Whole Chicken for Winter Weekday Dinners

[snowangel]

A favorite here is out of Michael Field's Cooking School.  One cut-up chicken and 15 or 20 whole shallots, peeled.  Brown the chicken, remove, brown shallots, return chicken to pan, cover pan and let cook at a bare burble until the chicken is done.  Perfumes the house beautifully.

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What sort of liquid are you using in the pan to contribute to the "burble"?

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No liquid necessary, believe it or not. The shallots must release the liquid? Once you add the chicken, just stick on the lid and put the heat on low, low, low.

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How long does it take on average, Susan?

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Megan, I want to say that the chicken "braises" for about 30-40 minutes, and I usually baste it a couple of times with the liquid that accummulates. (BTW, shallots brown really fast -- just shake the pan over high heat). This is one of my family's favorite chicken dishes. I've done it with whole cut up chickens, or just thighs, or just breasts (my least favorite part of the chicken, but this is an especially nice preparation for it. What's not to like about a dish with two ingredients (oh, make that four -- salt and pepper) and you can easily peel the shallots while the chicken is browning. The only disappointment is that the lovely aroma tends to dissipate by the next morning!

[Megan Blocker]

The only disappointment is that the lovely aroma tends to dissipate by the next morning!

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Ha! Not in my small, poorly ventilated studio apartment it won't!

[Fat Guy]

In about 1992 I got a cookbook by Jim Fobel called "The Whole Chicken Cookbook." It has something like 200 recipes. Conceptually, Jim divides chicken recipes into the following categories: 1- whole chicken preparations, 2- whole chickens, cut up, 3- chicken breasts, 4- chicken thighs, 5- chicken wings, 6- chicken drumsticks, 7- ground chicken, 8- dishes made with cooked chicken, 9- odds and ends (stuff like chopped chicken livers). My family eats a ton of chicken and I've had good luck using these categories in rotation as a way to introduce variety. I think any time you make several dishes from one category in a row, you're going to foster a sense of monotony no matter how much you alter the flavors.

If we're talking about whole chicken, as opposed to whole chicken cut up, one thing to consider is that if you're consistently making simple, excellent roast chicken using a particular approach that you've mastered through trial, error and repetition, you've already reached the summit of whole-chicken cookery. There's nowhere to go but down. Thus, for variation, it may make the most sense to do very little: just alter your seasonings but keep your approach exactly the same. Rosemary and olive oil give a certain flavor. Butter and tarragon would give a different flavor. Various Asian, Latin, etc., seasonings could also be used without the need to alter your basic method. Then maybe it makes sense to look to accompaniments -- sides, garnishes, condiments -- for variety.

At some point, though, there's nothing that can be done to make whole chicken interesting night after night. I think the trick may be not to try. Everybody has a whole chicken tolerance quotient, be it once a month, once a week or three times a week. Once you exceed that frequency, it's going to get dull no matter what. Thus, I'd suggest relying on the other chicken categories for variety. Not every category works for every family -- just try to serve chicken wings to my wife. But you find the categories that work for your group, you figure out your best recipe or two in each category -- the ones you can make efficiently and reliably -- and you start rotating.

Also good for a change: London broil.

[qrn]

Whole chicken, cut it up into legs/thighs, wings ,two half breasts.Save rest for stock.

Then make a half cup of salt with a few cloves of pressed garlic in it. In a bowl, add the chicken, pour the salt/ garlic mixture over it. mix to make sure all the outside of the parts are covered. let sit for 20 mins or so. Rinse every thing off chicken and arrange in a 10" non stick fry pan.. roast in oven at 375. Early on, When the surface of the skin is drying out rub skin with butter. continue to cook untill it looks like its getting a bit brown. Go to convection at the same temp till its nice and brown. Done...

Bud

[maggiethecat]

Lots of great ideas here, many of which I'll steal. But they mostly call for cut-up chicken and -- correct me if I'm wrong, Chris -- but I assumed from the topic title that you were asking for recipes for the whole, unbutchered birdie. I'm on the lookout always for new ideas for whole chix, because, well, they're easy.

As it happens, Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories slapped onto the stoop last night, courtesy of amazon.com. Simon isn't helpful on whole roast chicken variations, but he does mention Italian "wet-roasting" which involves pouring un poco di wine or stock into the roasting pan, with herbal or vegetable additions. My Nonna-in-law used this method, so I pulled out The Silver Spoon, a book that's received scant rotation in the last year.

