Pollo al oregano.

[worth1]

Just one version of this tasty treat.
Another is to grill it but I don't want to build an open fire in the drought rain or no rain.
Ingredients are.
A whole chicken.
Mexican oregano.
Black pepper.
Cumin.
Worcestershire sauce but only about 1 tablespoon.
Fresh crushed garlic.
Garlic powder.
Oil.
This made a paste.
Greased the critter up nicely and put it in the Dutch oven.
Poured in a 1 quart container of chicken bone broth.
This put the liquid level up to where it left a third of the chicken exposed.
Put lid on and in the oven at 200F for a long low temperature braise.
But first I pre heated to 400F and let it coast back down to 200F with the kettle in the oven.
No additional salt was added at this moment.

Once chicken is done it'll go through another process before serving.
Which will be to let cool off obviously and then pan fry individual pieces in oil in a skillet with another amount of the wet rub.
This is to crisp up the outer skin and more flavor.

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[MissS]

It looks like a really good dish and versatile too.

[worth1]

About an hour and a half or 45 minutes the bird is ready checking with my thermometer at around 160F.
Just gonna let it coast back down to a manageable temperature with the oven off.
I can't believe it cooked that fast but every place I probed it was about the same.
No matter it's going to get another fast cooking anyway after it's cooled off.

[Vanman]

That has to be good.

[bower]

I bet that Dutch Oven approach makes it super tender.
Low and slow chicken melting off the bone is definitely the finest.

I have so much oregano in my garden, bees absolutely love it but the flavor of the leaf is not considered great... we don't even bother to dry it. It is the species oregano O. vulgare. So many of them have propagated themselves that they are now very diverse, having different floral forms as well as shades of pink and white flowered ones. The best thing I found to do with this oregano other than feed the bees, is to make herb vinegar with the purple buds before the flowers open. It does make a fine vinegar, but the shelf life is not great not more than six months. The white flowers are pretty but they have no flavor like the red purple buds.
I've heard that the greek oregano is a best one for leaf flavor. But I've never heard of Mexican oregano before.

[pondgardener]

@Bower Here is a description of the Mexican oregano(Lippia graveolens) that I just purchased. I was thinking about growing it here, but apparently it doesn't like temps below 30˚F(-1.1C). That rules out my area, so I will just buy a bag of dried every so often.

https://mountainroseherbs.com/mexican-oregano-leaf

[worth1]

The pollo al oregano came out fantastic.
I made a sauce with the leftover broth by cooking it down and even added some crunchy peanut butter.
Tossed in a couple of crushed chilie Arbol too.
This is also when I added chicken bullion powder for the much needed salt.
Also used some of the broth for cornbread dressing.
The already dried cornbread came from the freezer.
Made mayonnaise and Colby cheese stuffed celery and had some cranberry sauce stuff on hand too.
They were more like candied cranberries.

All I did was cut off a leg and thigh and flash fried in hot oil.

The whole chicken was at room temperature so no juices ran out when I cut it.
Yes very tender.
Got the idea from Rick Bayless one of the go to people for authentic Mexican cuisine.
He has two methods one the braising and the other on the grill.
The braising method is for the barnyard chicken that isn't as tender as store bought chicken.
I've ate a ton of barnyard chicken and already knew this.
For a larger chicken like the so called Sunday roasting chicken this method is the cat's meow.
Especially the tougher legs and thighs.

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[worth1]

I cut off a leg thigh and wing from the other side and made a paste.
Oregano.
Oil.
Lots of salt and pepper.
Soy sauce.
Garlic powder.
Put it all over the meat and let sit for about an hour.
Put it in an oiled hot skillet and seared.
Probably some of the best chicken I've ever ate and no it didn't taste like Chinese food.

What I won't do again is a whole chicken like this.
Some meat takes to braising and some doesn't.
Breast as any cut of meat that doesn't do much work doesn't braise well.
Mine wasn't dried out because I pulled it out before it did.
This is one reason I don't care for the grilled half chicken.
By the time the legs and thighs are cooked the breast is dried out.

[worth1]

Cut off the last chicken breast and it is marinating in the same stuff I made yesterday.
The rest of the critter is back in the Dutch oven to make a broth with remaining meat on bones including the back for chicken and dumplings.
In the winter you serve hot in the summer you eat it cooled off to almost room temperature.

One line of thought on thickening the soup for the chicken and dumplings.
You don't have to use corn starch and yoy don't have to make a roux.
One of my favorite methods takes time but is worth it.
I normally use twice as much fluid as needed.
Then I mix raw flour with water and some of the cooking liquid to make a runny but thick slurry.
This goes into the cooking broth to let cook down and slowly thicken.
Normally I reduce by 1/2 volume.
By doing this yoy cooking the raw taste of the flour out.
The foam you will see forming on top is protein from the flour.
It will go away.
Now it's time to add the already cooked chicken and the dumplings to cook awhile.
My dumplings are a stiff chewy kind not like biscuits.
Just black pepper and salt water and a pinch of baking powder.
I also made fluffy dumplings too.
The best of both worlds.
The chicken breast was flash fried in a skillet and mixed in.
The skin was fried also for a crispy topping.
Enough black pepper to make everything hot in taste.
Well any who it came out fantastic and not your usual chicken and dumplings.

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