test the Asian method, which reminds me of the quick soak method for beans. I added egg noodle, carrot and onion to my soup. When it chilled, the noodles absorbed too much liquid, but reheating it released the broth and it turned out okay. Who knew!
