Now that Thanksgiving is a fond memory, you're probably sitting back and wondering what the heck you're going to do with all of those delicious turkey leftovers. You could make casseroles (a popular item in our house), sandwiches, and yes, pies.
This post is going to be a long one, but sometimes it takes a bit of reading to create perfection. And this is going to be one perfect pot pie. Feel free to substitute in your leftover turkey when Millicent says chicken. I left in all of the instructions for when you want to try this must-make recipe a second (and third time).
Bon appetite!
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Chicken Pot Pie
Excerpted from How to Build a Better Pie
"Chicken
pot pie: synonymous with love for many, or just eating your feelings. It is
iconic. Read this entire recipe from start to finish. You need to understand what
you are getting into."
Crust
Basic
Pie Crust (see recipe below), chilled
Filling
4
tablespoons (60 ml) fat or olive oil
3
onions, large dice
1⁄2 bunch
celery, large dice
4
medium-size carrots, large dice
2
cups (300 g) English peas
1
cup (110 g) potatoes, large dice (optional)
3
cups (420 g) shredded chicken gravy
Chicken and stock (see instructions below)
Wash
1
lightly beaten egg or 3 tablespoons
(45
ml) heavy cream
1
tablespoon (19 g) sea salt
deep
9 1⁄2-inch (24 cm) glass pie plate or 9-inch
(23 cm) cast iron pan
pie bird
(optional)
These pies are not difficult, but it is imperative to accomplish more than one
thing at a time. For this recipe, you must cook the chicken before it goes in the
pie. You also cook the vegetables and make the gravy. Organize your tasks well
and you can accomplish these things at the same time. If you only do one thing
at a time in the kitchen, you’ll never get anything done. This sauce is very
important for chicken pot pie. Don’t even try to do it without. A roux is a
thickener that is equal parts fat and flour. This fat can be unsalted butter,
chicken schmaltz, or bacon renderings. As food becomes more expensive, it is
great to be able to use more and more by-products from what we make.
You’re
not just cooking the chicken for pot pie, you are making stock from its bones
that will then be used for the sauce for the pie, and the fat skimmed from the
top of the stock can be used for the roux for the gravy. Or you can use bacon grease.
The fat influences the flavor of the sauce. There are different kinds of roux,
and for this one you want to get it a dirty blonde color. The longer a roux
cooks the darker it gets and the more impact it has on the food. The point of
this roux is to provide thickening and a bit of depth.
The
other things you need to make this sauce are stock, white wine, and heavy cream
or milk. The stock is the main liquid, and the cream and wine complement with
their own flavors and textures. The same
ratio
employed for a mirepoix (onion: 2 to carrot: 1 and celery: 1) works here
(stock: 2 to cream: 1 and wine: 1). You can use any stock, but for the sake of
chicken use chicken stock. The best pot for this is a Dutch oven or a big,
somewhat deep cast iron. A roux really needs cast iron to cook well since it is
so viscous.
Roux
6
tablespoons (75 g) fat
6
tablespoons (50 g) all-purpose flour
3⁄4 cup
(175 ml) heavy cream or milk, room temperature
3⁄4 cup
(175 ml) white wine, room temperature
2
cups (475 ml) stock, room temperature
Place
your cast iron over medium heat and put the fat in. As it melts, whisk the
flour in batches so it can be incorporated into the fat as you go. This helps
to cut down on the whisking lumps out on the back end.
Keep
whisking the roux as it is mixed. If it bubbles a bit too much, turn the flame
down. A roux is a thick entity that can burn easily. Keep whisking the roux.
Turn it on low. Even though the flour is mixed in with the fat it is still
separate, so the roux has to keep on cooking to get the flour flavor out.
There
is a rawness of the flour that you can smell and taste, but beware, because hot
roux is a burning affair. To understand when the flour cooks out and this concoction
becomes a roux takes practice. Luckily this regards a roux, which is
commonplace in cooking, so there should be ample moments to learn this. The entire
cooking time for this roux is about 10 minutes.
Add the room-temperature stock
to the roux. Always add in a slow, steady stream to a roux while whisking; it
cuts down on clumping and ensures that the liquid is absorbed. Next add the
white wine and heavy cream in the same manner. Whisk everything together and
let it set for a bit, whisking every now and again. The gravy should be over a
medium heat, or even a bit higher if you are attending to it. It needs to
reduce, and the disparate flavors need to cook together. If you can still taste
the separate components of a sauce then it is still raw and needs to cooks longer.
