How to Treat a $25 Chicken
Cooked up that expensive bird last night and I have to say it came out darn near perfect. What did I do? Simple:
First, remove the neck, heart and liver package, cut the backbone out and flatten out the critter to increase surface-to-mass ratio which promotes even cooking. You don have to pound it or anything, just press down on the center of the breast like you're giving it CPR until the keel bone snaps and your bird looks like two mirror-image half-chickens.
Then, toss flattened bird into a nice cold saltwater bath for a couple hours. You can search around the web for brine prep techniques or you can do what I do which is dump kosher or sea salt into water, stir, and taste increasing the salt until the mixture tastes like a mouthful of water you accidentally swallowed at the beach.
While the bird is soaking, melt a stick or so of butter in a pot and add in some honey (a tablespoon or so) and chopped rosemary and thyme. Stir and then pour into a ramekin or small metal bowl and put in the freezer or fridge just long enough for it to re solidify, not totally freeze.
When Foghorn is done with his bath, pat him dry and gently separate the skin from the breast by working your fingers underneath. The objective here is to make pouches or pockets, not skin the bird. You want that skin on, oh yes you do.
Take your solid herb-butter-honey disk out and break it in half. Take each half of the disk and work it up under the skin to the top of the breast. That lovely mixture will melt all over the white meat during cooking which will flavor it and create a waterproof fat layer that will mitigate moisture loss. Congratulations! You just made a self-basting bird!
Preheat your oven to 375 if you haven't already.
Take some mirepoix, a few thyme sprigs and lightly crushed garlic cloves and put 'em in your roasting pan. Toss the neck, liver and heart on top of the stuff. This will be the bed that your bird will roast on. Throw in around a cup, cup and a half of white wine. Mmmmm...organs and alcohol.
Meanwhile, put together a spice mix of 2 parts freshly ground grains of paradise, 1 part sweet paprika, 1 part coriander and 1 part cumin. If you don't have grains of paradise why don't you? I mean if you don't have grains of paradise you can substitute black pepper but it won't be as good.
Rub canola oil on the bottom of your bird. Add half the spice mixture, pressing it into the flesh to ensure stickage. Flip Foghorn over, rub some spice mix on the meat under the skin near your butter disks and try to get into the thighs as well. Rub canola oil all over the skin and add whatever's left of your spice mix on top of the skin. Rest the bird atop the veggies and organs making sure everything's underneath the bird except maybe the neck and pop into your oven.
Cook it for a half hour. Remove, put a probe thermometer in at the thigh joint, set it to 160 F, put everything back in the oven and crank it to 425. Add a little more wine if the pan looks like it's drying out.
Oh, if you don't have a probe thermometer cook for another half hour and then check with a meat thermometer or prick the skin and see if the juices run clear, blah blah blah in other words, cook it until it's done. For me that's 160 at the thigh. For the Government Man it's 180. You've been warned.
Remove bird, let rest 15 minutes and at this point you can start messing with the pan juices to make gravy or just do what I did and deglaze the pan with a little Cinzano, boil it on the stovetop and spoon on the plate for dippin' the breast meat. Oh so yummy.
If you want real gravy make yerself a roux (you know how to do that, right?) drain the reduced pan juices into a fat-separating gravy whatzis, combine the juices to the roux and stir until thick. I guess that would work if you really needed it to. I don't usually bother.
Oh, the caramelized onion slices in the pan are a nice side dish. Sweet oniony-chickeny goodness.
Don't forget to save the bones to make stock!
First, remove the neck, heart and liver package, cut the backbone out and flatten out the critter to increase surface-to-mass ratio which promotes even cooking. You don have to pound it or anything, just press down on the center of the breast like you're giving it CPR until the keel bone snaps and your bird looks like two mirror-image half-chickens.
Then, toss flattened bird into a nice cold saltwater bath for a couple hours. You can search around the web for brine prep techniques or you can do what I do which is dump kosher or sea salt into water, stir, and taste increasing the salt until the mixture tastes like a mouthful of water you accidentally swallowed at the beach.
While the bird is soaking, melt a stick or so of butter in a pot and add in some honey (a tablespoon or so) and chopped rosemary and thyme. Stir and then pour into a ramekin or small metal bowl and put in the freezer or fridge just long enough for it to re solidify, not totally freeze.
When Foghorn is done with his bath, pat him dry and gently separate the skin from the breast by working your fingers underneath. The objective here is to make pouches or pockets, not skin the bird. You want that skin on, oh yes you do.
Take your solid herb-butter-honey disk out and break it in half. Take each half of the disk and work it up under the skin to the top of the breast. That lovely mixture will melt all over the white meat during cooking which will flavor it and create a waterproof fat layer that will mitigate moisture loss. Congratulations! You just made a self-basting bird!
Preheat your oven to 375 if you haven't already.
Take some mirepoix, a few thyme sprigs and lightly crushed garlic cloves and put 'em in your roasting pan. Toss the neck, liver and heart on top of the stuff. This will be the bed that your bird will roast on. Throw in around a cup, cup and a half of white wine. Mmmmm...organs and alcohol.
Meanwhile, put together a spice mix of 2 parts freshly ground grains of paradise, 1 part sweet paprika, 1 part coriander and 1 part cumin. If you don't have grains of paradise why don't you? I mean if you don't have grains of paradise you can substitute black pepper but it won't be as good.
Rub canola oil on the bottom of your bird. Add half the spice mixture, pressing it into the flesh to ensure stickage. Flip Foghorn over, rub some spice mix on the meat under the skin near your butter disks and try to get into the thighs as well. Rub canola oil all over the skin and add whatever's left of your spice mix on top of the skin. Rest the bird atop the veggies and organs making sure everything's underneath the bird except maybe the neck and pop into your oven.
Cook it for a half hour. Remove, put a probe thermometer in at the thigh joint, set it to 160 F, put everything back in the oven and crank it to 425. Add a little more wine if the pan looks like it's drying out.
Oh, if you don't have a probe thermometer cook for another half hour and then check with a meat thermometer or prick the skin and see if the juices run clear, blah blah blah in other words, cook it until it's done. For me that's 160 at the thigh. For the Government Man it's 180. You've been warned.
Remove bird, let rest 15 minutes and at this point you can start messing with the pan juices to make gravy or just do what I did and deglaze the pan with a little Cinzano, boil it on the stovetop and spoon on the plate for dippin' the breast meat. Oh so yummy.
If you want real gravy make yerself a roux (you know how to do that, right?) drain the reduced pan juices into a fat-separating gravy whatzis, combine the juices to the roux and stir until thick. I guess that would work if you really needed it to. I don't usually bother.
Oh, the caramelized onion slices in the pan are a nice side dish. Sweet oniony-chickeny goodness.
Don't forget to save the bones to make stock!
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