Ham Makes Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff | NYT Cooking

There's a Brazilian soda called Guaraná. It's like a tropical fruit that you can't really, doesn't really exist anywhere. I don't drink soda. I never liked soda, but that, I would go nuts on that. I would drink like a liter of that in a couple of days. It's so good. Hi, I'm Ham. Today, I'm making a stroganoffi do frango, or Brazilian-style chicken stroganoff. When I first moved here, I didn't really know that stroganoff existed here because I only grew up around the Brazilian-style one. So stroganoff here has a lot of Russian influence. It's braised meat with mushroom and sour cream, and it's usually served over egg noodles. The stroganoff I grew up around is completely different. There are hints of tomato in the sauce. They don't only make it with beef. You can make it with chicken. You can make it with shrimp. Instead of egg noodles, it's served on top of rice and then topped with potato sticks. Let's get stroganoffin. My mom was Bolivian, but she also spent a lot of time in Brazil studying, working, and we also have an entire other wing of our family that is Brazilian. So when we moved to Doha, there wasn't a Bolivian or Latin community there, but there was a large Brazilian community. They were so nice and completely embraced my mom as a fellow Brazilian. We'd spend weekends at big churrascos, but during the week we'd have some variation of stroganoff because it was affordable, quick to put together, easy to make a large batch of, and no one complained. I did have one complaint, the chicken breast. When they made the stroganoff with thighs or dark meat and then really seared it well and cooked it down for a while, all that collagen broke down and it would be especially unctuous and really delicious. But when you go to the breast and you treat it the same way, you end up hammering the breast, but no longer. Now that I am older, I kinda tweak my chicken stroganoff method when I'm making it with breast to ensure that the breast stays tender and supple and moist. So we're gonna make chicken stroganoff with chicken thighs and we're gonna make a chicken stroganoff with chicken breast. I'm gonna start off with the chicken thigh version of the stroganoff because in this version, we start off with searing the thighs. So I've got my hot pot over medium high heat. I'm gonna add just a splash of oil. Then we're gonna go in with our cubed chicken thighs. And that's what you wanna hear. You wanna hear that nice sizzle. If you're a beginner cook, dark meat is a great protein to play around with because unless you burn it, it's virtually impossible to overcook it. It's so rich, it's so fatty, there's so much collagen in there. It gives you an unbelievable buffer to cooking protein. So our chicken thighs are in. Gonna hit it with some salt and then we're gonna just let that chill and cook. So I'm gonna mince my garlic. Just give that a quick one through. Garlic minced. Let's take a peek at our thighs. We're getting some brown edge. I'm just gonna give it a stir. You're looking for a nice golden brown sear on all sides. And don't worry about any kind of stuck bits at the bottom. Oh, we're gonna scrape that up baby and it's gonna add so much flavor to our sauce. I feel like Brazilian cuisine has really slept on. Everyone knows feijoada or at least is kind of familiar with it. But there's so many other regional dishes that are absolutely delicious. Now we're gonna dice our onions. I see my fonds getting a little dark along the edges. So I'm gonna add some water. That's gonna drop the temperature a bit. And then I'm gonna use that to scrape up all of that flavor that was down there. Wow, look at that. Nice and golden brown. So this is pretty much ready to go. See the color that that water turned into and how it's like really viscous. That's like instant stock right there. Gonna kill the heat. We're gonna take all that out and then we're just gonna set that aside until we need it. People really sleep on button mushrooms. They're always these cooler, trendier mushrooms. Oh, look at these oysters. Look at these maitake mushrooms. Whoa, we got a trumpet mushroom. If you slice them like a scallop and sear them, they kind of taste like them. Button mushrooms have a lot of flavor. They're super affordable. They still deserve your love and attention and they'll still one day turn into a parasitic spore that will kill us all. So I'm just quartering them. If you've got an especially large one like this, you can cut them into six. But keep in mind that mushroom does shrink quite a bit because they do have a very high water content. So don't worry about cutting it too small. Now that our chicken thighs have been seared, everything's cut, the process from here on in is identical. I'm gonna start off with some butter in each pan and then we're gonna mushroom. Toss the mushroom in that butter until it's fully coated. If your pan seems a bit too hot like mine does, just turn it down. We're gonna let that cook until the mushroom releases all of its liquid. That liquid evaporates and then it starts refrying in that butter. Gonna season with some salt. That also helps the mushrooms release all of its liquid. If at any point your pan ever feels a little bit too hot and it's not cooling down like you'd like, just add a splash of water. You can see right there, you're starting to see some bubblage around the mushroom. That is perfect. That water is just coming out of the mushroom. So let that release. Take your time. This is a long process. It's a long game. You don't wanna rush this stage because that