Jurassic Chicken with Mushrooms and Cream

This is a hearty cool weather dish from Jura France, with an intriguing fragrance from the mushrooms -- and if you can afford it, the nutty vin jaune. We typically use a tough old bird because it has more flavor than a young hen. Based on Art of Eating #72, November 2006.

Garnished with chicken skin cracklings, served over dumplings

I couldn't justify the cost of wines from Jura to cook with -- it's pricey in the States but not too bad in France; a friend once brought to drink: it's an unusual earthy wine with a distinct "rancio" aroma reminiscent of rancid walnuts.  I substituted for the requested Jura sous-voile and vin jaune wines with an unoaked, slightly buttery Chardonnay, and added a bit of sherry at the end to give the suggestion of nuttiness. Morel mushrooms are traditional, but porcini work too; don't use shitake as their flavor is too distinct. Even these dried mushrooms are about $20 for 100 grams, so here we use a mix of dried porcini and fresh cremini mushrooms.

The crisp skin condiment is my own twist on this as I don't enjoy soggy skin.  Although it's not traditional, we have served this with Spätzle which worked very well.

42 gram Dried Morel or Porcini Mushrooms
500 gram   Cremini mushrooms, fresh, sliced
1 whole Chicken (we've used an old 5# gallina)
Salt
Pepper
1-2 Tbs Flour, just enough to dust
2 ounce Butter
1 cup White Wine (e.g., unoaked, slightly buttery Chardonnay)
2 cup Chicken Stock (or mushroom hydration water)
1/4 cup Vin Jaune Wine (I used the same Chardonnay)
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 splash Lemon Juice
3 Tbs Sherry
Parsley, finely diced for condiment

Re-hydrate the Dried Mushrooms in cool water for 30 minutes.
Cut up the chicken into 8 pieces: drumsticks, thighs, breasts, wings;  remove and reserve skin.
Season with Salt, Pepper, and dust lightly with Flour.
Saute Chicken pieces in Butter in a wide pan so they lie in one layer, cooking until the flour is cooked; do not brown.

Slowly saute lightly floured pieces until barely cooked

Add 1 C Wine and Chicken Stock, cover and cook slowly so the chicken doesn't color, turning as needed.
The breasts should be done in about 15 minutes or less, remove; the others parts should take another 15 minutes or so, remove.
An giant old Gallina will take a lot longer, perhaps an hour.
Skim excessive fat if you have any.
Reduce until it's nearly a glaze.

Meanwhile...

Crisp the reserved skin from the Chicken by placing flat in a non-stick skillet, top with a pot lid or other object to keep it flat, and cook on low, turning over occasionally. It should eventually come out like crispy thin-cut bacon. Cut into shards.

Chicken skin cracklings are sooooo good

Remove the Chicken Meat from the bones and shred into bite-sized pieces.

Saute the Cremini mushrooms in some Chicken fat from above.
Slice the rehydrated Mushrooms, cutting out any woody stems, and add them to the saute.

Add 1/4 C vin jaune or other Wine, Cream, Mushrooms, and reduced Chicken liquid.
Cook and reduce until it just coats a spoon.
If you need to add moisture, strain some Mushroom liquid.

Reducing the cream with the mushrooms

Add the chicken meat and heat through.
Just before serving add the Sherry and mix through.
Add a splash of Lemon Juice if it taste a bit flat, just a touch.
Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve with dumplings or over Spätzle, garnish with Parsley and Chicken Skin cracklings.

Dumplings cook covered on top of the finished dish

Merloto Chinato, a riff on Barolo Chinato dessert wine

We recently opened a bottle of Barolo Chinato, a dessert wine made of Barolo and various herbs and spices: Chinato refers to "Cinchona", the quinine used in tonic water. I think it's my new favorite drink, redolent or cherries and maybe chocolate, some herbs; on the taste, it was very full bodied, rich. These are said to go really well with chocolate, and indeed they do. This bottle, by Damilano, was pretty pricey -- $66 for 500 ml, but we liked it so much Irene got me another brand for Christmas, from Cocchi, similarly priced.

Since we've been making our own vermouth, we figured we'd have a go at making our own approximation: could we make something for $10 for 750 ml?

