Author Notes
I know this is not a traditional chicken fricassee. I even know this is not a traditional Jewish fricassee. I could call this Sweet and Sour Wings, but my grandmother and mother always called it Chicken Fricassee, so that's what I call it. Back in the day, there would have been necks involved, and more gizzards, but these are not so popular these days. I keep some gizzards in as a nod to the old days. Serve with rice or, if it's Passover, with matzo farfel. —healthierkitchen
Ingredients
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1 1/4
pounds lean, first cut flanken (top rib) from a kosher butcher. This is similar to short rib, but cut across the bone. Trim any large pieces of fat and cut into bite-sized pieces. Leave some meat attached to each bone.
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1/2 pound
chicken gizzards, trimmed of any green or yellow skin and halved
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2 1/2 pounds
chicken wings, cut at the joints and tips reserved for another use, or the same amount of drumsticks (I like to remove the skin)
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Olive oil, for browning meat
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1
container Pomi strained tomatoes (26.46-ounce box) or canned or jarred strained tomatoes of similar package size.
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2 tablespoons
sugar (I use natural cane sugar), plus more to taste
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2 tablespoons
freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste
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1 teaspoon
salt, plus more to taste
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a few grinds of pepper to taste
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about 12
ounces water
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Rice, for serving
Directions
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Season the meat, gizzards, and wings, with salt and pepper. Then add a slick of oil to the bottom of a large heavy pot and heat over medium-high. Then brown the flanken on both sides. Do not crowd the pan, even if it means doing the browning in a couple of batches. After each batch is finished, remove the pieces to a bowl and set aside.
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Heat olive oil in a skillet or frying pan, then brown the gizzards and set aside.
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Put the browned flanken back into the pot and add the browned gizzards. Add the strained tomatoes, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Put the water into the Pomi box or other tomato container (so that you can get all of the tomato goodness) and swish it around a little, then add that as well. The liquid should cover the meat.
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Bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat to keep the contents at a steady simmer. Scrape up the bits that might have gotten stuck to the bottom of the pan during browning. Cover the pot, leaving the lid ajar. Simmer like this about an hour.
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Clean out the gizzard frying pan and brown the chicken wings until crispy. Set aside.
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After the first hour, taste the sauce and add sugar and/or lemon juice to balance the sweet/salty flavor to your liking. Taste for salt and pepper. Add the chicken wings and continue to simmer for about another hour with the pot lid ajar.
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After another hour, taste for salt, sugar, and lemon once again. If you have the time, let it simmer another half an hour.
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If possible, let cool and refrigerate overnight. The sauce gets better the next day and you can skim the fat off before reheating to serve. Delicious with rice.
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