This gravy takes about 25 minutes to cook. To find the sweet spot between too
runny and too thick: take your spatula or spoon out of the gravy and swipe your
finger across it. The line you create should keep its shape and the sauce
should be a delicate balance between translucent and opaque.
Since
it will cook and reduce a bit more in the pie, it is better to err on the side
of a little thin rather than really thick. Season to taste. Gravy without salt
and pepper is just a very loose, fat texture. It’s not worth it.
Cooking the Chicken and Making the
Stock
(Note from Katie: For those of you using leftover turkey, disregard this step and save
for another time when you are REALLY craving chicken pot pie.)
Chicken and Stock
2
tablespoons (28 ml) olive oil
1
onion, medium dice
4
pounds (1.8 kg) chicken, preferably air chilled
salt
3
stalks celery, medium dice
3
medium-size carrots, medium dice
water
to cover
stems
from a bunch of parsley (the
leaves will go in the pot pie)
sprig
of fresh thyme
2
tablespoons (10 g) whole black peppercorns
Pot
Stockpot
Just
as there is a proper vessel for everything, there is a proper method in which
to prepare chicken for a specific dish. Chicken is amazingly versatile; it can
be roasted on high heat, deep-fried, pan-fried, braised, smoked, stewed, and
even stuck on a beer can and put on a grill. Each way has its appropriate uses.
For pot pie, if you have a whole chicken, put it in a pot with water. At the
same time you are making stock for the gravy.
Heat the olive oil in a stockpot
over medium-high heat and add the onions when it’s hot. Stir it and when it
just becomes fragrant, add the rest of the mirepoix (celery and carrots). Let
it saute for a few minutes. Salt the chicken inside and out and put in the
stockpot. Cover with cold water and add the parsley stems, thyme, and
peppercorns. The stock will begin to bubble after about 25 minutes. As this
happens, a dirty foam will collect on the surface of the liquid. Get a ladle and
discard it. You are now skimming the scum. Skim it all before it comes to a
boil and reincorporates the scum into the stock. Cover the pot immediately with
a lid and turn the burner off. After 30 minutes check the chicken.
Pull on the drumstick
with tongs; it should be very wiggly. Pull the chicken out and let it cool
until you can pick it. Take out the skin and bones, put back in the stockpot,
and let it simmer for another hour. Shred your chicken into good pieces, not
too chunky and nothing like cat food. Strain your stock and reserve 2 cups (475
ml) for gravy. Stock freezes really well or keeps in the refrigerator for up to
4 days.
The
chicken is good and the stock is made. One 4-pound (1.8 kg) chicken yields 3 to
4 cups (675 to
900 g) of
shredded meat, packed a bit. The
ratio of onions to carrots and celery should be even; this is a classic French
mirepoix. It’s used in stocks,
soups, sauces, and braises. When you cut a mirepoix it’s important for the
vegetables to be the same
size so they cook at the same time. These vegetables are an important part of
the pot pie. They need to have some guts to counter the meat, so cut them in a
large dice.
Heat
4 tablespoons (64 g) of butter, olive oil, or some other fat in a Dutch oven
over medium heat. Add
the
onions and saute them until translucent, about 10 minutes. The longer you cook
onions the more they
change,
becoming sweeter and something completely different from their raw reality.
Once they are soft and fragrant, add the celery, carrots, and peas. Mix
together.
Continue
until they are just soft. Add the 3 cups (675 g) of the shredded chicken, mix
together, and then add the gravy. Mix it all together and taste for seasoning. Salt?
Freshly ground pepper? These two things separate food that is simple and all
right from food that is simple and delicious. Let cool before putting into the pie
crust.
Constructing
the Pie
Preheat
the oven to 425°F (220°C, gas mark 7).
Roll
out your chilled bottom crust to 1⁄8-inch
(3 mm) thick. It should be about 13 inches (33 cm) in diameter. Place in your
pie plate or cast iron. Trim the edges so there is no more than 1⁄4
inch (6 mm) of overhang. Lift and crimp
the overhang along the rim of the pie pan. Chill bottom crust in the
refrigerator or freezer. Chop up a bunch of parsley leaves and mix it in the
chilled filling. Pull out the chilled top crust from the refrigerator and roll
out in the same manner and thickness. Get the pie plate or cast iron out of the
refrigerator. If using a pie bird, place it, beak up, in the middle of the
bottom crust and spoon the filling in around it. If not using a pie bird, put the
filling in the crust. Place the filled pie pan adjacent to the top crust and
treat it the same way, quickly flip it in half, and lift on top of the pie.
