Chicken and Slicks

When I first saw this recipe on PBS’s Cook’s Country, I thought of my mom and how much I thought she would enjoy it. When we used to go to Fresh Choice together, she would always talk about how much she loved their chicken noodle soup, with its thick, doughy, chewy noodles and rich, chicken-y broth flecked with thyme. The “slicks” in this thick chicken stew are handmade noodles flavored with rendered chicken fat, named for their soft, slippery mouthfeel.

On the surface, this seems like a pretty ordinary dish, but there are so many ways in which the ingredients are manipulated to make it extraordinary. First, the broth (and the noodles) get a savory boost from pan frying the chicken pieces before simmering them in the soup. This creates a rich brown fond on the bottom of the pan that soak into your sauteed vegetables and leach into the rendered fat that, along with a splash of chicken broth, will moisten the dough for your noodles. You should get your chicken with skin on for just this purpose, even though it seems like a waste of time since you’re just going to be discarding the skins, but it’s worth it. Also, the bones in the chicken will lend body and flavor to your broth as the chicken simmers.

Another cool little trick in this dish is what I would call a “dry roux,” white flour that gets dry-toasted until brown and nutty and later gets added to the pot to turn the broth into a thick and velvety gravy. The stew gets a nice earthy flavor and a thickness that makes the dish almost like, as my mom put it, “a deconstructed chicken pot pie,” which it totally is.

This kind of food–warm, comforting and homey–is what this blog is all about. I loved this dish. I hope my mom loved it. And if you guys make it, I hope you love it, too.

– G

Chicken and Slicks

Total Time: 2 hrs, 15 min.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs
• 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, halved crosswise
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• handful chopped fresh parsley

Method

• In a large dutch oven over medium heat, toast the 6 tablespoons of flour, stirring constantly, until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer flour to a medium bowl and wipe out pot
• Season chicken with kosher salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in now empty Dutch oven over medium-high heat. In two batches, add the chicken and cook until well browned all over, about 10 minutes per side; transfer to a plate. Pour the fat in the pan into another small bowl and set aside. When chicken is cool, remove the skin and discard
• Return same pot to the stove and heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cook for about 30 seconds. Add 7 1/2 cups of stock, chicken pieces and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer chicken to a plate. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones, cut into bite-size pieces, and set aside
• Meanwhile, combine remaining 1/2 cup chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of the reserved chicken fat, and remaining tablespoon of oil. In a food processor, process the remaining 2 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. With the machine still running, slowly add the broth mixture and process until dough comes together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth
• Divide dough in half. Roll each dough half into a 10×10-inch square.  Cut each square into 10 1-inch strips, then cut each strip in half across, so you have 20 5×1-inch noodles (per dough half).  Place noodles on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with another sheet of parchment, stacking as needed, ending with a sheet of parchment on top. Put in the freezer to firm up, at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes
• Return broth to a low boil and add the noodles. Cook until the noodles are tender, 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don’t stick together. Remove 1 cup of broth and whisk into the reserved toasted flour until you have a smooth paste. Stir paste into pot gently, being careful not to break up noodles. Simmer until thickened, 5 minutes. Add chicken pieces and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper, as needed. Ladle into shallow bowls and garnish with parsley