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The chicken pie recipe is the most demanded dessert of all time. Mothers use their special recipe to entice us with the best-baked pie whenever it’s winter. However, what would you do if you were not with your family or had zero ideas about how to bake a chicken pie? The situation might be bad, but we can stop it from getting worse. At Sleck, our team has curated the best chicken pie recipe one can think about. This article will help you make your desired chicken pie in the least time possible.
The trick in making delicious chicken pie is to unlock every recipe element properly. While amateurs ignore the minute details, the details make the chicken pie best in taste. Similarly, while we focus on not using the entire bird, the secret lies in letting it go and enjoying the tasty roasted golden bird on a cold December evening. Without further adieu, let’s dig into the best chicken pie recipe 2022 and enjoy the same with our family.
Ingredients for Chicken Pie Recipe
In this article, we will mention all the minute details that go into making the ingredient proper. Therefore, you can expect to do a lot of tedious work in the future to get the best chicken pie recipe out in the field.
#1 Vegetables
We should always keep in mind that we are serving chicken pie to the people and not vegetables. Therefore, we must make sure that vegetables are not served in bulk but are used to enhance the pie’s taste and texture. While the Bon Appetit Magazine focuses on mushrooms, users can get slimy. It is essential to understand that overcooking your vegetables can give them an unwanted taste and texture. For the best chicken pie recipe to come to life, it is essential to have a robust approach to the idea.
Therefore, we recommend softening the vegetables in butter. One can even use the chicken fat to add to the aroma of the pie. In the end, you are free to add all the vegetables you wish to see to the pie. However, don’t add onion or garlic unnecessarily. Adding onion and garlic to the sauce can change the taste for the consumers.
#2 Chicken
You might not hear many people say this, but sacrificing an entire bird for the chicken pie can be a great idea. Well, roasting the chicken for the recipe is an important task. However, roasting chicken often leads to an inevitable dryness which must be taken care of. To avoid the situation, we ask everyone to follow Angela Boggiano’s idea of pie.
However, we all dream of that juicy meat to enlighten our soul, and to get the same, we must use the aromatic broth and the flavored stock in our sauce. These two act like the sauce’s base and any leftover broth is used as gravy itself. We advise you to use the broth carefully as most of it is served with roasted potatoes.
However, if you have no idea how to make the best flavor for your meat, visiting Heston Blumenthal’s flavor idea would be the right choice.
#3 Ham
While most of us want to stick to chicken, few would love to have ham in our pie. Ham adds to the savory note, which we often miss out on in the creamy chicken and even turkey. Using bacon for the same would work the best and taste like never. However, if you have some leftovers from your previous festival, then using the same will not be a bad idea.
On the other hand, having big fat chunks of ham in your pie is always a plus point as it adds more fat to your sauce. Therefore, never compromise on the ham if you are fond of it.
#4 Sauce
The sauce makes the most of the pie among the ingredients we have spoken about. If the sauce is not up to the mark, one might ruin the whole chicken pie. Therefore, we must strictly decide what we want in our gravy. Most of the chefs use flour to thicken their sauce. However, this seems like a bad idea if the dish is served 30-45mins after the pie has been prepared. The gravy thickens out and becomes stiff. It is essential to find a sustainable substitute that makes the gravy good taste and texture.
To do the same, we can follow Blumenthal’s idea of adding agar-agar (seaweed) to ensure the smoothness and thickness of our gravy. Since the fillings are dense and get solid by the time the dish is served, it is essential to add seaweed in the correct quantity to ensure the outcome of excess usage. You can also choose from different types of wine, which will add up to your sauce.
#5 Flavourings
Every chef has a different statement to their flavors; therefore, this can be left open for everyone, and one can choose the flavors as per their taste. However, if someone is into the sweet and anise tarragon flavor, Boggiano’s recipe sounds like the best place.
Let’s discuss the quantity in which you might need the ingredients
- One chicken of about 1.5 kg.
- One large carrot and onion (properly washed and quartered; avoid peeling)
- Two celery sticks (quartered)
- Bay Leaf, Black Peppercorns, Tarragon, and one lemon
- 200ml of cream
- 225g of plain flour
- 225g of cold butter and 40g of melted butter
- One beaten egg (with milk)
Well, these are all that you need for the chicken pie recipe. However, one can add different vegetables to the dish as per their wish. Let’s dig into the process.
