Waterzooi

The Ghent stew of chicken and finely cut leeks poached in broth and finished with egg yolk and cream

Origin: Ghent, Flanders, Belgium

From the journey of Leek.

The name means roughly watery mess, which is a piece of Flemish understatement that undersells the dish considerably. Gentse waterzooi was originally made with freshwater fish from the Scheldt and the Lys, and the usual account has the chicken version taking over as the rivers around Ghent became too polluted to fish through the nineteenth century. Both survive; the chicken one has travelled further. It sits somewhere between a soup and a stew, and the finishing with egg yolk and cream places it firmly in the northern European tradition of enriched broths rather than the Mediterranean one of reduced sauces. The leek is the dominant vegetable and the only one that survives the treatment intact. Carrot, celeriac, and potato all go in cut into fine strips, and all of them give up their sweetness and soften into the background; the leek holds its shape and its texture through both the poaching and the enrichment, and it is the vegetable you notice in the bowl. This is the northern European way with a leek generally, and it distinguishes the Low Countries and Britain from France, where the leek is more often cooked out at the beginning of a dish and never seen again. The technical difficulty is the liaison. Egg yolks beaten with cream are added at the end to thicken the broth, and if the pan is allowed to boil after they go in the yolks curdle into threads and the whole thing is ruined. The rule is off the heat, temper the yolks with hot broth first, and never let it approach a simmer again. It is served in a wide bowl with boiled potatoes and bread.

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 1.6 kg free-range chicken, jointed into eight

Broth

  • 1.5 litres light chicken stock or water
  • 2 whole bay leaves
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 8 whole white peppercorns
  • 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Vegetables

  • 50 g butter
  • 4 whole large leeks, about 700 g, white and pale green, cut into fine julienne
  • 3 whole carrots, cut into fine julienne
  • 300 g celeriac, cut into fine julienne
  • 2 sticks celery, finely sliced

Liaison

  • 3 whole egg yolks
  • 200 ml double cream

To Finish

  • 1 squeeze lemon juice
  • 3 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

To Serve

  • 600 g small potatoes, boiled, to serve

Method

  1. Put the chicken pieces in a large pan with the stock, bay, thyme, peppercorns, and salt. Bring slowly to a simmer and skim.
  2. Poach at the barest simmer for 35 to 40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Lift the pieces out and set aside.
  3. Strain the broth, discard the aromatics, and return the broth to a clean pan. Skim off any surface fat.
  4. Melt the butter in a separate wide pan and sweat the leeks, carrots, celeriac, and celery gently for ten minutes without colouring.
  5. Add the strained broth to the vegetables and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes until they are tender but the leek still has some body.
  6. Meanwhile, strip the chicken from the bones in generous pieces, discarding skin and bone, and return the meat to the pan to warm through.
  7. Whisk the egg yolks with the cream in a bowl. Take the pan off the heat and let it stop bubbling completely.
  8. Beat two ladlefuls of hot broth into the yolk and cream mixture one at a time, then pour it back into the pan, stirring continuously.
  9. Warm very gently, stirring, until the broth thickens slightly and coats a spoon. Do not let it approach a simmer.
  10. Add a squeeze of lemon, taste for salt, scatter with parsley, and serve in wide bowls with boiled potatoes.

Notes

Seven hundred grams of leek is the largest vegetable component by weight and is correct; this is a leek dish with chicken in it. The fish version, waterzooi van vis, is the older one: use 800 g of firm freshwater or white fish, add it for the last five minutes only, and make the broth from the trimmings. Celeriac is worth finding. It gives a savoury depth that celery alone does not, and it is a standard Flemish vegetable. It does not reheat well once the liaison is in, because the yolks will curdle on a second heating. Make the broth and vegetables ahead if you need to, and finish it at the last moment. Serve with plain boiled potatoes, bread, and a Belgian blonde beer.

The Gastrographer

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