Muscadine Braised Chicken Thighs

Deep Run Roots

We cook chicken thighs quite often at our house, so this seemed like a no-brainer. Will the whole family enjoy this? Watch and see!

This one finally stumped me -- I can't find the recipe online anywhere. However, a braise like this is pretty forgiving, so you might not nail it perfectly but I'm sure it would still be pretty good.

Captions

[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:07]: with Heather this week we are going to
[00:10]: be making muscadine braised chicken
[00:13]: thighs from Vivian Howard's deep run
[00:16]: roots cookbook muscadine grapes we use
[00:20]: those in a recipe before they're very
[00:23]: prevalent around here they're they grow
[00:26]: around here I don't know how difficult
[00:28]: they are to find it everywhere else but
[00:30]: I've already done a lot of the prep for
[00:34]: this recipe I've cut my grapes and
[00:37]: deseeded them which we showed you in the
[00:39]: previous recipe I think that was
[00:41]: Brussels sprouts grapes and sausage so
[00:48]: look for you can I'll link the recipe
[00:50]: below so you can see how I did that it
[00:53]: takes a long time so I'm not going to
[00:56]: make you watch me cut two cups of grapes
[00:60]: and de-seed them because it does take a
[01:02]: while a couple other things about the
[01:07]: ingredients this calls for six sprigs of
[01:10]: thyme I went and checked my time I was
[01:14]: about to go snip some off and well it
[01:17]: looks pretty bad we've had a really dry
[01:20]: period here and I think that's probably
[01:22]: why it is rainy today but it's the first
[01:24]: ring we've had in like a month
[01:26]: so and it also calls for chicken stock I
[01:30]: usually have some in the freezer but I
[01:33]: don't so I'm gonna be using some chicken
[01:36]: base that I keep in the refrigerator for
[01:39]: instances like this so not a hundred
[01:42]: percent following the recipe but it
[01:44]: should be just fine so the first thing
[01:47]: I'm gonna show you is how to cut the
[01:50]: leeks if I neglected to mention it
[01:52]: because my time is not looking so good I
[01:55]: do have some dried thyme a lot of times
[01:59]: with dried herbs do you have to be
[02:00]: really careful with the amount you use
[02:02]: because it can overpower it time as a
[02:04]: relatively mild flavor so should be fine
[02:08]: so she says to use two to three weeks
[02:13]: two cups what am I
[02:14]: do is go ahead and cut up all of the
[02:16]: leeks that I have and then measure out
[02:19]: two cups and I can you can store the
[02:23]: leftover I usually wrap them in paper
[02:28]: towels in a plastic bag in the
[02:31]: refrigerator and they'll last for a
[02:32]: while and I can use them for something
[02:33]: else so first thing you do is slice off
[02:36]: the ends and for this recipe she wants
[02:38]: 1/2 inch rounds usually I slice them and
[02:42]: do sort of half moons or even quarter
[02:45]: them you know slice them like that and
[02:48]: then slice it like this today she wants
[02:51]: 1/2 inch rounds and so the thing about
[02:54]: leeks is they get a lot of dirt inside
[02:57]: here as they're growing inside the
[02:60]: layers so usually I put them in a bowl a
[03:04]: large bowl fill the bowl with water and
[03:07]: sort of rub them together to get all of
[03:11]: the dirt from between the layers and
[03:13]: usually I'm sort of chopping up the
[03:15]: leeks relatively fine when I do that not
[03:18]: sure how that's gonna work with the way
[03:20]: these are for this recipe but we're
[03:22]: gonna go ahead and slice them in rounds
[03:23]: just like she says about all so you only
[03:35]: generally use the white and light green
[03:37]: parts I've seen people save the the
[03:40]: darker green parts and use them for
[03:42]: stock so you can do that
[04:04]: when I start getting towards the the
[04:09]: dark green parts on the outside I just
[04:10]: sort of take off a layer when they start
[04:12]: looking bad and then slice it or take
[04:20]: off the layers like some more I just I
[04:24]: was raised by a grandmother well my
[04:28]: grandmother lived with us when I was a
[04:29]: child and she was raised at during the
[04:32]: Depression and so I think I am
[04:37]: influenced by that a lot and I don't
[04:40]: like to waste things yeah