Jackpot.

Starting at page 920 there are many recipes using the whole chicken -- Chicken Roasted in a Packet, Chicken Curry, Chicken Babi (in the form of a babi, or toad!) Chicken in Lager, Deviled Chicken, Greek Chicken, Chicken with Apples, Chicken with lemons (2), Pollo allo Spumante, Chicken with Tuna, "Pot Roast Chicken," Stuffed Chicken, Chicken in a Salt Crust ...

Most look week-night good, require few ingredients, and nothing special in terms of skill or equipment. I sit in the Plain Roast Chicken is God's Gift camp, but it's good to have a few variations to break the routine. If you don't own the book, PM me should you desire a recipe.

[jackal10]

Pressure cooker.

Make chicken stock in 10 mins, (bit longer from frozen) take out the chicken.

Then a whole range of options:

Chunky chicken soup

Chicken pot pie

Salads

Curry

Brown whole

etc etc

Other tricks:

Roast over a mix of onion, potato rice and stock

BBQ (you can get smoking bags for use in an oven)

Tea smoke

Tagine

[Chris Amirault]

Lots of great ideas here, many of which I'll steal. But they mostly call for cut-up chicken and  -- correct me if I'm wrong, Chris -- but I assumed from the topic title that you were asking for recipes for the whole, unbutchered birdie.

Butchering's fine -- I can break down a chicken quickly. It's more about speed at the end of the day. For example, crock pot ideas don't work for me. (Not the least bc I don't have a crock pot. )

However, there are lots of good ideas here for those who can plan before heading out the door!

[K8memphis]

However, there are lots of good ideas here for those who can plan before heading out the door!

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Dude, say that into the mirror.

Buy a crock pot. Or get some of those nifty baking bags when you buy the chicken a the store. They are in the aluminum foil section of the store. Don't forget to put a bit of flour in there because it says it will explode if you don't. I always put twice as much flour & twice as many little holes as you're supposed to poke. I like to stay doubly far away from explosions when given the chance. Come on, how often do you get advanced warning. Ok I'm on a tangent.

You can toss these recipes into a roasting pan--those blue enamel speckled dealies or in some kind of ceramic or corning ware, umm those other overpriced enamel pots, in a skillet, in a chicken fryer, electric skillet. I mean how were you planning on cooking it?

The fact is, unless you use a pressure cooker cooking a whole chicken isn't exactly fast food. You could boil it kinda fast. Boiled chicken is better to cook real slow though. What about trying to back things up and cook the chicken on the weekend.

edited to say: You would LOVE a crock pot!

Edited January 5, 2008 by K8memphis (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Thing is, I'm usually carrying a shopping bag with the chicken in it as I walk in the door at 6p.

[K8memphis]

Thing is, I'm usually carrying a shopping bag with the chicken in it as I walk in the door at 6p.

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Gotcha.

While you're at the store. Grab a crockpot and some nice lettuce and some great cold cuts and some really cool mustard and some awesome bread from the bakery. Get home, eat sandwiches. In the morning toss the bird in the crock pot with any of the lovely other suggestions here and come home to supper!

[qrn]

Thing is, I'm usually carrying a shopping bag with the chicken in it as I walk in the door at 6p.

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A chicken in pieces in a 12" non stick in a 375º oven takes 35 or 40 mins...

If the exhaust fan works well 400+º works faster,,

Bud

[paulraphael]

Thing is, I'm usually carrying a shopping bag with the chicken in it as I walk in the door at 6p.

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A chicken in pieces in a 12" non stick in a 375º oven takes 35 or 40 mins...

If the exhaust fan works well 400+º works faster,,

At 500° roasted chicken takes about 10 minutes per pound, whole. That's 40 minutes for a 4lb bird, no butchering required. I've never set off the smoke alarm.

No nonstick nuthin' ... a skillet is the perfect size. stainless interior is the easiest for deglazing. no need for a rack. put the bird on a thin bed of coarsely chopped onions or other mirepoix.

The best chickens I've ever had were made by this method. the most important trick is to pad the breast with a doubled layer of foil for the first half of the cooking time. this insures that the white/dark meat are perfectly cooked. or you can do what the french did a hundred years ago and bard the breast meat with bacon, for the same purpose. bacon is a bit tastier than foil, but i don't usually have it around.

