Chicken Pot Pie

I made chicken pot pie for dinner tonight and it made the whole house smell like chicken and vegetables. Take right now: I'm still so full of pot pie that I couldn't possibly eat another bite of anything, but when I smell it, it makes me feel a little bit hungry anyway.

Actually, I take cooking pot pie pretty seriously, and I have a couple tips about it, which I think I will share, because frankly it's two o'clock in the morning, so what else do I have to do if not carry on about pot pies?

Number one: Make your own crust. Use a little bit of actual lard, like from a pig, even if you think it's gross, and then use the rest butter. Lots of butter. Keep this crust very, very cold for the crispiest crust. You might think lard is bad, but trust Dennis: Wilbur is good for your pot pie.

Number two: The white part of the chicken has practically no taste. If you never eat dark meat from a chicken, you don't know what chicken tastes like. It's so bland that you probably think everything tastes like chicken because you don't know what the chicken taste is supposed to be. Get a whole chicken, boil him for a while, then pick all the meat from the bones. This is the maximum chicken flavor. Some of the broth you will use in the filling for the pot pie. Save the rest in the freezer and turn it to dumplings next week.

Number three: Veg-All is cheating. Buy some vegetables that still look like vegetables. Cut them into pieces that are the same size. They don't have to be real small--as long as they're the same size they will cook evenly. This adds a lot of flavor. Especially important are fresh celery and carrot. Oh, if you get to looking at the carrots and realize they're twice the size of the potatoes, no biggie. Just cook them in some of the extra chicken broth on the stove until they change color, let them cool, and then use them. No reason to panic.

Number four: Put more onion than you think. I don't know why exactly, but if you feel like you might have slightly overdone it with the onion, you have put just the right amount. The onion and celery gives you get the most aroma from your pot pie, and smelling is half of the tasting.

Number five: Outsmart your oven, don't fight it. I have a cheap oven. I know that if I put a pot pie in it, the top crust will be done before the bottom crust gets really crisp. So I cook the bottom crust unfilled for about five minutes before I put in the filling. Don't do that crap where you turn the temperature up and down and battle constantly with your oven. It will never work. Just cook the crust a little beforehand. By the way, the pan will be hot, so it helps if you have bakers fingers like I have.

Well, that does it for the 2 A.M. pot pie dishing. Hope everyone has a pleasant week.

PS-The more seasoning the better. The longer you bake, the more mellow the flavors get.