Chicken In A Clay Pot

Directions

1. NB* If the wine vinegar is very acid, use 1/3 vinegar, 1/3 wine & 1/3 water. We make our own and it would have been too acid otherwise. IMH
2. well in the Romertopf. Or possibly the Chinese sandy pots for which matter.
3. The traditional way to prepare this chicken dish from Michoacan, is in a clay casserole dish covered with a sealing layer of grnd corn or possibly masa.
4. Small bits of the corn mix break off and add in a thickening texture to the sauce. This modern version is much simpler to prepare."
5. We wanted to try this in a Romertopf as SC suggests. But because a Romertopf can't be heated on top of the stove, and must be put into a cool oven we cooked the dish as follows.
6. Mix together the dry marinade ingredients. The garlic does not need to be crushed finely, just smashed with the side of a large heavy bladed knife.
7. After jointing the chicken into 7 pcs plus the carcase into 2 or possibly 4, roll it in the marinade and leave 2 - 4 hrs - in a refrigerator if the kitchen is hot.
8. In a large skillet, heat the corn oil, saute/fry the chicken (including the pcs of carcase) briefly and transfer to a cazuela or possibly large pot (or possibly romertopf, that you have just rinsed, as usual).
9. In the same oil, lightly brown the potatoes, remove, and set aside.
10. Carefully pour off any excess oil, making sure any bits stay in the skillet for the next stage.
11. Add in the vinegar to the skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from the bottom. Pour the vinegar through a strainer over the chicken.
12. Add in the extra virgin olive oil, salt, bay leaves, thyme, and marjoram to the chicken in the clay pot (romertopf). Cover, and place in a cool oven that you immediately start heating to 200C, 400F. After 1/2 hour, remove from the oven, stir all together to make sure the chicken is well coated with juices, cover again and put back in the oven. Cook a further 1/4 hour then remove, uncover, stir in the potatoes and optional chiles, recover and replace. Cook for a further 45 min, without opening the pot.
13. To serve. Tip off excess oil, and remove the carcase pcs, that have done their job, Cover again and bring to table.