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Chicken Mull

February 22, 2019 by Carine Clary 8 Comments

Chicken MullChicken Mull is the old name for Stewed Chicken in milk. It’s also sometimes called Jallop.  This is a cold weather, church supper dish that has spread from its Georgia Carolina origins and now pops up in a few other spots.

If you want your kids to come home on their college breaks, make sure this is simmering into its second hour when they walk in the door. They will never stiff you in favor of Aspen again.

I first had this on a family car trip when we crashed a Methodist Wednesday night church supper. No really. It was coming dark and Mama was starting the “we need to pull over soon honey” chorus when it hit. The smell of chicken, but better. Something like Chicken 3.0. It was coming from a small church in this small town with no visible eating establishments. But Daddy had a plan. First we checked into a motel, then he retrieved the Gideon Bible in the bedside table. With Bible under arm and sporting a hail fellow well met attitude, we entered the portals of free food nirvana.

Endlessly tweekable this recipe’s only unnegotiable requirements are to brown the chicken well and poach it at a low temperature in milk and lemon rind.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd except for the lemon there’s basically NO PEELING. And we all know that’s the most annoying thing about garlic, right? Right. So after you’ve browned yer bird, dust off the veg and give it a milk bath for the next hour or so. Time off to watch Dr. Oz or beat the children that are still smaller than you. Whatever appeals as being most pleasant or satisfying.

Now an hour of fulfilling activities has passed and it’s time to check on old milk bird. Is he swimming in shallower waters? Yes? Then it’s definitely time to take the top off and let him deepen his tan for about twenty minutes. Now wiggle his hip. If it’s looser than yours after a session of Bikram Yoga – bird is done!

Remove carefully to a platter and cut up into parts. Strain the sauce and adjust the seasonings. You may thicken the sauce and pour it over the chicken parts like this:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOr you can chop up the chicken and serve it in the gravy with crackers like hardcore Georgia folk do:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAKeep in mind that this gravy will be so tasty you may have to issue ration cards. Make some mashed potatoes, toast, or rice to soak it up if you don’t go for the soupy version. Fight over the seconds then retire to your Barcalounger where you can snooze till it’s bedtime. Or if you’re still alert watch this video where a food reporter happily discovers mull in Athens, Georgia.

5.0 from 2 reviews
Chicken Mull
 
Print
Author: Carine Clary
Recipe type: Chicken
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken (2 to 3 lbs.)
  • 2 lemons
  • 3 medium sized shallots, sliced in half lengthwise, no need to peel
  • 4 to 6 cloves
  • 4 cloves of garlic crushed or sliced in half lengthwise, no need to peel
  • 4 to 6 sprigs of your favorite fresh herb. Can be tarragon, sage, thyme or marjoram.
  • several celery leaves (if you have them)
  • 1 quart whole milk (bird should be about ½ submerged)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
  • curly parsley or chives for garnish
Instructions
  1. Melt some butter or olive oil in a pot over medium heat and brown the bird all over.
  2. Lift out bird and pour off excess fat.
  3. Add milk.
  4. Thinly slice off in strips the rind of both lemons into the pot, replace the bird, and put other ingredients on each side.
  5. Put the lid on it and cook on 325 for about 1 hour.
  6. Take the lid off and let the chicken brown a bit and the sauce reduce (about 30 minutes).
  7. When it starts to fall apart, lift the chicken out of the pot and either cut into pieces or shred.
  8. Strain the sauce, Reduce under medium heat, adjust seasonings, decorate with parsley or herbs and serve over noodles or rice (or saltine crackers if you’re shooting for hillbilly authenticity).
  9. You may grate a little lemon zest & nutmeg over the dish for added flavor.
Notes
You can cook longer on a lower temperature if it’s more convenient, you can add more garlic if you like, and some people even use canned chicken and evaporated milk, neither of which I’d recommend, but it will still be eatable.

You can also add half a cinnamon stick.

Because of the long moist cooking method you can get a bigger tougher bird like a hen. It will cook up nicely. Same goes for a couple of chicken breasts with the bone in.

Only downside of poaching in milk is the curdling that forms along the edge of the pan. Make no mistake. It’s ugly. However, it’s easily wiped off if you're serving it in the pan. If you serve the chicken on a platter you'll be straining the sauce and it'll be a non issue.
3.4.3177

 

Filed Under: Chicken, Entree, Southern Tagged With: Chicken Mull, Stewed chicken in milk

Takko Chicken

October 19, 2017 by Carine Clary 2 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFirst question answered. Takko Chicken did not come to New Orleans on the slow boat from Tampico. Nothing at all to do with Mexico it’s completely Croatian. Croatians dominate the oyster business locally and own numerous  restaurants – many of them Italian since Croatia abuts the northeast corner of Italy and Croatians have mastered northeastern Italian cuisine. They’re famous for oyster recipes, the most famous being the New Orleans restaurant Drago’s charbroiled oysters which would be hands down my first choice for a death row meal. However, as I’m currently free I like to branch out and eat other things, this being one of them.

The recipe here has been adapted from the version used by the Kopanica family of New Orleans. It’s called Takko because Croatians in New Orleans are called Takkos. “Tak” in most Slavic languages means “so” and the greeting among the oldsters in the community was, “How ya doin’?” the response being “Tako Tako” (so so). They may have been doing “so so” but their chicken is doing much much better.

