fifi

Oh my, woodburner... I want one of those 15 pound chickens! I do a coconut glazed roasted chicken that uses big chickens. The bigger the better. The best one I ever did was a bit over 9 pounds. The only ones I can get here are Butterball brand. I will take a big chicken over a turkey any day. One thing that I notice is that chicken seems to take up any of your flavoring options. Turkey meat seems to be impervious. Maybe this kind of versatility has something to do with it. That speaks to Suzanne F's points 2, 3, and 5. Then, of course, there is the oft used phrase of comfort when confronted with the weird... "It tastes like chicken."

OK, Dave... That makes more sense. My sister upended the pot over the chicken so she had the vent hole working for her. She was using your plain and cheap terracotta pot and saucer but it was one of those that are kind of squat and wide so her chicken wasn't standing up. She didn't do the flour, though. What you are saying about the source of radiant heat also makes some sense. Heat is a really tricky thing. (OT funny... I was in a working session with about 15 guys. One of them asked for a good layman's description of a "perfect black body". I immediately responded... "Michael Jordan". The radiation from their blushing was memorable.)

Actually, I was wondering about that. It is a "jam" pot and jams are typically acidic and will react with the copper. What is up with that?

The only thing that I can add to these excellent posts... I had the privilege of meeting an amazing woman. She has her doctorate in anthropology and archeology and is connected with the museum in Mexico City. I was commenting to her about the odd features on the Olmec sculptures. She said... "Oh, well, everyone knows that the Chinese came here long before the Spanish." HUH? She admits that the hypothesis is controvesial and that there is no evidence that they ever took anything back across the Pacific, like chiles. But, she is convinced that they at least made one way trips and the evidence is mounting.

If the jam pot is the one I think it is it would be wonderful for reducing stock to demi-glace. Don't you really need the turbot steamer?

Oh, she did roast the chicken with the flower pot. She does not scrub flower pots. She did with it what we do here in the south... She threw it out in the yard!

My sister's chicken sitter She has more than one. This is a variation on the beer can chicken trick. The only thing is, seeing the "dancing chickens" sitting in the oven or in the smoker kind of weirds me out. I just keep thinking they are going to break out into a version of the Can-Can.

I think she meant that now you have a chicken fat soaked flower pot to deal with. Then you have to keep track of when to take it off, turn the oven up, all that. With a chicken sitter, you plop the chicken in there and when it looks done, it is done and juicy and wonderful... so why mess up a perfectly good flower pot. edit to add: spatchcock

I didn't do it. My sister did. (I think she did it because she saw Alton Brown do it on TV. I don't remember.) It was an unglazed terra cotta pot, kinda short and fat. She soaked it in water before upending it over the chicken. It came off for high temperature browning. I don't know the particulars of temperatures, etc. She said the chicken was really good but probably not worth the trouble. She went back to her chicken sitters.

How wonderfully said. We need to hear these words more often in a world so easily using God to incite hate and other bad habits. amen

I am leaning toward Richard's 4, 5 and 6. Especially 6. (spatchcock, spatchcock, spatchcock... ) On point 4 and 5, Could it be that the peculiar mix of proteins subjected to Maillard reactions is just irresistable? (Maybe I have been reading too much McGee.) I do know that turkey just doesn't do it for me like a chicken. The cheapest, facotry farmed chicken will beat out a turkey for me, any time.

Jin... I agree with your reply. My heirarchy would be more like... steak, smoked pork, pork in any form, bacon... but I still have this fascination with producing the perfect chicken. INSANE.

There are several threads on the quest for the epitome of the roasted or otherwise cooked chicken. There is a lot of attention to detail. We have spatchcocked it, trussed it, covered it with clay domes, exposed it to low heat, high heat, and countless variations on that theme. Where is this fanaticism for the perfect chicken grounded? This fixation may be second only to the perfect steak. Why do we continue to search for the Holy Grail of the chicken. I mean... this is a relatively unassuming bird that is cheap to aquire, relatively easy to cook, if in a mediocre way... yet it continues to capture our fascination. I intend for this thread to address the "why?" not the techniques. Recipes and techniques belong on the other threads. What I want to know is why we (including me) are so fanatical on this subject? Let me say now... I personally just like good chicken. (Now, there is a scientific piece of data.)

OK... I know about the flower pot trick... but I can't get the picture out of my brain of a chicken with petunias.

elyse... DON'T read mamster's post. It is inflammatory and erotic in the extreme. Now is the time for molasses cookies. My favorite is in the CI Best Recipe book. I tweak it a bit but they are gorgeous and chewy and sublime. edit to add: Mods... Where are you? Someone needs to arrest mamster!

