Stew Chicken

Name: Stew Chicken
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Cuisine: caribbean
Ingredients: 5 pounds bone-in chicken thighs or chicken leg quarters; 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon ground clove; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 1 tablespoon ketchup; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice; 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (about 1 tablespoon, or use 2 teaspoons powdered ginger); 1 medium onion, quartered; 4 scallions, white and green parts, roughly chopped; 1 bay leaf; 5 pieces of culantro (a Caribbean herb also known as chadon beni) or whole sprigs of cilantro, chopped; 5 sprigs fresh thyme (or use 3 teaspoons dried leaves); 4 tablespoons white vinegar; 1/2 Scotch bonnet pepper (or use habanero); 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 4 tablespoons sugar; 2 tablespoons flour, more as needed, for dusting chicken

Recipe from Rawlston Williams

Adapted by The New York Times

Total Time: About 2 hours, plus 2 hours' marinating
Rating: 4(295)
Comments: Read comments

Raised as a Seventh Day Adventist and vegetarian in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the chef Rawlston Williams rarely got to eat stew chicken growing up, he said, but he did help cook this complexly flavored meal with friends — smitten even then with its scent. Like many peasant dishes, Mr. Williams said, stew chicken was often made with leftover scraps like chicken backs, and you could do the same, though the recipe here has been adapted for bone-in chicken thighs or the more economical chicken leg quarters. At the Food Sermon, his restaurant in Brooklyn, he’ll serve it with rice and beans, but his preferred method is his own twist with chickpeas, sweet potato and the Caribbean version of paratha roti, an Indian flatbread he updates with fennel seed. —The New York Times

Featured in: The New Caribbean Food Movement

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings

5pounds bone-in chicken thighs or chicken leg quarters
1tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
1teaspoon ground clove
1tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1tablespoon tomato paste
1tablespoon ketchup
4garlic cloves, crushed
1½teaspoons ground allspice
11-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (about 1 tablespoon, or use 2 teaspoons powdered ginger)
1medium onion, quartered
4scallions, white and green parts, roughly chopped
1bay leaf
5pieces of culantro (a Caribbean herb also known as chadon beni) or whole sprigs of cilantro, chopped
5sprigs fresh thyme (or use 3 teaspoons dried leaves)
4tablespoons white vinegar
½Scotch bonnet pepper (or use habanero)
1tablespoon vegetable oil
4tablespoons sugar
2tablespoons flour, more as needed, for dusting chicken

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Remove skin and trim fat from chicken. If using leg quarters, cut chicken into serving-size pieces. (Each chicken leg should yield about four pieces.) If using thighs, you can leave them whole.
Step 2
Make the marinade: In a food processor or blender combine salt, clove, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, garlic, allspice, ginger, onion, scallions, whole bay leaf, culantro or cilantro, whole thyme sprigs, vinegar and Scotch bonnet pepper. (You should have about 2 cups marinade.)
Step 3
In a large bowl, combine chicken and marinade, ensuring all chicken pieces are coated. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. (For best results, marinate overnight.)
Step 4
Heat oven to 325 degrees, and keep the chicken close to the stove. In an oven-safe pot large enough to hold the chicken comfortably (such as a Dutch oven), add oil and 3 tablespoons sugar and heat over medium until the sugar starts foaming and eventually changing color; this is the beginnings of your caramel. Cook until caramel is a rich, very dark brown, but not burned. (The caramel may start smoking as it darkens.)
Step 5
Quickly add chicken pieces to the pot, moving them around until they are fully coated with caramel. Add any remaining marinade in the bowl to the pot. Dust chicken with flour to fully coat pieces. At this point there shouldn't be much liquid in the pot; it should have a thick, pasty consistency. If any liquid remains, sprinkle more flour over the chicken.
Step 6
Add enough water to cover ¾ of the chicken. (The tops of the pieces should barely peek out of the water.) Stir to incorporate all ingredients. Cover pot, transfer to oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
Step 7
Check chicken for doneness. Once chicken is cooked, taste and add salt if necessary. Add remaining 1 tablespoon sugar to balance flavor.
Step 8
Let stew rest for about 30 minutes before serving, or make it ahead and store it in the fridge for the following day; stew chicken tastes even better the day after. Serve with rice (or other grain, such as quinoa) and beans.

Ratings

4 out of 5

295 user ratings

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Comments

Emily Weinstein7 years ago

Hello Frank, we received a note from the chef, Rawlston Williams, who agreed that we should decrease the amount of clove. The recipe used to call for 1 tablespoon of clove; it now calls for a teaspoon.

Inquisigal7 years ago

Glad to hear all the suggestions for great spots in the Comments section here. I too was shocked to read that this is a "new" food movement; having lived near Fulton St in Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill for the past 15 years, I can attest that Caribbean culture and food has dominated this part of BK for a long time. Come on NY Times, you've got to be more sensitive about how these kinds of stories are written: just because some chefs with pedigrees are now making this cuisine available in fine-dining restaurants and newly-hip venues like street trucks and Smorgasburg, doesn't make it a new food movement. It's insulting to those who have been doing it well for years in NYC, and shows such a slant in the tone of the article, and this newspaper in general, to only report on trends that are being sanctified by the cultured, Manhattan-Brooklyn elite. Let's hear more about the women and men who run super-tasty food venues like those mentioned in the Comments....

Duva7 years ago

NYC area is one of the centers of black, Latino, and Indian Caribbean culture in the United States. That being said, Miss Lily's hires Mr Schop as head chef, with admitted limited experience with Caribbean cuisine? An area with thousands of immigrant, first and second generation West Indians, with dozens of pre-existing West Indian eateries, no chef among them could be found? It is telling who gets the jobs in these "new" Caribbean restaurants. Far from being new, Caribbean food has been staple of NY cuisine in homes, churches, and businesses for decades.

Allison Walter4 months ago

I replaced the vinegar with lemon juice, and the water with chicken stock. I also reduced the sauce separately for 15 minutes and used no flour. Instead of the sugar, I caramelized the onion. I also added 1/3 c shaoxing wine when I added the chicken.

JR6 months ago

I don't understand how a chicken leg (even with thigh, attached), would yield four pieces, especially if one follows the model in the thigh-only version that keeps the thighs whole. Well, of course, one can hack a drumstick in half (better have a solid knife or cleaver), and do the same to the thigh, but that's not quite the same thing as cutting into serving-size pieces.

Mark Lynn1 year ago

I found culantro at my local market when shopping for sour oranges. It's a new favorite.

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