Wit Braised Chicken
I first created this dish to find an excuse to use a Witbier style Belgian brew with chicken. The orange peel and coriander seed flavored wheat ale from Belgium creates the perfect canvas to play with flavors that compliment the flavors chicken. The combination of Orange and chicken are a global flavor match; you see it in the Chinese cuisine, to several other interpretations. I wanted to play up the flavors found in this brew style to create a comforting dish that would bring me back to Belgium. Like so many dishes I have had in my travels to this country, they incorporate the techniques from the French kitchen as a culinary foundation, while the results have a rustic Germany twist. Belgian Beer Cuisine is this mash of comforting and sophistication, with each plate, each bite. The aromas, the plating the different ingredients, how they express themselves across the palate. This was the inspiration for this Wit Braised Chicken recipe.
As with any recipe, Wit Braised Chicken can be substituted and swapped out with other ingredients. Pancetta is used, as it is cured pork belly, yet if it isn’t available, a lightly smoked bacon can work. If white asparagus isn’t available, green asparagus would still be appropriate on the plate. This are the Belgian touches and ingredients I remember tasting and seeing on all the different plates I experienced. Using leeks and shallots over onions, the layers of flavors that were created by the different chefs. When cooking with beer, the reduced beer in combination with a rich stock stock, added so much flavor to the final sauce. As the Witbier style is lower in International Bittering Units (IBU), the caramelized leeks and shallots add enough sweetness to find balance, along with the fat from the cream, making poaching | braising liquid perfect for chicken. Other types of fowl could be used; such as turkey, Cornish game hens, Guinea fowl or pheasant. The cooking times will have to be tested, making a good thermometer a good culinary investment, to ensure proper doneness.
Please enjoy this recipe, both in making it and serving it. Plus eating it doesn’t suck!
Wit Braised Chicken served with poached white asparagus and on a bed of Celery Root Purée to create a Belgian food escape!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 servings | 15 minute |
| Cook Time |
| 25 minute |
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Wit Braised Chicken served with poached white asparagus and on a bed of Celery Root Purée to create a Belgian food escape!
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Ingredients
Wit Braised Chicken Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoon oil, olive
- 3 slices pancetta thick cut or a light smoked bacon (optional)
- 1 whole chicken cleaned and cut into 6th (Leg/thigh, breast, wing)
- sea salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoon flour, all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon coriander, seed whole
- 1 teaspoon orange zest, dried
- 1 each leeks, cleaned and sliced
- 2 each shallots peeled and diced, about 1 cup
- 3 tablespoon thyme leaves fresh
- 750 ml beer, Witbier such as Allagash White, Brewery Ommegang Witte or Lagunitas Stoopid Wit
- 1 cup stock, chicken, preferably homemade
- 1 cup cream, heavy preferably organic
Wit Braised Chicken Plating Ingredients:
- 2 pound white asparagus bottom ends removed
- 1 recipe Potato Celery Root Puree recipe here
- or
- 1 recipe Mashed Purple Potatoes with Caramelized Onions, Garlic and Herbs recipe here
- chervil or Italian leaf parsley garnish
- dried orange slices garnish
Servings: servings
Units:
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F | 177°C.
- In a 12 quart dutch oven, over medium heat, add oil and pancetta and cook until the Italian style bacon is slightly crisp, rendered its fat, about 5 - 6 minutes. Remove the pancetta from the pot, setting aside in a bowl.
- While the pancetta is cooking, cut up the chicken into six parts, season all sides with salt and pepper and sprinkle evenly with flour on all sides. Add 3 chicken pieces to the oil and pancetta fat, browning each side for about 5 - 6 minutes.
- The chicken will not be fully cooked. Remove the chicken from the pan and repeat with remaining chicken pieces. Remove the last batch of chicken and add coriander and orange zest, sautéing for 30 seconds, as the coriander starts to pop, flavoring the remaining oil | fat. Add the leeks, shallots and thyme to the pot, cooking for 4 - 5 minutes, until the leeks have wilted slightly. Deglaze the pan with Witbier.
- Using a wooden spoon to remove any of the fond on the bottom of the pan. This will give extra depth to the finish sauce and make clean up even easier.
- Add the chicken stock and cream, bringing the mixture to a gentle simmer. Arrange the cooked chicken pieces into the simmering liquid in a single layer, followed by adding the pancetta. This will slow poach | braise the chicken, finishing it's cooking in this delicious sauce.
- Place the pot into the middle of the oven and cook for 25 minutes. The chicken is done when a probe style thermometer reads 165°F | 74°C.
- Remove the pot from the oven and place onto a burner; removing the chicken pieces carefully to a side dish and cover to keep warm, while the rest of the dish comes together. Add the prepped asparagus on top of the sauce, in the pan and reduce the sauce over medium high heat for 5 - 7 minutes, until the sauce has thickened, reducing by about half and the asparagus is tender, but still holds its shape. Taste the Witbier sauce and adjust the seasoning if needed with salt and white pepper.
- Add the the chicken back to the pot, tossing to coat in the sauce. On a large platter, that has been warmed in the oven, pile the Celery Root Purée or Mashed Purple Potatoes with Caramelized Onions, Garlic and Herbs in the center.
To Serve Individual Plates:
- Mound a scoop of Celery Root Purée or Mashed Purple Potatoes with Caramelized Onions, Garlic and Herbs in the center of a warm plate, placing a piece of the chicken on top, arranging some white asparagus overlapping each other and dressing it in some of the Witbier Sauce. Garnish with chervil or Italian leaf parsley and dried orange slice. Serve immediately.
To Serve Family Style:
- Arrange the chicken pieces around the purée, then place the white asparagus around the rim of a warm dish | platter and ladle the Witbier sauce over the top, garnishing with chervil or Italian leaf parsley and dried orange slices.
Recipe Notes
Wit Braised Chicken Cooking Beer Suggestions:
For this beer style, using a Witbier (a Belgian wheat beer spiced with coriander and bitter orange peel) I would recommend Allagash White, Blanche de Chambley from Unibroue or Ommegang Witte. The soft wheat flavors combine with the citrusy coriander and orange zest to compliment the chicken, while making a beautiful sauce.
This recipe was served at the Eat Real Festival, in Oakland, CA 2016.
Beer Pairing Suggestions:
You could serve the same beer as the sauce was made with to brighten the dish, but a Westmalle Tripel would compliment the flavors found in the dish, or try a Westmalle Dubbel, or even a Belgian Noel Spiced brew.
More Belgian Beer Cuisine Recipes:
'Shake and Bake' Hopped Fried Chicken
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This is a wonderful recipe