[04:49]: so we're getting to the point where
[04:51]: really we're probably not gonna be able
[04:53]: to have a whole whole lot more from this
[04:56]: week so I'm gonna go ahead and get to my
[04:60]: next one
[05:00]: that's what all three of them I've
[05:03]: sliced my leeks and you can see there's
[05:07]: still some dirt in here I'm gonna go
[05:09]: ahead and run some water in it to try
[05:11]: and get some of that dirt off your back
[05:15]: so I'm just kind of swishing these
[05:18]: around a little bit to get the dirt on
[05:20]: the outside off they don't look very
[05:22]: dirty on the inside usually sort of
[05:24]: where the layers meet where it starts
[05:28]: opening up that's where you see most of
[05:31]: the dirt and I don't it looks pretty
[05:32]: good so I'm gonna go ahead and measure
[05:35]: this and lay it out on looks like this
[05:40]: will be almost exactly two cups chopped
[05:42]: this way there are some pictures in the
[05:47]: book so I know that this is sort of the
[05:49]: way that she keeps them all together as
[05:52]: sort of raised because there's like four
[05:57]: nice pictures of this as it cooks so
[05:60]: I've got a little more than two cups but
[06:03]: that's alright I'm not gonna bother
[06:04]: saving extras I just have some paper
[06:09]: towels here to drain these on so they're
[06:10]: not too wet and you can see that's a
[06:14]: little bit of dirt in the bottom of the
[06:16]: bowl that we got off so our next step
[06:20]: we're gonna go ahead and season our
[06:22]: chicken thighs so cuz that's what we're
[06:25]: braising in the leeks and grapes so I'm
[06:29]: gonna get those ready we have six
[06:33]: chicken thighs here she says for the
[06:34]: recipe four to six but I know for my
[06:36]: family usually we will eat six chicken
[06:40]: thighs for a meal so I've got six and
[06:44]: we're going to first season them with
[06:45]: salt and pepper I'm just gonna my hands
[06:48]: are so little
[06:51]: wet from washing them so I'm just gonna
[06:54]: use the spoon so you do this on both
[06:59]: sides this is a mixture of salt and
[07:03]: pepper
[07:03]: that you know it's just the amount of
[07:05]: salt and pepper that she says to use
[07:10]: it's easier than doing them separately
[07:14]: I'm gonna turn them over and get the
[07:17]: other side and now what I'm gonna do is
[07:23]: dredge these in some all-purpose flour
[07:25]: so you're just gonna get them nicely
[07:27]: covered on both sides some of these are
[07:35]: really huge some of them are much
[07:37]: smaller so good thing about chicken
[07:40]: thighs is even if they are technically
[07:43]: overcooked they stay moist and tender
[07:50]: and good and this is a braise so you
[07:54]: know that's not gonna make a huge
[07:55]: difference we're just gonna have to make
[07:56]: sure that the biggest ones are
[07:58]: definitely done
[08:05]: normally I would for me I would seasoned
[08:10]: my dredge but not seasoned so it season
[08:13]: the flour but not the chicken before I
[08:15]: put it in the flour but this probably
[08:17]: means you useless honestly and the
[08:19]: chicken gets a better coating so I've
[08:24]: got my chicken thighs all dredged my
[08:29]: hands a mess my work surface is a mess
[08:30]: I've got flour everywhere I'm gonna
[08:32]: clean up and then we're going to get
[08:34]: these seared and take them out
[08:37]: start the braising liquid and then get
[08:40]: them back in and then they go in the
[08:41]: oven so I've already got my oven heated
[08:44]: to 350 degrees which is what it needs to
[08:47]: be for these to cook in the oven after
[08:51]: they cook on the stove so be right back
[08:54]: now's the step where we are going to
[08:57]: sear and brown these chicken thighs on
[09:02]: one side for about three to five minutes
[09:04]: until it gets nicely brown then we're
[09:06]: gonna turn it over and cook it on that
[09:09]: side for about three minutes I'm just
[09:10]: going to put it back on this tray
[09:12]: because they're gonna cook after this so
[09:14]: even though it's raw and that's not
[09:16]: entirely wrong it's not gonna be
[09:17]: anywhere near really cooked it's
[09:19]: probably gonna take two batches with
[09:20]: these six chicken thighs so
[09:28]: it's not a lot of oil in the bottom so
[09:31]: I'm hoping he doesn't stick but
