A chicken in every pot...

That promise is usually attributed to Herbert Hoover ("a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage," a promise the Republican party made during the 1928 campaign), but he swiped it from the French King Henry IV, who wished each of his peasants a chicken in every pot every Sunday.

I'm sure Zack thinks it was a Hoover original.

I love a good roast chicken. Nothing not to like. But chicken in the pot is a different approach, and I swear you get a nice succulent bird every time. You're basically braising the chicken with white wine and chicken broth using this method, so there's not much risk of the meat drying out unless you really overcook it.

We have a five and one-half quart dutch oven, so that limits the size of the bird you can use. You basically have to keep it under five pounds. But it's a wonderful meal for two.

Normally I would add potatoes to the pot (red, quartered taters), but we had some delicious leftover twice-baked potatoes that Alisha made over the weekend, so we ate those instead.

I bought a bird just under four pounds, seasoned with salt and pepper, browned it right in the dutch oven breast-side up in oil for five minutes, then removed it to a plate.

Next I added two onions, quartered, two celery stalks chopped corse, and one pound carrots cut in (roughly) one-inch chunks. I browned that for five minutes then added several cloves of crushed garlic and let it saute a few more minutes.

Then comes the vino. One cup of white wine and one cup of chicken broth. Bring it to a boil. (Now is usually the point at which I would add the potatoes, but like I said, I omitted that.) Then add the bird back into the pot, breast up, and cook covered in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes to an hour, until a thermometer inserted into the thigh reads about 170-175 degrees.