Praised Chicken

Our answer

Nigella's My Mother's Praised Chicken (from Kitchen and on the Nigella website) is a poached whole chicken with vegetables. Nigella likes to serve the chicken and vegetables with bowlfuls of brown rice, accompanied by mustard and dill. The chicken is poached in a large saucepan on top of the stove and the liquid in the pot should not be boiling but be at a gentle simmer.

From the description of tough chicken and soft vegetables it sounds to us as if the chicken was allowed to boil too hard in the pot. If the chicken is boiled rather than gently poached then the meat will tend to become tough and stringy and the vegetables will tend to become too soft. Unfortunately in this instance longer cooking will not help that much as a chicken does not have the same type of connective tissue as braising cuts such as lamb shanks, and it is the connective tissue in these meats that breaks down with long cooking. The oven temperature of 150C is probably too high (especially if it is a fan oven) and you may need to use a lower temperture. However this dish is best cooked on the stove top or hob as it is much easier to watch the pot and turn down the heat if necessary. It may help to try looking for a heat diffuser (sometimes called a simmer ring). These are fairly inexpensive pieces of metal with a handle that sit between the heat source and the pan and help to keep the heat low and even. Do make sure however that it is suitable for use with your type of electric stove top, particularly if you have a ceramic or induction hob.