One of Ann's favorite meals is a simple roast chicken and I share her enthusiasm for it. When she asked me last week to roast a chicken for her, I could not refuse. A roast chicken has a lot going for it: it is delicious; it is a simple dish to prepare; and, it provides leftovers for additional meals.
 |
| Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts |
 |
| Chicken Trussed and Ready to Roast |
Then it went into a moderate oven (350F) until the legs moved freely in the joint. The internal temperature in the thickest part of the thighs was 165F and I'm sure it finished ten degrees higher than that. This 4-pound bird was in the oven for 90 minutes.
I truss my bird because that's the way I learned to cook poultry, old school classic French technique called ficeler un poulet. I don't know what they teach new cooks, but I fear that I may be of the last generation to truss poultry so that it cooks evenly and looks nice on the table. I fear that new cooks may not even know how to cut up a chicken, let alone roast a whole one. Do I underestimate our culinary schools? I don't know; I never attended. They did not exist in my youth.
Along with hard boiling an egg and making a decent omelette, roasting a chicken is a basic culinary skill. I like to roast a bird or two a year to keep my practice up, though there really is not too much to it other than knowing when to take the bird out of the oven so that the dark meat is cooked and before the white meat dries out.
One of the best things about a roast chicken is that it provides additional meals. We ate roast chicken and vegetables the first night, chicken tinga the second night, and vegetable soup with chicken stock the third. Not a bad yield for a $5 bird.
No comments:
Post a Comment