Two commercial and two home made, with Irene's chocolate angel food cake

Recipe

The big difference between Barolo Chinato and Vermouth (aside from red vs white wine) is that vermouth is based on the bittering agent "vermut" or wormwood, while Chinato uses Cinchona.  I soaked 30g cinchona powder in 600 ml clean but inexpensive Frïs vodka for a few hours then strained it through a coffee filter; it came out a pleasant clear copper color.

When making vermouth, I use 300 ml of bitter herbal tinctures to two 750 ml bottles of wine, so did the same thing here. I started with about 75 ml of my cinchona tincture, and added other tinctures I'd made for vermouth: rhubarb root, nutmeg, clove, bay leaf, angelica root, cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, black walnut, fennel, juniper and others. I didn't measure these for this first experiment.

For my vermouth, I make a caramel, cooking to 188C/370F, but this one got away from me and came out a bit darker with a more burnt edge than usual.

I wanted to try an experiment so I split the 1800 ml of wine and tinctures into two jugs. To the first, I added the caramel (200 g sugar to 60 g water), and to the second I added agave syrup (133 g because it's 50% sweeter than sugar).

Tasting

We let them sit overnight to chill with the commercial bottles in the fridge, then did a blind taste test in the morning when our tastebuds were fresh. I lettered the bottoms of the glasses so I could determine which was which, then randomized them and assigned the fronts numbers so we could take notes. We served with this some of Irene's chocolate angel food cake. Our notes are below, and we reveal which is which.

Caramel: partly cloudy, caramel edge, perhaps slight burnt note, herbal.
Agave: cloudy, cinnamon; brighter and more winey than the caramel one.
Damilano: clear, brownish; fruity smell, thick body, taste of cherry pits, perhaps chocolate, maybe licorice.
Cocchi: clear, ruby; no fruit aroma, some woody aroma; fruity taste, caramel and wood flavors.

Of the four, I preferred the Damilano -- the fruit aroma was seductive; Irene preferred the Cocchi. We both preferred the caramel homemade to the agave one, but maybe the burnt taste was a bit too burnt. The commercial ones had thicker bodies that felt right for an after dinner drink, a digestivo.

Next Time

I'd use caramel next time but back down the color to my normal 188C/370F temperature; I might try another split batch, using honey instead of agave, since it will bring some flavor to the mix. I really love the fruit aroma in Damilano so I'd add bitter orange peel, maybe some crushed cherry pits, perhaps licorice root. The sweet spices remind me too much of mulled wine, so I'd back down the cinnamon and cloves to a barely perceptible level. I'd probably use a more heavy bodied wine, but to keep the cost in check, go with something like a California ancient vine Zinfandel, or maybe one of the affordable Ripassos from Trader Joe's.

There are some recipes for homemade versions on the interwebs including Stefan's with a reference to an Italian one from 1932, and a "secret" recipe that shows photos of the ingredients list. The handwritten secret recipe uses coriandoli (coriander), garofani (carnation flowers), quassia, noce moscata (nutmeg), and vanilla, in addition to the requisite Barolo, cinchona and sugar. Two of these use raisins, cocoa beans and elderberry so I might add cocoa nibs, raisins and elderberry flowers.

I might also try oak aging it by letting it rest on some oak chips for a week to round out the flavor.

Vermouth #3 with Garbage Barge Amaro

Our previous Vermouth used 16 different tinctures of herbs macerated in vodka; we strained out and saved the herbs, and put them in more vodka in a batch -- it's extracted plenty of flavor. For this vermouth, I wanted something quick, so instead of the tinctures, I just used this "garbage barge amaro" -- no careful measuring.  It turned out well.

400 g Sugar
120 g Water
1500 ml White Wine (Bota box pinot grigio)
300 ml Garbage Barge Amaro vodka

Make caramel by heating Sugar and Water until it hits 370F/188C; don't stir or anything.
Pour out onto Silpat or other nonstick sheet; a Teflon skillet works.
Allow to cool and set up a bit, but you don't have to wait until it's brittle.

While the caramel is cooking...

Combine Wine and Amaro in a 3 L container.

When the Caramel has set up a bit, or become brittle, roll up or shatter the caramel into the bucket of Wine and Amaro. 

Cover and let dissolve over night.

Makes slightly over 2 Liters of Vermouth. I topped up with a bit more wine to bring it up to fill 3 750 ml bottles, 2250 ml total.

Chill and serve, perhaps over ice, or with a spritz of soda water, or use to make fabulous Manhattans or gin martinis.