What better way to get some outdoor cast iron dutch oven cooking is after a snow storm. After my shoveling was done, I headed out back and got the firepit going.
I was going to make a Balsamic Braised Chicken dish. But stumbled onto this variation which included not only Balsamic, but red wine & apple cider vinegar. With some basic mushrooms & carrots, I quickly ran to the store to get the right supplies.
Cooking in the winter has been a challenge for me, where I always underestimate the amount of coals required. I’d say this was a 3 chimney dish. I ended up burning some softwood to get the firepit somewhat dry and some hard wood coals just to extend the cooking time.
What you need to make this dish which will take about 90 min to complete (source).
4 Pounds of Chicken
2 pounds of mushrooms, I used white & baby bellas
5 servings of carrots. I used frozen baby carrots which added a lot of moisture to the sauce, so you may skip the next item.
2 cups of chicken broth
3 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 tb flour
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
olive oil, salt & pepper.
Season the chicken with salt & pepper and brown it in the dutch oven in batches.
Then remove the chicken and get those veggies in to soften up.
After 15-20 min, we added our flour to thicken the sauce and added our vinegar mix and broth (if necessary).
Once the mixture is warmed up, throw in the chicken and let it cook for an hour or until the meat starts to fall off the bone.
We paired this dish with a Black IPA from Tatamagouche Brewing. I thought that the darker malts & hop profile similar to an American Pale Ale would partner well with the vinegar. And sure enough, the combination of the two cancelled each other out and you end up with a pleasant dish and beverage.
A photo posted by Jim Cyr (@thecyr) on