The shelves of our modern stores are literally bursting with an abundance of chicken meat, here there are whole carcasses, and chickens that have already been cut up, and giblets; we can always purchase both large broilers and tiny gherkins. The only problem is that you won’t be able to buy a real, aromatic, free-range chicken in a modern store for any amount of money. And demand plays a significant role in the absence of this product on the shelves of our stores. Unfortunately, many young housewives consider domestic village chickens to be a product that requires too much time and effort to prepare, and the result is considered too unpredictable. And completely in vain! Those who are older will never forget the taste and aroma of noodles or broth prepared by their grandmother from a chicken slaughtered in the morning. Take my word for it, or better yet check, you will never be able to cook anything like this from industrially raised chicken. And you shouldn’t be afraid that the country chicken will turn out to be too tough; if you follow some rules and little culinary tricks, a country bird dish will turn out juicy, tender, and soft, and its taste and aroma will enchant you once and for all. Today we invite you to figure out and remember with us how to cook homemade chicken.
If you think homemade chicken is only good for broths and soups, think again. One hundred and two hundred years ago, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, as well as their great-grandmothers, did not know any broilers, raised in almost complete immobility and fed with compound feed. But each yard had its own chickens running around. And they prepared a huge number of different dishes from these domestic chickens. They were boiled, stewed, fried, and baked; they cooked noodles and porridge with them; domestic chickens were excellent for preparing appetizers, first courses, and second courses. And what pies and pies were made with meat and giblets of domestic chickens! Nothing has changed today. You can prepare almost any familiar dish from homemade chicken, but the dish will turn out to be many times more tasty, aromatic and rich in flavor than one prepared from regular store-bought chicken. And this applies not only to dishes of Russian cuisine, but also to many dishes of other national cuisines. For example, chakhokhbili from homemade chicken turns out much more delicious, and how aromatic and rich the lagman comes out of such chicken! Just try to make an Indian curry from such a chicken, you will be surprised at how much more delicious this already aromatic and fragrant dish can turn out! What can we say about the fact that if you follow some very simple rules, you can fry homemade chicken in the oven, bake it in a pot with vegetables and spices, and cook it in a jar, adding extra softness and juiciness to it. Can you really list everything? Just believe me, any dish prepared from home-grown, free-range chicken turns out incredibly tasty and aromatic, you just need to apply a little desire and your own culinary imagination.
Today, the Culinary Eden website has collected and recorded for you the most important tips and secrets, coupled with proven culinary recipes that will definitely help even the most inexperienced housewives and will easily tell you how to cook homemade chicken.
1. First of all, let's figure out where we can get a real village chicken. Don’t even look for such chickens in stores, they simply don’t exist there. At collective farm and farmer's markets, buy domestic chickens only from trusted sellers, because, unfortunately, now even chickens are falsified: they dye ordinary store-bought chickens with turmeric and pass them off as domestic chickens, hoping for the inexperience of the buyer. It is best to buy backyard chickens directly from those who raise them. If you ask around, you will probably find someone who knows village grandmothers or good conscientious farmers who raise free-range chickens. Usually you can drive up to such producers yourself, and they will personally slaughter and prepare the freshest chicken for you, and you will be able to see with your own eyes the living conditions of the chickens offered to you.
2. If you do decide to buy chicken at the market, choose your purchase very carefully. First of all, decide what dish you need homemade chicken for. For broths and soups, a laying hen about a year old is best suited. Such a chicken should weigh no more than one and a half kilograms, the legs of such a domestic chicken should be long, the breast bone should be quite tough, the chicken itself should be lean, not too fatty. If you are going to buy a chicken for preparing main courses, then choose a chicken weighing no more than a kilogram, with the breast bone still quite soft, with the legs still bright, yellow, not white. The meat of such a chicken will be soft to the touch, and the bones will be thin and fragile. Modern breeds of broilers raised on free range are often called domestic chickens. Of course, such chickens have more meat, they are fattier and softer than laying hens, and they are much easier to cook. One problem is that even these homemade broilers do not have the same taste and aroma as real country chickens, although they are, of course, tastier than store-bought broilers. Now the choice is yours. Try it and choose for yourself which domestic chickens you like best.
