The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (13 page)

Pour coconut milk over all and bring to a slow boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer about 40 minutes, or until meat is fork tender. Add the cauliflower florets in the last 10 minutes of cooking and simmer until tender.

This simple and lazy way to cook chicken results in extremely tender meat and flavorful broth. If you prepare a chicken weekly in this manner, you’ll always have some homemade broth ready, plus a container of moist de-boned chicken in the refrigerator for quick meals and snacks. Be sure to use chicken on-the-bone for the most flavor and maximum mineral content in the meat and broth. True, you won’t have that delicious crispy skin with this method, but this is so convenient and easy you might not even miss the crispy skin.

If you don’t have a slow cooker you can use a stock pot on the range instead, but be sure to check periodically to see if minor temperature adjustments are necessary to maintain the water at a simmer. A chicken cooked in a pot on the range will cook faster, in about 2–3 hours. If you’re short on time, consider using a pressure cooker instead. Use the same ingredients and add just enough water to cover the chicken. In less than an hour you’ll have tender meat and a flavorful broth.

SERVINGS: Makes several quarts of broth depending on slow cooker capacity and 2–4 pounds of chicken, depending on chicken size.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Remove all packaging from chicken (check the cavity) and place in slow-cooker crock. Add the rest of the ingredients (except vinegar or lemon) around the chicken. Lightly salt and pepper.

If you’re using chicken feet, clean and then add to the pot. Feet make a really rich, gelatinous broth that is extra flavorful as well as soothing and nourishing for the lining of the GI tract—try sourcing from local poultry producers, local Asian markets, or online pastured chicken retailers.

Fill the slow cooker with water to about 2 inches from the top of the crock (do not overfill or liquid might bubble out). Add the vinegar or lemon juice to the water.

Set slow cooker temp to low and cook until meat is tender and at least 170°F, about 6 hours. Turn the chicken once during cooking for more even cooking. For faster cooking, set the slow cooker to high for about 3–4 hours, but keep in mind that slower cooked chicken is more tender. Don’t be tempted to cook the chicken all day (like you can with chicken bones alone) as that will transfer too much of the chicken’s flavor to the broth and create dry chicken meat.

Set a large platter or wide shallow bowl next to the slow cooker to receive the chicken. Carefully lift the chicken with a strong spatula or wooden spoon underneath or inside the cavity and tongs from above, letting it drain a moment over the pot. If really well cooked, the chicken meat may even come off the bones as it is lifted, in which case you can cut the chicken up or break it apart in the pot before transferring chicken pieces with tongs to the platter.

Let chicken set for a few minutes until it has cooled enough to handle. While still warm, remove the meat from the carcass, returning skin, bones, joints and cartilage to the broth. Serve the meat right away or store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container, ladling a cup of strained broth over the meat to keep it moist.