I started with a chicken that I sprinkled with kosher salt, coarse pepper, and cayenne pepper on. I really like the flavor that coarse salt and pepper bring to cooking. I highly recommend them.
I set the chicken in the Dutch oven to give the seasonings a chance to mix and absorb while I prepared the veggies and the charcoal. I used a 12" Dutch oven, but if you have a larger one, like a 14" inch, I think that would do better. I was really cramming things in and the liquid level got up a little bit higher than I would have liked.
Now I got the veggies ready. I cut up some carrots, onions, red peppers, celery, tomatoes, and potatoes.
Now I started putting the vegetables in the Dutch oven around the chicken. That's when I realized that I should have probably used a bigger Dutch oven. I think it will turn out better if you do that. It was pretty full. It would be better to have a little bit of room. And I would have liked to put some more potatoes in, but there just wasn't room!
I added a mix of chicken stock, lemon juice, parsley and cilantro, and minced garlic. I put the lid on, and took it out to my Dutch oven table where I had the coals going. Typically for a 12" Dutch oven, you use 24 coals and split between top and bottom, depending on what you are cooking. It was a cool, occasionally windy day, so I added a few more to keep the heat up. In this case, I could have put a few more from the top under the bottom, since there was plenty of liquid in the dish.
I let this simmer for awhile, checking occasionally until the chicken got to an internal temperature of 170 degrees. That's when I noticed that there was a LOT of liquid in the Dutch oven. If you look closely, you can see that in the picture below. I know that you want some liquid--that's partly what braised is (I didn't brown the chicken first, which would have made this more classic braised. I think I'll add that to the recipe for next time).
But with the two cups of chicken stock, plus the liquid that the chicken and the vegetables release, there was just a little bit too much. It ended up washing away some of the seasonings from the lower part of the chicken, which you can see in the final dish below. Browning the chicken before adding the stock, would have helped that, as would a bigger Dutch oven, which would have spread the liquid out a bit. Next time.
I removed the chicken and most of the vegetables from the Dutch oven and put on a plate to rest.
I then mixed a few tablespoons of flour with water, added to the remaining liquid, moved more coals underneath and got it boiling to create a bit of a gray to put over the chicken and vegetables. The peppers added a kick to the gray and it was tasted pretty good over the chicken and vegetables. As always, the chicken was super moist, and turned out great. The Dutch oven acts like a bit of a pressure cooker (the weight of the lid being the amount of pressure that is applied), and keeps things nice and moist.
This is a super easy meal to cook in your Dutch oven. It would be pretty easy over your campfire and would make a great tasting "gourmet" dish for camping. Hope you enjoy it!
- 1 whole chicken
- Kosher salt
- Coarse black pepper
- Cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp oil
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 cups hot chicken stock
- Dried parsley
- Dried cilantro
- 4-5 stalks of celery
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 onions
- 2-3 tbsp flour
- Start the coals going, about 35-40.
- Start with a completely thawed chicken and rub it all over with the salt, pepper, and cayenne. Do it to your liking. Too much cayenne might overpower things, but if you like to "kick it up a notch", add what you would like.
- Put the Dutch oven over coals with the oil in the bottom and let it heat up.
- Put the chicken in the Dutch oven, and brown it, turning to put each side on the bottom to let it brown.
- Put the lid on and set aside from the coals. This lets the Dutch oven cool down just a bit. We don't want to crack it by having it too hot when we put the liquid in.
- Mix the garlic, lemon juice, hot chicken stock, parley, and cilantro and slowly add to the Dutch oven. Again, the temperature difference between the Dutch oven and the liquid should be not great, or the Dutch oven may crack. Pouring in the liquid slowly will help.
- Cut up the vegetables and add to the Dutch oven. I would start with the tomatoes, and put the carrots and potatoes near the top. They won't get quite as mushy when they are cooked in the liquid.
- Replace the lid and put coals on top. You want roughly 24 coals, give or take, depending on the weather. If it is cool or windy, you'll need a few more. Put more coals underneath than on top, since you have plenty of liquid in the Dutch oven.
- Let cook, replacing coals as needed to keep things hot.
- When the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees, it's done! Remove the chicken and the vegetables to a serving platter.
- Mix the flour and some water to make a thickener. Add to the remaining liquid in the Dutch oven. Stir.
- Put most of the coals underneath the Dutch oven and let the mixture come to a boil. Remove from the coals and let sit a few minutes. When thickened, put the gray into a bowl for serving.
P.S. For more great Dutch oven dishes, see Best of the Black pot by Mark Hansen.
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