Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Starts at 6:22

Based off of: Alton Brown's, Smitten Kitchens (NY times adaption), Amateur Gourmet (Barefoot Contessa)

Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic
Adapted from “Bistro Cooking” by Patricia Wells via NYTimes 10/31/07
Yield: 4 servings.

Ingredients 

• 1 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• About 40 large garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock or canned broth.
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions

1. Cut the chicken into 8 pieces (Video here or here at 5:15):
   
   
   
   • 2 drumsticks
   • 2 thighs
   • 2 wings
   • 2 breast halves
2. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. 
3. Place a deep, nonreactive skillet or Dutch oven over high heat, and add oil and butter. 
4. When fats are hot but not smoking, add chicken pieces skin side down and cook until skin turns an even, golden brown, about 5 minutes. Work in batches, if necessary, and carefully regulate heat to avoid scorching skin. 
5. Turn pieces and brown them on other side for an additional 5 minutes.
6. Take out all the chicken
7. Reduce heat to medium. Add the garlic and make sure they settle in one layer at bottom of skillet. Saute, shaking or stirring pan frequently, until garlic is lightly browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. 
8. Add 1/2 C wine and 1/2 C stock, scraping bottom of pan.
9. Return the chicken to the pot and sprinkle with the thyme
10. Cover and continue cooking until juices run clear when a thigh is pricked, 25-30 minutes more. Serve chicken with garlic and pan juices and, if desired, rice or sauteed potatoes.

Make a sauce with the left over? Save the backbone to make stock!

Note: We bought a 3-4 lb young chicken and 2 split breasts so that we'd have enough to eat.  I didn't cut the chicken up well, and the skin was falling off most of the pieces >_<.  What I did do right was to brine the chicken overnight :D.  So I cut up the chicken the day before and brined it in 2 bowls.  I should also peel the garlic on this day to save on time for the next day.

The next day I dried the chicken and left it out to try to get it to room temperature while I peeled the garlic.  The smash and peel technique, where you smash the garlic with a knife then peel it, is awesome and super fast.  Coated the bottom of the stainless steel ikea pot with canola oil and seared both sides of the chicken on high for the first batch, and medium high for the second.  Only the chicken with skin had the nice brown carmelization happen, and the thinner pieces (breasts) cooked really fast.  It turned out to be around 5 minutes for the thick pieces and maybe 3 for the thin ones.

Because I had so much chicken, I got out the smaller ikea pot and did 2 batches of chicken in that one too.  Then when the chicken was all done, I scooped it out and browned the garlic.  When that was done, I dumped most of the oil out and threw in the wine and stock to deglaze the pan.  Then tossed in the thyme and put back the chicken.  I tried to have the chicken in one layer, but there wasn't even surface area (WTB larger pot).   After cooking for 15 minutes, I checked the thin pieces and they were done (170 degrees).  The drum sticks took 4 minutes longer and the breasts with bone took around 10 minutes longer.  Unfortunately I ened up burning some of the garlic in one pot and lost the chance to make any sort of sauce with it!  Fortunately the other pot had reduced and there was a yummy, sweet garlic sauce I used on the chicken.

Overall, it was a yummy recipe, 4/5.  The chicken got cold quickly :(

Note: Made this a second time with Ina Garten's recipe and a tub of pre-peeled garlic, which made this much easier. I think the wine overpowered the sauce so next time I would use chicken stock.