Amish Chicken

Amish Chicken is a specially bred variety of chicken that is considered to be all natural in that it is completely free of any kind of growth hormones, stimulants or preservatives and is raised in the traditional Amish manner. Amish chickens are raised in the open, housed in very spacious environs with plentiful supply of fresh air and water. In that way, they grow healthy and remain firm and white and do not discolor. The advantages of the Amish style of rearing chickens is that-

·        These chickens have less fat and more meat. This is perhaps because the chickens are not force fed and not cooped up in confined spaces.

·        They are allowed to grow at their own pace and thus tend to remain tender and lean and taste better.

·        Chicken meat turns out healthier due to the avoidance chemicals like chlorine, growth hormones, stimulants which could leave behind harmful residues.  

Amish Chicken Recipes

Ingredients

• Amish style chicken pieces, cleaned
• flour
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper
• paprika
• heavy whipping cream
• water

Method

The chicken pieces are first dredged in flour and spices and arranged skin side facing up in a greased baking dish. Cream and water are beaten together and poured over the chicken pieces which are then set to bake in a pre-heated oven until the skin turns golden brown.

Nutritional Value

A serving size of ~ 250 g provides

• 168.1 calories with 122 calories from fat
• 13.5 g total fat with 4.8 g saturated fat; 16.2 mg cholesterol
• 10.5 g total carbohydrates with 0.1 g sugar and 0.6 g dietary fiber
• 3.7 g protein
• 287.4 mg sodium

Nutritional Improvement

·        Instead of using heavy whipping cream, a gentle drizzle of olive oil would suffice, as the chicken also cooks in its own juices and this might bring down the overall calorie, fat and saturated fat content down.

·       Serving alongside a fresh greens salad using watercress, lettuce and rocket leaves would add useful fibre, vitamin and mineral increments.
 

Other recipes

Hearty Amish Chicken Stew – This is an Amish style fulfilling and comforting one pot stew that also includes healthy veggies like cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, onions and celery  along with the chicken. All of these ingredients are slow-cooked in chicken broth thus making it a nutrient-dense preparation.  This may be presented with a multigrain bread basket with whole wheat bread sticks, herbed rye bread, pumpernickel bread, seven grain bread and garlic bread.