Southern Chicken Stew Recipe - Southern Plate (2024)

FAQs

What adds richness to a stew? ›

If were talking while it's being made; garlic, onion, various herbs, “horse chester sauce” tomato paste, stone ground mustard, or even a small splash of A1 sauce will all “rich up” the broth. So will sauteing the veggies in butter before adding to the stew.

Most casserole and stew dishes start off with the same base of onions, celery and carrot, sauteed gently to release the flavours. Sauteed means cooked gently and stirred often until the sugars wake up in the vegetables, allowing them to release their full flavour. You could add a little crushed garlic if you like that.

Whisk a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water to make a slurry, then stir into the stew as it's cooking. Don't add dry flour directly to the stew as it may clump. After adding the slurry, bring the stew to boil. This will cook out the flour taste and allow the starch to swell.

This gives your stew a creamier body, particular if you're using starchy vegetables like potatoes. Starches are an excellent way to thicken up your stew, as individual starch molecules start to absorb water immediately upon hitting hot liquid, eventually bursting and causing the liquid to thicken.

"Soups and stews really need to simmer for long periods to allow the ingredients to meld together. Taking that a step further, most soups and stews are better if you prepare them the day before serving. Allowing them to cool and then reheating them really helps bring out the flavors and textures."

Dried mushrooms in a stew can add lots of depth of flavour. I soak them first and add the liquid too. 11. Whole spices like cinnamon, star anise or cloves are great added to a stew if you want your dish to have a warm, spicy flavour in a middle eastern style.

Acid: Adding a splash of acid, such as vinegar or citrus juice, towards the end of cooking can brighten the flavors of the stew. Additional Ingredients: You can also consider adding ingredients like tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, or beef broth to enhance the depth of flavor in the stew.

What can you do to make stew more flavorful? Finish it with fresh herbs, of course! Except for thyme, herbs lose their flavor as they simmer. So add dried spices at the beginning of the cooking time and fresh spices (like parsley, dill, tarragon or rosemary) at the end to add a punch of fresh flavor.

You might think that additional cooking time may lead to more tender chicken but overcooking the chicken stew will lead to tough chicken! Stewing chicken leads to tender pieces of chicken but overcooking them, especially on high heat, will make the chicken chewy instead of melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Why is my chicken stew tough? ›

As mentioned above, overcooked chicken is the most common reason for rubbery chicken because the chicken loses moisture as it cooks. Checking the internal temperature of the chicken is the best way to avoid this.

Add plain instant mashed potatoes (which are essentially just dehydrated potatoes) to the finished soup recipe as a thickening agent. Simple? Yes.

Cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks and add to the already cooking stew about 30 minutes before you stop cooking and plate the stew for serving (If the potatoes cook too long, they'll just get mushy or even fall apart and add nothing but a thickening starch to the sew.

Russets are often the suggested potato for stew because their starch can help thicken the broth, but they also break down too easily, whereas Yukons have some thickening power of their own while still retaining a hearty, solid bite.

Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. When a gravy, sauce, soup or stew recipe calls for flour, use half as much cornstarch to thicken. To thicken hot liquids, first mix cornstarch with a little cold water until smooth. Gradually stir into hot liquid until blended.

Beef stock on its own should be extremely rich; how did you make it? If the soup is already made and you just want to deepen the flavour, try a shake of a pre-made sauce such as Worcestershire, brown sauce, barbecue sauce, soy or even kecap manis etc. For next time, more or better beef stock.

"If your broth is lacking in savory richness, try adding roasted onion, tomato paste, mushrooms, seaweed, soy sauce, or miso. These ingredients add umami flavor and depth to broth," she says.

The three main thickening agents for gravies are flour, cornflour and arrowroot. The first two are normally used in savoury dishes while arrowroot tends to be used in sweet dishes – that said, arrowroot will work in a savoury dish as it has no flavour.