3. Once you have made your choice, examine the chicken more carefully. Next, carefully examine the carcass of the chicken you have chosen. A good domestic chicken will have shanks that look blue and thighs that are yellow due to fat. The skin of a good chicken will be quite thin, slightly transparent, and yellowish. Do not buy a chicken with too white or evenly colored yellowish skin - such a carcass was probably soaked in chlorine or tinted with turmeric to give it a more attractive presentation, but is it worth shopping from a seller who is trying to deceive you from the very beginning? Be sure to smell the chicken you choose! A good country house chicken has a rather thick but pleasant smell. If the chicken offered to you has the usual slightly sweetish, barely noticeable odor, you are being deceived, passing off an ordinary industrial bird as a domestic one. And, of course, make sure of the freshness of the bird offered to you: look to see if its skin is weathered, smell if the chicken has begun to deteriorate, feel if the meat has lost its elasticity - everything as usual when choosing a fresh bird.
4. Once you bring your chosen chicken home, start preparing it immediately. Cut off the head and legs, wash the neck and head thoroughly, scald the legs, clean and cut off the claws. These chicken parts are perfect for making broth and adding extra flavor and richness to it. Rinse the chicken carcass inside and out. Examine it carefully, because even a very well-plucked and singed chicken could still have small feather stumps lost in the deep layers of the skin - just pull them out with tweezers. If you are going to make broth from your chicken, the preparation is complete. If you bought chicken for stewing or frying, soak it for a couple of hours in salted water, this will give the chicken meat additional juiciness and softness. After soaking, rinse your chicken thoroughly again and lightly dry it. Do not soak homemade chicken in milk or water and vinegar! This will deprive it of that charming, rich, thick aroma for which you spent so much effort searching and buying a real domestic country bird.
5. Let's start our acquaintance with homemade chicken dishes by preparing the broth, the same aromatic, rich and very tasty chicken broth that your grandmother would be proud of. Place the gutted, cleaned and washed whole chicken carcass in a deep saucepan, add the cleaned legs and head and neck. Fill with cold water so that the water covers the chicken by 10 - 15 centimeters. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, skim off the foam, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer almost without boiling for one hour. Meanwhile, peel one carrot and one onion. Stick a clove bud into the bulb. Tie together several stalks of parsley and celery with a thread. After an hour, add prepared onions, carrots, a bouquet of herbs and a couple of bay leaves to your broth. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for another hour and a half. Do not add water while cooking the broth, this will deprive it of its strength and rich aroma! Salt the broth 20 - 30 minutes before it is ready. When the broth is ready, remove the vegetables, herbs and bay leaf from it, and leave the chicken to cool. Remove the chicken from the broth that has cooled to room temperature and strain the broth. This broth can be served separately or used as a base for soup, noodles or lagman. If you want to save the broth for the future, pour it into plastic containers and freeze it; believe me, a supply of such tasty and aromatic broth will always come in handy in your kitchen!
6. The chicken remaining after cooking the broth can be used in soup or salad, it can be served cold with horseradish, you can prepare many different delicious snacks from it, or you can bake it whole with garlic and sour cream. Try it, it's very tasty! Mix one glass of good thick sour cream with six crushed cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of your favorite chicken spices and ½ teaspoon of salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Brush the resulting sauce onto the boiled homemade chicken, outside and inside, and place in a greased baking dish. Place a few pieces of butter on top of the chicken. Bake in an oven preheated to 180° for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve with boiled potatoes and pickles.
7. Homemade chicken baked in the oven with apples and lemons turns out very tasty. Thoroughly rinse and soak a domestic chicken weighing about two kilograms in cool salted water for two hours. Remove chicken from brine, rinse and drain. Cut the chicken along the breast and open it like a book, beat it lightly with a culinary mallet, rub with your favorite spices, crushed garlic and salt. If the chicken is not fatty enough, put a few pieces of butter under the skin. Cut three sour apples into large slices, removing the core and seeds. Cut one small lemon into thick rings. Grease a baking dish with oil, place apples and lemons on the bottom, place the chicken on top, back up, add a couple of glasses of chicken broth or water. Bake in an oven preheated to 180° for one and a half to two hours. Make sure that the chicken does not burn; periodically baste it with the released juice and fat. Don't dry out your chicken! If the broth has completely boiled away, and there is still quite a bit of time left before the end of baking, feel free to add another half glass of broth or water.