[09:44]: [Music]
[09:47]: you do put them down skin-side first
[09:50]: you're going to want to get a good brown
[09:53]: and crispy nasaan the skin side and so
[09:57]: we're gonna when we put it back in the
[09:59]: pan with the braise we're going to be
[10:01]: careful not to get the liquid on top of
[10:05]: the skin so that it stays a little bit
[10:06]: crispy and doesn't get rubbery so now
[10:10]: we're sweating tried to brown so really
[10:14]: this is been seven minutes and I ended
[10:19]: up turning up the heat a little bit
[10:20]: because I think that wasn't quite hot
[10:23]: enough to get the good Brown that I was
[10:25]: looking for so we're trimming them over
[10:26]: and we're not going to worry as much
[10:28]: about browning which other side or
[10:30]: really just kind of trying to cook that
[10:32]: flour a little bit and get decide a
[10:34]: little bit
[10:55]: three minutes on this side and then we
[10:57]: roll you get a back
[10:58]: send up reason is I'm happy with the
[11:01]: level of brown on the other side
[11:06]: [Music]
[11:13]: [Music]
[11:18]: and you get about so the biesecker back
[11:24]: is done now
[11:40]: second back took a little less time
[11:42]: because the pan was hotter turned it
[11:45]: down a little bit more now we're
[11:47]: supposed to pour out all but about a
[11:49]: tablespoon of the fat from in here then
[11:58]: we add in the weeks that we sliced up
[12:19]: and the rest of the salt in the recipe
[12:24]: Luke was not complicated masa thankfully
[12:35]: started to the five on my so which goes
[12:38]: to attend so that's medium heat which is
[12:40]: what she suggested I think I just didn't
[12:43]: give it enough time to heat up before I
[12:45]: put the chicken in the first batch
[12:47]: second batch went more to plan so back
[12:52]: down to a five now don't want to burn
[12:56]: anything I'm gonna call this brown
[12:60]: enough I think it's been about three
[13:02]: minutes I forgot to look we're now gonna
[13:04]: add the grapes that I sliced and this is
[13:08]: some sliced garlic and we cook this just
[13:12]: to sort of get it beat it up now we add
[13:18]: our rosemary we have some star anise
[13:24]: here I've had a hard time finding this
[13:27]: at a grocery store I ordered it on the
[13:31]: internet it's dried it's relatively easy
[13:33]: to find there and it's okay firm shipped
[13:37]: to you whatever and half of a cinnamon
[13:40]: stick and this is my we would be putting
[13:42]: in fresh thyme sprigs but I've got dried
[13:47]: thyme stir that all up so there's some
[13:54]: interesting flavors the star anise if
[13:56]: you've never had that before
[13:59]: tastes it smells like licorice and has a
[14:02]: little bit of that flavor hopefully
[14:04]: won't be too overpowering in this dish
[14:08]: rosemary certainly smells strong right
[14:11]: now
[14:11]: alright put that everything sort of
[14:15]: [Music]
[14:16]: mixed up
[14:20]: so I'm going to put try to fit all of
[14:23]: these on top of grapes and leeks and
[14:35]: everything else all right
[14:42]: [Music]
[14:44]: it's going to be particularly hard for
[14:46]: me so you can pour this in without
[14:50]: getting the skin wet I'm gonna do my
[14:53]: best
[14:54]: we have some apple cider vinegar I'm
[15:01]: gonna try to pour it in all the little
[15:05]: holes so that it's nicely mixed in since
[15:13]: we're not mixing it up it'll mix into
[15:14]: the other I'm sure it's falling and then
[15:17]: we have some apple cider
[15:34]: and now we have some of the chicken she
[15:40]: calls for the chicken stock that
[15:43]: hopefully you've met home but sadly I
[15:45]: did not have so I'm gonna I'm only gonna
[15:48]: put in as much as I can without drowning
[15:54]: the chicken breasts and if we need to
[15:57]: add some later we can but so I ended up
[16:01]: putting in about half of that so so
[16:04]: we're supposed to bring this up to a
[16:05]: simmer before we put it in the oven so
[16:08]: our chicken thighs sorry if I said
[16:12]: breasts we're going to make sure the
[16:15]: liquid comes up to a simmer before we
[16:17]: put it in the oven this is gonna be
[16:21]: heavy the pan is heavy that all the
[16:25]: stuff in it it's gonna make it even
[16:26]: heavier I'm gonna be very careful okay
[16:29]: I'm starting to see bubbles right here
