Smothered Orange Chicken Recipes

Steps:

• Brown the chicken: Heat 2 large skillets over high heat. Add half of the oil to each. Arrange the chicken on a tray in a single layer and season with salt. Turn the pieces over and season the other side. When the oil begins to smoke lightly, carefully add the chicken, skin side down, to the skillets, leaving space between each piece of chicken. Reduce the heat to medium and allow the chicken to brown on their first side, 5 to 8 minutes. Resist the temptation to move or turn the pieces. Use metal tongs to carefully turn the chicken pieces to their second side and brown 3 to 5 additional minutes. Transfer the chicken pieces to a tray and set aside.
• Prepare the garlic: Grate 6 of the cloves of garlic and set aside for the sauce. Cut the remaining 12 cloves in half lengthwise.
• Make the sauce: In one of the skillets you cooked the chicken in, add the cumin and coriander and stir rapidly over medium-low heat to give them a quick toast, 10 to 15 seconds. Immediately add the onions and grated garlic. Season with salt and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the onions turn light brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon stick, pepper flakes, bay leaves and tomatoes. Allow the tomatoes to cook, breaking them apart with a spoon as they cook, 8 to 10 minutes, and then add 1 cup water.
• Toast the garlic cloves: In the other skillet the you cooked the chicken in, arrange the garlic halves in a single layer in the cooking grease. Toast the garlic over low heat until golden brown and crisped, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the garlic from the skillet, sprinkle with salt and drain on a kitchen towel.
• Finish cooking the chicken: Arrange the chicken pieces, skin side up, in the sauce. Cover the skillet, keep the heat low and continue cooking until the pieces are cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the cover and stir in the ginger, cream and vinegar. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 additional minutes.
• Test the center of a thigh to make sure the chicken is cooked through. It should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F and the juices should run "clear," not pink. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Top with the toasted garlic and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Brown chicken: Dry chicken thighs thoroughly using paper towels. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil over high heat. When the oil is rippling, carefully lay the chicken, skin side down in an even layer, into the hot oil. (You may need to do this in batches to avoid crowding.) Allow the chicken to brown for 5 minutes on each side, adjusting the heat from high to medium-high as needed to prevent burning. When the chicken has been browned, return all of the pieces to the pot, lower heat to medium-low, and continue to cook the meat through, turning occasionally, 15 more minutes.
• Caramelize onions: Remove chicken from the pot and set aside. There should be caramelized bits of meat and skin, or "fond," stuck to the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat back to medium and add onions to the accumulated chicken fat. Sweat the onions until they start to caramelize and stick to the bottom, stirring often, 10 minutes. Deglaze the bottom of the pot by scraping with a wooden spoon to release the fond. Add celery, garlic, poblano and jalapeño peppers; stir to combine. Allow the onion mixture to sit undisturbed for long enough to create more fond, then stir to deglaze; repeat this process for about 45 minutes.As the water cooks out, the onions will begin to darken and caramelize, and as the caramelization progresses, it will take less time to stir and deglaze the pan. You will be done when most of the liquid is cooked out, and you see only clear fat at the edges of the pot. (It may be challenging to keep up with the speed of the fond sticking to the bottom-it's a labor of love, but worth it!)
• Sauce: When the onion mixture has reduced in volume by ⅔ to a paste-like consistency and no liquid is left in the pot, add the chicken back in. Begin building the sauce by adding water, a ½ cup at a time. Continue the same process of creating a fond on the bottom of the pot then deglazing, allowing the chicken and onion mixture to go through the caramelizing process again. Repeat this step until the onion mixture is a dark brown paste and the chicken is starting to fall apart, 10 minutes. Add remaining water to cover (adding more water if necessary), and salt to taste. Stir, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, 1 hour.
• When the dish is ready, chicken thighs will be very tender and falling off the bone in a rich brown gravy. Season with more salt to taste and about 16 cranks of black pepper. Fold in scallions. Serve over hot rice. It's a "rib-sticking, sloppy dish," and it's meant to be eaten that way.

Steps:

• In 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onion and mushrooms in butter 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender and beginning to brown. Stir in sugar. Cook about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very brown.
• Stir gravy and sherry into vegetables. Add chicken to skillet; spoon sauce over chicken.
• Cover; cook 5 to 10 minutes, turning chicken after half the cooking time, until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with parsley.

Steps:

• Slice chicken into 1 inch cubes, in a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cayenne and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. In a paper bag (if you don't have one handy a large bowl will do fine as well) mix together flour and cornstarch and salt and pepper. Dip the chicken in batches, first in the egg mixture and then in the flour mixture, shake to coat. Set on a wire rack or a cookie sheet lines with parchment or wax paper and let rest while you prepare the sauce.
• Preheat oil to 350 degrees.
• In a large staight sided saute pan, combine orange juice, orange zest, brown sugar, butter, hot pepper flakes and Worcestershire Sauce. Bring to a fulll boil and until sauce reduces about half and then reduce heat and simmer. sauce will thicken in about 5 to 10 minutes.
• While making sauce fry the chicken in the oil until golden and crispy.
• once fried transfer chicken to sauce and toss to coat.
• Serve over rice and enjoy.