Chicken With 40 Cloves of Garlic Recipe (2024)

Gourmet Magazine ran Julia Child's column From the French Chef's Kitchen - I have the article copyrighted 1974, '40 Cloves of Garlic May Not Be Enough.' Her friend James Beard had come over for dinner and whipped up the dish. The Burros recipe is almost the same except Beard "cut a couple of carrots, four or five celery ribs, and two big yellow onions into long matchsticks." One cup vermouth, and dollop of brandy. 375 oven, 1 1/2 hours. Sublime!

I halved the oil (to 1/3 cup), removed the skin from the bone-in thighs and drumsticks, and browned them before assembling the dish and baking it. Absolutely delicious and significantly less fatty and caloric. Accidentally left out the nutmeg — it wasn't missed — but will be sure to add it next time. Oh yes, there will definitely be a next time!

Chicken must be seared first, in order to appear like the photo. Otherwise, the skin turns rather spongey.

I would love it if NYT Cooking posted sugestions for serving/side dish ideas as part of the recipes...

Even better; buy a whole, air-chilled chicken. Break it down yourself. Brown the pieces in your cast iron, then follow the Times recipe. The browning, and quality chicken really make this an amazing dish.

Can I brown the chicken in a cast iron Lecreuset dutch oven.Then put down the other ingredients and then put the whole thing in the oven to bake?

I made this recipe two times - and the second time I browned the chicken with the skin side on for a couple of minutes and then continued as the recipe stated. It was fabulous!!

If the skin is an issue, pull it off. It really adds a wonderful depth of flavor, but does not have to be consumed. This is such an amazing recipe that I made years ago. It's not a crispy chicken. It stews amid the wonderful aromatics...garlic and vermouth - tarragon, parsley....
All of these layers of flavor smeared onto some warm, crusty bread. WOW! Add a crisp salad, and you are approaching nirvana.

I have cooked this many times at the request of friends and family. In order to avoid the "spongy skin" I remove the cover and foil for the last 30 minutes. Delicious - some of the juices boil down and the skin is very crispy.

Our family loves this recipe, however it is not without consequences. We call it Chicken with Farty Cloves of Garlic for good reasons.

I have cooked this twice now, doubling it the second time for a large crowd. Both times it was great. I skipped the nutmeg the first time, it was better with it the second time. It's tender and moist, not at all crispy.

Quick question: The recipe is said to serve six, but there are sixteen pieces of chicken; how is the nutrition info calculated? With the richness that the overall recipe provides, it seems as though this would serve at least eight people, if not sixteen, especially if there are plenty of sides and we use the quarter of a plate guide for the amount of meat in proportion to veggies and starch.

Step 3.5: Use the more of the vermouth to make a refreshing martini pick-me-up while waiting for the chicken to roast.

Cook 75 min 375. 15 min 500. Last 3 min broiler

This recipe is delicious made exactly as written. The photograph of browned chicken is misleading. Who wants to brown 16 pieces of chicken? The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity and the amazing result.

Sear…not braise the chicken first.

Fantastic! I heavily seared, per others’ comments, and used the following because it’s what I had on hand: a whole cut-up chicken, white wine instead of vermouth, and fresh thyme instead of tarragon. I added carrots too and uncovered for the last 20 min to avoid the soggy chicken skin. The heavy sear meant much less time in the oven too. Absolute keeper!

This recipe was so scrumptious, my kids were asking for seconds! The only adjustment I made was replacing the 40 cloves of garlic with 40 Werther’s Originals.

I thought this was just meh. I followed recipe exactly. Was nice to be a one pot meal, but it didn’t produce a lot of juices. I would have added some chicken broth if i had known. I have done other recipes w much more flavor. Wish this had been better!

Added whole baby bella mushrooms. I didn't have a big enough casserole so I just used a heavy bottomed roasting pan and wrapped extra tight with heavy duty foil. When the 90 minutes was up, I took the foil off, turned the oven up to 400 and then let the chicken brown a bit. I think it would be even better if I went to 425 or broiled. Overall, it was like a chicken confit. There was a lot of fat and the meat just fell off the bones. I served with mashed potatoes and was very happy!

I browned chicken and caramelized the onions before baking. I do not like tarragon or celery, so I used fennel instead. The dish came out with a slight licorice flavor from the fennel. I used boneless thighs, but I think bone-in would be better.

I made this for a Hanukkah party tonight. I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious and a big hit with the guests. Put it in my Le Creuset 7.5 qt Dutch oven. Put it in a 375 oven and 90 minutes later it was perfectly done. The “jus” was a delicious slurry of the cooked onion and celery, vermouth and chicken fat, flavored by the garlic. I added a pinch of fresh grated nutmeg but I didn’t taste it all.

Loved it- fresh nutmeg is so worth it! Added 3 cloves minced garlic to the mixture, in addition to the unpeeled garlic.

This was as delicious as I remembered. I haven't made it years, maybe not since it's heyday, when I was a great deal younger.

Salt and pepper the chicken and render the fat from the skin in the baking dish before adding aromatics. This will provide a better, more flavorful base for the jus. Probably just five to eight minutes or so, skin-side down. You could probably even remove the skins entirely and render those on their own, but I doubt there's any real harm in searing the meat itself a bit before baking!

Can’t fit that much chicken in the Dutch oven. After 90 mins, whack up the temp and cook w/o lid for 15-30 mins for a brown chicken.

Really enjoyed this tonight. Made as instructed except I added carrots. They were perfect. The onions dissolved and garlic was like jelly. Much to my surprise, the celery did not get tender. Any ideas? Did just get bad celery?

I followed recipe exactly. My family enjoyed the chicken a lot but felt the celery overwhelmed the sauce.