8. Homemade chicken cooked in the oven on a can turns out juicy and soft. Only, unlike store-bought chicken, in the case of homemade chicken you should not use beer or other liquids with a strong aroma, because the beauty of homemade chicken is in its own rich smell and taste; it is enough to get by with plain water or chicken broth. Soak for an hour in salt water, rinse and dry one domestic chicken weighing up to one and a half kilograms. Mix three tablespoons of sour cream with three tablespoons of softened butter, one crushed clove of garlic, salt, black and red pepper to taste. Rub the resulting sauce over the chicken. Fill a liter glass jar three-quarters full with warm water or broth. Carefully place the chicken on top of the neck of the jar, like a glove, tail down. Place the jar of chicken on a baking sheet and place in an oven preheated to 180°. Bake for one and a half hours. If the chicken begins to brown too quickly on the top or wings, cover it with foil.
9. Roasted homemade chicken in pots turns out very tasty. Wash and chop one chicken weighing up to one and a half kilograms into small pieces. Cut two large carrots into cubes. Chop one large onion and two cloves of garlic. Cut 600 g into large pieces. potatoes. Cut two sweet peppers into small pieces. Heat a large cast iron skillet or heavy bottomed skillet over high heat. Place chicken pieces in small portions in a dry frying pan and fry until golden brown on both sides. Transfer the finished chicken to a separate dish. When all the chicken is fried, add the garlic and onion to the remaining fat in the pan and fry until translucent, then add the carrots and fry over medium heat until golden brown. Transfer vegetables to a separate plate. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to the frying pan, heat it up and add the potatoes. Fry over high heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown. When the potatoes are fried, add the fried vegetables, chicken, bell peppers, ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, a pinch of ground black pepper, and salt to taste. Stir and simmer everything together for 10 minutes. Then add 1 tbsp. spoon of tomato paste and simmer, stirring, for a couple more minutes. Remove from heat. Place one bay leaf in portioned ceramic pots, arrange the chicken with vegetables and add chicken broth to three-quarters of the volume. Place the pots on a baking sheet, cover with lids and place in an oven preheated to 180° for one hour. Once the time is up, remove the pots from the oven, remove the lids, sprinkle the roast with your favorite grated cheese and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.
10. It’s very easy to prepare delicious homemade chicken in a jar. Chop the chicken into small pieces, cut a couple of cloves of garlic into petals, chop one small onion. Mix everything, add a couple of bay leaves, salt and black pepper to taste. Mix again and fill a liter jar with the resulting mixture. Cover the jar tightly with a sheet of foil, place on a baking sheet and place in a cold oven. Do not add any water or broth to the chicken - it will stew in its own juices! Turn on the oven and bring the temperature to 160°. Simmer the chicken in a jar in its own juices for two hours, turn off the oven and leave the chicken in the cooling oven for another 30 minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes or rice.
And on the pages of Culinary Eden you can always find even more interesting ideas and proven recipes that will tell you how to cook homemade chicken.
Count's poultry pie (an old recipe) Lightly knead the butter with 1-2 tablespoons of flour, but do not rub it. Roll out the dough into a square layer and place butter in the center of the layer. Bring the corners of the dough together over the butter and pinch so that no flour gets into the seam. Roll out the dough into a rectangular layer. Opposite...You will need: wheat flour - 500 g, butter - 360 g, egg - 1 pc., kefir - 1 glass, salt - 1/3 teaspoon, boiled chicken pulp - 600 g, dried porcini mushrooms - 50 g, chicken broth - 2 cups, butter - 1 tbsp. spoon, wheat flour - 1 tbsp. spoon...