Holy Crap, mamster. That makes this Gulf Coast weenie wish for a cold snap!

I am working on Alton Brown's recipe for Baba Ghannouj even as I type because I am hungry for something eggplant. Also, what is the correct spelling for this dish? I have also seen it spelled Ghanoush. Do you have a favorite recipe?

I included adjusting the sauce in the chicken recipe and I am going to add my encouragement to MatthewB's recommendation to do this. The whole balance seems to shift during what I call the glazing process and the final sauce needs to be brought back into balance. The glazing technique needs some practice to perfect. I tagged the recipe as "intermediate" because of that. You really just have to get a feel for the details of the technique. I tried to put that in the recipe but it was getting awfully long. Hopefully, a fairly experienced cook will "get it". I have had some failures. Once I used "not my usual brand" (Chaudoc is what I use.) and it never did form a good glaze. Then I had a chicken that for some odd reason the coconut would never stick. I never did figure out that one. It might be a good idea to try this first on some bone in, skin on chicken breasts or thighs. You may have to drop the temperature though so that the chicken doesn't get overdone before the glaze develops. I have done it with pork and even a turkey. (Don't bother with turkey. Turkey seems perversely impervious to accepting flavors.) The time temperture juggling act can drive you nuts but when it works, the results are pretty spectacular.

eGADS... I don't know where to start. I LOVE THIS FOOD. But I have never cooked much of it. An eggplant dip here, a cucumber salad there. Now I am inspired to broaden those horizons. I will even adopt this as my new favorite cuisine to learn in more depth. Do you have any favorite brands of some of the staples? I am starting to see more "ethnic" products in my mainstream grocery stores and I am wondering if you have any favorites. This lesson is a beautiful presentation, well organized and illustrated. Many thanks for your considerable effort.

I am with Dave on this one. All of us SSBs just have to get all of the facts out there. I will personally try this without any trepidation. And I am the victim of many attacks of Salmonella or their ilk. I attribute that to the revenge of the bugs since I killed off their ancestors by the billions in my stint as a foods microbiologist. That may sound like I should know better. Actually, I only did it to myself in my own kitchen once. And, yes, what I did was really dumb and I should have known better. My theory is that if anything does grow a bit through the transition, it will be killed off at the end.

According to Rival (manufacturers of the original Crock Pot): Their FAQ is here. And Dave beats me to it... again. (I was busy posting the coconut chicken recipe for that other thread.) What they DON'T say is how quickly you can expect the whole pot full to reach temperature. For instance, could you get in trouble with a whole chicken that was put in there directly from a very cold refrigerator? BTW... Rival now has some really cool looking crock pots. When I bought mine a few years ago, I had trouble finding one that didn't have geese with blue bows around their necks!

Here is my best shot at explaining Coconut Glazed Chicken.

Fifi, recipe? That sounds seriously delish. Hmmm... Recipe... Um... Er... I made it up. I don't have a recipe. It is really a technique rather than a recipe and I have rarely, if ever, made it the same way twice. I don't even know what to call it. Coconut Glazed Chicken? Citrus - Coconut Chicken? I can't really say Thai because I have been known to drift into the lemon rosemary direction. I will see what I can do.

