Pickled Chicken Empanadas
Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and bursting with flavor: that's what you'd call the Pickled Chicken Empanadas from El Buen restaurant. A recipe that pays homage to traditional flavors with a modern twist, where the pickling liquid adds acidity, depth, and balance.
Ingredients: Meat:
6 kg of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
800 g of fresh pancetta
Vegetables and aromatic base:
2 kg of white onion, diced
800g of carrot mirepoix
200g of sliced garlic
150g of finely chopped kimchi
Liquids:
2 liters of dry white wine
220g of Sherry wine
2 L of chicken broth (30 g of concentrate in water)
Condiments:
50g Dijon mustard
Spices to taste (black pepper, bay leaf, thyme, cumin)
Marked:
Brown the chicken thighs and the bacon cut into large cubes in a wide pot with oil until well sealed.
Pick up and reserve.
Sofrito:
In the same pot, sauté onion, carrot and garlic until they caramelize slightly.
Add the kimchi and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add the Dijon mustard and spices.
Deglazing and reduction:
Add the white wine and the sherry.
Turn up the heat and reduce by half to concentrate the flavor and evaporate the alcohol.
Stew:
Add the marked meats back in.
Cover with hot chicken broth.
Cook over low heat until the chicken is completely tender and falls apart easily (approx. 1h–1h 30 min).
Shredding and final resting:
Remove the meats, shred them by hand or with a whisk.
Return the meat to the stew.
Cook for another 15 minutes to integrate the flavors and reduce to a syrupy texture.