The concept here is a quick fry for color followed by a slow braise that infuses the chicken with the garlic and herbs and renders the meat fall off the bone tender. Prefrying the chicken to brown it and create flavor was a slam dunk for someone who once won a blue ribbon for fried chicken at a middle school cooking contest. For most people the usual difficulty in achieving perfect fried chicken is cooking the chicken to browness on the outside and doneness on the inside. That requires just the right temperature or you end up with crunchy crust over raw meat. Takko Chicken eliminates this problem because you are frying only for the crust. It’s a fry first, braise to the finish dish so your only concern is a brown flavorful crust which makes it easy.

You can get a whole chicken and cut it up or buy various chicken parts, just know the gut capacity of your diners and buy accordingly. Once you’ve done this dry the chicken parts off, salt and pepper them, roll in flour and let rest while the oil is heating, then place the chicken parts in the oil with space around each piece and remove when the pieces start to color up.

While this is happening you get a good handful of parsley (flat or curly) and mince it finely, same with the garlic – very fine for both. And this is where the recipe got a little strange for me.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhen I read the instructions from Nike Kopanica Wood I’m thinking, “butter pats….one side smashed in garlic….one side smashed in parsley…one pat per piece,” what in the world?? It seems like a lot of work when you could just sprinkle the seasonings on top and have done with it. However, Nike is a great cook so I figured I’d do it her way…at least the first time. So I cut the chilled butter into pats about a 1/3 inch thick, pressed them down into the garlic, flipped them, then dredged the other side in parsley (kinda fun actually) then laid them on the pieces of chicken as directed.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAYou can see below how interesting it looks and I thought, well it makes for a cool pic so not a total loss. I put a couple of tablespoons of water in the bottom of the pan, covered it, and put it in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. I checked it from time to time because slow cooked meats will throw off differing amounts of liquid, some more, some less, hence the small amount of water to start. You want to create a little steam at the beginning before the chicken starts to render its juices. You also want to check the dish a time or two during cooking. If there isn’t enough liquid you can add another teaspoon of water.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAfter an hour I took the lid off. Then I got it. The whole butter pat routine. Because what happened was that some of the garlic and parsley flowed down to the bottom and mixed with the chicken juices and some stayed on top so that the meat was being flavored from both sides. The braising method mellowed the garlic and mixed perfectly with the parsley. My take away from this was nevermore to question the wisdom of Nike or the years of Croatian cooking that produced it! My contribution to the recipe consisted of dusting it with paprika and serving it on toast. Nike had suggested potatoes and I’d further suggest that if you’re missing either toast or potatoes just knock back a shot glass of the wonderful gravy.

And last but not least – this recipe is not improved by tweaking with more or different herbs etc… It’s supposed to be a dish of three distinct flavors. Chicken, garlic, and parsley. The last two are traditional in Croatian cooking and if they’re both fresh they’ll provide all the flavor you need.

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Takko Chicken
 
Print
Author: Carine Clary
Recipe type: Chicken
Cuisine: Croatian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 3 lbs. skin on chicken (or chicken parts)
  • Lard or vegetable oil for frying
  • Flour
  • 1 small clove Garlic per piece of chicken
  • Parsley (curly or flat, NOT dried)
  • 1 pat of Butter per piece of chicken
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Paprika
Instructions
  1. Dry off the chicken, salt and pepper it, and dredge the chicken parts in the flour. Shake off the excess flour and set aside.
  2. Heat to medium about ½ inch of lard or vegetable oil in a thick bottomed skillet. You can have the heat a little higher than you might for fried chicken because you are only looking to brown not to cook it all the way through. Turn the pieces to brown on both sides. The browning is to enhance the flavor of the finished dish so remove the pieces as soon as they get color. Depending on the size of the pan you may have two or more batches of chicken. Just be careful not to crowd the pan when you're frying. When all the parts are done set aside to cool and drain.
  3. Place the pieces in a shallow covered braising dish big enough so there is just one layer. Depending on the number of people you're cooking for you may need more than one dish.
  4. Now very finely mince enough garlic and parsley to dredge the butter pats in.
  5. Cut the chilled butter into pats about ⅓ inch thick. Press one side into the garlic and the other side into the parsley. Put the garlic side face down on the chicken - the parsley side facing up.
  6. Do this for each piece of chicken. Add two or three tablespoons of water to the bottom of the pan.
  7. Heat oven to 350 and bake for about an hour or until chicken is very tender.
  8. Dust with paprika and any left over parsley and serve over toasted french bread or with mashed potatoes.
Notes
Since this is a slow braised dish you want to add a little water at the start to create steam. The juices coming off the chicken and the butter will make your gravy for you.

Check the dish a couple of times during cooking. If the chicken isn't rendering as much broth as you like, add a couple more tablespoons of water. The objective is for the garlic and parsley to gently steam on and under the chicken. You don't want either to get brown or bitter.
3.2.1311

Filed Under: Chicken, Croatian, Entree Tagged With: braised chicken, chicken with parsley and garlic, croatian style chicken

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Hello, I'm Carine Clary and I'm the FrangloSaxon.

And is that a word? In a word - Yes! It reflects my French connections in the south part of the state and the Anglo Saxon ones on the Arkansas state line. I grew up eating & loving all the foods of Louisiana and the idea is to collect lots of them right here on this website.

What you'll find here is food that reflects everybody's cooking. Creole we know. Cajun we know. But how about Croatian or Vietnamese....or Italian or German....or the underestimated plain Southern food they do so well in the upstate parishes?

They're all part of who we are so pull up your chair and join me for some good eats!

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Chicken Mull

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