Project: A whole chicken in the slow cooker.

[Don]

Last weekend I decided to answer for myself an often asked question on internet cooking and recipe forums: Can you cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker?

[Barack Obama]Yes! You CAN![/Barack Obama]

I took a whole chicken. Put it in the slow cooker. Sprinkled with garlic salt and a healthy shake of Tarragon. I put a few tablespoons of water in the bottom of the pot, switched it on on the LOW setting and let it do its thing.

Very interesting. At first, of course, absolutely nothing appeared to be happening. Three hours in and I'm worried at no visible progress. Six hours in and, at last, there appears to be signs of "cooking" going on and there is "juice" about half way up the chicken. Ten hours in and it's cooked and there is juice practically to the top of the chicken - which has sagged mushily into the pot.

To make the bird more appealing I lifted it whole out of the pot with a pair of "roast handling forks" (forks about six inches wide especially for the job) and placed it into a pre-heated roasting dish then popped into the fan oven on maximum. 230C. Hot. 10-15 minutes later it was nicely browned - if a bit saggy.

We ate it with roast potatoes and steamed savoy cabbage. The juice from the slow-cooker pot made a wonderful gravy once I had skimmed the copious quantities of fat off it.

So what was it like?

The meat was very, very soft. No need to carve - just pull bits off with tongs. Where the chicken had been under the "juice" level the meat was very, very moist. Above the juice level the breast meat was very soft but a little dry. To fix this I think all that would be necessary is to do the chicken breast down.

I think the final browning in the oven makes it look a lot more appealing - prior it looks very pale.

Would I do it again? Yes - it's a unique texture and it was very tasty.

Is it worth the bother? Only for the fun of it. Regular roast chicken is just as good and doesn't dirty up the slow cooker. Would I do it without the final browning stage? No.

Pictures of the chicken in the slow cooker just before going in to brown will follow tonight.

[otolith]

I've not done it in a while, but I used to cook small whole chickens in the slow cooker quite often. I would put the chicken in and top up with boiling water, though, rather than letting it sit uncovered. The result was incredibly tender chicken, falling off the bone but still juicy and a large volume of stock left over after making gravy - so the remains of the carcass went back in for a few hours and the stock then made the basis of another meal. The only downside is the loss of the crispy skin - I used to cook them too long to get them out whole and crisp them up.

All of which reminds me - I must get those duck legs out of the freezer and confit them in the slow cooker

[Don]

This was the point at which I removed the chicken from the slow-cooker and used a very hot oven to brown the outside.

Next time I will slow-cook it upside down to keep the breast meat moist.

[jessica]

I often steam a chicken in my steamer. its takes about one hour. It comes out pale but moist.............
very very nice............

[Don]

jessica said:

I often steam a chicken in my steamer. its takes about one hour. It comes out pale but moist.............
very very nice............

You get a lot of steamed chicken in Malaysia. Very moist. Not at all like slow-cooked, though! Soft, yes, but not as soft...

Do you brown it after, Jess? What do you serve it with. Rice?

Don't Nandos steam their chicken to cook it prior to chucking it on the grill?