Bored of Chicken? Boil It in Butter!

Has butter ever done me wrong? For me, it’s a resounding no! Butter never disappoints, it outperforms and exceeds my expectations, making everything golden, sumptuous, and downright decadent. When I hit a slump, I always find butter can be the saving grace, and people knew that hundreds of years ago too. This historical recipe proves that butter can make anything, even boring chicken, taste better.

John Townsend always enthusiastically presents historical recipes in a fun and approachable way, and it’s no exception in this video.

The hardest part about this recipe is clarifying the butter and enough butter to completely submerge the whole chicken. While this is an added step, it’s totally worth it! Clarifying butter is just simmering the butter until all of the milk solids cook-off, depending upon your pot size and the amount of butter you’re trying to clarify at once, this takes about 8 to 10 minutes.

A simple spice mix goes inside the bird – salt, pepper, ground cloves, mace, nutmeg, and chopped fresh parsley. You can stuff the cavity full because this is the only seasoning (outside of the butter) that the chicken gets.

As you warm up your butter in a large pot, tie the bird’s legs and wings close to the body and coat the outside with a bit of flour. You don’t want the butter boiling but just warm enough so the flour sticks and doesn’t dissolve into the butter.

The chicken will cook for at least an hour in the clarified butter. You’ll have to turn or flip the bird as needed. You’ll need to do this to get even, crispy gold hues on all sides.

After you remove the bird you garnish with, no surprise, some more butter. This overabundance of butter may make a gross and greasy bird, but that is not the case here. Cooking the chicken in butter makes for a soft, tender, and moist of meat, all parts of the bird are packed with flavor. It imparts moisture, not grease.

Now, you may think — hey wait — what am I gonna do with all of this leftover butter I cooked the bird in? Well, don’t throw it away! This butter can be used in any of your savory dishes. Since the butter is already clarified, you can easily use it for sautéing or cooking things on high heat. The butter has a great meaty flavor, giving things like pasta, potatoes, or vegetables an extra little kick.

To watch the process from start to finish, refer to the video below.