The smell hits you first. Just a few hours after closing the lid, the warm garlic and the chicken releasing its juices begin to scent the whole house—the kind of aroma that makes people show up in the kitchen without being called. Four ingredients. Zero supervision.
Ingredients :
- Whole chicken — Get a chicken between 1,5 kg and 2 kg. Too small, and it will overcook before developing flavor. Too large, and it might not fit comfortably in the pot. A free-range chicken will be better—the meat is firmer and tastier—but a standard chicken works great too.
- Salt — Fine salt or crushed coarse salt, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is to use enough—chicken skin is thick and it absorbs salt. Be generous on the fleshy parts: breast, thighs, and inside the cavity.
- Garlic powder — Garlic powder holds up better to long cooking than fresh garlic, which can become acrid or caramelize strangely after 7 hours. If you still want fresh garlic, slip 3-4 whole unpeeled cloves inside the cavity rather than putting them on the surface.
- Black pepper — Freshly ground or pre-ground, both work. Freshly ground pepper has a bit more bite, but after this cooking time, the difference is subtle. Don’t stress over it.
