Over the weekend, while searching my email for a chicken and shallot recipe my mother had sent me, I came across a New York Times Cooking newsletter from December 2014. In the letter, Sam Sifton writes about his favorite dish of the year, which came via an Andrew Zimmern tweet: “Brown 8 thighs, 3 C shallots. Add wine, tarragon, Dijon, sim 30 min covered. Remove lid, reduce. Add 2C cut cherry toms.” Andrew’s wife, Rishia, had adapted the recipe from Martha Stewart. Sam made the recipe right away, then posted his adaptation in Cooking, where it has since received thousands of rave reviews.
Is Browning Chicken Necessary?
Rishia’s recipe calls for flouring and browning the chicken before adding shallots, mustard, and white wine. I couldn’t help but wonder if the flouring and browning was necessary. I gave it a go, skipping the flouring and browning, jumping straight to the sautéing of the shallots, then adding the mustard, thyme, and white wine. Guess what? It worked. After about 45 minutes in the oven, the chicken emerged as hoped: with burnished skin and meat falling off the bone. This chicken is delicious, but my favorite part about the recipe is the shallots, which further caramelize in the oven and melt into the sauce, infusing it with sweetness. Though the 15 shallots nearly make this a one-pan wonder, I served it with a kale salad and, of course, bread for sopping. Friends: I don’t brown chicken anymore, and I don’t think you should either 🙂
5 Favorite No-Browning Chicken Recipes
PS: 18 Weeknight Chicken Recipes Here.
4.9 from 16 reviews Changes I’ve made include: skip the browning. Ever since making Diana Henry’s Moroccan chicken and rice, which calls for a chuck-everything-in-the-oven-at-once technique, I don’t brown chicken anymore. Not browning yields crispy skin in said Moroccan chicken and rice recipe as well as in this Chicken with Sherry Vinegar recipe and here with this roast chicken and shallots. One caveat: If you use large or fattier chicken pieces, your sauce may be overwhelmed with rendered fat. I rarely have this issue, but every so often, if I taste the sauce at the end of cooking, and it tastes too fatty, I’ll remove the meat (and shallots, here), pour the sauce into a Pyrex, let the fat rise to the top, and skim it off. I find this easier than browning especially since this step isn’t always necessary. Also, I use thyme because I can’t always find tarragon — not similar flavors, but each works well with the other flavors in this dish. Also, given the season, I do not add tomatoes.
