11 minutes ago, weinoo said:
And that dude can roast a chicken!
I really think, just as with the ribs mentioned above, it's to "clean" up the protein and start it on its way. Gets rid of whatever schmutz might be around. Probably blanching for a minute or two "renders" the same result as 7 -10.
The above based on absolutely zero scientific knowledge or evidence. Just a hunch.
I get it with a whole chicken because a whole chicken would take a long time to leach all of its flavor into the poaching water - the surface area to volume ratio is much smaller than a wing. Years ago when I made a bunch of whole ducks, my preferred method was to poach the whole duck for 10-20 minutes to render a lot of the fat from under the skin, then dry and sit in the refrigerator for 3 days to dry skin. Then, when the duck was roasted (technically baked), most of the fat was completely rendered and the skin was amazing. The duck still had tons of flavor because the meat was barely cooked by the time it was removed from the poaching liquid.
I think the next time I make wings - maybe next week as I just learned that my wife was a HUGE fan of the wings I made previously) - I'll try steaming them for a while to render the fat, then chilling them down before baking. Or maybe "super steam" in the CSO at like 250F....