Poultry puree soup 
Boil chicken or turkey with aromatic roots. Separate the meat from the bones of the finished poultry. Pass the meat, except fillet, through a meat grinder or grind in a mortar to a paste-like consistency, gradually adding cold broth. ...You will need: chicken, chickens, turkey or duck - 75 g, carrots - 10 g, parsley - 10 g, onions - 10 g, flour - 20 g, butter - 20 g, milk - 75 g, egg yolks - 1/ 8 pcs.
Homemade noodle soup with chicken Cut the roots and onions into strips and sauté with the fat skimmed from the broth or with butter. Prepare homemade noodles: mix water, eggs and salt, pour flour in a heap, make a well in the center and gradually pour the mixture into...You will need: chicken - 70 g, carrots - 20 g, parsley - 5 g, onions - 10 g, leeks - 10 g, fat - 5 g, greens, flour - 35 g, eggs - 1/4 pcs., water - 7 g, salt
Poultry croquettes Boil the processed poultry in water or broth, separate the meat from the bones and pass it 2-3 times through a meat grinder with a fine grid. Add raw eggs, butter, wine (Madeira), salt, ground pepper, nutmeg to the cranked mixture...You will need: chicken - 500 g, eggs - 20 g, crackers - 20 g, deep-frying fat - 20 g, wine - 10 g, thick milk sauce - 40 g, butter - 10 g, nutmeg, pepper, herbs
Baskets with poultry soufflé Cook the processed poultry, remove the bones, pass through a meat grinder, add medium-thick milk sauce, egg yolk, pepper and stir thoroughly. Then add the beaten egg white, mix gently, place in baskets, sprinkle with...You will need: shortbread baskets - 4 pcs., boiled chicken - 50 g, milk sauce - 50 g, eggs - 20 g, cheese - 8 g, butter - 10 g, pepper
Roasted poultry or game Fry poultry or game. Chop the finished fried poultry so that there is a piece of breast and a piece of leg per serving. When ready, cut the chicken in half or into four pieces. Cut fried hazel grouse or partridge in half. Fillet of each...You will need: chicken or chick - 145 g, turkey - 140 g, goose - 170 g, duck - 150 g, pheasant or grouse - 1/4 pcs., hazel grouse or partridge - 1/2 pcs., beef fat - 3 g, side dish - 150 g, mayonnaise sauce - 30 g
Zama with chicken Boil chicken with roots. Chop the onion and carrots and fry in oil.When the broth is ready, remove the chicken to a dish and set aside.
Place fried vegetables, rice, spices into the broth and simmer everything together for 15 minutes. 
Boil homemade kvass and pour into the soup...You will need: chicken - 400 g, rice - 4 tbsp. spoons, carrots - 2 pcs., parsley root - 2 pcs., onions - 2 pcs., kvass - 2 cups, parsley - 1 bunch, margarine - 2 tbsp. spoons, salt, spices to taste, savory
Chicken on a bed of vegetables. 
Take the chicken and wash it well under running water. Cut the chicken into large portions. Wash and dry the vegetables. Cut the zucchini into long slices. Cut the onion into thick rings. Cut the carrots into thin slices along the length of the carrot. Potatoes cut...You will need: 2 kg homemade chicken, 3 carrots, 4 large onions, 1 zucchini, 500 grams of champignon mushrooms, 4 tomatoes, vegetable oil, 4 potatoes, dill, parsley, green onions, you can add broccoli, cauliflower if you have it.
My favorite chicken 
We take the chicken carcass, wash it well under running water, then take the water in a kettle and heat it to a boil and pour boiling water over our chicken. Mix ginger, chicken seasoning, ground black pepper, juice of 1 lemon, mustard, mayonnaise, olive oil (can be in a blender) salt Well with...You will need: 2 kg homemade chicken, 500 grams of raisins, 3 lemons, 2 tablespoons mustard, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons olive oil, ground ginger, seasoning for chicken, ground black pepper, salt, baking sleeve.
Wash the chicken thoroughly under running water and dry.
Cut the carcass lengthwise along the breastbone, and then, pressing lightly along the ridge, give the chicken a flatter shape.
Combine chopped garlic with rosemary, salt, ground black pepper, vegetable oil and mix well.
