Scarlett's Chicken and Rice

Deep Run Roots

This was a pretty standard home style southern dish. Since there were no "weird" flavors (herbs, spices, vegetables they don't like, etc) my kids liked it! It's super easy and makes a ton, so it's great for a crowd.

Recipe (slightly altered, by the author herself) here: http://www.achefslifeseries.com/recipes/21

Captions

[00:03]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with Heather today we're in the wrong
[00:09]: shirt because we're not cooking out of
[00:11]: the pool's diner cookbook we are going
[00:13]: to making a very very very simple recipe
[00:15]: because really I need it right now
[00:17]: made a few complicated long multi-step
[00:22]: recipes and now I just want simple so we
[00:25]: are going to be making Scarlett's
[00:27]: chicken and rice out of the deep run
[00:29]: routes cookbook now Scarlett is Vivien
[00:32]: Howard's mother and this is a very
[00:36]: standard southern kind of thing to make
[00:40]: she says that they often called this a
[00:43]: bog chicken bog and even I well my
[00:47]: sister's husband's family or southern
[00:50]: I'm not southern case you couldn't tell
[00:53]: I grew up in the south but was not from
[00:57]: southern people but my book I was
[00:60]: introduced to a chicken bog with my
[01:03]: sister's husband's family when I was
[01:06]: about a teenager and this is basically
[01:08]: chicken and rice and that's it no onion
[01:13]: no carrot no celery nope nothing nothing
[01:16]: besides chicken and rice salt and pepper
[01:18]: and water taste a little bit of time but
[01:23]: we're going to go ahead and get started
[01:23]: I have my chicken whole chicken in a 6
[01:29]: to 8 quart pot this is an 8 quart pot
[01:30]: our chicken is pretty huge just I think
[01:34]: was over 7 pounds and but she does call
[01:38]: for a large chicken so this is a large
[01:40]: chicken
[01:40]: um no gizzards no livers but the neck is
[01:44]: in here as well as the chicken itself
[01:47]: breasts up we're going to cover it with
[01:50]: water she says about 3 quarts so I'm
[01:54]: going to have to fill this back up a
[01:55]: couple times but just barely cover the
[01:60]: chicken with cool water so I'm going to
[02:04]: do that that's 3 quarts it's not quite
[02:08]: covered but I don't have a whole lot
[02:11]: more room in my pan so I'm going to go
[02:12]: with 3
[02:13]: it's almost it'll be fine so now we're
[02:18]: going to add salt and pepper and run put
[02:36]: the lid on we're gonna bring it to a
[02:38]: simmer we're gonna simmer it until it is
[02:43]: basically falling off the bone until it
[02:45]: is easy to shred
[02:47]: she says that check in about an hour
[02:50]: with the young chicken which is normally
[02:53]: what you buy in a regular grocery store
[02:54]: though they don't they're not old not
[02:57]: generally old laying hens she mentions
[03:00]: those those could take up to five hours
[03:02]: but she says probably about an hour and
[03:04]: a half for most chicken so but check out
[03:07]: an hour and when it is starting to fall
[03:12]: off the bone then you let it turn it off
[03:15]: let it sit in the liquid for thirty
[03:20]: minutes before you take it off the pull
[03:25]: it all off the bone and continue so
[03:27]: we'll be back when this is done I'm
[03:31]: gonna bring this up to a boil reduce it
[03:33]: to a simmer and let it go until I think
[03:36]: it's done all right
[03:38]: so we'll see you when we get to the
[03:40]: pulling the chicken step Thanks my
[03:43]: chicken cooked for about an hour and 15
[03:47]: minutes before I decided it was it was
[03:49]: done enough at an hour it was almost
[03:50]: done but not quite but now it's
[03:52]: certainly done it's fallen apart which
[03:54]: is what the instructions say let it sit
[03:58]: in the broth for 30 minutes
[03:59]: and then I took it out and it was still
[04:02]: really really hot and I didn't want to
[04:03]: touch it with my hands so I let it sit
[04:06]: here for about 15 minutes because yeah
