Chicken tobacco in the oven: Georgian cuisine. Video

Cooking chicken tobacco begins with cutting it. Remove the giblets (liver, heart, stomach) from the bird, rinse it under running water and dry it inside and out with a kitchen paper towel. Then cut the chicken along the breastbone and use pressure to spread it on the cutting board. Make symmetrical cuts in the poultry skins so that you can tuck in the chicken legs. Cut off the wing tips and fat tail.

If you bought a chicken from the market and it still has feather hairs on it, singe them. Cover the bird with cling film and lightly beat off any protruding parts. Do not use a hammer with sharp teeth, your job is not to crush the bird’s bones, but to make the chicken as flat as possible.

The poultry prepared in this way can be rubbed with salt, pepper, chopped garlic, dry spicy herbs, popular in Georgian cuisine, but sophisticated cooks insist that an authentic tobacco chicken does not need any spices, and the necessary spice is given to it by the sauce, without which it the dish is unthinkable.

Chicken tobacco can only be prepared from suitable poultry, weighing a little over 500 g. You can buy one either at the farmers’ market or in the store where they are sold under the name gherkin chicken

Preheat a large, heavy cast iron skillet. Heat the oil in it. Ghee is best for tobacco chicken, but you can also substitute olive oil for it. In order for the chicken to instantly form a golden brown crust, the oil in the pan should be practically boiling.

Important: If you do decide to season the chicken with garlic or herbal paste, wipe off any wet ingredients with a paper towel before putting the chicken in the oil, otherwise they will burn and spoil the flavor of the dish. Place the chicken in a skillet and press down with a special heavy lid; if you don’t have one, place a baking dish of a suitable size on the chicken and place the weight in it.

Roast 5-7 minutes until golden caramelized (depending on the size of the bird), turn the carcass over and cook until the same crust is formed on the other side of the bird. Remove the weight, cover the dish with an ordinary airtight lid or wrap it in foil and cook the chicken in an oven preheated to 170 ° C for 7-10 minutes. When the bird is ready, clear juice will pour out of it when the thigh is punctured. Remove the cooked tobacco chicken from the oven and serve with the sauce of your choice.

Chicken tabaka is served with various garlic sauces, hot spicy adjika, plum sauce – tkemali, yogurt sauce, bage nut sauce

Chicken tobacco, like any peasant dish, has many variations that depend on the characteristics of the regional cuisine. One of these recipes is well known far beyond the borders of Georgia. This is a Shkmeri-style tobacco chicken recipe, this is how this dish is prepared in the small village of Shkmeri, located in the high-mountainous region of Rachi, in the very place where the famous Khvanchkara wine is born.

For 2 small chickens of tobacco, with a total weight of 1–1,2 kilograms, you will need: – 1 head of fresh garlic; – 1 glass of full-fat milk; – salt, pepper.

Butcher the chicken and fry one at a time under the load in hot melted butter until a beautiful golden brown crust. Once the chicken is browned, place it in the broiler and cover. When both chickens are ready, put them in an oven preheated to 170 ° C. Bake, covered, for 5-10 minutes.

Peel the garlic and pass through the garlic press. Place it in the skillet where the chicken was fried, and fry until golden brown over medium heat. Pour in milk and stir the sauce thoroughly. While the sauce is evaporating in half, cut the chicken tobacco into 6 pieces of each, put in two heated deep clay plates (in Georgia they are called ketsi), pour over with hot sauce and serve with fresh vegetables and herbs (tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, parsley, cilantro ) and fragrant pita bread.

Although tobacco chicken is often served hot, if you prepare the right sauce for the dish, you get a delicate cold appetizer. For 1 chicken of tobacco you will need: – 1 large head of fresh garlic; – 1 tablespoon of salt; – 1 glass of boiled water.

Peel the head of garlic. Grind the clove with a knife, put in a mortar and grind with salt. If you want to process garlic with a blender, run it in pulse mode. Drain the fat and juice from the pan in which the tobacco chicken was fried. Pour over the garlic, add warm water and beat into a thick sauce. Season it with red hot ground pepper if desired.