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Dinner party chicken
Answer
For food safety reasons, it's important poultry is thoroughly cooked. But care also needs to be taken so that the flesh is not over-cooked and allowed to dry out. In an Aga, provided the chicken has been completely cooked, the dish should be transferred hot to the warming or simmering oven to keep with the minimum of deterioration.
To minimise moisture loss, cover it tightly with foil. Cling-film may be used to cover dishes in the Aga simmering and warming ovens. Once cooked, it is safe to keep the chicken dish hot at the above temperature for up to 2 hours. After this time, cool any leftovers quickly and store them in the refrigerator set at 1-5°C and use up within 24 hours.
For your dinner party, instead of using a skillet to fully cook the chicken at the last minute, or just before your guests arrive, for this number of people I would suggest converting the recipe to cook in the oven instead.
For the most attractive finish, it is a good idea to brown the presentation side before the rest of the chicken is allowed to cook. This can still be undertaken in a pan on the top of the cooker, or with the pan on the floor of the Aga roasting oven. But follow my Get Ahead technique below to free yourself from having to do this late in proceedings.
I expect you are choosing chicken breasts as they are the most popular for party entertaining. I am a much bigger fan of using chicken thighs. They have a better texture and far more flavour than chicken breasts and they're also cheaper. I would also recommend you consider keeping the skin on during cooking as this helps keep the flesh moist and flavoursome.
If people choose not to eat the skin it can be removed and left at the table (for those watching their fat intake, 95% of the fat in the skin will be removed when it is taken off).
The Get Ahead method uses cast-iron baking dishes to allow you to brown the meat ahead of time and then chill it with complete safety. Aga cast-iron baking dishes are ideal. It is perfectly safe providing you use heavy cast-iron dishes to rapidly arrest the cooking after the initial browning has been completed. This technique should only be used on the same day that you intend to finally cook the dish - it is not suitable for preparing a dish a day ahead. It is also important not to over-crowd the dish or assemble more than a single layer of chicken (use several dishes for the cooling process if necessary).
Store the empty cast-iron dishes for several hours in the freezer ahead of time. With this prepared, you can very quickly brown the chicken pieces for a minute or two, just to cosmetically colour the skin or plain flesh attractively. Then immediately transfer the pieces to the pre-chilled cast-iron baking dishes, cover and store in the refrigerator.
The cold that has stored in the cast iron will rapidly absorb any latent heat from the browned chicken and storing it in the refrigerator will maintain them at a safe temperature until you are ready to cook them fully. Leave them until fully chilled before adding the other cold ingredients to the dish under the chicken or to cover, depending on the recipe. Cover and continue to store in the refrigerator. Remove and bring to room temperature for an hour before cooking in a hot oven, 200°C (400°F) Gas Mk 6. In all models of Aga, use the roasting oven, with the baking dish on a grid shelf on the floor of the oven. For two dishes, have the second on a grid shelf on the lowest set of runners, and swap the dishes halfway through cooking.
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