[04:09]: it gets real hot so I have my chicken as
[04:13]: you can see it came out in pieces when I
[04:14]: pulled it out I have a bowl to put in my
[04:17]: my chicken pieces which we're going to
[04:20]: pull to a medium size so you know small
[04:24]: medium mouthful kind of size nothing too
[04:26]: tiny but not larger than you want to put
[04:30]: your mouth and then I have a plastic bag
[04:32]: with some paper towels and the skin and
[04:35]: the bones and any other bits that we
[04:38]: don't want to eat are going to go in
[04:39]: here to be thrown away and it helps to
[04:44]: put it in this kind of bag in my opinion
[04:46]: or some sort of bag that you can tie up
[04:48]: because otherwise it gets a little
[04:49]: stinky in the trash by the next day so
[04:53]: I'm just going to start pulling
[04:58]: see the the bones come out really really
[05:01]: easily which means it's done and I want
[05:07]: to say right now I did make a small
[05:09]: mistake one that you guys probably
[05:10]: wouldn't notice because I don't give you
[05:12]: measurements but I put not quite enough
[05:17]: salt in the in the broth to begin with
[05:21]: but I tasted it afterwards like that
[05:24]: didn't seem like enough salt and yeah I
[05:27]: got my tea spoons and tablespoons mixed
[05:29]: up so I fixed that in the broth and
[05:31]: because this is a very broth a thing the
[05:33]: chicken and the broth will be fine even
[05:36]: though it didn't cook in the right
[05:37]: amount of salt whole time it'll be fine
[05:40]: easy fix
[05:46]: okay so I'm done my hands are super wet
[05:51]: I put the chicken in this bowl so that I
[05:55]: could keep the juice that I knew the the
[05:57]: froth that I knew would still be you
[05:59]: know in it on it around it would come
[06:01]: out so I'm just gonna put this back into
[06:03]: the pot and I'll meet you back at the
[06:07]: stove so I'm bringing my pot of broth
[06:12]: back up to a simmer I got it up a little
[06:16]: bit high just so we can get going with
[06:18]: this and I'm gonna add the chicken to
[06:22]: the pot now she said she didn't say to
[06:27]: skim it she didn't say to de-fat it she
[06:31]: didn't say any of that so it was just
[06:33]: pretty much exactly the broth that I
[06:36]: pulled the chicken out of I did kind of
[06:38]: use one of my little strainer spoons to
[06:41]: try to get any big pieces of chicken
[06:44]: skin or anything that was left in it out
[06:46]: other than that it'll be fine so we're
[06:49]: gonna bring this up to a simmer I'm
[06:52]: going to get rid of this bowl and wash
[06:53]: my hands again and be right back
[06:57]: I brought my broth and the chicken up to
[07:01]: a boil I tried to get it decent but it
[07:03]: supposed to be simmering when you add
[07:05]: the rice she does say if he usually
[07:09]: rinse your rice don't do that now the
[07:14]: starch the extra starch and the rice
[07:15]: will help sort of thicken the broth give
[07:18]: it a different texture so it's got my
[07:20]: rice here and we're going to keep this
[07:24]: at a simmer or she says for about 12
[07:27]: minutes or until so you don't want the
[07:32]: rice to be mushy you want it to be
[07:35]: cooked through but not mushy
[07:37]: so it might be a little bit more a
[07:39]: little bit less ending on your brand of
[07:42]: rice or whatever you use I'm using a
[07:44]: medium grain or long grain long grain
[07:49]: white rice which is sort of like the
[07:51]: standard rice in America most people use
[07:56]: you know just long grain white rice not
[07:60]: sticky yeah so we let this go for about
[08:05]: 12 minutes does not say to put a lid on
[08:08]: it so we're going to let it go like this
[08:11]: for 12 minutes and we're going to check
[08:13]: the rice
[08:13]: [Music]
[08:16]: okay so this has been 12 minutes I have
[08:19]: strong doubts as to whether the rice is
[08:21]: done but I'm gonna try it and then get a
[08:25]: piece out probably hopefully not more
[08:29]: than a couple and see if it's done
