Food You Can Eat: Poached Chicken

To poach something means you cook it submerged in water or wine or a broth or milk. It is among the easiest and yet somewhat trickiest ways to cook. You can over-poach food, which makes it paradoxically drier and yet rubbery. You might have experienced this with eggs.

I think poached chicken (and fish) must have been a lot more common than it is now. I bet Mrs. Patmore spent half her time in the kitchen at Downton poaching and stewing. There’s a phrase “to be on the rubber chicken circuit.” That means—well, for example, a politician during the course of their campaign might spend their days attending Rotary Club lunches and local awards dinners. They are said to be on the rubber chicken circuit, and I think it’s called that because invariably over-poached chicken was served. But if you can get the poaching right you get the juiciest chicken imaginable.

To add to the over-poaching threat, there are, believe it or not, many, many ways to poach a chicken, depending on whom you talk to or read. Do you put the chicken in cold water or hot? Do you put the chicken in water or broth? Are you forbidden from adding salt? Is it imperative that you salt the water? Other seasonings? Other things to add flavor?

Let’s cut the crap through the clutter and see what Martha Stewart does. As Martha herself points out, these are just guidelines. For example, when I poach chicken I forgo the vegetables unless I have something I want to use up, and I use more garlic and substitute my beloved Herbes de Provence for the salt (and use more of that, too). Martha says the lemon is optional but I like to use them. All of this locates my poached chicken close to the Mediterranean. But here is the original for your delectation. This recipe serves four.

1/2 medium yellow onion, halved 
1 medium carrot, cut into thirds 
1 celery stalk, cut into thirds 
2 garlic cloves, peeled 
1/2 lemon, sliced (optional) 
1 teaspoon coarse salt 
1 teaspoon black peppercorns 
3 sprigs thyme or parsley 
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (about 8 ounces each)

In a large, straight-sided skillet or pot, combine all ingredients except chicken; cover with water by 1/2 inch. Bring to a boil over high. Add chicken and return to a boil. Cook 3 minutes, then cover skillet and remove from heat. Let stand until chicken is cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes, flipping halfway through. Remove chicken from poaching liquid immediately.

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What Martha doesn’t tell you but almost every other recipe does is that you don’t just plop the breast on your guest’s dinner plate. No, you slice it first. Why? Because your chicken will be dripping wet, and if you remove it to a separate plate first and slice it you get rid of a lot of the liquid.

You can serve this with almost anything, but since I’ve sliced it, I like to serve it on a bed of greens with maybe a mound of rice. I usually sprinkle something on the chicken, even if it’s just a little black pepper, or drizzle a little sauce of some kind over it. Poached chicken is also an excellent base for your favorite chicken salad recipe. It also stir-fries very well.