Poaching a chicken (either whole or in parts) is a good way to get juicy, tender chicken without additional fats. Although I've personally never tried this, some people claim that poaching a chicken before roasting it gives you the moistest meat and crispest skin. I find that poached chicken works best for chicken salad, and makes a great cold chicken lunch the next day.
What You Need
Ingredients
Chicken, either whole or in parts
2 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
Water
2 tsp. salt
15 black peppercorns
Tools
A pot big enough to hold the chicken so that it is submerged in liquid
Instructions
1. Place all of the ingredients in the pot and bring the water to a boil.
2. Cover pot and reduce heat to a simmer. If cooking chicken parts, 15 minutes is enough. For a whole chicken, simmer for 45 minutes to a hour.
3. Check the chicken for doneness; it should be white, not pink. When the chicken is cooked, remove from the poaching liquid and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving.
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(Images: Kathryn Hill)
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We need more details about the poaching and roasting combo, please. :)
I'm not usually a huge chicken fan, but Mark Bittman's Hainanese chicken with rice has transformed my chicken mind-set. He poaches the chicken in a similar manner as above (though with garlic and ginger) and then uses some of the poaching liquid to cook the rice. Amazing and pretty hands off too!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/dining/17mini.html
Poached (Hainanese) chicken with rice is simple and delicious! A popular dish in Malaysia and Singapore.
see recipe http://www.mykitchensnippets.com/2008/06/hainanese-chicken-rice.html
Poaching and BBQing makes sense, but poaching and roasting? Why not just take a blow torch to the skin after poaching?
My mother did not buy canned broth, so when we had turkey, she would "poach" the turkey to make broth for the dressing. She baked her dressing in the pan with the turkey and both were always delicious. .
What, no mention of keeping the poaching liquid?
This is essentially making chicken soup... I always boil a raw chicken to make soup and then eat the meat after!
@cweingarten - my bad, you are correct, the poaching liquid should be reserved for broth.
I did this last night and to me, the end result was like just like cooking a chicken in the pressure cooker, just there's more liquid at the end and it took twice as long to cook.
But I totally made super Unsick-Me soup from the broth, chicken, garlic, peas, mushrooms, carrots, celery, asparagus, onions, cauliflower, red pepper and twirly pasta. Take that stupid cold!!
During the Peak Potentials Training dinner meeting, they served roasted chicken that was poached before roasted. And I really agree that the chicken is very crispy and we all loved the recipe!