Wolfert

I have tin lined copper which I purchased from www.culinarion.com when the euro was not as strong as it is right now. If you go back to my recipe on the website you can find the silicone molds style number, etc . To tell you the truth the aluminum ones should be used for storing thumbtacks or making aspic appetizers. I'm sorry to tell you but I've never met anyone who has had luck with the aluminum ones using a proper recipe.

Dave, thanks for the clarification. placing the chicken breast side up in a clay environment shouldn't be a problem. Having cooked chcikens in tagines, romertopfs, and in clay lined beehive ovens the breast doesn't suffer from not turning on sides, etc. Could it be the steamy atmosphere of a clay environment?. That is why the flour confused me?

thanks. Fifi: If your sister ever does get around to roasting chicken in a flower pot tell her she can easily remove the greasiness with baking soda, a good brush and a little water. Dave: Alton's recipe is very strange . I don't think placing a cold unglazed flower pot (with or without soaking) into a hot oven is a great idea. Why the flour?

thanks, Fifi. I must suffer from clue deficit disorder, but the word "trouble" troubles me. Was it the extra step of soaking?

Fifi and Dave: Would you mind sharing your experiences roasting a chicken under a clay flower pot? timing? size of chicken? temperature of oven? quality of the flesh and skin? Did you soak the claypot? Was the pot completely unglazed?

Hi Rickster: I really want to empasize how important it is to grasp the baked cannele in your mitted hand and bang it crown side down onto a really hard surface then it should just come out. Have you tried using a bamboo skewer to loosen them? Are the molds relatively clean inside? You can put the seasoned cannele molds into a moderate oven for an hour then rub off the hardened debris. Other thoughts: bubbling over doesn't sound right. Bubbling up is ok. I'm wondering if you should grease the molds, turn them over, place them on a rack over a baking sheet, slip them into a medium oven for 5 minutes, let them drain before setting them in the freezer. This process removes excess beeswax coating. You only need the a thin veil of bee's wax. Please let me know if you still have problems.

I've never made canneles in a tin mold but I am sure that is one of the reasons your cakes are not easily dropping out after an initial banging on the crown against some very hard surface. With copper you get the quick hot to cold reaction which helps release the cannele. Bee's wax mixed with melted butter and some tasteless oil until it becomes a thick cream is the way to go. You will never have a failure. Don't worry about the canneles popping out of the molds they will while still in the oven fall back into place and actually shink a tiny bit. This is correct. The creamy custard filling needs a full 2 hours in a regular oven and 1 1/4 hours in a convection oven. There is a silicone mold available at fred bridge (check my website recipe for the order number) you still need the bee's wax but it works quite well. Hope this helps. Paula

Have you tried roasting a chicken in a romertopf? Basically you soak the top and bottom for 15 minutes while preparing your chicken. Put the chicken in it, cover, and place in a cold oven. Roast at 100 degrees higher than normal and about 15 minutes longer. Take off the cover and let the bird brown..Basically you have a beehive oven. It's the closest thing to the kind of stoneoven roasted birds I've tasted in many parts of the Mediterranean. By the way, it's great for baking bread.

Dave: Everyone is worried about being sued. I gave the guidelines for the adelle davis and the blumenthal methods above. I think most readers of egullet can take it from there. Personally, I don't like the crockpot for cooking a whole chicken though I use it for simmering the carcass all night to produce a lovely broth. For those who have tried cooking a whole chicken in the crock pot, I'm sure they noted how bland the chicken t is even with proper seasoning. I think it has something to do with the plastic or glass cover.

Tommy: Heston Blumenthal starts the chicken off at 75C until the internal temperature is 65 C then removes the chicken from the oven. He raises the oven temperature to the highest heat, returns the chicken to the oven and blasts it for a great browning followed by a reasonable resting. I've done variations on this and also the 1972 version of Adelle Davis's recipe (see my posting on page 1) and everytime I managed to produce a very succulent chicken without any loss of moisture. My problem as a food writer then came into play: No magazine or book wanted to publish anything with those low temperature guidelines. I finally found 3 methods that do produce great roast chicken: the hearthkit; the romertopf; and Michael Chiarello's cocorico. The last one you roast the chicken upside down and it works great. As for spatchcocked chicken with a brick: sur la table now sells a real clay mattone set for under 20 dollars. It isn't roasting but it produces a very silky and succulent chicken.

