Cooking the Chronicle – May 9

Oh, apricot chicken. A Shabbas staple, but as Jessica Grann described in this week’s recipe (“Apricot glazed chicken,” May 16), I have never quite had a version that I like. It tends to be a soupy, duck sauce, bland mess—especially when we make it in the crockpot. Not terrible, but not nearly the best chicken dish you can put on the table.

The picture included with this recipe looked promising, so I was up for a try. This was an incredibly easy recipe and with a few simple ingredients, the apricot jam was really elevated. A kid-friendly recipe too—I pitched melting the jam as a science experiment to my daughter.

I appreciated that this recipe let you make the glaze ahead of time – you can just mix the glaze, store it in the jar and pull it out of the fridge as needed. It allows you to make small batches, which I like for a quick dinner on a weeknight.

I did not use chicken thighs with the skin on, which I think was a mistake. You really need the skin on the meat for the glaze to cling to and for the dish to get some color and crisp.

Perhaps because of that, even with the application of a thick glaze towards the end of the baking time, and the heat high enough to brown the glaze, my chicken still came out soupy. The glaze just loosened back up and mixed with some liquid from the chicken at the bottom of the pan.

Still delicious, yes, but next time I will try dark meat, bone in chicken with skin. And cross my fingers for a result that looks more like the photo with the recipe!