Braised Chicken Recipe

Braising is a cooking method that turns tough meats tender and succulent. It involves baking or simmering meat, in this case, chicken, in a little liquid. The key to success is low and slowa low flame or not-too-hot oven and an hour or more of your time. Luckily, once you assemble all of your ingredients and put the chicken in the oven, you can relax or prepare the rest of your meal while your main dish bakes. While we recommend braising chicken in chicken stock, you can use water instead. The chicken will still be flavorful and you'll end up with a beautiful chicken stock that you can use for other recipes (like braising another chicken). Just make sure you season the water with enough kosher salt that you can taste it. For this recipe, you can buy prepackaged chicken that's already cut up, but make sure the backbone is in there (sometimes it isn't). The back will add lots of flavor to the broth and the chicken itself. Most butchers will cut up a whole chicken for you if you ask, and you can request they include the backbone.