Prepare Creamy Chicken Stew for Dinner

With fluffy white drifts of snow I can barely see over outside my front door, trekking to the grocery store is a bone-chilling affair that leaves me cold and drained by the time I trudge through my front door. This creamy chicken stew is the perfect way to warm up from the inside out. With big hunks of tender chicken and vegetables in a sauce that's as white as the snow outside, this rich and flavorful stew never fails to put a smile on my face.

So how do we go about making a stew that's so smile-inducing flavorful? Well, this is the part where I usually go on to tell you about the importance of the Maillard reaction and why browning the onions and chicken thoroughly is the key to a flavorful stew. The problem with browning the ingredients for this dish is that we want a creamy white stew and browning will inherently make the stew... well... brown. That's why for this stew (or anything else you want to make white), you don't want to brown anything.

Then how the heck are we supposed to create flavor then you ask? The short answer is that we don't. The long answer is that since we can't rely on the Maillard reaction to create flavor, we need to start with ingredients that are inherently flavorful and avoid diluting them. Chicken, onions and carrots are all rich in aromatic compounds and glutamic acids, but if we were to cook these in water, that flavor and umami would get diluted. Instead, by using the liquid released from meat and vegetables, as well as chicken stock and milk, we're able to compliment the inherent umami of the ingredients without watering them down.

The result is a rich, savory stew, that belies its lack of color with its intense umami (think New England Clam Chowder). Served with a crusty loaf of bread, it'll have you recharged and ready to head back out into the snow.