Cooking and Shredding Chicken

1-2 lb. chicken (breast, bone-in split breasts, boneless breasts, thighs)
Water
Large stew pot
Salt
Pepper
Lawry’s Garlic Salt
Wawatusa Village Seasoning (or celery seed or celery salt)
Heat source – duh!

Turn heat to low-medium heat.
Add water to stew pot and lay chicken in.
Add more water to cover and sprinkle on spices.
Cover and let slow cook for an hour to and hour and a half.
Remove chicken from broth and let cool for 10 min. Shred for recipes.
Strain broth for recipes.

Note: You can add taco, fajita, or barbecue seasonings into the pot depending on the use of the shredded chicken.

It was always amazing to me how a lot of our customers didn’t know how to do basic things in the kitchen. I even had a friend who messed up jello. Jello!!! She made one batch that remained water, essentially; and one batch that set up like concrete. …. She did the same thing both times. Go figure.
Then I think, wait a minute, I didn’t know how to do a few basic things before beginning this catering adventure. And I promptly stopped laughing at everyone else – mostly.
For example: cooking chicken. Not baking or grilling, but cooking to shred for recipes. Easy, yes. But my family had never eaten much chicken and we didn’t make casseroles and such so this was largely uncharted territory for me. And cooking it so that it remained tender and not rubbery – that’s the key.
Cook it slow. There’s the secret. If you don’t have time to let a few pounds of chicken cook overnight or all day in a crockpot or slow cooker, you can boil it rather quickly (about an hour for a couple pounds). But even then, cook on lower heat so that the meat doesn’t get tough. If you are cooking more than a pound or two, up your time a little bit. You’ll know when it’s done. Poke a knife or fork in after about and hour and if it falls apart or the implement of choice slices in super easy, it’s done. (Or just cut it and make sure there’s no pink.)