[08:40]: so hard in the middle so we're gonna go
[08:43]: for another five minutes and check it
[08:45]: again all right so in another five
[08:48]: minutes is so almost there I'm gonna
[08:52]: give it about three more and test it I
[08:56]: don't want to be overdone we were at
[08:59]: almost exactly 20 minutes and I think
[09:02]: it's done which i think is about the
[09:05]: time I usually cook my rice of this sort
[09:08]: so there is one other ingredient that I
[09:14]: have not mentioned in this dish so we're
[09:17]: going to turn it off at this point
[09:19]: because the rice is done everything's
[09:21]: done and we add just a little bit of
[09:25]: lemon juice that is the only ingredient
[09:28]: besides chicken rice and seasonings so
[09:32]: just stir that in actually now I'm gonna
[09:34]: add there's also you add some of the
[09:38]: pepper in the beginning and we finished
[09:39]: it off what's basically as much pepper
[09:41]: as you want up to you I'm gonna call
[09:45]: that good we're gonna stir it up and
[09:47]: then it's done
[09:48]: [Music]
[09:54]: all right I'm gonna give it a little
[09:56]: taste just to make sure that it's okay
[09:58]: on salt level the lemon juice actually
[10:01]: helps add a little bit of salt to not
[10:04]: salt but the acidity sort of helps sort
[10:07]: of wake up the flavor a little bit kind
[10:08]: of like salt
[10:09]: [Music]
[10:14]: all right I think we're good and it
[10:18]: turned out a little soupier than I
[10:20]: thought it would give him the picture
[10:22]: but I followed the measurements exactly
[10:27]: how it turned out I'm not mad at it I
[10:30]: will certainly eat it sort of like a
[10:33]: chicken rice soup but I think we'll be
[10:35]: going with bowls instead of plates and I
[10:39]: am gonna serve this
[10:40]: she says she serves it like a green
[10:41]: salad her mom this was basically the
[10:44]: whole meal I'm gonna serve it with some
[10:46]: squash and onions not from a recipe just
[10:49]: what I had on hand to cook so some
[10:52]: vegetables on the side and we're done
[10:55]: we're about to have better and I'll let
[10:57]: you know what the kids think of it I
[10:59]: assume they're going to love it
[11:01]: chicken and rice both our favorite
[11:03]: things of theirs so well let's know
[11:14]: on this episode of cooking in the books
[11:16]: with Heather you watched me make
[11:17]: Scarlett's chicken and rice out of
[11:19]: vivian howard's deep run roots cookbook
[11:23]: this was a super simple recipe takes a
[11:26]: little bit of time but very few
[11:28]: ingredients very easy to find all of
[11:31]: them and the result is delicious it did
[11:34]: get a little less soupy so I made a
[11:37]: major remark that it was a little bit
[11:39]: soupy when we were first finished with
[11:41]: it but as the rice has everything cooled
[11:44]: down the Wrights absorbed more of the
[11:46]: liquid and it looks much more like
[11:47]: what's in the book so I followed
[11:51]: everything to a tee very good yeah it
[11:55]: makes a ton of chicken and rice don't
[11:58]: know whose cause my chicken with you
[11:59]: George but it is it is two cups of rice
[12:02]: uncooked so it makes a lot of rice a lot
[12:05]: of leftovers for us but that's okay
[12:07]: because I'm sure it will go in the
[12:09]: freezer and come out and reheat
[12:11]: beautifully not a great summer recipe
[12:15]: it's very warming and comforting but
[12:17]: maybe if it's raining if it's a little
[12:20]: cooler of a day it's great perfect
[12:24]: winter recipe - very comforting like I
[12:26]: said kids loved it
[12:29]: as usual chicken and rice not a problem
[12:34]: with them no extra flavors no
[12:38]: interesting things added to it so they
[12:41]: enjoyed it too so if you enjoyed
[12:44]: watching me make this please give me a
[12:46]: thumbs up and if you want to go ahead
[12:49]: and hit the the subscribe button and
[12:51]: come back and watch me make something
[12:53]: else next week
[12:54]: [Music]