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When Condiments Took Over Their Tiny Portland Apartment, This Chicken Dish Came To The Rescue

Chicken Vinegar Bread. Photo courtesy of Rachel Getz

I want to address the dilemma of an unruly condiment collection. There are two of us in my household, and we love food, but I might say that we love condiments most of all. This includes pickles, mustard, syrups, sauces, squeeze tubes, anything jammed, canned, brined or fermented.

We spent seven months between 2021 and 2022 in a one-bedroom apartment with a mini fridge and two hot plates. Our greatest lament? Not the short shower stall or child-sized kitchen sink. Rather, the lack of space for sauces. We seriously considered getting another mini-fridge just for the bottles and jars we collect. (I promise, there are reasons one needs four to five types of mustard at all times.)

It's not an issue of forgetfulness, no, there are no doubles in our collection. And I don't see this as a bad thing. I like to think it's an ever-present excitement and opportunistic outlook. Something comes home with us wherever we go. We'll say, "It's local!" "It's a regional favorite!" "It will go really well on eggs!" to justify the purchase of yet another $8.99 bottle. We can't escape this habit. And if you're someone like me who gets fixated on the next bottle you've acquired, that sixth jar of smoked mustard is going to sit there for many, many months more.

To deal with this ever-growing collection, I have to find ways to fit this assortment of jarred goods into more meals. I was inspired to make Providence-style calamari after watching "The Great American Recipe" on PBS. One of the contestants routinely makes that dish for his fellow firefighters, and he talked about it enough that I had to try it. It was a success, and the only thing left after devouring the crispy tentacles and caps was half a jar of hot cherry peppers.

In turn, that inspired the recipe for Chicken Vinegar Bread. In addition to that mega jar of hot pickled cherry peppers, you'll use half a sourdough loaf and bone-in chicken thighs. This recipe has turned into a comfort staple. It's schmaltzy, vinegary, crunchy and soft, burnt and browned, with just enough heat to warm your face and belly.

I recommend any whole loaf of bread for this recipe over pre-sliced. This is for two reasons: 1. Getting to rip and tear the bread is truly cathartic, and 2. It's a bit like the joy of English muffins, where most of the pleasure comes from the peaks and valleys, the nooks and crannies created from tearing the bread apart rather than slicing through the crumb. If your loaf end got stale, sprinkle it with a bit of water and set it in your oven at 450 degrees F for 5-7 minutes until it's crusty and soft enough to pull apart.

This recipe would work for any spicy pickle kicking around in your cabinet or fridge. Pepperoncini, giardiniera or drop peppers all work. I would avoid standard pickles as cucumbers are 96% water and will steam rather than brown.

We pull this recipe out whenever the dreamy thought of schmaltzy bread chunks crosses our minds. Or, when the spicy pepper collection has gotten out of control. Like many favorite dishes, you can make it in an hour and it requires only two pans.

The bread salad on a roasting tray. Photo courtesy of Rachel Getz

Chicken Vinegar Bread

I use coarse kosher salt for this recipe. If you only have table salt, or another variety, I would season this dish to your liking and scale back my recommended amounts.

Serves 4

5 cups torn bread, 1 ½-inch chunks (about half a baguette)9 whole garlic cloves1/2 yellow onion, sliced thin1 small red bell pepper, sliced thin1/2 cup sliced hot banana peppers8 pickled whole sweet cherry peppers5-6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1 teaspoon butterSalt and pepper4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

Heat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss together the bread, garlic, onion, peppers and olive oil in a large bowl. Season the mixture with salt and pepper, roughly 1 teaspoon of salt and 12-15 cranks on the pepper mill. I like to mix this with my hands to make sure the bread fully absorbs the olive oil, but tongs also work well.

Spread your bread and pepper mixture evenly over a large sheet tray and bake for 12 minutes while you prep the chicken. I used a 12 x 17 standard tray, but any large, flat dish with sides will do. You want the most surface area to avoid steaming any of the components.

Set a large sauté or fry pan over medium-high heat. I used a non-stick pan, but a steel pan or cast iron will also work. While the pan heats up, pat the chicken thighs dry with a towel, rub the skin side with a teaspoon or less of olive oil, and generously season both sides with 1-1.5 teaspoons of salt total and a few cranks of pepper per thigh.

Add your teaspoon of butter and nestle the thighs in the pan skin side down, turn the heat down to medium and sear until golden brown. Don't touch them! Seriously, unless you need to take a little peek towards the end, or want to swirl the rendering fat around the pan, leave them be. They need time to do their thing. This should take roughly 8-9 minutes. Remove the thighs from the pan and deglaze with a bit of the banana pepper vinegar from the jar, just a couple of tablespoons. Stir around to remove the fond (the browned bits stuck to the pan), and pour the reduced liquid over the bread.

Pull your bread tray from the oven and give it all a good stir. Spread the mixture evenly across the tray again and place the chicken thighs, placed a few inches apart from one another, on top of the bread. Return the tray to the oven. When stirring, I try to pull the darker, crunchier pieces of bread from the edges back to the middle to make sure they absorb more of the chicken juice and fat.

After 10 minutes, pull the tray, give everything a good stir again, and check the temperature of the thighs. Whatever hunks of bread were under the chicken, make sure they rotate to the edge of the pan to cook through.

