Chicken With Brandy

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Rating are my personal opinion

This recipe comes to us from the “Favorite Recipes: Homestyle” cookbook from the Blue Ridge Homemakers. This recipe was contributed by Peggy Shaw.

Ingredients

6 whole chicken breasts

4 Tbsp. butter

1 large onion

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp. flour

3/4 cup brandy

1/2 beef broth

3/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

Dash of cayenne pepper

Pinch of rosemary

1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

Saute chicken in butter. Place in casserole dish. add onion and garlic to pan. Cook until soft. Add flour and mix well till brown. Add brandy, broth, salt, pepper, and seasoning. Stir until smooth. Turn off heat. Add sour cream. Correct seasonings if necessary. Pour over chicken. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve with wild rice. Serves 6.

My Review and Alterations

In my meal, I used chicken thighs instead of breasts. I used two cloves of garlic instead of one. I also did not have any brandy and so I used cooking sherry instead. I also forgot to add the sour cream.

I served it over brown rice and peas.

I read the instructions wrong and cooked the chicken through on the stove, so I baked the chicken for only 30 minutes.

While the chicken was juicy and well seasoned, the sauce tasted very alcoholic. The leftovers were good though and the taste seemed to dissipate after a night in the fridge.

Salt-Baked Chicken

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Rating are my personal thoughts

This recipe comes from the “Favorite Recipes: Homestyle (2002)” recipe book by the Blue Ridge Homemakers. This specific recipe was provided by Peggy Shaw. Listed under “Main Dishes”, salt-baked chicken is an easy beginner-friendly baked chicken recipe.

Ingredients

4 cups salt

1 – 3 1/2 lbs chicken

1 lemon, ends trimmed and pierced with a fork a few times

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line roasting pan with aluminum foil and cover the foil with a thick layer of salt. Sprinkle chicken cavity with thyme and stuff with the whole lemon. Place chicken, breast side down on top of the salt layer and cover completely with the remainder of the salt. Sprinkle with water to seal and place in preheated oven. Bake uncovered for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Break crust and remove all traces of the salt. if necessary wipe with a paper towel. Cut into serving pieces.

Thoughts and Tips

This chicken was extremely juicy and had a good flavor. I wouldn’t change anything about this recipe.

When preparing the chicken, I slid my hands between the chicken skin and flesh as I’ve read this can make the skin more crispy.

I served this meal with yellow rice and green beans. It was a good combination.

I’ve read the salt can be reused if it’s clean but when I removed the chicken from the pan, the salt was saturated with chicken juice. I didn’t think that it was salvageable and so threw it away. I used an entire 3 pound box of salt.

Penna Style Green Beans

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Rating is my personal rating

This recipe comes from Homemaker’s Delight by the Fannin County Homemakers, a cookbook from my late Oma. This recipe book is made up of many recipes contributed in 1971. My copy is from the 1998 reprint.

The Penna Style Green Beans were contributed by Gladys Gooch.

Ingredients

3 strips bacon

1 small onion

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1 lb. green beans

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. vinegar

1 hard-cooked egg

Directions

Fry bacon in skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and crumble. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of drippings. Dice and add onion. Brown lightly. Stir in cornstarch, salt, and dry mustard. Drain beans, reserving 1/2 cup of liquid. Stir reserved liquid into skillet. Cook, stirring until mixture boils. Blend in brown sugar and vinegar. Add green beans and heat thoroughly. Turn into serving dish and garnish with egg slices and bacon.

My Insight and Alterations

In the instructions for this recipe it says to “drain beans”, but in the instructions it does not say to use canned beans. Mrs. Gooch most likely used canned green beans. In my video I used fresh, but 2- 8 oz cans of beans would equal the 1 pound needed.

With fresh green beans, add the beans after the cornstarch and let them cook on medium high heat, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of water and cover the pan with a lid immediately. Let steam for 7 minutes, then mix in the brown sugar and vinegar. Turn into a serving dish and garnish.

I forgot to crumble my bacon and didn’t make any hard-boiled eggs due to time constraints.

Conclusion

These green beans were amazing. The sauce was sweet, but not too much and the beans were crisp. However, the sauce thickened oddly in the pan after a bit, but upon reheating, it returns to a better consistency.