Chloe Tuttle, Innkeeper
1607 Big Mill Road
Williamston, North Carolina 27892
252-792-8787
BigMill.com • info@BigMill.com
Ingredients
Several quarts water
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2-1 teaspoon cracked red pepper or to taste
1 Tablespoon lard
1 3-4 pound chicken cut up (larger is fine too) You will need about 4 cups cooked chicken
1 box of Saltine Crackers salted (you will probably use 2-3 sleeves)
Hot sauce for serving
Step-by-Step
Using a large stock pot, add several quarts of water, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper and lard and bring to a boil.
Add cut-up chicken and enough water to cover the chicken. Return to a boil and cook for 1-2 hours or until chicken is tender and falling off the bones.
Remove chicken from broth and strain into a large bowl, reserving any broth.
After chicken has cooled, pull meat off the bones, discarding the bones and the skin. Tear chicken into shreds, using your hands. Be careful to remove all bones.
Strain and transfer the broth to a separate pan or bowl and wash the cooking pot to remove the chicken residue that is stuck on the sides of the pot. Add the broth back to the pot.
When the broth comes back to a boil, add the picked chicken to the pot and turn heat to simmer.
Crush 2 sleeves of saltines and slowly add to the pot. Stir and continue to simmer. The mull should not have much excess liquid. If there is liquid, add more crackers.
Simmer on low heat about 20 minutes or until hot and thickened, stirring often – hence the Mull moniker.
Hint: it is better the next day – the red pepper has a chance to be heard!
Yield:
6-7 two-cup servings
I had never heard of Chicken Mull until a few years ago. And then I found out that the Chicken Mull Festival happens on the last Saturday in October just 8 miles from me in Bear Grass, NC, population 69.
My friend Nancy Sparks had a great recipe for Chicken Mull, so we made it and here it is. It is really quite good!
© Chloe Tuttle. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Not to be reprinted without permission.