I have a thing about poultry skin. Generally speaking, I think it's icky. The only exception I delightfully make is for Peking Duck. If I am offered fried chicken, I'm as likely as not to pull off the skin and give it to someone who appreciates it.
I'm not going to argue that cooking with the skin on will make for juicier meat. I also have friends who love poultry skin, so when I found this recipe, the cabbage and bacon and braising intrigued me, I invited one of them over for dinner. Conveniently, he arrived early and I got some assistance, which was much needed due to space constraints, which I'll get into in a bit.
The ingredients are all things I find tasty, though I did make a few adjustments: (I also capitalized Tablespoon in this list)
- 2 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (6 to 8 thighs; 1.15kg) (I ended up with 8, which didn't all fit in my sauté pan, I'll get to that in a bit)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) vegetable oil
- 8 ounces (225g) slab bacon or salt pork, cut into 1/2- by 1/4-inch lardons
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 6 ounces; 170g)
- 1 pound finely shredded cabbage (about 1 medium head; 450g)
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) whole-grain mustard (I added another Tablespoon)
- 1/2 cup (120ml) apple cider vinegar (I added another 2 Tablespoons)
- 1 cup (235ml) homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
- 3 Tablespoons sugar (I cut this down to 1)
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 sprigs thyme (more like a dozen)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I completely forgot about this and didn't really need it)
