If you're here looking for the Bachelorette recap, sorry, sorry, it's not going to be until tomorrow or maybe Thursday but hopefully tomorrow. Things happened; the center cannot hold; etc., etc. I'll get to it.
While we're waiting, a bit of news in the Roast Chicken Dept. As Regular Readers recall, I presented what I believed to be the ne plus ultra of Roast Chicken a while back. While I stand 100% by that recipe, I have some news on this front that you may or may not find interesting.
America's Test Kitchen is a cooking show that airs, well, all the time on PBS, but which I usually catch on Saturday mornings around 11:30 or 12, I'm not sure, when I'm eating brunch. The show features an affable, New England-folksy host named Chris Kimball and a number of sidekicks, most notably Julia, who does a lot of the heavy lifting during the cooking portions and has the kind of Virgil role to Chris's Dante, showing him through the shadowy depths of pan sauces and the like, and Adam, the jolly, sometimes bearded Equipment Specialist who tells us the right kind of pastry brush to buy. All in all, a pleasant ensemble cooking show that specializes in showing you step-by-step techniques to make the ideal versions of recipes, much like its sister magazine, Cook's Illustrated.
ANYWAY. The other day we're watching and they claim to have the Perfect Roast Chicken Recipe and they say it's so easy and doesn't involve flipping or brining or the other complicated parts. COLOR ME INTERESTED CHRIS. Here's the secret:
1. Preheat an oven-safe skillet inside the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cover the bird in olive oil and then salt and pepper it. That's it.
3. When the oven and the skillet are at 450, put the chicken in the skillet breast side up and then back in the oven for 30 minutes (3.5-4 lbs) to 40 minutes (4-5.5 lbs). The breast should be around 120 degrees after this portion.
4. Here comes the mindblowing part: After 30 minutes, TURN THE OVEN OFF and just let the chicken sit inside there for another 30-35 minutes. Until the breast is around 160 degrees.
5. Then take it out and let it rest for 20 minutes.
I know, right? The fuck?
Well, we tried it. It works pretty well! The meat was really, really tender and moist. The skin didn't get as crisp as I like (and as you get with the original recipe linked above). But it is simple, and cuts out the annoying flipping the chicken over step.
(There's also a pan sauce recipe that involves shallots and garlic and butter and chicken broth and if you want that too, just go to the ATK website and register.)
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4 comments:
I love Cook's Illustrated and ATK, but the show has thus far resisted my multiple attempts to serve as the basis for a drinking game. It seems ripe for the picking, but so far no good, unlike the one developed for House Hunters, where it's just obvious that you would drink every time someone complained about something easily changeable (the paint color, carpet, etc.)
Also, these culinary posts lend some credibility to the theory that you are behind Thug Kitchen. I guess the vegan thing clears you, but still.
If you really want to get lit, drink every time someone says "open concept" or "I love the hardwood."
Sadly, I am not the person behind Thug Kitchen.
Blackout level: "I can totally see us out here in the morning having coffee." "Ooh, double sinks!" "The bathroom is a little tight."
I love ATK! It pulls my Vermont-heart-strings every time.
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