🇧🇪 Belgium and 🇫🇷 France · Ghent, Flanders (also eaten in French Flanders, Nord-Pas-de-Calais)
WaterzooiBelgian chicken stew
A creamy Flemish soup-stew from Ghent: chicken (originally freshwater fish) poached with leeks, carrots, celery and potatoes in a broth bound with egg yolk and cream, served in a deep bowl.
Origin and history
Waterzooi comes from Ghent in Flanders; the second half of the name is linked to an old Dutch word for boiling. It was first made with freshwater fish, often bycatch from the local rivers, and the usual explanation is that the rivers stopped yielding enough fish, so chicken became the more common version. It is also very popular in French Flanders and Nord-Pas-de-Calais, often as a Sunday family meal.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 to 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 1.4 kg3 lb whole chicken, or 4 to 6 legs and thighs on the bone
- 2 leeks, white and pale green, cut in thin strips
- 3 carrots, cut in thin strips
- 3 celery stalks (or a slice of celeriac), cut in thin strips
- 1 onion, halved
- 600 g1.3 lb small waxy potatoes, peeled, boiled separately
- 1 bouquet garni, thyme, bay, parsley stalks
- 50 g3 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 2 egg yolks
- 150 ml2/3 cup heavy cream
- lemon juice, salt, white pepper, chopped parsley, to taste
Method
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1. Put the chicken, halved onion and bouquet garni in a pot with 1.5 litres (6 1/3 cups) of water and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, skim, then simmer gently for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
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2. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes until tender. Drain and keep warm.
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3. Lift the chicken out, strain the stock, then pull the meat from the bones in large pieces and keep it warm in a little stock.
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4. Melt the butter in a wide pot, soften the leeks, carrots and celery for 8 minutes without browning, then stir in the flour for 1 minute.
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5. Whisk in about 1 litre (4 1/4 cups) of the hot stock and simmer for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the broth slightly thickened.
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6. Take the pot off the heat. Whisk the yolks with the cream, then stir in a ladle of hot broth, and pour the mixture back into the pot.
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7. Warm gently, stirring, without letting it boil, until it coats a spoon lightly. Season with lemon juice, salt and white pepper.
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8. Add the chicken and potatoes, then serve in deep bowls with parsley and bread.
Notes
- The older Ghent version uses freshwater fish (viszooitje); the Nord-Pas-de-Calais source names bass, eel, carp or pike, and a Ghent-focused one names burbot. For the fish version, poach firm fish in the strained broth until just cooked instead of the chicken.
- The broth must not boil after the yolks and cream go in, or it curdles.
- A pinch of nutmeg is used in some versions, and a splash of dry white wine in others.
- Some cooks serve it with boiled potatoes at the side instead of in the bowl; in northern France it is a Sunday family meal, eaten with baguette to mop up the broth.
- The version here is the chicken one (kippenwaterzooi, 'Gentse waterzooi').
Adapted from Fulbright Belgium, A taste of Ghent, Regions of France, Waterzooi, Table Journey, Waterzooi, and Ellen's Kitchen, Waterzooi.
At the festivals
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