[16:31]: in the middle so I think we're good
[16:33]: notes from this off very carefully put
[16:39]: it in you
[16:58]: all right set my timer for 40 minutes
[17:01]: and then we'll be back this has been in
[17:04]: the oven for exactly 40 minutes I think
[17:06]: it all looks good
[17:08]: I'm sure the chicken thighs are done now
[17:11]: we take these out and set them aside and
[17:17]: they did mostly maintain their super
[17:21]: crispy skin so that's good like I said I
[17:25]: did not use all of the stock that the
[17:28]: recipe called for because I did not want
[17:30]: them to submerge so but now we take
[17:36]: these out and we're going to reduce this
[17:43]: sauce and then we're going to add some
[17:47]: butter to it to make it nice and creamy
[17:50]: but we're going to reduce it by half
[17:53]: first so I've got the stove on medium
[18:03]: heat so oh and I'm also going to fish
[18:08]: out the things that are not edible like
[18:13]: the stalk of the the sprigs of rosemary
[18:17]: the star anise and the cinnamon stick
[18:23]: which hopefully I can find there's two
[18:28]: star anise I need to find one more of
[18:30]: those
[18:43]: there's the other story in us now the
[18:46]: cinnamon stick is hiding but wait there
[18:56]: it is
[18:58]: there we go so we're just going to get
[19:03]: this boiling and reducing until it's
[19:07]: about half as much as it is or until it
[19:10]: coats the back of a spoon so cook this
[19:14]: down about half I do have a tendency to
[19:18]: over reduce things so but now the last
[19:21]: step is to swirl in about a tablespoon
[19:25]: of butter and then she says that I omit
[19:33]: C she says to put these back in the pan
[19:41]: on top of the sauce and keep them warm
[19:44]: until you serve but I am going to serve
[19:49]: this immediately so I'm not going to
[19:51]: bother putting them back in the sauce
[19:53]: but that's it and so you see that that
[19:57]: coats the back of a spoon so yeah that's
[20:00]: exactly how she wanted it I should've
[20:02]: checked that before but anyway
[20:06]: very tasty all right that's it and we're
[20:11]: gonna play it up and let's see how it
[20:12]: looks
[20:20]: on this week's episode of cooking the
[20:23]: books with Heather
[20:23]: we made muscadine braised chicken thighs
[20:27]: from deep run roots by Vivian Howard and
[20:33]: you'll remember we used fresh local
[20:36]: muscadine grapes that are available
[20:40]: around here at this time of year in
[20:41]: October and we enjoyed it
[20:47]: it was it was easy but a little bit time
[20:52]: intensive cutting the grapes and taking
[20:57]: out the seeds is a process and it takes
[21:01]: a while we did split the process so my
[21:05]: husband would cut them in half and then
[21:07]: I would take out the seeds and that did
[21:08]: help a little bit but it's just
[21:09]: something that takes a while and for us
[21:12]: my kids don't like warm reapz they they
[21:17]: like the chicken eat the chicken just
[21:19]: fine but they were not at all interested
[21:21]: in eating the sauce with it and we do
[21:27]: love we love braised chicken thighs with
[21:29]: leeks and chicken stock but I think we
[21:33]: probably won't be adding the grapes to
[21:36]: ours but it was I mean it was really
[21:38]: good it's just for me it's not worth the
[21:41]: effort
[21:42]: uh-huh I'll use my grapes for something
[21:44]: else in fact no there's a triple-decker
[21:49]: hope grateful pioneer nezam that's the
[21:54]: thing but there's there's some juice
[21:57]: there's a juice recipe in here so next
[21:59]: year when we get back to this season or
[22:02]: maybe if we happen to get our hands on
[22:04]: quite a few muscadine grapes again we
[22:08]: might make that you don't have to cut
[22:10]: them and seed them we probably will like
[22:15]: this again it was very good if you like
[22:17]: the grapes and and you want to make
[22:19]: something that is both delicious and a
[22:22]: little impressive because you know it's
[22:25]: very kind of sheffy and has a great
[22:27]: sauce do that'd be great recipe for you
[22:33]: I said not for us if you enjoyed
[22:37]: watching us make this this week please
[22:40]: hit the like and subscribe buttons and
[22:43]: come back next week to watch us cook
[22:45]: something else
[22:47]: [Music]