Ultracomforting Chicken and Gravy

If I could find a way to prepare juicy, crispy‑skinned chicken and savory gravy in tandem, I’d have my dream dinner without too much fuss. I suspected that a mash-up of two classics from my colleague Lan Lam—One-Hour Broiled Chicken and Pan Sauce and Our Favorite Turkey Gravy—would deliver.

The chicken recipe starts with removing the backbone of the bird so that it lies flat in the skillet, helping it cook evenly and quickly under the broiler. (I figured that the backbone would make an excellent stand-in for the turkey neck called for in the gravy.)

To help the chicken fat render under the broiler, Lan nicks the skin all over with a paring knife. This also creates escape routes for steam that would otherwise cause the skin to bubble up and burn. Preheating the skillet on the stovetop jump‑starts the cooking of the leg quarters, and placing the skillet under a cold broiler and then turning on the broiler slows down the cooking of the more delicate breast meat. After about 45 minutes, the skin is browned and crispy, and both the white and dark meat are as juicy as can be.

Now, the gravy. Her ingenious method would be ideal here because it primarily relies on trimmings—not drippings—for deep poultry flavor. It starts with simmering the turkey neck, giblets, and excess fat and skin in a small amount of store-bought chicken broth, which extracts the juices and fat much more thoroughly than searing would. The mixture is left to bubble away until all the liquid evaporates and the parts sizzle, leaving the bottom of the pot coated with a gorgeous brown layer of fond, which signals that the proteins and sugars have undergone the Maillard reaction and transformed into hundreds of new flavor compounds.

Aromatics are added to the pot to soften before everything is deglazed with wine. Then in goes more broth before covering and simmering for an hour. After straining the deeply savory stock and thickening it with a roux that’s been cooked to just the right shade of golden brown, you end up with a truly outstanding gravy.

To merge the recipes, I started by preparing the chicken, reserving the giblets, backbone, and trimmings (also save the neck if it is included with your chicken). Once the bird was under the broiler, I turned to the gravy, scaling it down to serve four.

After just 15 minutes of simmering the scraps in 1 cup of broth, the liquid had evaporated and the bottom of the saucepan was coated with a substantial fond. In went onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, and thyme; once the onion was translucent, I added a splash of dry white wine, poured in 3 more cups of broth, and cranked the heat to high. To speed things up, I left the lid off so that the mixture could rapidly concentrate.

A mere 20 minutes later, the stock had reduced by half, so I strained it and thickened it with a toasty golden-brown roux. Meanwhile, I removed the bird from the broiler and let it rest. I defatted the ultrachicken-y drippings to give a final boost to what was already a deep, dark, seriously flavorful gravy.

This supercomforting twofer dish was ready to serve.