Cinnamon can be incorporated into chicken dishes in various ways, including roasted, stewed, baked, fried, and barbecued. Recipes often combine cinnamon with sweeteners like honey or savory ingredients like garlic and curry. One recipe suggests marinating chicken in vinegar, wine, or beer, honey, curry, ginger, cinnamon, and garlic before grilling. Another recipe involves making a garlic, onion, and tomato-based chicken stew with a hint of cinnamon. Cinnamon fried chicken can also be made with a sugar-sweetened buttermilk batter or without sugar. Finally, a Middle Eastern-inspired dish pairs cinnamon-roasted chicken with couscous, dried fruit, and mint.
Even adventurous cooks might stop at the suggestion that cinnamon and chicken might share a happy marriage, but there are actually many ways to incorporate the woody, sweet-smelling fragrance of cinnamon into chicken dishes. Recipes for roasted, stewed, baked, fried, and even barbecued cinnamon chicken are readily available. Some of these embed cinnamon’s sweet personality with honey, ginger, brown sugar, or other sweeteners; other recipes recall the darker, savory subtext of cinnamon with minced garlic, curry or green herbs, chili, or even beer.
One way to translate grilled Asian-style cinnamon chicken to Western barbecue is to let the raw chicken parts sit for a few hours in a marinade composed of vinegar, wine or beer, honey, curry, and ginger, along with a good dose of grated cinnamon and maybe some finely minced garlic. A low heat and longer cooking times help ensure this sweet-tasting dish stays moist and doesn’t burn.
Baked Chicken with Rosemary, Oregano, and Garlic is another way to interpret the possibilities by dressing it up in Italian culinary garb. This dish is savory and just needs a pinch of cinnamon scent. Too much, and the meat is overwhelmed, while the other herbs become meaningless additions.
A garlic, onion and tomato based chicken stew with a tease of cinnamon will leave diners wondering where that subtle taste of magic is coming from. Chicken stew involves two steps; first chicken, onions, garlic, cinnamon and other vegetables are sautéed, then a rich-flavored liquid consisting of wine, beer or broth with tomato paste and fresh or dried herbs such as rosemary, oregano or basil is added. While it takes longer, the results leave guests asking for more.
Cinnamon fried chicken is another labour-intensive dish, but the results leave diners speechless — a good thing, since a speechless mouth has more room for chicken. Cinnamon Fried Chicken can be made with a sugar-sweetened buttermilk batter sharpened with a hint of cayenne added to the cinnamon, or the sugar can be left out. Battered chicken is coated in flour and lightly sprinkled with a little more cinnamon and rolled in breadcrumbs before frying.
Cinnamon will be reminiscent of its Middle Eastern roots when cooked or roasted in a chicken dish that pairs onion and olive oil with dried apricots, yellow raisins, cherries and prunes. Coarsely chopped mint mixed into the couscous studded with lightly browned pine nuts is the perfect accompaniment. A light cucumber salad rounds off this meal nicely.
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