Poached Chicken

Name: Poached Chicken
Yield: Serves 4–6
Ingredients: 1 leek, trimmed and sliced; parsley stalks; 1 tsp peppercorns; a few sprigs of tarragon; 4–5 lb / 1.80–2.30 kg chicken; 1 carrot, peeled and chopped; 1 celery stalk, trimmed and sliced; 1 onion, peeled and chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Times Cookbook

By Frances Bissell

Published 1995

About

This is the best way to cook chicken to serve cold in a salad, although it also makes a very nice hot dish. The broth produced is excellent, and can be used either for soup, or as the basis for a sauce to serve with the chicken, or to make a clear jelly to garnish the cold fowl with.

Ingredients

4–5 lb / 1.80–2.30 kg chicken
1 carrot, peeled and chopped

Main course
Gluten-free

Method

Clean the chicken, and, instead of trussing it, insert four metal skewers into it, making sure they go through the thickest, densest parts of the chicken, particularly the thighs. The skewers will help conduct the heat right through the chicken. Place the bird in a large saucepan, and cover with water. Add the rest of the ingredients, and bring slowly to the boil. Lower the heat and, if you int