Oven-Baked Chicken Leg Quarters with a Mustard Soy Glaze
Chicken leg quarters baked in the oven are very easy to make – a versatile dish that everybody likes. There was a time when chicken parts were rarely sold separately – as a rule, you could only buy a whole hen or a young chicken. These days, getting hold of thighs and drumsticks, wings or chicken breast fillets is no trouble at all. Chicken is plentiful, and the dishes made from it turn out tasty and nourishing. One of the best loved of them is baked chicken leg quarters.
Buy whole chicken legs – one per serving. Or, even better, look for the so-called “back quarter” of the bird – the drumstick, the thigh and a part of the back.
Chicken rarely needs marinating before baking or frying – the meat is tender and cooks quickly. Unless it is an “old” hen, that is. Then again, a hen like that makes a superb, rich soup. Store-bought broiler parts I usually parboil a little before baking – just 3-5 mins from the moment the water comes to a boil. This partly rids the meat of everything it doesn't need – you can see it clearly in the cloudy white broth. A farmyard chicken is easier: it was raised on grain, not on compound feed.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Chicken leg quarters 2
- Butter 1 tbsp
- Salt, dried herbs and roots, bay leaf, black pepper and allspice, chili for the broth
- Prepared hot mustard, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, brown sugar for the glaze
Step-by-step recipe
- Chicken leg quarters are baked with the skin on – for many people it is a treat in itself. We buy chicken that has never been frozen – the meat is fresh and doesn't “leak”. It is a good idea to trim off any large visible pieces of fat and the remains of feathers. If you are using a chicken “quarter”, clean out what is left of the innards as well.
- Wash the chicken well and put it in a saucepan. I strongly advise parboiling the meat: broilers raised on compound feed come out much cleaner after that. And the baked meat will be more tender, too. Pour water into the saucepan, add 0.5 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of a mix of dried soup roots and herbs, a few black peppercorns and allspice berries, dried chili if you like, and 1-2 bay leaves. Put it on the heat, bring to a boil and cook for 3-4 mins. Then rinse the leg quarters and pat them dry with paper towels.
- Ceramic or clay cookware is very handy for baking leg quarters in the oven – the Georgian clay pan called a ketsi is perfect for it. Grease the inside of the pan with a little butter. Lay the leg quarters in the pan skin side up and brush them with the rest of the butter – you can melt it for that.
- Clay doesn't take sudden changes of temperature well, so put the pan with the chicken into a cold oven, then switch it on and heat it to 200 °C. The chicken leg quarters will be ready in 25-30 mins. They will start to brown and give off a lovely aroma. I recommend brushing the leg quarters every so often with the melted butter that collects in the pan – use a silicone brush.
- Prepare the mixture for glazing the chicken. In a small cup, mix 0.5 tsp each of prepared hot mustard and Dijon mustard – they can be replaced with culinary mustard seeds. Add 1 tsp of brown sugar and 1 tbsp of light soy sauce. There is no need for salt – the soy sauce is salty enough. Mix the ingredients thoroughly into a runny paste.
- When the leg quarters have baked to a golden brown, take the pan out of the oven. Using a brush, coat the meat and the skin well with the prepared mixture. Put the pan back in the oven. After 10 mins the mixture will firm up and start to look like a glaze. If you like, brush the chicken once more – it will taste and look even better. In cooking this technique is called colouring – its purpose is to give the dish a certain look and a nicely browned crust.
- At the final stage, keep the meat in the oven until the crust reaches the shade you want. As it heats, the moisture evaporates from the glaze mixture and the sugar caramelizes. If you wish, you can get a firm crust with a lacquered shine. Still, don't get carried away: chicken cooks very quickly, and it shouldn't be overbaked.
- Oven-baked chicken leg quarters don't need any special side dish – they are a tasty dish that stands on its own. Serve the meat hot. If you like, add some fresh herbs, green salad and boiled vegetables to the plate. Your favourite sauce won't go amiss either – baked chicken is delicious with mustard.
Yield: 2 servings Calories: 230 Prep: 15 mins Cook: 30 mins Total: 45 mins Category: Main Dishes Cuisine: European Rating: