How to Make a Good Chicken Pie

Having trouble making a chicken pie? You will learn how to make a great chicken pie crust, cook the chicken, debone a chicken, assemble the chicken pie, and how to bake the perfect chicken pie.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1-4 lb chicken
• all purpose flour
• salt and pepper
• vegetable shortening
• An aluminum pie pan
• 1L-g pot for cooking
• 2- lg bowls
• 1- egg
• 1- sm cup
• 1- tablespoon
• rolling pin

1. Step 1- Place 4 lb chicken into large pot. Pour enough warm water into pot to cover chicken. Add 2 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp black pepper into pot. Cover the pot with chicken and place on medium hot burner. Cook chicken until it falls off of the bone. Approx. 11/2 hours.

2. Step 2- While chicken is cooking, measure and sift 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 tsp salt bowl, place 2/3 cup vegetable shortening with the flour mixture. Take a fork or if you have one a pastry cutter and cut the vegetable shortening into flour until all ingrediants are mixed. The result will look like little peas or balls. Pour 1/4 cup COLD water into flour mixture and combine all ingrediants until the pie dough is made. Place plastic wrap on top of bowl with dough and sit in a refrigerator to rest and chill for 30 minutes.

3. Step 3- When 30 minutes are up, take chilled dough out of the refrigerator and place 1/2 of the chilled dough from bowl onto a floured surface. Put some flour on top of dough. Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin turning the dough a little at a time until the dough is 1/4 inch thick thin. Grease pie pan with vegetable shortening and place dough on the pan using the rolling pin to roll up the dough on the pin and unroll the dough on the greased pan.

4. Step 4- When the chicken has finished cooking ( apprx. 1 1/2 hours and falling off of the bone)turn off the burner and allow the pot to stand for 30 minutes to cool. After cooling for 30 minutes, take a pair of tongs and take the cooked chicken out of the broth and put in the second bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes in bowl to let cool and start taking the cooked chicken off the bone( removing all skin and cartiledge). Chop or shred chicken meat.

5. Step 5- Place chicken meat into pie shell until the pie shell is full ( which usually takes the entire chicken).Pour a ladle of chicken broth from the pot to the open chicken pie to keep the chicken moist. Roll the other 1/2 of pie dough out as in step 3 and place on top of chicken. Use a fork on the edges of the pie pan to seal the dough. Make slits on top of the pie for air vents. Make an egg wash with 1 egg a little water in a cup and blend the egg with water. With a pastry brush spread egg wash on top of unbaked chicken pie for a golden crust.

6. Step 6- If you want to cook the pie immediately place pie into preheated 350 degree F oven until the crust is golden and use the broth from the cooking pot as an au jour for your meal. Or you can wrap the pie in plastic wrap and foil and place in a freezor to enjoy later.

Tips & Warnings

• Store bought pie crust can be used instead of home made dough.
• Make sure when rolling out pie dough all surfaces are lightly floured for easier rolling.
• You can use the reat of the broth for soup or freeze in an ice tray to use for seasoning.
• Discard the skin and bones.
• Make sure you are careful NOT to burn yourself when taking the cooked chicken from the pot and when you are deboning the chicken.