[maggiethecat]

I decided to try the wet-roasting method with a three-pounder last night. It's a bastard recipe culled from the fridge. The glaze is Andrea Nguyen's Vietnamese Caramel from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen that had stood neglected on the condiment shelf for a year. The cavity was stuffed with two half limes. I threw what was handy -- potatoes, carrots and fennel -- around the bird and tossed in a couple of cups of white wine. Prep time: 7 minutes. Cooking time, dunno, an hour and a quarter?

Dark brown, haunting sauce -- I never knew limes and fennel could be lovebirds. Crispy skin, lots of veggie vitamins. I'm going to play around with this method.

[maggiethecat]

This is a bad picture of what happened to our leftover wet- roasted chicken --Chicken Cobbler. The biscuits thickened the sauce. Hey, four meals for like, three bucks. And I have leftovers for lunch. A whole chicken is the smartest move, economically, you can make.

[fmed]

(First time poster, long time lurker)

A Filipino Chicken Adobo only takes about 3/4 of an hour end-to-end. Make rice while it is simmering.

It keeps very well, and like many stews, it gets better after few days of refrigeration. I like to simmer it off till the liquid evaporates and helps create Maillard crispy bits. It's a rustic dish and thus the recipe is very flexible.

[K8memphis]

This is a bad picture of what happened to our leftover wet- roasted chicken --Chicken Cobbler. The biscuits thickened the sauce. Hey, four meals for like, three bucks. And I have leftovers for lunch. A whole chicken is the smartest move, economically, you can make.

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Oooh does that look good. I used to make something like that and I put raisins and cheese in the biscuits. Nice wintery good comfort food. But I'd broil the tops of the biscuits if everything else was done. Dark on top ooey gooey on the bottom.

mmm

(The flash probably whited the biscuit tops a bit.)

Edited January 7, 2008 by K8memphis (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Welcome to eG Forums, fmed!

(First time poster, long time lurker)

A Filipino Chicken Adobo only takes about 3/4 of an hour end-to-end. Make rice while it is simmering.

It keeps very well, and like many stews, it gets better after few days of refrigeration. I like to simmer it off till the liquid evaporates and helps create Maillard crispy bits. It's a rustic dish and thus the recipe is very flexible.

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Tell us your recipe for this. How do you make it?

[dockhl]

I made a pretty darn good roast chicken last night. I had brined it (lightly) the night before, and dried the skin in the fridge all day.

Trader Joe's had some gorgeous Meyer lemons that I zested and made a compound butter with the zest and garlic, stuffed that under the breast skin, along with some very thin slices of the lemon. Roasted at 395' for 30 minutes and then dropped to 375' for another hour (5 lb chicken) since I was making Preserved Lemon-Ginger Polenta in the oven alongside.

Let it sit for 20 minutes. WOW. Really good, and the juices were awesome. Prolly could be done in an hour with a smaller chicken.

[JimH]

If you don't care about appearence, cook the chicken breast down. The juices from the dark meat keeps the breast meat from drying out. I discovered this by accident several years ago while BBQing a couple of chickens.

[s_sevilla]

I like roasting whole chickens on sundays, immediately eat a breast and the crunchy wing tips and save the rest for a variety of meals throughout the week:

I keep a huge tub of mole (type varies depending on the season and my mood) and will reheat the thighs and legs in the sauce for dinners.

Another option for the leg and thighs is to make a quick cacciatore with a box of pomi tomatoes and whatever else I have lying around

For the remaining breast I either use it as lunch meat or I make an aioli or something, toss the breasts, and bake it in a casserole with some veggies or something. I also tend to roast a few heads of garlic along with the chicken, so I also make a paste out of the garlic, and make a quick sauce to coat the breast meat with.

I'll use the carcass and neck to make chicken soup (the most economical, since you can get all the little pieces of meat) or to make a quick broth for a dose of Risotto.

If you're looking to do the whole chicken at once I also recommend a version of Fatma Curry (based off a recipe in "The New Making of a Cook" by Madeleine Kammen:

Cut the chicken into 10 pieces.

Make a paste out of your preferred amount of garlic and cilantro, add a touch of cumin, and cayenne pepper.

chop an onion and place in a pot with the prepared paste.

place chicken in pot, just cover with cold water, and slowly bring to a simmer and leave it like that until things are tender and the liquid has taken the flavor of the chicken.

Remove the chicken and strain the liquid, reserving it (Do not pour off the fat, otherwise the couscous will be dry and bland:.

Measure out the amount of liquid needed for however much couscous you want. At this point you can add some other veggies (like sweet potatoe or turnips, etc) and cook them in the stock. Add some currents, then your couscous, then your chicken and let sit covered until the couscous is ready.

