Chicken – How to cook a chicken to make it really really really soft

One option to consider to add flavour to a chicken is brining. I've personally never brined a chicken, but everytime I come across mention of it in a foodie blog, forum or elsewhere, it always seems to be considered a good way to impart additional flavour into the meat.

Since writing this answer I've followed Nigella Lawson's recipe for Spiced and Superjuicy Roast Turkey which has resulted in fantastically tasty and moist turkey at Christmas every year, to the point where I won't countenance turkey at Christmas without brining it now. If this translates as well to chicken (which I fully admit I should've tried by now!) then it's well worth the time and effort.

Rumtscho pretty much summed it up in his comment above: You can't really stew chicken breasts (at least not from the young chickens that are found in most supermarkets). The reason is that what makes a meat "fall apart" tender is its fat and collagen content. Collagen is connective tissue that is usually found in muscles that do a lot of work for the animal. When collagen cooks in a moist environment at a low temperature for a long time (i.e., a stew), it converts into gelatin, which is soft (causing the meat to fall apart) and is interpreted by the mouth to be moist and delicious.

The problem is that the breasts don't do much work on today's factory farmed chickens. Even if you were able to find an old rooster that has lived long enough to build up some collagen, there still wouldn't be much in its breasts.

Legs and thighs, on the other hand, do have a bit more collagen and could benefit from a short stew.