Duch oven ideas, anyone?

[Heather J]

So this weekend I'm camping with family and I've been assigned one dinner. I was going to take my processed chicken with me and dutch oven it...the roos were about 7 months old at processing, though I have a few previously in the freezer that were older still. The last time I tried using my crock pot the meat came out tough, but I don't want to feed tough meat to my family! Is there a best way to dutch oven the meat so it will come out tender and tasty? My dad is the DO expert, but hasn't done much more than cooked them in BBQ sauce and I wondered about the amount of heat and length of time to cook them. He has a propane set up so we can adjust the heat pretty easily.

 

[danielbrown]

Could you cook the meat in a crock pot at home until tender. Debone it and slice it thinly against the grain(very important). Store it and use it in a dutch oven dish that way.

 

[ChooksChick]

If you 'brine' the bird, it will be significantly more tender.

I usually soak it overnight in a brine solution. I boil 1/2 c. salt in 1c. of water and add any spices that will complement the intended dish (cumin for Mexican, garlic and onion for BBQ, etc.) for 5 mins and then let it cool. I then add 5 c. H2O to dilute it and soak the bird- you can add more water if it doesn't cover the bird- it doesn't have to be a specific concentration.

Some folks add a bit of sugar to brine, too.

You can do a rice and chicken dish, or do veggies and chicken in foil packets and save the DO for my favorite campfire dessert- Applesauce Gingerbread! You dump 2 big jars of applesauce into the DO and cover with Gingerbread mix (2 boxes). Fabulous!!

I like white chili made with cut-up chicken, a big can of green chilies, cumin, garlic, onions, white beans and a can of diced toms. This works well over the fire and you serve w/chips.

Cheers!

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Brining is good, but I would still pre-cook to be certain it is tender.

 

[Jenski]

Chicken cacciatore! So savory, so delicious . . . mmmmmm . . .

 

[ranchhand]

Low and slow is the ticket. Brining will certainly help. Precooking it will help with that, finish at the campsite.

Have fun!

 

[Heather J]

Okay, so I left the chicken relax for several days before I froze it, and I brined it then too. Here's the catch with the whole precooking thing. We leave for Bear Lake way too early Thursday morning. I don't cook my dinner until Saturday night, so I had planned to take them in the cooler still frozen, so they would have a couple of days to defrost and be easier to keep cool. And also, when I say my family, I don't mean me, dh and two (theoretical but nonexistant children).

Are you ready for this? I mean my two parents, me and my five siblings and our significant others, and the fifteen grandchildren (all from three of my siblings--well, three o them belong to my brother's second wife) ...oh and a couple of aunts. Yes, you counted right, that is 31 people. My sister is splitting dinner with me, bringing basically everything except for the chicken, I expect my chicken to fill both of the large Dutch ovens--if I'm lucky we'll squeeze it all in. The rest of the dishes will be cold, salads, etc (though we will, of course, have cobbler in my dad's OTHER two Dutch ovens after we take the chicken off the heat) I can't even imagine having to precook loads of chicken in the crock pot for that many. I'd have to start RIGHT NOW and run it for the next two days. lol

So am I just trying to have my cake and eat it too? Is there a reasonably easy way to make this work without my having to defrost, cook, and then refreeze all of the meat?

Perhaps I should have given you all of this information before.

 

[danielbrown]

You could quarter the chickens and cook them in a large pot. I have a 20qt pot that comes in handy often.

Thinly sliced against the grain makes tough meat taste tender.

 

[farmboy238]

Cut chicken in pieces, salt/pepper to taste,dredge in seasoned flour. Brown pieces in olive oil. Add 1cup each of diced carrots, onions and celery. Add 2 28oz cans of crushed San Marzano Tomatos and 2cups of a good red wine. Make sure everything is covered with liquid (top off with chicken stock) Add 2bay leaves, 2sprigs of Rosemary and 4sprigs of Thyme (fresh). Add 3 cloves of crushed Garlic and salt/pepper to taste. Top off with a dash (or two or three) of crushed red pepper. Put a light bed of coals down and place your Dutch oven on top of them, add 3or 4 coals to the top and slow cook until done. You can braise anything tender if you cook low and slow!!

 

[Rolsjo]

Well, the only issue I see with bringing them frozen and cooking them there is that you are going to use a LOT of propane to cook these birds until they tender. Low and slow to me means bring it to a boil, turn to low heat and leave it covered for 3 hours. Personally, I think it would be better to precook the birds and refreeze the cooked meat unless you want to make sure there is enough propane to cook them until tender.

Whatever you decide, have a great time with your family!