Soused Chicken

Soused Chicken

Ingredients

* 1 recipe chicken goujons, 2 large onions, 1 bulb garlic, 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs, 2 large tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, 1 tsp mixed herbs, 1 tsp MSG, 2 tsp paprika, 400ml chicken stock, 375ml beer or white wine, 4 bay leaves.

Peel the onions, garlic and carrots, crush the garlic and chop the onion and carrots into small pieces. Trim the celery and chop it to the same size as the other vegetables. Put them aside in one bowl. Core the tomatoes and chop them fairly small. Put them aside in another boGently fry the onion and garlic in some oil until the onion looks transparent. Add the salt, pepper, fresh thyme, mixed herbs, MSG and paprika, mix it up well and let it fry for a further ten minutes. Transfer that lot to a two or three litre casserole dish and add the stock and wine or beer. Put the casserole dish in the oven and bake it at 150ºc (300ºf) for about thirty minutes. Take the casserole dish out of the oven, lay the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables, lay the bay leaves on top of the chicken and return the casserole dish to the oven. Bake it for a further hour.

Serves four.

The word ‘soused’ is often used to mean ‘pickled’ or ‘brined’. But the etymology is from the Frankish sultja (“saltwater, brine”), related to Old High German sulza (“brine”) and the Proto-Germanic root for salt, sal-. It’s been used to mean everything from ‘soaked’, to ‘simmered’ to ‘marinated’. This dish is a good way to use leftover chicken goujons. It’s really delicate and tastes great. But be warned! Don’t use a bitter variety of beer. It’ll stuff it up.