Broasted chicken

The title of this is not a typo. I used to see the term "broasted" though I can't remember where or by whom. It's appropriate since the bird is partly braised and partly roasted. This chicken was so large it just barely fit into my largest skillet. But, it did. It was over 5 lbs. Good thing I got it started when I did (10 of 5 pm) because with resting time it took over an hour.

Sunday’s NY Times magazine has a nearly always fascinating food section. This week the essay was boring (about a guy’s cookbooks all being boxed up and inaccessible). But the recipe was for a spatch-cocked whole chicken. I’ve posted this before but with a completely different spice profile.

The cooking technique was different than my own and I’m sticking to my very own guns.

Broasted chicken

1 4-5 lb. frying chicken

3 teaspoons fennel seed

2 tsp coriander seed

¾ tsp whole black pepper corns

½ tsp cumin seed

¾ tsp hot paprika or pimenton

lemon wedges (optional)

Spatchcock the chicken (remember how?). Just cut down both sides of the backbone and break the breast bone so that it lies flat.

Brine the chicken for a couple of hours. Rinse well and dry with paper towels.

Toast the spices in a dry skillet for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Let them cool and then rough grind them in a spice grinder. Don’t have one? Mash them in a mortar and pestle.

Rub a little olive oil all over the bird and then rub in the dry spice mix (no salt, remember: you brined it).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat (5 on my electric stove dial).

Add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter. When the butter has melted and the foam has subsided put the chicken into the pan skin side down. Cover with a piece of foil and weight it (I use a teakettle with some water in it). When the chicken is well browned, 5-6 minutes, turn it skin side up and put the pan into the oven (uncovered).

Roast until the breast registers 165 degrees in the thickest part (next to where the wings are attached). Also test the thigh meat. It it’s at least 165 you’re golden. I was using a very large chicken and it took about an hour plus.Remove the chicken to a cutting board, tent with foil (don’t use the piece you used earlier, it’s contaminated) and let rest 5 minutes. Cut into serving pieces, squeeze on some lemon juice (if using), and dig in.

"Weighty" chicken, matey!

“A spatchcock is a poussin or game bird that is prepared for roasting or grilling or a bird that has been cooked after being prepared in this way. The method of preparing the bird involves removing the backbone and sternum of the bird and flattening it out before cooking.”

This according to Wikipedia. A Google search will get you directions on how to do it. It’s easy.

One reason for cooking a bird this way is that you can get wonderfully crisp skin, especially if you start skin side down in a skillet, weight the bird, and after browning remove the weight, turn the bird skin side up and finish it in the oven.

One of our favorite places to shop is Sunflower Market. They have incredibly good quality produce, organic meats and poultry, and incredibly good prices. The chickens are smallish (3-4 lbs) and free range.

“Weighty” chicken, matey
1 chicken (free range and organic is nice, but any chicken will do in a pinch)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
pepper
dried garlic flakes
powdered onion
dried tarragon (optional)

Spatchcock the chicken: i.e. remove the backbone and break the breast bone by pressing it (skin side up) with the heel of your hand.

Brine it in a freezer bag with 2 cups water, 2 tbsp kosher salt, 1 tsp black pepper for an hour or two in the fridge. Remove, rinse, and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Allow to come to room temperature (about 45 minutes) before proceeding. If you choose to add any more salt, do so judiciously. The longer the chicken was brined, the saltier it will be.

Heat an oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat with the oil and 1 tbsp butter in it. When the butter’s foam has subsided put the bird in skin side down. Sprinkle some garlic, onion, tarragon (if using). and pepper over it. Cover it with a piece of foil and weight it with another pan (I like to use our teakettle with some water in it).

Sear and brown the chicken for about 8 minutes. Turn the bird skin side up, add some more spices, and put it in the oven uncovered.

Roast until the internal temperature (measured in the thickest part of the thigh) is 165 degrees.

Roast chicken a la Julia Child

This picture isn't of today's recipe. I had very little time to assemble this after spending most of the afternoon at a doctor appointment with Peter and then at the gym. However, except for the legs being tied together, this is pretty much what it looked like after cooking.

Using a couple of different gift cards we had been given, we got both volumes of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I've been reading it like a novel, though without going straight from beginning to end.

It may be heresy to say so, but I find the books more useful as idea generators than literal recipe guides. Yes, the recipes are terrifically detailed. When you read enough of them you realize there is more room for flexibility within them than you might think at first blush.

A great deal of butter is used. Vegetables are cooked much longer than I would cook them. Hers are more along the lines of the mushy ones my mother (and so many others of her generation) prepared.

I studied at length a method of "half-boning" a chicken. It looked intriguing. I also wanted to use some leftover squash risotto as a stuffing, adding to it some duxxelle of mushroom. I'd suggest concocting a stuffing of cooked (white or wild) rice, mushrooms, celery, etc. Stuffing isn't essential, but with the half-boned chicken the stuffing lent great flavor and moistness to the breast meat which it came in direct contact with. A traditional bread stuffing (even with a bit of sausage) also sounds fine.

