Chicken Mull or Muddle - what is it? Recipe is EASY! (2024)

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I had never heard of Chicken Mull until a few years ago. And then I found out that the Chicken Mull Festival happens 8 miles from me in Bear Grass, NC, population 69. This year, the festival is on Saturday, October 28, 2023. My friend Nancy Sparks had a great recipe for Chicken Mull, so we made it and here it is. It is really quite good!

Chicken Mull or Muddle - what is it? Recipe is EASY! (1)

Chicken Mull – What Is It?

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Author: Chloe Tuttle

Ingredients

  • Several quarts water
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½-1 teaspoon cracked red pepper or to taste
  • 1 T 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

Instructions

  • 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

Like this recipe?Follow us on Pinterest: @bigmill or tag #bigmillbb

Charlotte Griffin, the mayor of Bear Grass, NC, tells the story of how the Chicken Mull Festival came to be. In 2015, two other Bear Grass residents, Kevin Harris and Justin Edwards, asked Charlotte if they could start a festival for Bear Grass. Charlotte was intrigued.

One idea was to have a Moonshine Festival – all locals know that in the Prohibition Days Bear Grass had some good moonshine – it has been dubbed by some as the Moonshine Capitol of the World. Alas, the technicalities and federalessoon made this idea nearly impossible to pull off. So that is when the idea for a Chicken Mull Festival came to be.

Charlotte tells the history of her grandfather and other Bear Grass tobacco farmers who had to stay up all night to fire the tobacco barns – thus curing it. I remember my dad and Walter Biggs doing that here on the farm. There was not much to do, so the fellows in Bear Grass would get a big iron pot, a chicken, and some saltine crackers and cook up a pot of Chicken Mull as they called it.

It is odd how the tradition didn’t cross Highway 17 into Farm Life where my folks lived. Charlotte did say that her uncle married a Farm Life girl and he introduced them to Chicken Mull. I don’t remember ever eating Chicken Mull in my youth. In some parts of the south it is called Chicken Muddle, usually this has other things in it like tomatoes and peppers. It is difficult to trace the origin of this humble dish.

After the men folks no longer had to fire the barns with wood, they would still cook up a pot of mull at the end of the tobacco season for the “hands” – the folks who worked the fields. Even now when groups like the Ruritans have a fund-raiser, you might see Chicken Mull on the menu.

Chicken Mull or Muddle - what is it? Recipe is EASY! (2)

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It seems Chicken Mull is popular in the Carolinas and in parts of Georgia, often popping up in barbecue joints and at church dinners. In some parts of Georgia it is made with milk, but in the Carolinas it is usually made with water, chicken and saltine crackers. Be on the lookout or just whip up a batch for yourself.

Don’t miss the Chicken Mull Festival in Bear Grass, NC. It happens every year on the 4th Saturday of October – this year in 2023 it is October 28th. Check out North Carolina Weekend’s story of the Chicken Mull Festival.

Distances From:
Raleigh, NC – 102 miles
Greenville, NC – 20 miles
New Bern, NC – 55 miles
Big Mill Bed and Breakfast in Williamston, NC – 6 miles (252) 792-8787

Chicken Mull or Muddle - what is it? Recipe is EASY! (3)

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Chicken Mull or Muddle - what is it? Recipe is EASY! (6)

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Chicken Mull or Muddle - what is it? Recipe is EASY! (2024)

FAQs

Chicken Mull or Muddle - what is it? Recipe is EASY!? ›

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.

How to make a mull? ›

Directions
  1. Add ingredients to Dutch oven: Place chicken, onion, celery, water, broth, salt, peppercorns, thyme, garlic, and bay leaves in a (5 1/2-quart) Dutch oven. ...
  2. Simmer and cook chicken: ...
  3. Remove chicken: ...
  4. Shred chicken: ...
  5. Strain stock: ...
  6. Add crackers to broth: ...
  7. Blend half of broth mixture: ...
  8. Add heavy cream and chicken:
Jan 25, 2024

What is the difference between chicken muddle and Brunswick stew? ›

Muddle is thicker and spicier than Virginia style Brunswick Stew. Unlike Georgia style Brunswick Stew, muddle is flavored with bacon rather than barbecue sauce. I have had Brunswick stew before, but this was amazing. The bbq was really good, but I have had really good bbq before.

What is the origin of chicken mull? ›

The origins of chicken mull may rest in the coastal practice of Atlantic fishermen slow-cooking striped bass, called a "fish muddle". This tradition inspired inland communities to slow cook chicken using similar ingredients in what is sometimes called a chicken muddle or chicken mull.

What is a chicken mull festival? ›

Likely born from cooks simply using what they had, Chicken Mull has become a comfort food that spans generations. It is the goal of the Chicken Mull Festival to introduce the town of Bear Grass and this southern specialty to more people.

What is Mull made of? ›

The dish known in northeast Georgia as chicken mull is a stew of chicken meat (ground or cut into bite-sized or smaller pieces), broth, milk, butter, vegetables, and seasonings, thickened with crumbs of soda crackers. It is also called chicken stew, chicken soup (rarely), and in south Georgia, chicken jallop.

What is a common Mull? ›

Standard Mull is one in which the frames are joined tightly together with no reinforcement or space between. Mull Reinforcement or MRF are vertical or horizontal mulls that have aluminum reinforcement members attached to them and are clipped and fastened together making the mull 3/8" wide.

What is the chicken of the woods also known as? ›

Credit: Jane Corey / WTML. Common names: chicken of the woods, chicken mushroom, sulphur shelf, sulphur polypore. Scientific name: Laetiporus sulphureus.

What does stew have in it? ›

A stew's meat or vegetables are barely covered with cooking liquid (usually water, broth or stock, oftentimes enhanced by wine or beer for additional flavor) and, during cooking, the liquid reduces to a gravy-like base that is sometimes thickened by flour, cornstarch or a roux.

Where did chicken Booyah originate? ›

The dish, originated in Belgium, dates back to the 1800's, then made its way to Brussels when Belgians migrated to Wisconsin.

What is pukka chicken? ›

Description. Tender chicken breast in a creamy chicken sauce, encased in light puff pastry. Tasty, Rich & Full of Flavour. Bakes in Under 30 Mins. Every mealtime or snack is covered with a frozen Pukka on standby!

What is an Easter chicken? ›

In American usage, an Easter egger or Easter-egger is any hybrid or mixed-breed chicken resulting from the breeding of a bird carrying the blue egg (oocyan) gene with one that lays brown eggs. Eggs from such a bird may be any shade of blue or brown, or occasionally pink or pale yellow.

What is chicken carnival? ›

Chicken Carnival a family owned American food restaurant located in North Merrick, New York. New York has an amazing food scene, from fine-dining restaurants to mom-and-pop stores that can fill your stomachs.

What makes a Mull? ›

: friable forest humus that forms a layer of mixed organic matter and mineral soil and merges gradually into the mineral soil beneath.

What is the process of mulling? ›

However, the process of mulling—adding sugar, spices and fruit to a heated drink—is one of the oldest cocktail techniques in the world.

How do you Mull something? ›

to think carefully about something for a long time: I need a few days to mull things over before I decide if I'm taking the job. considerDon't make any decisions before you've considered the matter.

What does give a Mull mean? ›

verb (used with object)

to think about carefully; consider (often followed by over ): to mull over an idea. to make a mess or failure of.

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