Serve with some hot sauce and/or a raita.

[fmed]

Welcome to eG Forums, fmed!

(First time poster, long time lurker)

A Filipino Chicken Adobo only takes about 3/4 of an hour end-to-end. Make rice while it is simmering.

It keeps very well, and like many stews, it gets better after few days of refrigeration. I like to simmer it off till the liquid evaporates and helps create Maillard crispy bits. It's a rustic dish and thus the recipe is very flexible.

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Tell us your recipe for this. How do you make it?

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I no longer use a recipe per se I just "glug" the ingredients into a pot. Here's an eGullet Recipe for one that is very close to how I make it:

http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r321.html

Don't worry about marinating (step 10...though this step is beneficial to the dish). Just dump everything in stainless pot and simmer uncovered. I like to add a bit of sugar to aid in caramelization. Put on some rice (ideally in a rice cooker) then chill out for a bit. Give the adobo a stir once in a while.

At around the 30-40 minute mark, I take the meat out of the pot and the reduce the liquid to thicken slightly. Adjust seasoning (esp salt - saltiness depends on the soy you used - I like to use reduced salt soy which allows me control over saltiness).

I fry off the meat in a frying pan until the meat is browned and crispy. Then take out the bay leaf and pour the reduced sauce on top. Some people forgo this step and serve it as a stew....it works just fine that way too.

Serve with the steamed rice and some sort of crisp vegetable side dish - a simple sliced tomato works perfectly)

It is supposed to be quite salty and tart.

For variations:

-Add olives or large capers (or some sort of pickle...onions might work well) right near the end of reduction.

-Add reconstituted dried tomatoes at the end

-Add fish sauce or anchovies to enhance umami

-Add fresh chilies half-way through

-Add onions near the beginning

-Add coconut milk and turmeric about half-way through (this prolongs the cooking by about 15 mins) - this is actually an authentic "hills" variation called "adobong dilaw" - "yellow adobo")

-Add cubes of fatty pork at the beginning of the cooking cycle.

I sure you can see the potential for other non-traditional variants - cumin, curry, lemon grass, wine, balsamic, lemon/lime juice/zest, etc. Mark Bittman has a couple of recipes - one where he grills the meat prior to serving.

-f

Edited January 7, 2008 by fmed (log)

[Smithy]

I made a pretty darn good roast chicken last night. I had brined it (lightly) the night before, and dried the skin in the fridge all day.

Trader Joe's had some gorgeous Meyer lemons that I zested and made a compound butter with the zest and garlic, stuffed that under the breast skin, along with some very thin slices of the lemon. Roasted at 395' for 30 minutes and then dropped to 375' for another hour (5 lb chicken) since I was making Preserved Lemon-Ginger Polenta in the oven alongside.

Let it sit for 20 minutes. WOW. Really good, and the juices were awesome. Prolly could be done in an hour with a smaller chicken.

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I LOVE the sound of that compound butter. It's a good thing I just came back home with a bunch of Meyers.

For those of you who are roasting whole chickens: are you roasting it covered or uncovered? Let's have a summary, please, of the following:

- cooking vessel

- covered or uncovered

- approximate time and temperature

[dockhl]

Uncovered initially, but when the breast started browning a bit too early, I foil covered the breast only. Small roasting pan....nothing special.

[hongda]

I usually do something similar to this

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1739,128176-251193,00.html

then use the boiling liquid to cook some rice. Some people will toast the raw rice a bit in rendered chicken fat before cooking.

[Priscilla]

This topic hovers in my mind, all these days... the crucial bit, as has been reiterated, is walking in at 6 with the chicken and still ending up with dinner at an entirely reasonable hour, and that includes all cleanup and lunch/leftover repackaging.

Quick & dirty: 1 chicken, 1 bottle Thai sweet chili sauce if you don't have one already for such and other purposes (I do; Caravelle brand), 1 hothouse cucumber. Turn on the oven to hot, 425 or so, first thing. While coming to temp peel/slice cucumber, rub in a little salt, dress as desired with soy/rice vinegar/sugar, maybe sesame oil or fish sauce, depending. Cut chicken in halves, s & p, bung in hot oven until done, which probably takes about as long as rice in the old cooker, with or without coconut milk as part of its liquid. Glaze the chicken with some sweet chili sauce in its last few minutes of cooking, and provide a ramekin of extra alongside.