I went with a 3 pound bird from Sunflower Market. I should have examined it more carefully because I discovered at home that the breast skin was torn in a couple of places. Julia's technique was to peel back the breast skin, bone out the breast meat, cut our the entire rib cage, slice the breast into strips, insert stuffing, lay breast strips on it, and pull the skin back over everything, securing with skewers.

I found an alternative method which worked just fine. Also in question was the amount of cooking time. Fortunately we have an electronic thermometer with a remote receiver which we take into the tv room where we have cocktails and watch "Jeopardy" before getting dinner on the table. The cooking time came out to just about 1 hr. 20 minutes. Obviously a larger bird (typical 4 lb. supermarket hen) would take longer.

Roast chicken (or Cornish hen)
1 3 lb (or so) free range chicken or a 2 1/2 lb. Cornish hen
2-3 cups stuffing
2 tbsp butter at room temperature
black pepper

Brine the bird for 2-3 hours: immerse it in water with 1 tbsp kosher salt per cup; additions can be 1 tbsp sugar per cup of water and a tsp roughly cracked black pepper per cup. Refrigerate with something on it to hold it under. Or use a freezer bag in a large bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse the chicken thoroughly under cold water and dry it with paper towels. Slice through the skin at the breastbone from one end to the other. Slice along the bones underneath to free the entire breast portion on each side. Remove the rib cage by cutting it out with poultry shears.

Insert stuffing into the cavity you've created. You won't need all 3 cups, maybe as little as 1, depends on the size of the bird. Save the rest to cook separately in the oven while the bird roasts. Fold the breast meat back over the stuffing and secure with skewers, using at least two, one from each end. It may take a third skewer to tuck up the tail portion over the opening between the legs. Cross the legs over one another and tie them there with kitchen string.

Smear the butter all over the skin of the bird (you can ignore the back) and liberally apply black pepper to taste. Place on a rack over a baking sheet with 1" sides and roast in the oven until the thickest part of the thigh is at 170 degrees. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes.

Remove skewers and slice off the entire breast portions on each side. Serve the stuffing with 1 drumstick or thigh and 1/2 of a breast.

Roast chicken

The world never seems to stop clamoring for chicken recipes. Indeed, I’ve submitted a few of them on this blog already. When my partner, Peter, came home with a bargain-priced whole chicken a few days ago, I got to thinking about roast chicken.

The traditional expectation is for what you see above, namely a whole bird. What I did is the top picture. I'll explain...

Two important things come to mind: I always brine my chicken before cooking; dry breast meat(?) – who says you have to roast the chicken whole? I won’t include instructions for brining here, they can be find in a million variations. I will add only that I brined the chicken for about 16 hours. But 1-3 hours is plenty.

By cooking the chicken in pieces you can control the result. Just get the breast pieces out at 160° and the rest of it at 170°. Simple pimple.

I have an electronic thermometer which allows me to insert it and go watch Food Network until alerted by the remote beeper by my side.

I can’t point to any specific chef or recipe as my inspiration – there are far too many sources I have consulted over the years. My favorite flavors with roast chicken are sage, lemon and garlic. Dividing the chicken into pieces complicates things slightly, but you’ll see my solution.

I remember how fussy my mother was about the Thanksgiving turkey. She and my father would get up at the crack of dawn and get the bird in early. Then they’d cook it until they were sure it was dead. I always enjoyed it, but it was well into my adulthood when I discovered the joys of poultry that wasn’t overdone (not too mention the too-salty scalloped potatoes and the green bean casserole with those doggone canned onion rings).

I’m my own man in the kitchen now. I never, but never, read a recipe without the automatic response of “what can I do to tweak this?” I suppose it’s a curse and a blessing, but it’s one heck of a lot of fun.

Roast chicken
1 4-5 lb. fryer chicken, brined for several hours or up to a day
giblets, if included with the chicken
8 sage leaves
2-3 tbsp butter, softened
2 lemons, sliced thinly
2 tsp granulated garlic
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
(Please note: no salt needed after brining)

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Separate the legs, thighs, breasts (leaving the wing attached to the breast) and back. Save the back for stock or roast it (I prefer to roast it). Snip off the end joint of the wings.

If there are giblets, excluding the liver, rub them with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast along side the rest of the bird.

Carefully separate the skin from the legs, thighs and breasts using your fingers. Insert 1 sage leaf and a slice of lemon under the skin of each leg and thigh and 2 each under the skin of each breast. Sprinkle some pepper under the skin of each piece and do the same with the garlic.

Rub the chicken pieces all over with the butter. Add more pepper to the outside of the chicken, to taste of course.

Put a flat rack on a shallow baking pan and spray it with Pam. Place 1 or 2 lemon slices on the rack for each chicken piece and put the chicken pieces, skin side up on top of the lemon.

Roast for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven to 350°, insert a temperature probe into the thickest part of a breast (adjacent to where the wing is attached). Continue roasting until the internal temperature of the breast is 160°, about 25 minutes more.

Remove the breasts from the oven and tent with foil. Cook the remaining chicken for 10 minutes more. Remove from the oven, tent with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes or so.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.