How to Cook Chicken Pie [Best Chicken Pie Recipe]
Step 1:
To begin with, one must take a large pan for the chicken and the vegetables. We must add the bay leaf, peppercorns, and tarragon to this. Cover all the ingredients in the pan with water and boil the same. Let the skin scum off the item, and simmer gently for 45 minutes till the chicken is cooked thoroughly. One can even turn down the heat and simmer the chicken. This is one of the main steps to get the best chicken pie recipe to live.
Step 2:
While the chicken is being prepared, one must start with the pastry. To start the process, you must coat butter cubes with flour properly. To do so, we must cut the butter into small cubes of equal size and sift the flour with a small quantity of salt. Once done with the same, it is essential to place the butter in the flour properly. The chicken pie recipe doesn’t need you to mix the two; rather, it should be unfinished and rough.
Step 3:
Now, with the help of water, we need to convert it into a dough without overdoing the mixture. We must ensure that the butter cubes are intact and not melted inside the flour itself. Cover the mixture with clingfilm and put it in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes.
Step 4:
Bring the mixture out from the refrigerator, and make sure to make three layers out of your dough. You can shape the dough in a rectangle and roll it over three times its actual length. Now, fold the first third of the dough to the center and cover with the other third left. This way, you can achieve the three layers we need. Repeat the process 3-4 times to get a good texture and refrigerate for 15-20mins.
Step 5:
Moving back to the chicken, get the bird out of the pan and reduce the meat stock to 500 ml. Add sherry or slug of Madeira to bring out the sweetness in the stock. The process can take up to 20 minutes. One must also look forward to adding different seasonings to enhance the taste.
Let the chicken cool down and strip off the meat afterward.
Step 6:
Melt the butter in a large frying pan, which will bake a chicken pie. Cook the same with lardons in it until the butter turns golden. Therefore, this golden texture will be used afterward and should be kept aside. Now, you must fry the leeks for about 7 minutes and add stock to the pan while it is super-hot. Let the stock boil and add lemon, cream, tarragon, and the bacon we have always wanted. Mix it all well, and then pour in the chicken.
Step 7:
Use the large frying pan, pour in chicken and sauce to the dish, and let it cool for a while. Once you are done with the same, use the pastry to cover chicken and sauce and make sure to build at least a 5mm thick layer. Use egg white to brush the pan’s rim, and they lay the pastry on the same; press it down to the seal to tighten the surface properly. Now, make a small opening at the top of the pastry and add all the egg wash.
Bake the same for about 35 minutes at 350F and wait till the pastry is golden and risen. Well, the perfect chicken pie recipe 2022 is in your hand now. Let the pie cool down before you serve it to anybody.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. What else is the chicken pie recipe called?
While most of us are familiar with it as the chicken pie recipe, many people in history have addressed it as the pot pie. A basic pot pie consists of pie crust, vegetables, gravy, and poultry meat. The first-ever pot pie was baked in 1951 by the C.A. Swanson company, which consists of chicken as the only meat.
Q2. How do you know when the chicken pie is ready?
While years of expertise have been spent on the same, one can look out for the correct baking temperature. Baking the pie at 350F for 30-40 minutes gives the best texture to it. However, the same might vary depending on the quantity of prepared food. Therefore, it is also better to wait for the top to turn golden brown. Another great point to remember is to keep the temperature good enough to give the internal items a bubbly texture.
Q3. At what temperature should we cook meat pie?
All the chefs will provide a different estimate for their pie recipe. You decide to follow the chef you prefer. However, it is also essential to follow all the steps from an individual chef itself and not mix them up. You might end up ruining the pie quality.
Takeaway
Baking chicken pie is not that hectic if all the minute details are taken care of. With this article, all the different ingredients needed for the chicken pie recipe have been clarified like never before. At Sleck, the team looks forward to bringing out the best experience for every user. Therefore, if you face any issue related to the chicken pie recipe, it would be wise to comment below. Our team at Sleck will reach out to you as soon as possible.
Also, if you are facing any issue related to skin tag removal, check out this article on Sleck.
