Dutch Oven Berried Chicken, Part II

Last Sunday, I tried the berried chicken again, and this time I tried it as I wrote it, not like I did it the first time! 

Welllll...

Even at that I made a few changes.  And would also suggest a few more changes...  I can never leave well enough alone, right?  It drives my poor wife crazy.

One of the changes was to add the potatoes.  I had originally thought to put the chicken on my big steamer trivet in the dutch oven, so the juices would run down below.  But then, I thought of adding a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dutch oven, and setting the chicken on top of that.  It was a great idea, as the potatoes absorbed much of the flavor from the spice rub and the chicken juices.

Another change I would recommend is to not use ALL of the spice rub when coating the chicken.  It was too strong, especially in the salt and the black pepper.  Mix it to those proportions, and then use about 2/3 of it.

I also used the minced mint idea in the berry sauce, as well as just a few good shakes of cinnamon.  Oh, and I used apple juice concentrate instead of pineapple, so it didn’t need the honey for the sweetener. 

The end result, however, was stunning, for my taste.  It’s one of the best things I think I’ve ever cooked.  The sweet of the berries blended beautifully with the spice of the chicken.  The berries even mellowed the over-spiciness a bit.  Not cooking them together was a smart move.  The two flavor blends were much more distinct this way, yet they still combined. 

My family, however, wasn’t so impressed as I was.  They weren’t UN-impressed, either, but my son was a bit nervous to try the berry sauce.  And even though my wife liked the berries, she loved the chicken plain, and was scarfing down the potatoes like there was no tomorrow.






Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: All About Us Mormons, New Song: "The Chapel",