Thanks so much for your input. It has been extraordinarily interesting. I wish I knew about egullet a year ago and we had this forum at that time. Since I didn't I did the next best thing: I did an adaptation of Adelle Davis' recipe for a new book using one created by Christopher Kimball, editor of Cook's Illustrated, in his January/February, 1996 issue. Mr. Kimball starts by cooking a 3 1/2 pound chicken, set on a rack in a 375 degree oven, for half an hour which brings the internal temperature to a safe 140 degrees. Then he reduces the oven temperature to 200 degrees and slowly roasts the bird for an additional hour. About a half hour before serving, he raises the temperature again to 400 degrees. The chicken is done in about 15 minutes when the internal temper- ature of the thigh reaches 165 to 170 degrees. That final blast of high heat browns the skin to a gorgeous golden crust. A final resting period before serving delivers a wonderful chicken, moist and succulent and divine.

Dave: If I roast a chicken at 160 degrees then brown it for "looks," can I consider the USDA guidelines of passing through the danger zone (40o to 140o F) as quickly as possible irrelevant?

Yes, I agree with you that some "serious" heat would have to be worked in at the beginning or the end.

It's about time About thirty years ago, I was much taken by Adelle Davis' book "Let's Cook It Right," following her rules for long slow cooking of poultry and meat in order to re-tain maximum nutritional value while obtaining maximum juiciness and flavor. I tried out many of her ideas including her most eccentric-- cooking over just my pilot light. Her theory of slow poultry roasting was to cook a bird at the same temperature that you wanted it to obtain when done, about 165 F. For example she sug- gested roasting a chicken for an entire day! Her argument was that roasting a chicken at a very low temperature would not only preserve its flavor and tenderness, but would also keep in all the juices. In fact, her method produced a superb degree of moistness. When I did this, I had no idea I could have been playing Russian roulette with the health of my family. Slow roasting a chicken can present a whole slew of bacterial problems, an important consideration since many chickens on the market today can be contaminated. On the other hand, I think Heston Blumenthal has written about LTLT (long time long temperature) cooking which more or less makes this an interesting method to reconsider. What do you think?

Your presentation was fantastic.

Didn't Jacques Pepin work for Howard Johnson? His rep survived.

I've tried multiple butters. Without question, my favourite by itself (e.g. on bread) is Burro Ocelli. Of course, I would never think of smuggling it back into Canada! Ocello butter is imported into the states. Try www.esperya.com

I agree. He knew how to make a great cassoulet.

This is my favorite butter , but I only use it seasonally: that is I use Isigny Ste. Marie with home-roasted chestnuts and salt baked potatoes.I can't afford the calories to spread it on bread every day.

The romas get so hard and heavy they could easily be used as a murder weapon. For those of you who know the works of Roald Dahl, especially the "Lamb to the Slaughter," it will make you laugh. Do you remember the murder story about a woman who whacks her husband with a frozen leg of lamb? Well, I don't want to spoil the plot, but it is a great introduction to Dahl's work.

Thank you for your very kind words.

there is terraware made in Pennsylvania by Chef Walter Potenza. Check his website. He has a variety of half-glazed shallow and deep pans. The glaze is on the outside only. You stilll need to soak his pots for 15 minutes, but you can then put them into a hot oven. The food cooks beautifully. www.chefwalter.com The columbian is totally unglazed but it so mica rich you don't need to soak it before each cooking and it goes on the fire. www.nutierra.com.

what I do to get the cracklings dark is to lift them out of the fat and do them in a skillet so I can control, color and flavor. you are right to use some liquid if you have very little fat, otherwise it will fry and not release all its fat.

Don't forget to do it on low temperature. 300 might turn the color too much. A bit of Trivia : A very similar method as described above at the Gabrielle restaurant is based on a very old recipe from the catalans. In fact, Eliane Comelade-Thibaut, author of La Cuisine Catalane, discovered this method of extracting fat from ducks in the archives in Mahon, on the island of Minorca before teh second world war.

For stews and roasts I use the romertopf with hardly any liquid or fat. I raise the oven temperature about 100 degrees and cook or roast about 30 minutes longer than a regular recipe. Even if the romertopf is made in Mexico there is no problem about lead since they are unglazed. I don't do gratins in red clay because they aren't shallow enough. I use Columbian black clay or emile henry's gratin dish.