Hunter's chicken.

[Workingman]

A fave at the Brum meet.

Pub food at its best, all you need is chicken, bacon cheese and sauce. I have tried a few recipes and most are not quite there. The chicken bit is always the same: seasoned breast wrapped with a few strips of smoked streaky bacon and cooked with cheese - sorted. It's the sauce that's the problem. Bottled versions of BBQ sauce are a bit... generic and they do not re-cook well.

Here's one that works, good for maybe four medium chicken breasts. You can always multiply up the amounts.

150g tomato ketchup - the cheaper the better.
3 dsp white wine vinegar
4 dsp dark brown sugar
1.5 dsp black treacle or molasses
2 dsp honey
1.5 dsp vegetable oil
1 dsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp English mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika or just paprika
½ tsp ground black pepper

Put the prepped chicken without the cheese in an oven at 200C / 410F for 25 mins or until cooked through. When that is going on make the sauce.

Place all of the ingredients in a milk pan and mix together. Heat over a medium-high heat to a rolling boil, then gently simmer for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to stand and cool.

To finish all you need is one ball of mozzarella and some grated cheddar.

Cut the moz into four quarters then break each into four bits and squish them into circles about 10p sized and place them on the chicken. Put some grated cheddar between the gaps and place back in the oven for a few mins to melt the cheese. When the cheese has melted pour over some of the sauce and reheat for another minute. Done.

Take each piece of chicken out and on the serving plate slice into five pieces then add a bit more sauce - if you have any left - use what's left in the cooking dish. Serve with chunky chips, fried mushrooms and some veg - carrots or French beans work well.

If you like a hotter sauce then add a pinch of chilli powder to the dry ingredients.

[JanB]

My problem is getting the ingredients.

Never seen white wine vinegar, dark brown sugar or molasses or treacle, not even in the English supermarkets down in the Algarve.

But Jan would know, she knows where everything is, a born shopper

[Workingman]

Hmmm. The vinegar is for the tanginess so any should do, even lemon juice - I actually prefer lemon juice. The sugar is for sweetness so, again, any would do, demerara? Molasses is a problem, but there is a trick if you can get corn syrup and are careful.

Grease a pan and put the corn syrup in on a very low light and reduce it down till it goes dark. It needs to be kept stirring and is a bit of a faff so probably not worth it.

What might work is to substitute the brown sugar and molasses with a splodge of shop bought BBQ sauce and white sugar.

Unfortunately, Jan, it is the sauce that makes Hunter's Chicken the dish it is, otherwise it's chicken in blankets with a cheesy topping.

[JanB]

I'll pass, I think WM