winners win. period. the end.

yum. crispy skin. juicy & tender.

chicken canzanese. america’s test kitchen comes through again. this dish is restaurant quality. crispy skin, super juicy, fall off the bone tender with a plate licking sauce. here’s how:

you’ll need:

8 thighs or 4 leg quarters, skin on, bone in.
2 oz pancetta, small dice (see note)
4 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
olive oil
2T flour
2 C white wine
1 C chicken stock
rosemary, 1 stem
2 bay leaves
12 fresh sage leaves
2 cloves
½ t red pepper flakes
2T butter
1T lemon juice

you’ll do:

when you bring home the chicken, salt it and put in fridge until ready to use. i left mine in the fridge for 2 days. thanks alice.

preheat oven to 325℉.

chop pancetta into a small dice. slice garlic cloves. add 2T olive oil to large heavy bottom skillet and add pancetta to brown. about 3 minutes. add garlic and cook for 90 seconds. remove from skillet leaving oil and reserving pancetta & garlic.

pat dry chicken with a paper towel. pepper the chicken. add 2T olive oil to skillet on medium high heat and let it come to a smoking point. add chicken skin side down and do not move it for at least 5 minutes. it took mine about 9 minutes to brown. check after 5 minutes. flip and cook for at least another 5 minutes to brown other side of chicken. careful not to burn the oil/bits in the skillet. turn off heat. remove chicken. pour fat from skillet into a heat proof bowl.

get herbs ready. remove leaves from rosemary stem. place stem, bay leaves, cloves and red pepper flakes on a small plate or bowl.

measure out wine & stock.

add 2T of that oil back into skillet with 2T flour. stir and incorporate for 1 minutes. add wine to deglaze skillet. add broth and whisk to remove all lumps. simmer for 5 minutes. return pancetta and garlic to skillet along with plate of herbs and stem. place chicken into skillet, skin side up and put in the oven for one hour and 15 minutes.

chop rosemary leaves very finely and set aside.

after 1 hour & 15 minutes, remove chicken from skillet and place on platter. cover with foil.

remove sage & bay leaves, cloves and rosemary stem from sauce. place on high heat for 3 minutes. add lemon juice, butter and rosemary and stir. when the butter incorporates, this is the sauce. taste. add salt and white pepper if needed. eat.

note: i bought my pancetta at boulevard bread and it came wrapped in the CUTEST waxed paper. also, in the america's test kitchen video, she calls it prosciutto, which is a DRY CURED ham that does not need to be cooked before consumed. you can plainly see she is using pancetta, which is cured, yet raw. oops.