Thursday, October 25, 2012

hungry

 I bought the Michael Ruhlman 20 recipes book, not because I know who he is, but for his chicken recipe because people kept writing about it and it is, indeed, the bomb.  And the easiest.  I'll give it to you.

First, let your chicken sit out for at least an hour, which you should always do so the inside won't be cold. I'm sure you know that.   "Rain down" salt on the bird, like really rain it down. Coarse salt.  Either truss the legs or put a lemon or onion in the cavity (I went with a scored lemon). 

A huge part of the appeal of this recipe for me is that you roast it in a cast iron pan.  I love using cast iron for everything.  If you want to make a pan sauce for the bird, snip off the wing tips and put them in the pan, and throw the neck in, too.

Pre heat oven to 450.  Throw in the bird, breast side up, for an hour.  That's it.  4 pound bird or slightly smaller.

 I accidentally paid 8 bucks for these potatoes at Whole Foods but at least they were really good roasted with thyme and whole cloves of garlic.
 Here's the chicken.  Dude, the skin!!!!!!! That black looking stuff is thyme, not pubic hair.  That's what this chicken is all about, a huge sheet of crispy, salty golden skin.  And juicy breasts.  However, you do sacrifice the quality of the dark meat.  The tops of the legs get overcooked, but the thighs are fine.

Ugly picture of delicious sauce.  You  just make a gravy by reducing the pan leftovers a bunch of times with wine and water, adding onions and carrots.  Fuck this was good.  I gotta try some more recipes from this book.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

pubes of thyme

undercover caterer said...

Roast chicken is the best. It's so easy, I am always amazed by how many people are intimidated by it. Plus, it's so economical! You get dinner, sandwiches, salad, a a soup out of the carcass.

Anonymous said...

Michael ruhlz, man. He's the co-author of Charcuterie and penned Ratio, which is basically gives you the base to make everything.

-skpr

beckler said...

I gotta check those other books out. And actually look through the one I have