Lift
the other half over the pie. If there is a pie bird, just punch its beak
through the top crust to vent. Lift the edges of the top crust up so the crust
sits on top of the filling, not just stretched across it.
Trim
the edges to be flush with the bottom crust and crimp them together. Cut slits
in the top crust even if you do use a pie bird, brush the top crust with the wash,
and sprinkle it with sea salt. Put in the preheated oven and bake until golden
brown, about 45 minutes.
Yield:
1 pie (8 servings)
Basic Pie Crust
This
is an amazingly versatile recipe for a double-crust pie. It can be used for
sweet or savory pies. It can be all butter, all leaf lard, all shortening, or
any combination. For savory pies you can even use beef suet.
2
cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
3
teaspoons (18 g) kosher salt
2
teaspoons (8 g) white sugar
2
sticks (224 g) cold unsalted butter
1/2
cup (120 ml) strained ice water, plus
2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 ml)
mixing
bowl
fork
plastic wrap
1. Choose a good-size bowl, one in which both of your hands can
fit in and work. You will be mixing the crust with your hands.
2. Pour all dry ingredients into the bowl and mix together in the
bowl with your hands.
3. Cut the cold butter into 1⁄4-inch
(6 mm) pieces. It is very important that your butter be cold; its ability to
maintain its shape is what lends flakiness to the crust. You can freeze it, but
I find refrigerated butter to be quite sufficient.
4. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients. Incorporate the
butter into the dry ingredients by pinching each piece. Do not break up the
butter beyond this; it should keep its shape. You are really just introducing
them to each other.
5. As you work, cup your hands and lift all the dry ingredients
from the bottom of the bowl to the top.
Do
this a few times so you aren't stuck with dry ingredients at the bottom of the
bowl. (The butter should not get warm or create tiny little butter pebbles. The
goal is for the fat to have presence in the crust. It has a lot of work to do;
leave it some backbone.)
6. Strain the ice water so ice doesn't end up in the crust. (Ice
water is used for the same reason cold butter is: to keep the fat separate
through the process.) You can also pour the ice water through a slotted spoon held
over the bowl.
7. Slowly pour the water into the bowl. Start with 1/4 cup (60 ml) of water, and pour it around the outside of the bowl. Never sloppily
dump wet ingredients into dry ingredients, especially
for a crust. The water should be evenly distributed. Push the crust around with the fork, moving from the outside of the bowl. Add the second 1/4 cup (60 ml) of water and repeat.
8. When mixing the ingredients, make sure you are incorporating all ingredients
on the bottom of the bowl. You’ve added 1/2 cup (120 ml) of water. It is almost there, but you probably need to add at least 2 tablespoons (30 ml) more water. After adding the
extra water, push the crust more with your fork.
Note: In warmer months you may not need the last tablespoons (30 ml) of water because of the humid air.
Always slowly add water to a crust before
adding any more. Once you add it, there is no going back. Now, a splash of
water from your fingertips or a dusting of flour can tip the balance in the crust texture. Say your crust is almost together
but just needs
a little shove,
or it’s beginning to feel a bit tacky. Try just a touch of water or
flour to adjust the texture.
Shaping the Crust
Your crust is ready to be shaped when a few things occur:
You can squeeze it together and it won’t fall apart, and the center is not just a crumbly, dusty mess. And, please, you are squeezing it, not kneading it. It’s not bread or
pasta dough, it’s pie crust. Quit touching
it!
The crust becomes slightly golden
and a little
cooler
to touch. This is the perfect moment when the mixture becomes crust, where the equilibrium between the dry ingredients
and butter has been achieved.
Yield: 2 crusts (5-inch
[12.7 cm] disks, before rolling)
Prep time: 5 minutes
9. Separate the dough into two equal-size balls and flatten them into disks. (For this recipe, the disks should be about 5 inches [12.7 cm] in diameter.) Wrap each one in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 30 minutes before rolling them out. And that is how you make crust.
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Pick up your copy of How to Build a Better Pie today. Then you can impress everyone with delicious and beautiful pies for the holiday season and beyond!
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Millicent Souris is a New-York-based, self-taught, homegrown, DIY-driven
pie-maker. She's made thousands of pies in the past 10 years (you may
have tasted some of them in places as far-flung as Chicago and
Brooklyn). A resident of Brooklyn, she teaches pie-making workshops at
the Brooklyn Kitchen, and she can spot a limp crust from 100 paces.
