METHOD FOR MAKING ROAST CHICKEN: -this post is dedicated to my friend Revia, for all of her support while getting my website up and running seamlessly.
Taught to me by German Master Chef Michael at the CIA in Hyde Park, NY
Roasting is a dry heat method of cooking, as opposed to braising. Prepare to oven ready by killing, plucking, eviscerating, and separating the giblet parts, boiled on the side, except liver, to be used in the sauce ground up along with the cooking liquor, if giblet gravy is desired. Remove excess fat from cavity. Cut this into small pieces and render in roasting pan in a 400°F oven for 1 chicken. If several are to be cooked, the oven temp. may be raised. If the chicken is fresh-use as is. If at all slimy or not fresh, wash and dry the chicken. Truss for even roasting.
Add the seasonings as follows to the cavity first:
Parsley stems-cut small, celery leaves-cut small, rosemary small sprig, deneedled, salt, pepper and thyme or use poultry seasoning. Then tuck wings under or cut off at first joint. Push legs together to truss. Truss and season the outside with salt and pepper by rubbing briskly. Oil the skin a little. Lay chicken in hot, conditioned pan and sear sideways. Turn to the other side and repeat the searin~ process. Turn the chicken onto its back and reduce oven to 350 F. Constantly basting the chicken, bake for 1/2 hour before adding the small to mediumdiced mire poix (celery, carrots and larger cut onions).The neck is also chopped into smaller pieces and added to the mire poix. For giblet-heart and stomach, boil in salted water. Whereas the mire poix mixture ratio is 1# for 1 gal. of stock, it is 1 oz. per 1# of meat. Thereby, for a 2 1/2# chicken, 2 1/2 oz. mire poix is added. The total cooking time is roughly an hour. To check doneness, the juices flowing from the cavity of the chicken needs to be clear, not bloody and the internal temp must be 16S degrees F. When checking doneness with a thermometer, pierce the chicken between the wing and drumstick, being careful not to hit a bone. These rules apply to braising as well.
When the chicken is done, drain the juices from the chicken into the pan and clarify the fat. Drain the drippings leaving the fond (culinary term for the little roasty pieces left at the bottom of the pan after cooking) and dust the pan with flour to make the roux. Use some broth from which the giblets have been cooked in to deg1aze the pan and making the sauce. Transfer the mixture into a sauce pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer to draw flavor from roasted bones and caramelized vegetables. Separate the fat and add drippings to sauce (glace).
To serve, remove the leg as in deboning a raw chicken, making sure to remove the oyster in one piece. Add the wings to sauce Cut on either side of the keel bone. With knife, quickly split through the wishbone end. On other side, cut horizontally a small incision to faci11itate easily removing the breast meat
from cavity. Remove small bones in breast and trim up. Add to sauce. Separate theigh from drumstick and remove bone in theigh.
On drumstick, remove end joint by frenching and flange the end by scraping the bone to expose 1 ‘. Arrange on plates. I prefer the breast, so I slice the skinless breast after cooling, see picture attached.
Strain sauce and garnish the chicken. Thicken the sauce with a slurry made with corn starch and sherry or water. We served ours with home-made organic mashed potatoes and fresh steamed broccoli.
*14-16 oz. raw wt. per person for EP of 6-8 oz. A 3# chicken easily serves 2 to 3 people.
*When considering stuffing for fowl, especially commercially, it should be cooked separately as the juices will contaminate the stuffing. If the chicken is boned, it may be stuffed with a bread
stuffing as the contamination comes from the blood in the bones.
*These are my actual hands-on culinary notes, as they may seem short and to the point. Please contact me for any information regarding unfamiliar terms in this article or for immediate assistance in Buying or Selling a residential home in Houston. I specialize in West Houston real estate, Energy Corridor homes, Cinco Ranch homes for sale, Katy Texas real estate, Houston Heights properties, as well as Fort Bend homes in Sienna Plantation.
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