notes on most recent batch of chicken & bean stew
It took me a week, but I finally made the big batch of bean stew that I mentioned last weekend.
This batch was experimental in a couple of ways. These are some notes while I still remember this stuff.
The last few times I've used a giant dutch oven/roaster to cook my stews. It was Jingwei's mom's, and I'm guessing it to hold 16-20 quarts. Previous batches have not come near filling it, and I made this batch large enough to do so. I also altered the ratio of chicken to beans. Four chicken thighs to one pound of beans makes a very very meaty stew. Meaty is good, but it's also more expensive per serving. So for this batch I went for 2 pounds of beans to 4 chicken thighs (a little over 1.5 pounds of chicken, bone in).
Usually I brown the chicken and then saute the onions, mushrooms, and whole spices in the chicken fat before making the stew. I skipped all those steps to see what would happen. I was slightly apprehensive because if it came out lousy I was going to be eating a LOT of lousy stew. It turns out that -as I suspected- there is less depth of flavor when everything is just tossed in the pot and cooked together, but it's still palatable. It tastes better with the extra steps, but if the goal is to get a giant batch of stew going then they are not necessary. Good to know.
Here's a guesstimated list of ingredients:
2 lbs black beans, pre-soaked
1.5-2 lbs carrots, chopped into 0.5" - 1" slices
4(?) yellow onions (small-med), chopped fine
6-8 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 chicken thighs, trimmed of obvious fat & stringy skin bits (bone-in)
1 box button mushrooms, quartered (8 oz?) plus some
1 handful dried shiitake mushrooms, coarsely chopped
12(?) cups water
2-3 cups red wine (needed whole bottle, &/or vinegar, &/or cider)
1 cup applesauce (used cider in previous batch, it worked better, rounder flavor)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 (?) Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped (should add same again once cooked)
couple dashes Dr. Braggs liquid aminos (could have used more)
3-4 Tbsp salt (started w/ 2 Tbsp, not enough. Added more, too much.)
lots of coarsely ground mixed pepper (could have used a bit more)
freshly ground nutmeg (1 tsp? could have used more)
1 Tbsp. each black mustard seed & brown mustard seed (plenty)
1 Tbsp. cumin seed (could have used more)
1 tsp. coriander seed (+ 1 tsp later?)
1 tsp. whole fenugreek (could have used/needed more)
oregano, lots (2 tsp?)
thyme, lots, (could have used/needed more)
rosemary, some (could have used more, didn't need it)
1 bay leaf (needed 2?)
6-8 whole allspice (needed more)
3-4 whole cloves (could have used more)
3 juniper berries, slightly crushed
1 tsp each chervil, marjoram (These are in my spice cabinet and are old, so I'm using them up. Not sure they actually add much beyond a vague dusty green flavor)
I dumped everything in the dutch oven and stuck the dutch oven in the pre-heated oven. I start at ~450°F, to get the whole pot heated through and boiling, then turn it down to ~350°F to cook for several hours, stirring every 30-45 minutes. In addition to the list above, once the stew is mostly done I often add in some faster-cooking legumes or grains and cook it for another hour. This time since the stew was too salty I added 0.5 cup green lentils, 0.5 cup brown rice, & 0.5 cup red wheat, to try to absorb some of the excess. I also added a bit more water as it was needed, and adjusted spices.
This batch was experimental in a couple of ways. These are some notes while I still remember this stuff.
The last few times I've used a giant dutch oven/roaster to cook my stews. It was Jingwei's mom's, and I'm guessing it to hold 16-20 quarts. Previous batches have not come near filling it, and I made this batch large enough to do so. I also altered the ratio of chicken to beans. Four chicken thighs to one pound of beans makes a very very meaty stew. Meaty is good, but it's also more expensive per serving. So for this batch I went for 2 pounds of beans to 4 chicken thighs (a little over 1.5 pounds of chicken, bone in).
Usually I brown the chicken and then saute the onions, mushrooms, and whole spices in the chicken fat before making the stew. I skipped all those steps to see what would happen. I was slightly apprehensive because if it came out lousy I was going to be eating a LOT of lousy stew. It turns out that -as I suspected- there is less depth of flavor when everything is just tossed in the pot and cooked together, but it's still palatable. It tastes better with the extra steps, but if the goal is to get a giant batch of stew going then they are not necessary. Good to know.
Here's a guesstimated list of ingredients:
2 lbs black beans, pre-soaked
1.5-2 lbs carrots, chopped into 0.5" - 1" slices
4(?) yellow onions (small-med), chopped fine
6-8 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 chicken thighs, trimmed of obvious fat & stringy skin bits (bone-in)
1 box button mushrooms, quartered (8 oz?) plus some
1 handful dried shiitake mushrooms, coarsely chopped
12(?) cups water
2-3 cups red wine (needed whole bottle, &/or vinegar, &/or cider)
1 cup applesauce (used cider in previous batch, it worked better, rounder flavor)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 (?) Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped (should add same again once cooked)
couple dashes Dr. Braggs liquid aminos (could have used more)
3-4 Tbsp salt (started w/ 2 Tbsp, not enough. Added more, too much.)
lots of coarsely ground mixed pepper (could have used a bit more)
freshly ground nutmeg (1 tsp? could have used more)
1 Tbsp. each black mustard seed & brown mustard seed (plenty)
1 Tbsp. cumin seed (could have used more)
1 tsp. coriander seed (+ 1 tsp later?)
1 tsp. whole fenugreek (could have used/needed more)
oregano, lots (2 tsp?)
thyme, lots, (could have used/needed more)
rosemary, some (could have used more, didn't need it)
1 bay leaf (needed 2?)
6-8 whole allspice (needed more)
3-4 whole cloves (could have used more)
3 juniper berries, slightly crushed
1 tsp each chervil, marjoram (These are in my spice cabinet and are old, so I'm using them up. Not sure they actually add much beyond a vague dusty green flavor)
I dumped everything in the dutch oven and stuck the dutch oven in the pre-heated oven. I start at ~450°F, to get the whole pot heated through and boiling, then turn it down to ~350°F to cook for several hours, stirring every 30-45 minutes. In addition to the list above, once the stew is mostly done I often add in some faster-cooking legumes or grains and cook it for another hour. This time since the stew was too salty I added 0.5 cup green lentils, 0.5 cup brown rice, & 0.5 cup red wheat, to try to absorb some of the excess. I also added a bit more water as it was needed, and adjusted spices.