Cooking Class with Chef Ivan Flowers: Lesson 17 - Chicken

With the last cooking class being all about eggs, I simply had to follow it with a class about chicken!

In this class we will cover how to braise chicken thighs. I will teach you the technique of braising; the term comes from the French word braiser. The braising method means to cook something using both moist and dry heats. I must digress here and tell you that a well-cooked chicken thigh is one of my absolute favorite things to eat and with this class I hope to make you all huge fans of the chicken thigh as well.

Let’s get cooking.

We will start with braising the chicken thighs. You will need a large, Dutch oven type pot for this technique. It has to have a lid and must be oven safe. This recipe will feed four people. You will need twelve chicken thighs, skin on and bone-in. Do not remove the bone. The bone adds flavor, keeps the meat juicy and minimizes shrinkage.

Here are the rest of your ingredients: three tablespoons canola oil, salt, pepper, one medium onion, two stalks celery, one large carrot, four cloves garlic, two tablespoons tomato paste, one bottle red wine, three cups homemade or low sodium chicken stock, two sprigs rosemary, two sprigs thyme and two tablespoons unsalted butter.

While you are working stovetop, preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Now, the first step in braising is using the dry heat. Put the canola oil in your pot over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken thighs and place skin side down in the pot. Cook for five minutes and then flip the thighs over and cook another three minutes. With this, you are creating a sear and locking in those wonderful juices.

Remove the chicken from the pot and pour out ¾ of the fat.

Lower heat to medium and add the onion, celery and carrot (all chopped in a medium dice). Remember, this is a mirepoix and is the base on which we will build our flavors. Also, add the four cloves garlic, finely minced. Cook your mirepoix and garlic for about eight minutes, until they are lightly browned.

Next we add the tomato paste. You will need to stir and cook the paste for five minutes. This is a French technique called pince (pronounced Pin-Say). We cook the tomato paste because right out of the can it tends to be sharp and a little too sweet. Cooking it mellows the flavor that will create a richness and depth in our dish.

Now add the entire bottle of red wine and let it reduce by 1/3, next add in the chicken stock. For the herbs, we will tie them together with butcher’s twine (or other non-toxic twine) and drop into the pot. When you tie whole sprigs of herbs together, it is called a bouquet garni, which means garnished bouquet in French. We do this so we can get all the flavor from the herbs and then easily remove when we have finished cooking. Why don’t we simply add chopped herbs? Because in a long cooking method like braising, if you chopped the herbs, some would dissolve and others may become bitter over time. This way we control how the herbs flavor the dish. Please remember to remove the bouquet garni before you serve the dish!

Now place the chicken thighs into the pot skin side up. We want the skin to keep its integrity and not become poached in the liquid. It is also very important that the liquid only covers ¾ of the chicken. Why? Because if it covered more of the thighs it would be boiling, not braising. So, if you have too much liquid, simply let it reduce a little longer. Not enough? You can always add more chicken stock.

Once the thighs are in the pot cover it and place in your preheated 250 degree oven. You will cook this for one and a half to two hours.

They are done when they are fork tender. That means that when you put a fork into the thickest part of the thigh, it slides off as if you had put that fork into a stick of butter.

Once they are done, remove pot from oven and turn your oven up to 450 degrees. While it is heating, take the unsalted butter and brush it on the skin of the chicken. Once the oven is at temperature, put the chicken back in the oven uncovered and cook it until that skin is a beautiful golden brown.

Remove the browned chicken to a plate and discard the bouquet garni. Spoon some of the cooking liquid onto a plate, put the chicken thigh on top and enjoy. Please don’t spoon the liquid over the chicken. We just took the time to create a crispy brown skin on it and the wet liquid on top of it would destroy all of that work.

There, now you know how to braise. You can use this technique with other meats like roasts and short ribs. As with any technique or recipe, the most important component is the cook’s heart. The heart is what creates delicious.

Chef Ivan Flowers brings 25 years of fine cuisine experience to Top of The Market, San Diego. Prior to becoming Executive Chef at Top of The Market, Chef Flowers owned Fournos restaurant in Sedona, Arizona, named a top 25 restaurant in Arizona. He was also Executive Chef at L’Auberge de Sedona, the AAA Four-Diamond, Four Star award winning restaurant. Flowers has created extraordinary cuisine for some of the finest restaurants in Arizona, including T. Cooks at Scottsdale's Royal Palms Resort and the Phoenician's Mary Elaine's and Different Pointe of View.

Follow Chef Flowers on Twitter and Facebook