Roasting a Chicken

[Dave the Cook]

I've never heard sugar mentioned in the context that Grigson uses -- in reference to brining. It's always been a flavor component.

I'm inclined to agree with your comparison to searing, as well as your contention that results are what matter (though it's often helpful to know why things happen). My result: I've never had meat come out of a brine tougher than it was when it went in.

[fresco]

I've never heard sugar mentioned in the context that Grigson uses -- in reference to brining. It's always been a flavor component.

I'm inclined to agree with your comparison to searing, as well as your contention that results are what matter (though it's often helpful to know why things happen). My result: I've never had meat come out of a brine tougher than it was when it went in.

Nor I--but I always thanked the sugar for that.

[Dave the Cook]

I've never heard sugar mentioned in the context that Grigson uses -- in reference to brining. It's always been a flavor component.

I'm inclined to agree with your comparison to searing, as well as your contention that results are what matter (though it's often helpful to know why things happen). My result: I've never had meat come out of a brine tougher than it was when it went in.

Nor I--but I always thanked the sugar for that.

[slkinsey]

I occasionally put sugar in my chicken brine. I don't think it changes the flavor of the meat all that much, but it does encourage nicely brow skin.

As for aromatics (herbs and whatnot) in the brine, I have done it a few times by boiling the aromatics in the brine, which then must be cooled. It made a difference, but not so much that it was worth the pain in the ass.

[Chef Fowke]

I see that I am jumping into the middle of something here. If we can all just go back a few pages I do have a photo to follow up on a few comments I made about trussing a bird. Finally my wife bought me a chicken to truss! Oh how I trussed that chicken.

This is what I meant by opening up the chicken by trussing the legs down. I made a mistake by not photographing the chicken when it was raw. It sat 3 inches longer on the cooking board before I cooked it.

From the photo you can see the evenly browning of all the skin. The wings protect the breast from cooking to fast by blocking the heat from the top.

I just tasted the chicken. It was a 4lbs bird that cooked at 390f for 55 minutes in a convection oven brushed with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and rosemary. WOW, for a seafood chef I did well. It is great. The trussing really helps to even out the cooking and allows the thighs to cook at the same speed as the breast.

[drinkingchef]

It still looks like a headless baby to me

[Jinmyo]

Yup.

[Sweet Willie]

Another convert to the magic of brining.

what kind of brining mixture? recipe?

[fifi]

I just go with a somple brine... 1 cup Kosher salt to a gallon of water. See Dave the Cook posts.

[ronnie_suburban]

what kind of brining mixture? recipe?

Check this Willie

=R=

[Chef Fowke]

Another favorite recipe comes from the 80's and my mother trying to be a good cook while juggling a career....

Find that crock pot we all have hidden in the back of a cupboard. Put a whole chicken in it and cover it with chicken stock. Add 6 whole shallots, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 scallion, 6 sprigs thyme, 4 tomatoes, 1/4 cup sherry vinegar, 2 bay leaves, 2 Serrano peppers and salt & pepper to taste.

Turn it on low before you go to work.

Eight hours later it is mind blowing. Very much like the French Pot au Feu. Add some angel hair pasta at the last minute and the meal is fantastic. Make sure to pick up a genuine French potato baguette on the way home and a wine from the Cote de Rhone

Edited September 7, 2003 by Chef Fowke (log)

[fifi]

OMG that sounds good. AND another use for the crock pot! Sounds like your mother succeeded in the juggling department.

Please... please... please... put this in the eGRA.

[Chef Fowke]

long live the crock pot....

(not the chicken)

[Bicycle Lee]

Jacob Angel, the chef I worked under at Christina's Food and Wine on Orcas Island, made this roasted chicken that was simple yet divine. It was just chicken with skin-on rubbed down with garlic, s+p, and paprika on both sides of the skin. Then coated in bacon fat and baked in the oven....oh, man...was it good....

[sandra]

Last night I did as follows:

Whole chicken, rubbed with goose fat, salt, pepper and paprika, stuffed with celery sticks.

Preheat calphalon pan in oven (as per above instructions, sort of) 200c convection

Place the chicken in pan (sizzle, sizzle) 45 mins later - perfect juicy chicken, crispy skin...

Messy oven, but who cares...

[KatieLoeb]

All this talk of spatchcocking (sounds like an odd medieval sport, but whatever...) has made me think that perhaps one of the masters of this might consider doing an eGCI short course with photos. Anyone?

[tommy]

it seems to me that if you truss, you're making the legs into a more compact mass, which suggests to me that it would take longer to cook. i don't think i buy the trussing argument. can anyone explain how it helps the meat cook quicker?

[Suzanne F]

Oh, tommy. It won't. Although the idea is to aid the heat transfer. But it won't. Counter-intuitive. You go, nature boy.

But truly, is there anything better in the poultry world than a properly roasted chicken??????????

[tommy]

what means "nature boy"?

Edited September 7, 2003 by tommy (log)

[elyse]

Duck.

[Suzanne F]

I wouldn't try that recipe with duck. Roast duck never works, for me.

[Katherine]

I always figured that the purpose of sugar in the brine is to satisfy Americans' sweet tooths.

When I was in cooking school, way back when trussing was de riguer, we were told that the reason we truss is to make the chickens look less like humans. With their legs stretched/spread out, they can look very human.

[vengroff]

Chef Fowke,

That chicken looks great!

Have you ever tried this technique on a larger bird? I wonder if it would be a practical way to solve the dry-breasted Thanksgiving turkey problem.

[Chef Fowke]

Chef Fowke,

That chicken looks great!

Have you ever tried this technique on a larger bird?  I wonder if it would be a practical way to solve the dry-breasted Thanksgiving turkey problem.

Good question!

Do they make a crock-pot big enough?

I have done game bird. I took a duck, pheasant and guinea fowl and chopped them each into eight pieces. I then seared them in EVOO until golden and put them into my crock pot. I deglazed the pan with Madeira and cognac and added the resulting syrup to the crock pot with a traditional mira poix and some shitake mushrooms. I topped the liquid up with a brown chicken stock, five juniper berries, five sprigs of thyme, seasoning and a bay leaf.

It cooked for 6 hours and filled my house with the smells of Provence.

To cut this short, turkey would probably be great!!!!!!

[slkinsey]

I solve the turkey problem by braising the leg meat in red wine and roasting the breasts by themselves. Since I plate the servings in my multi-course Thanksgiving dinner, there is no percentage in trying to present a roasted whole bird at the table. I really think more people should just forget about roasting a whole turkey. The breasts, in particular, are getting ridiculously large, which only compounds the problem. My strong suspicion is that any perfectly cooked turkey one has had in a restaurant has had the legs and breasts cooked separately.