Practical chicken preparation for the professional kitchen

[BPBNY]

I am starting at a new restaurant on Monday and i had my new menu finished and was getting all the logistics worked out when my boss told me we must have a chicken dish on the menu. I already have a duck on the menu and i did not want to bring in whole chickens because for my stocks and sauces i just use the wings of chicken. Now im having a dilemma on what to serve and how to keep this practical.

It is a new restaurant so business is unpredictable. I would normally brine my chickens truss them and cook them off halfway carving them at pick-up, but i don't want to par-cook a number of chickens without knowing how things will sale or not. Are there any tips out the for raw preparation at the time of pick-up?

[Fat Guy]

The restaurant kitchens I've been in where they pick up raw, they use small chickens that have been butchered into parts. That seems to be the only way to cook bone-in chicken to done in a relatively short time.

[Blether]

How about breast escalopes cooked from raw / pan sauce, as a second menu option to limit the amount of bone-in you have to risk ?

[howsmatt]

I would do a half chicken under bricks. Marinated or brined is good.

[Dave the Cook]

Good suggestions so far. I'd add:

• Braised thighs or leg quarters. You can cook them all the way through and they'll keep for several days. Stick them in the oven to warm the meat and sauce, and under the salamander to crisp the skin.
• Cornish game hen halves. They cook quickly and make a nice presentation and portion size. Since they almost always come frozen, you have better control of your inventory.

[paulraphael]

You could par cook whole chickens sous-vide (ideal) or poached in something like court bouillon, then finish to order in 500+ degree oven, with foil or barding over the breasts for part of the roast time. put butter or stock in the sous vide bags. birds done this way are phenomenal. parcooked birds that don't get ordered can be used in braises, stews, or for stock. If you poach, the poaching liquid will be the foundation of your stock.

Edited October 9, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[Florida]

What about airline chicken?

Your supplier would do all the work. They're portion controlled, versatile, and there should be no waste.

Plus, if you so desire, you can continue to brine them and since they should be cooked a la minute, you will not have any half-cooked chickens lying around.

[Edward J]

Breasts. Brine 'em, smoke 'em. Start em off on the char-broiler and finish in the oven or if time allows, on the cooler part of the grill.

You can also do a rustic style redwine type braise with the thighs in batches, Pull out the meat after cooling in the sauce. Heat up the sauce a'la minute, then heat up the meat in the sauce--makes a decent lunch special.

Wing tips are nice, but necks have more meat. Turkey wing tips have more gelatin, as do calf's feet or heaven forbid, pigs feet.

[BPBNY]

Thanks for all the replies, like the idea of keeping the thighs and legs in red wine and braising them, I am going to be serving this with pan roasted salsify, a yellow onion where i quarter it keeping it intact and searing it on its sides then pan braise in stock, and i was thinking of fortifying my chicken jus with mushrooms and madeira?

The main issue is trying to keep this dish "suane" or nice. As much as i can with chicken.

About sous vide, I do not have an immersion circulator, So the breasts, im thinking, can be brined and then par cooked and finished in the oven with some stock.

Is this a better way then just trussing the chicken searing it on all sides and roasting for 20 minutes then carving and laying on parchmentthen crisping the skin in pan and finishing in the oven?

What fun refined things can i do with the skin?