Gedempte Chicken (Jewish Potted Chicken)

[Esther Vail]

A reader recently challenged the group to come up with Jewish potted
chicken (known in Yiddish as Gedempte Chicken, known in most Jewish
households as Pot-roasted Chicken).

MAMA'S POT-ROASTED CHICKEN
First catch your chicken; this dish was made in the old days with a
elderly, tough, large chicken, and it's hard to get the same effect
with one of today's effete supermarket chickens. You want a stewing
chicken if you can find one. Cut this into parts.

1 to 5 garlic cloves, according to taste, minced
1 large onion, sliced
2 tablespoons (30 mL) oil
1/2 cup (114 mL) chicken broth (can be made from bouillon cube or
powder)
1 teaspoon (5 mL) or more salt, depending on size of chicken
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) or more pepper, depending on size of chicken
Heat oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or other large pot
with tight-fitting cover. Cook onion and garlic until yellowed and
limp. Push to side of pot, raise heat, and brown chicken pieces, a
few at a time. Return all chicken to pot, sprinkle with salt
and pepper, pour over the chicken broth, cover tightly, reduce heat
to a simmer, and cook until all of the chicken pieces are tender. A
sturdy old hen would take at least an hour and a half, often longer;
today's supermarket birds will be done in about 45 minutes, or even
less. The gravy left at the bottom of the pot is delicious over
kasha (cooked buckwheat groats), or peeled cut-up carrots and
potatoes may be added to the pot when you being the simmering
process.

Esther H. Vail, Rochester NY USA
(est...@rochgte.fidonet.org)
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