Rub the resulting mixture onto homemade chicken on all sides and leave at room temperature for 30-40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Tie the chicken legs with thread, giving the carcass a more beautiful look. Place homemade chicken on a baking sheet lined with parchment or greased with vegetable oil and place in the oven. Mine baked for a little over 1.5 hours. In order for the chicken to turn out with a crispy, golden crust, during the cooking process it must be periodically watered with the released juice.
Appetizing, with crispy chicken, very tasty and aromatic homemade chicken baked in the oven will decorate the table both on weekdays and on holidays.
But with the right approach, many hearty and tasty dishes are obtained from rural natural products: broth with noodles, jellied meat, chakhokhbili, and so on. Very tasty homemade chicken stew. If you pre-marinate it, the meat turns out amazing, very tender, and compares favorably in its taste with store-bought broiler. Today we will talk about how to cook homemade chicken soft and juicy.
Total cooking time: 3 hours + 2 hours marinating / Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- domestic chicken - 1.5 kg
- salt - 1.5-2 tsp.
- a mixture of ground peppers - 2-3 chips.
- lemon - 0.5 pcs.
- large onion - 1 pc.
- parsley - 0.5 bunch.
- bay leaf - 1 pc.
- hot water - 2-2.5 l
Preparation
To begin with, I held the chicken over the fire, removed the remaining feathers, washed and dried. Then she cut the carcass into portions, cutting along the joints. This time I decided to leave the legs intact. If the bird is “at a serious age,” then you can lightly beat off the pieces or make deep punctures in them with a knife.
Transfer the meat to a deep bowl, sprinkling the pieces with salt and ground pepper. I squeezed half a lemon in there. Peeled the onion and cut it into thin half rings, squeezed it forcefully into a bowl with the chicken to release as much juice as possible. I left the bird in this form to marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator (can be overnight). The acids contained in lemon and onion will slightly soften the meat fibers, and the chicken will become more tender.
After the specified time, I fried the chicken to seal the meat juices inside each piece. The meat was fried in portions, in a very hot, always dry frying pan for about 3-4 minutes on each side, without a lid, on maximum heat.
Then, in the same frying pan, the onions, which were used for pickling, were sautéed in the melted fat.
Place the browned chicken and onion (without fat, you can drain it) into a saucepan with a thick bottom. I added bay leaf and parsley, tied with a thread to make it easier to remove them from the finished broth. I poured boiling water so that the liquid covered the contents of the pan by 2-3 centimeters.
Bring to a boil, skim off the foam and simmer for 2 hours. The heat must be medium throughout the cooking time, otherwise the meat simply will not cook properly. If after the specified time the meat is still tough, then you have got a very old chicken; you will have to simmer it for an additional 1 hour - usually this time is more than enough for it to become soft and tender. If necessary, you can add hot water. In the last hour of cooking, you can add peeled and coarsely chopped potatoes to the pan, then you will immediately have a side dish. It is most convenient to check readiness with a fork; if the meat easily comes away from the bone and is divided into fibers, then you can remove the pan from the heat.
Chicken stewed in its own juices in a pan turns out aromatic, soft and juicy. During the cooking process, a lot of fat will melt and float to the surface of the broth; you can carefully skim it off with a spoon, scooping out only the top layer. Using the remaining broth, you can cook a very tasty noodle soup or simply serve it with a boiled egg, herbs and croutons. Bon appetit!
Baked homemade chicken isn't just a holiday dish, leftovers can be used for sandwiches, salads, and quick meals all week long. A small bird will take about an hour to cook, so it can easily be done on weekdays. Pop the bird in the oven when you get home from work and enjoy a delicious dinner with your family.
Ingredients:- 1 chicken carcass;
- olive oil or softened butter;
- 1 tablespoon salt;
- pepper;
- lemon (optional);
- fresh herbs (optional);
- garlic.
Cooking chicken according to this recipe is very simple and quick. While it’s baking, you can go about your business; the timer will notify you when it’s ready. You can change the flavor of the chicken to your liking by adding your favorite spices to salt and pepper.