Chicken leg lollipops with sweet & sour glaze | soft polenta I chicken-roasted carrots
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Published 2022-02-17
**RECIPE, FEEDS 4-6**
4-5 lb (circa 2 kg) chicken legs (smaller ones are better for this, imho)
1-2 bunches of green onions
3-4 garlic cloves
1 oz (28g) dried mushrooms (very optional)
2 lb (900g) carrots
1 cup (150g) cornmeal
honey (or any other sweetener)
butter
cornstarch
tomato paste
white wine (very optional)
vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
soy sauce (or Worcestershire, or fish sauce)
oil
salt
pepper
Get your oven heating to 400ºF/200ºC.
Strip the meat off the lower third of the shinbone on each leg and cut it off, along with what remains of the ankle joint (watch the video for details). Put the the legs in a roasting pan, and the bone/meat/skin trimmings into a skillet. Season the legs heavily with salt and pepper, and toss them in a very light coating of cornstarch. Toss them again in oil, distribute them in a single layer across the roasting pan and roast them for about an hour to start with.
Meanwhile, brown the chicken trimmings in the pan with a little oil. Cut thin slices out of the middle section of the green onions to use as a raw garnish at the end. Roughly slice the onion tops and bottoms, peel and crush the garlic cloves, and get all that browning in the pan along with the chicken trimmings. When you've got some color on everything, stir in a squeeze of tomato paste and brown that for a moment. Deglaze with half a bottle of white wine, or water. Add more water to get everything submerged. Throw in the dried mushrooms, if you're using them. Give the pan a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper and simmer for at least 45 minute, stirring occasionally and topping off with additional water to keep things submerged.
Bring about a quart/liter of water to a boil with a couple pinches of salt. Whisk in the cornmeal, reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover and let cook for at least a half hour. Before you eat this polenta, melt in butter to taste (I used like half a stick, 60g), season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir in additional water if the the texture is too thick, keeping in mind it will thicken a lot as it cools.
Prep the carrots by cutting them into thick pieces. After the chicken has roasted for an hour, take it out, scrap it off the bottom of the tray and push it to one side to make room for the carrots. Dump the carrots in the tray, toss them with a little oil and salt, and then reposition the chicken legs so that they're all in one layer again, even if this requires putting some of them on the carrots. Return to the oven and roast until the carrots are almost cooked (it took me a half hour).
Strain the quick chicken stock through a sieve, squeeze the solids with a spoon to make sure you've got all the juice out and discard them. Give the pan a quick rinse to get out any chunks, return it to the heat and bring the strained stock back to a simmer. Make a smooth slurry with a couple tablespoons of cornstarch and a splash of water, and slowly drizzle some of it into the stock while stirring. Put in as much slurry as you need to achieve a somewhat thick consistency (it will thicken more as it sits around before you eat). Add soy sauce, vinegar and honey (or any form of sugar) to taste, remembering that the resulting glaze should taste way too intense on its own.
When the roasting tray comes out of the oven, grab each leg by the one and drag the meat through the glaze. Lean each leg against the side of the pan as you go, to keep the bones clean. Put the roasting tray with the carrots on the stove, turn on the heat and deglaze with a splash of water. Reduce the resulting sauce to a glaze for the carrots as you cook them to the tenderness you desire.
Put some of the finished polenta on a plate along with some carrots. Give the legs a second swirl in the glaze before putting them on top of the polenta. Garnish with the reserved green onion slices.
All Comments (21)
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This is so funny to me because in the Philippines, chicken lollipop is the kind of thing you serve at kids' birthday parties, like the least fancy thing you can imagine. But it looks really great and fancy here!
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I love Adam because of those little fun facts he sneaks in.
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This is really common in Indo-Chinese cuisines. But they use chicken wings to shape it into a lollypop like shape by twisting the bones into wings with the smaller bone being discarded. It's then covered in a batter with some spices and deep fried, it's really yummy.
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One more reason to like Adam's videos over a lot of other creators': he doesn't act like he doesn't know how to pronounce Worcestershire just for cheap giggles. Thanks Adam, it's the little things that count.
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Cooking Notes: When preparing penguin watch out for the fibula.
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Oh yes, Adam is going thru another muscle gaining season again.
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"Fancy" Me with a mouthful of chimken drumsticks with five more in each hand as sauce drips from my mouth: Ye, fancy.
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“You can’t go wrong with carrot roasted in chicken fat” Most vegetables taste amazing roasted in chicken fat for some reason.
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ADAM! Please do a video on the length of boiling/simmering when making a stock. Basically, finding out what length of time produces the best flavor of stock. I know that the rule of thumb is the longer the better, but I often wonder when that kinda tapers off. For example, the flavor change from 0-12 hours is obviously greater than 12-24. So does boiling for an excess amount of time truly develop the best flavor? When is it too long?
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When my late mom used to braise chicken and make her delicious stew, I was allowed to grab a piece of bread and dip it directly in the sauce. Boy, that was so delicious!
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You gotta love Adam. I thought that fact about chicken/penguin bones was the intro to an ad read but no. He was just really excited to tell us about bird anatomy. Best youtuber ❤
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Adam really makes his videos so interesting that I watch even the meat ones despite being pescatarian, he also gives the information in a way that is easy to follow and process even with my lack of attention span due to ADHD and problems processing speech. Overall he's good at keeping me interested and listening which is not easy even with food being one of my special interests.
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Bird facts with Adam should be a regular segment on any video related to poultry.
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Hey Adam! Can you do a video on making on gyoza? 🥟
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Made it tonight. Insanely good, thanks so much Adam. Lollipopping is best way to make drumsticks super yummy and stock is delicious. I'd recommend cooking at 350 for same amount of time instead, the texture is better, and add carrots at the very beginning so you don't have to Sautee afterwards.
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Adam, when is "Eggs 201" gonna come out? Also, are you ever going to feature some offal meats in your recipes? Either way, continue with your amazing content! Your videos are really transforming an average home cook's skills and meals.
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Right when my local supermarket has a “manager’s special” on drumsticks. I know what I’m going to make for dinner!
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Something i've been realizing about why I like you: you're youtube's Alton Brown. I know it could be said for other channels that offer science-based food stuff, but you bring the same feeling that Good Eats does. I really love it
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I usually watch these videos purely as entertainment because I like Adam's content, but this is a recipe I absolutely have to try myself!
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Just made this recipe and deeply impressed my wife and mother in law. 10/10 would eat again...looks great too!