Bake for 5-10 more minutes, or until the thighs reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Pull your chicken onto a plate to rest, and continue roasting your bread and peppers until the bread has golden brown bits and the garlic has completely roasted. Pour a couple tablespoons of water over the bottom of the pan while still hot and scrape up the pieces of bread and onion that are sticking. This isn't a saucy dish, but you do want to get the best of the browned bits!

Divvy up the bread, peppers, and onions on your plates and serve with the thighs. If you can resist eating the bread chunks while plating, all power to you! I've yet to make it to the table without snagging bite after bite of these chickeny, bready delights.

Rachel Getz Photo by Nick Rimsa

MEET THE COOK, Rachel Getz

Food has always been a big part of my life; my parents baked bread, made cheese and continue to ferment and create magic in the kitchen today. I grew up with elaborate family holiday meals, all of the table leaves were needed for the gathering of extended aunts, uncles and cousins.

Now, I cook for my partner and myself at our home in Portland where we eat at the sweetest little table for two. We pull from all sorts of cookbooks, our shelves heavy with a variety of cuisines waiting to be cooked. My favorite lately has been "The Folk Art of Japanese Country Cooking," although it can't fully solve the creative dilemma of tackling multiple pounds and varieties of potatoes from our winter CSA. I might have to look at other Home Plates recipes for inspiration!

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Trader Joe's Just Raised Banana Prices For The First Time In 20 Years, And Climate Change Might Be To Blame

Not many things have stayed the same since 2001. Back then, the iPod was brand new, and it would be another six years before the iPhone hit the shelves. There was also no such thing as Facebook, let alone Instagram or TikTok. In many ways, society has completely transformed in the last two decades, but one thing has remained constant. Since 2001, the price of a banana at Trader Joe's has been 19¢. That is, until now.

Recently, the popular grocery chain, which is known for being budget-friendly, increased the price of an individual banana to 23¢. The increase is, of course, due to inflation. In the past four years, research suggests that grocery prices have climbed by 25 percent in the US. Trader Joe's had held strong on its banana prices over this period, but it wasn't sustainable.

"We only change our prices when our costs change, and after holding our price for bananas at 19¢ each for more than two decades, we've now reached a point where this change is necessary," Trader Joe's Public Relations Manager Nakia Rohde said in a statement.

However, other prices have come down. Raw almonds, romaine hearts, organic tri-color bell peppers, and green onions are now cheaper than they were before. "We have been able to negotiate costs for a number of our products," confirmed Rohde. "[We] have lowered our retail prices accordingly."

David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons

Trader Joe's commitment to low prices

While some were outraged by Trader Joe's decision to raise the price of its bananas, it's important to note that the chain is still one of the cheapest places in the US to buy the fruit. At Kroger, a single banana will set you back about 25¢ (28¢ if you choose to go organic), and at Walmart, you'll have to pay around 27¢ for one fresh banana.

Across the board, Trader Joe's is committed to doing right by the customers who come to its stores looking for a bargain. It keeps costs low via a few tactics—for one, they don't carry name brands, and nearly everything on its shelves comes from the company's own private label. But just because you won't find big brand names at Trader Joe's, it doesn't mean you will have to miss out on quality.

"In some other places, the expectation for a store brand or a private label product might be lower than it is for a national brand," Tara Miller, Trader Joe's Marketing Director, said on the Insider Trader Joe's podcast last year. "I think exactly the opposite is true within the four walls of Trader Joe's."

"Our customers have an elevated expectation of our private label products because we have taken such great care to develop products with such high-quality standards."—Tara Miller, Trader Joe's Marketing Director

Also to keep costs down, Trader Joe's doesn't charge its suppliers a fee to stock on its shelves (reducing the need for mark-ups), and it keeps things as simple as possible. Its stores are small, it doesn't offer bakeries or cafes, and it uses energy-efficient lighting, Taste of Home reports.

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Climate change threatens food costs

Even with the best intentions, keeping costs down is becoming more challenging. This is for a few reasons, including higher labor costs, but another issue is the climate crisis.

Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum revealed that rising temperatures are already affecting many crops, including rice, potatoes, soybeans, and cocoa. In fact, in February of this year, cocoa prices hit a record high due to exceptionally dry weather in West Africa. And in the fall of 2023, heavy rain across Europe spoiled potato crops.

"There are countless people on social media complaining, but I wish we could bring the conversation to a broader place and really talk about the impact that climate change has on our food supply."— Phil Lempert, consumer trend-watcher and analyst

Bananas are another climate crisis victim. In March 2024, the World Banana Forum warned that bananas would get more expensive, as diseases that threaten the fruit become more common in warmer temperatures. In 2022, for example, a new fungus started spreading rapidly, targeting the Cavendish banana (that's the bright yellow type most grocery stores stock).

This, unfortunately, means that the banana cost increase at Trader Joe's might be the start of continued price hikes. "Trader Joe's didn't do a great job in sharing why the price went up," Phil Lempert, a consumer trend-watcher and analyst, told the Guardian. "The Cavendish banana we all know and love is under siege from this fungus and it very well may be extinct soon."

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Charlotte is a writer and editor based in sunny Southsea on England's southern coast.

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