Georgia Magazine - October 2012 - 36A

Web exclusive
Second helping: Poultry
BY JANE F. GARVEY
T
oday, chicken is one of the most
common dinners on the Southern
table, with Americans consuming
81.3 pounds of chicken per person
each year. According to the Georgia
Poultry Federation and the Georgia
Agricultural Statistics Service,
counties
in Georgia each produce
more than $1 million worth of poultry
annually.
Enjoy these bonus recipes fea-
turing Georgia poultry. For more on
the state’s poultry industry and local
farms, see this month’s Georgia
Cooks story, “Please pass the chicken,”
on page 32.
Everybody knows the dish coq
au vin, a chicken cooked in (usually)
red wine, although you can do it
in white wine. In Alsace, France, it’s
cooked in Riesling. So why not muscadine?
Using a dry red muscadine
wine, the dish turned out perfectly.
The chicken used to test this recipe
was from White Oak Pastures in
Bluffton, near Albany. And the wine
used was the Still Pond Vineyards
2008 Weston’s Dry Reserve ($12/
Savannah Distributing) in Arlington,
near Albany.
Georgia Coq au Muscadine
1 (4-pound) chicken
All-purpose fl our seasoned to taste with sea
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 to 3/4 cup mixed cured meats, chopped
(to about 1/4 inch)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup peeled Vidalia onions, pearl onions or
very small boiling onions
1 cup tiny carrots, peeled, trimmed
4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 pound button mushrooms, trimmed,
wiped
1 bottle dry red muscadine wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
2 cups small potatoes (marble sized) or
October 2012
small creamer potatoes,
unpeeled, quartered
2 teaspoons mixed dried
herbs, crumbled
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper, to taste
105
2 tablespoons unsalted
butter, softened, blended
with 2 tablespoons allpurpose
fl our
Rinse chicken un-
der cold water and cut
into 8 pieces, including
the back, which should
be split horizontally
in two. Pat
dry, and
dredge in seasoned
fl our. Shake off any excess
and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a
large Dutch oven or
casserole fi tted with a
lid, scatter the cured
meats and heat them
over medium heat to
release the fat. When
rendered,
scoop out
and reserve meats. Add
olive oil to casserole.
Brown chicken on both
sides until golden, about 10-15 minutes,
turning once. Remove and set,
covered with foil, on a plate in a
warm oven.
Place onions,
carrots,
garlic
cloves and mushrooms in the casserole,
and toss to coat. Let vegetables
brown slightly. Remove from casserole
and reserve.
Return chicken to casserole and
scatter meats, onions, carrots, garlic
cloves and mushrooms over chicken.
Add bottle of dry red muscadine
wine and raise heat to high to let the
alcohol burn off. Add chicken stock
and bay leaf. Cover and set heat to
low. Let chicken braise for about
10 minutes, then add potatoes and
herbs. Put lid back on casserole, and
More online at www.georgiamagazine.org
The philosophy at Hunter Cattle Co. in Bulloch County, where
they raise free-range poultry, is simple: “Whenever you
feed an animal a natural diet and let it grow up in a natural
environment, nutritionally they’re superior,” says owner
Debra Ferguson.
cook chicken and vegetables over
low heat for 45 minutes. Test potatoes
and carrots with the point of
a knife. They should be tender but
not mushy, and chicken should be
cooked close to “falling off the bone.”
Remove chicken and vegetables
to a platter and keep warm, covered
loosely with foil in a warm oven.
Raise heat on juices left in casserole,
and add butter/fl our combination
to thicken sauce. Reduce until thick
enough to coat back of a spoon. Return
vegetables and chicken to pot
along with any accumulated juices.
Serve chicken and vegetables on
warmed plates with a liberal amount
of sauce, and pass any leftover sauce
in a warmed sauceboat. Serves 4.
36A
Bonus
content
COURTESY OF HUNTER CATTLE CO.
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Georgia Magazine - October 2012

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