mushroom flavor, specifically with the chicken breast version, is gonna serve as the backbone of your entire stroganoff. Water has evaporated. We're getting some good brownage on our mushroom. We're just gonna let that go for a bit longer. I'm like greedy when it comes to browning. I want as much as I can get before I get to burn. Look at this guy right here. Look at the browning you got on that. And people say you can't crowd your mushroom otherwise you won't get a nice sear. They're liars. We got some solid brownage on our mushroom. So we're gonna go in with our onion, our garlic, and our bay leaf. Give that a stir. And we're gonna cook this until the onions soften and kinda get a little brown as well. We're not looking for full caramelized onion, but we just want, you know, a little hit of personality. And you always wanna season in layers. So when we added our mushroom, we hit it with a little bit of salt. Now that I've added onions and garlic, which is a significant amount of volume, I'm gonna season it again. It's all about seasoning in layers. If you season the sauce at the end, then your sauce will be seasoned, but your mushroom will be bland. Your onion will be bland. You wanna make sure that you hit everything with a little bit of seasoning. So I'm seeing some nice brownage on my onions. They're softening up nicely. This guy needs a little bit more time. But this guy's ready. So I'm gonna add my cream. And now when I add my cream, I wanna make sure I scrape the bottom and sides of my pan. Scrape up any potential fond that's down there. This guy's ready too. In we go with our cream. And this is the stage that I'm gonna add my protein. So in here, I'm gonna add my thighs and any liquid that I save. And then here, we're gonna essentially poach our chicken breast. So I'm gonna season it up, give that a stir, and then we're gonna add that to our simmering cream. I'm poaching the breast because breast gets so tough, so dry, so chalky, so quickly, especially when it's diced in small bits like this. I don't wanna cook it too much. I just want it to cook through, and then I'm gonna be ready to serve it. And this is the best way to do it. If I were to sear the breast, by the time they're properly seared or seared as well as the thigh like this, they're gonna be hammered. For like chunks of chicken breast for the middle of the week where I'm just looking to have a quick meal, this is how I do it. We're gonna add our tomato, our Worcestershire, Worcestershire, Worcestershire. I have an easier time spelling it than I do saying it. Our ketchup. Ketchup is key to a Brazilian stroganoff. Ketchup in America is just like a condiment for fries and stuff. People in other places of the world, they know how to use ketchup. Filipinos, Filipinos know how to use ketchup. And we're adding a little hit of mustard. And then just let that simmer away until the chicken's fully cooked, the flavors have melded, and then we're gonna give it a taste, re-season it, maybe add a little bit more Worcestershire sauce, maybe add some more ketchup, who knows? But we're gonna give it a taste and just see what it needs. Gonna do it with some pepper. Pinch of salt. Oh man, this just smells like 14-year-old ham's life. You know this is done when there's kind of like a little pool of fat on top and it's thickened. You see these small, vigorous bubbles. You just wanna make sure all the flavors meld, but honestly, the best way to know it's done is taste it. That is so good. That is so, so good. I don't know, Russia. Your move. Because this stroganoff is pretty hard to beat. So I'm gonna kill the heat, finish it with a good amount of parsley, and now, I've waited long enough, we finally taste. In here, I have my thigh stroganoff, and in here, I have my breast stroganoff. Now, this is key. This is my favorite part of the entire stroganoff experience. These thin potato sticks. So I would always top mine with a little bit and then have a sidecar of some dry potato sticks. The potato sticks that come in contact with the stroganoff, they're gonna kind of sog out. When I eat top-down, I'm gonna finish off the potato sticks and then I top with fresh. So you always have crispy potato sticks. That is the key part to the eating experience. I'm gonna start with the chicken breast version. Gonna get my potato stick, get some chicken, get some rice. Wow. It's like taking the time machine back in time. The chicken is perfectly cooked. It's not chalky, not dry. Mushroom, delicious. That gravy, incredible. Coats the rice really, really nicely and those potato sticks really take it home. Let's try the chicken thigh version. Really can't go wrong. They're both incredibly delicious. The chicken thigh version is a little richer, has a little bit deeper flavor, but it's also a little bit heavier. So depending on what you're going for, if you want something lighter, not as fatty, this chicken breast is a good direction to go in. But if you want to really go for it and have like a rich stick to your ribs kind of satisfying stroganoff, then the thigh is the direction you want to go in. Whenever my mom made this or whenever somebody else's mom made this, they would make it in giant, giant quantities and everyone would take leftovers home. Something like this gets only better over time. You can reheat it as many times as you need. Great recipe to just incorporate into your entertaining rotation, into your weeknight rotation, into your fancy weekend rotation. It's always time to stroganoff. You can find this recipe on NYT Cooking and a bunch of other great ones. I almost said have a nice day, just like instinctively.