Coconut Glazed Chicken Serves 6 as Main Dish. This is a recipe that I "invented" while trying to get a Thai-tasty roasted chicken with coconut. This is really more of a technique than a recipe as you can vary the flavoring elements to your taste. I will give you some alternatives at the end. The main feature of this dish is a citrus and herb flavored chicken with the coconut milk basting sauce that forms a caramelized glaze. This is not your crispy, crackling skin chicken but a different chicken altogether. My "crispy skin" afficionado friends continue to request this chicken. 1 Large roasting chicken, 6 lbs or larger, the bigger the better 2 Cans coconut milk, or more as needed 1 c Fresh herbs 1/4 c Fresh citrus juice 1 T Fish sauce, soy sauce or other similar sauces Other seasonings to taste, hot pepper sauce, garlic The basic technique is to brine the chicken overnight, juice some citrus, stuff the cavity with citrus rinds, citrus pulp and wads of fresh herbs. Place on a roasting rack in the oven at 325F and roast for 1/2 hour per pound. Baste with the coconut milk citrus juice mixture, basting more often near the end. It should form a caramelized glaze. This is the original Thai-like version: Juice fresh limes to yield 1/4 cup of juice, reserving the rinds and pulp. To one can of coconut milk, add lime juice, fish sauce a little at a time. Taste as you go to get the balance of tart/salty that you like. I also add some lime zest. You can add hot pepper if you like but be careful as it will concentrate in the cooking process. I add a little sriracha to add some heat and a touch of garlic. (You don't want too much garlic as it will shout out the coconut.) Depending on the quality of your coconut milk, you may want to add some of the thick cream from the second can. You want your basting liquid to be like heavy cream. Brine the chicken overnight in a standard 1 cup kosher salt per gallon of water brine. Remove from the brine, rinse and pat dry. Stuff the cavity with lime rinds and pulp, Thai basil if you can get it. Other basils will do. I also add some chopped lemon grass and fresh kaffir lime leaves since I have garden source for both. Truss and tie the chicken or not. Your preferrence. I do try to "pin up" the back end a bit so that if I add some of the coconut milk mixture to the cavity it doesn't run out immediately. Put it in the 325F oven. After about 30 minutes, start basting. Baste about every half hour then more often toward the end of the cooking. Pay attention to your basting technique. Use a bulb baster and try to slowly "layer" the baste onto all surfaces. You are trying to build up that coconut glaze. A brush will disrupt the process. Squirt some into the cavity a few times. Be patient. The glaze doesn't really start to build intil the latter part of the process. Reliably, my chickens are perfectly done and not overcooked at 1/2 hour per pound. Check with an instant read thermometer just to be sure. I pull the chicken out at 160F in the thigh. Allow the chicken to rest at least 15 minutes, preferrably longer. While the chicken is resting, heat the remaining basting liquid (if any) in a saucepan. Pour a little of the remaining coconut milk into the roasting pan to deglaze. (These drippings are likely to be quite salty and tart so you may not use them all.) Add the extra coconut milk to the sauce pan and bring to a slow simmer. Add pan drippings to taste. At this point I may add palm sugar, fish sauce and/or lime juice to balance the flavors. I may also steep some lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves. Carve and serve. I serve this version with short grain brown rice. Variations on the theme: Lemon, rosemary, thyme Orange and lemon or lime, tarragon or sage (You get the idea.) Add water soluble seasonings and citrus juice to the brine. Vary the seasonings that you add to the baste. Just be careful that you don't overpower the coconut and remember that it will concentrate as the glaze is formed so be conservative with the tart and salty elements. Be very careful of adding a sweet component to the baste. You can have too much caramelization going on before a glaze forms. I prefer to add the sweet note in the sauce. I did have that problem one time when I used all orange juice and the oranges were exceptionally sweet. Keywords: Main Dish, Intermediate, Chicken, Dinner, Thai ( RG633 )

Crab Boil Corned Beef In search of a corned beef point cut to smoke for New Year's day, I was frustrated to only find flats. Since that cut doesn't have enough fat to smoke, I had to think of something else. I was looking at the piddling little package of seasoning and thought... "Gee. That looks a lot like crab boil." Off to the spice aisle to get some crab boil. A new way of doing corned beef was born. This is one of those slow cook recipes that you can set up and leave to its own devices while you go do something else for a few hours. 1 corned beef, flat or point, about 4 lbs. 1 package crab boil spices (whole spices) 1/4 c brown sugar or more to taste 1 c beer Rinse the corned beef well. I like to put it in a bowl with running cold water for about 15 minutes to remove more of the salt. Pat dry. Thoroughly coat all surfaces with the spices. I like to do this by putting the meat in a large (2 gallon) Hefty zipper bag. You can toss it around to coat and massage in from the outside of the bag. The spices stick to the meat, not the bag. Put the beef fat side up in a heavy dutch oven. Put the brown sugar on top of the beef. Add beer as needed to provide about 1/4 inch of liquid. (The amount is not critical.) Cover and put in a 225F oven for 6 to 8 hours or until meltingly tender. "Rinse" off the bulk of the spices by spooning juices over the beef. Don't worry about doing too good a job of this. Slice and serve. You can strain the juices and use to cook cabbage or potatoes or use as the base for a sauce. Notes: I used McCormick's brand boil mix the first time because they were out of my favorite Zatarain's. I did use the Zatarain's on the next try and I was surprised to find that I liked the McCormick's better. I think it has more allspice and cloves. You can also make your own. The typical ingredients (all whole spices) are: Mustard seed, coriander seed, red pepper flakes, allspice, cloves, finely shredded bay leaves, some brands add dill seed. Lately I have started with the bag of whole spices and added a couple of tablespoons each of lightly crushed allspice and cloves. I think it improves the final product. Variations: Put the beef on a bed of 2 or 3 sliced onions. Add small potatoes about an hour before serving. One of our esteemeed members (dls) found himself with a big hunk of ginger and some dried ancho peppers that needed using up. Sheer brilliance. Add garlic. Keywords: Easy, Main Dish, Beef ( RG632 )