Slow Cooker Chicken

Here is my first, but only mildly, successful attempt at a slow cooker chicken.

I did not want a rack made of aluminum foil balls like some recipes suggested, so I took a que from Alton Brown and used vegetables instead. I took two celery stalks cut in half and two carrots cut in half, and made a little grid at the bottom of the pot to hold the chicken out of its juice. I put a half onion in the middle to give further support

Ingredients

• 3.5 - 4 lb chicken, brined in a 1/4 cup salt to 1 gallon water ratio solution for at least 8 hours.
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cracked allspice berries
• 1/2 tsp peppercorns, cracked
• 2 crushed cloves
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 3/4 c cream sherry
• 1/2 c water

Preparation

1. Put everything but the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot with the 'rack'
   
2. Put the chicken on the ‘rack’
3. Cook for 1 hour on high
4. Cook for 9.5 hours on low

Notes

1. The chicken ended up being pretty good, but it was a little bit dry. The ‘rack’ fell apart, but it ended up not mattering. The chicken eventually fell apart, so it dropped into the liquid anyway. I am going to try a shorter cooking period next time. It temped at 190°-205° when it came out, so I think that a few hours shorter would do the trick. So, for a 4 lb bird, 7-8 hours on low or 1 hour high and 5-6 hours low. I should also warm the sherry and spice mixture before putting it in the pot, so that the chicken recieves heat right away. I fear that as the chicken sat, waiting for the heat, the tissue relaxed and released the brine. A little bit of heat in the pot may help to fix this, but I just don’t know the science.
2. The sauce was great. I took out the bay leaves and the cinnamon stick, separated the fat, and then ran it through the food processor. I made a quick roux with olive oil and flour, then brought the puree to a boil and reduced it for about 10 minutes. I passed it through a strainer before serving. It was, by far, the best part of the meal. For a variation on the sauce, it might be fun to dump a little curry in the pot and leave out the cloves, cinnamon and allspice.