This is mine and Casey’s third attempt to recreate the best meal we had on our La Tour de Trappe, Trappist beer and cycling adventure through Belgium and The Netherlands. The meal was the dinner we had during our night in Rochefort, and it was a stewed chicken dish made with Rochefort 8 beer. You can read about our first attempt here, and our second attempt here.

The recipe we’re trying today is something we adapted from the recipe found here (it’s all in French). This dish is very rich and savory.It is a big and hearty stew with a lot of chicken and a ton of flavor. The chicory really gives this a dark, earthy, and roasty taste. The mushrooms soak up all the beer, broth and chicory to create what I like to call nom nom bombs because they explode with flavor every time you bite into them. 

This thing also smelled amazing while it was cooking, and we’re not the only ones that thought so.

I really liked this meal, but it’s missing a lot of the sweetness from the dish we had in Rochefort. I think it also needs the entire bottle of beer rather than just one cup. The chicory gives it a really rich flavor that was missing from the last two attempts and I definitely think chicory was in the dish we had on the trip. Chicory can be hard to find in the US, but we found a jar of instant chicory on Amazon and it worked out great.

INGREDIENTS

– 6 chicken thighs, skin removed

– 4 Tbsp of Leroux liquid chicory OR 5 tsp Leroux instant chicory mixed with 3.5 Tbsp water

– 3 Carrots, chopped

– 2 Large onions, chopped

– 2 Tbsp flour

– 2 Tbsp butter

– 400g (14oz) of mushrooms, chopped; recommend something earthy like chanterelle, portobello, or hen of the woods

– 25 cl of Rochefort 8 or other malty Trappist beer

– 50 cl (1 Cup) of chicken stock

– 2 Tbsp of fresh heavy cream

– 2 sprigs of thyme

– 3 bay leaves

– 4 whole cloves

– Salt and pepper

– 2 large (gallon size) ziplock bags

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Remove the skin from the chicken, then place them in a ziplock bag with the liquid chicory. Evenly distribute the chicory then place the bag in the refrigerator to marinate for at least one hour.

2. Sift the flour into the second ziplock bag. Transfer the chicken from the bag with chicory into the bag with flour. Be sure to save the chicory because we’ll need it later. Shake the bag with flour to evenly distribute it on the chicken.

3. Heat the butter in a large lidded pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, brown on all sides, then remove.

4. Saute the onions and carrots for about 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms.

5. Deglaze the pot with the beer. Add the chicken back to the pot and add the stock, thyme, bay leaves, cloves, and 2 Tbsp of the chicory. Simmer for 1 hour.

6. After one hour remove the chicken. Separate the meat and discard the bones. Return the meat to the pot.

7. Add the cream and mix in just before serving.